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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (27 March) . . Page.. 743 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

as far as I am concerned. I have no idea what some of them are - and I must say that I am not particularly keen to find out. Some of the more common weapons that are banned include things like butterfly knives, blowguns, ballistic knives and certain martial arts weapons and also modified clothing or other accessories that could be used to conceal or disguise weapons. Some crossbows are banned as well. Again, Mr Speaker, I am satisfied that there has been proper consultation on this aspect of the Bill. I understand that the Australian Federal Police and the martial arts community have been consulted, and I accept that there is widespread support for these additional provisions. As I say, I am not sure what some of the weapons are. So, to some extent, we are having to take Mr Humphries's word for it; but on this occasion I am prepared to do that.

The Bill also makes provision for the introduction of photographic weapons licences at some time in the future, although that course of action is not envisaged at the moment. Mr Speaker, I think that it is an issue that ought to be seriously considered. Our regime relies very heavily on the licensing of individuals, and it seems to me that anything we can do to tighten up the identification of those individuals ought to be supported. With the rapid advances in computing technology, information science and so on, identification is becoming a very difficult issue to continue to police. It seems to me that we ought to at least try to keep up with the current state of play in regard to a matter as important and as serious as the licensing of weapons. However, Mr Speaker, I understand that there are some administrative difficulties there, and of course some costs as well. I trust that the Minister will continue to pursue that matter as resources allow.

Overall, though, Mr Speaker, if I could just conclude, Labor will be supporting the Bill. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to support those provisions which appear to be something of a weakening of our current weapons regime. However, I am convinced that where that has occurred it is well justified. I am also consoled by the fact that the Attorney-General's amendments actually ban a whole raft of other weapons and tighten up procedures in some other areas, particularly in relation to silencers. So, I again thank Mr Humphries's officers for their briefing, and I hope that, if there are similar matters that come before the Assembly, I will be able to again avail myself of that kind of opportunity to discuss the legislation that is before us. I think that there are many instances - and this is one of them - where a bipartisan or multipartisan approach is by far the best. We do not ever want to see a debate developing in the ACT over the so-called rights of people to bear arms and all that nonsense. It is a very serious matter of community safety, and I think we should put those sorts of matters well above politics.

MR MOORE (4.57): The gun lobby's approach, Mr Speaker - which goes something like "It is not guns that kill people; it is people who use guns that kill people" - is something that I would like to try to put to rest in the ACT, following the same line that Rosemary Follett has used, that this issue is about community safety. It does not take much effort to sit back and look at the statistics of violent crime that come out of places where guns are freely available compared to places where guns are not freely available. Of course, the same thing applies, to a lesser extent, to other weapons. It is the ACT, Mr Speaker, that has indeed led the way in many ways in terms of restrictive gun legislation. As we seek to have more and more legislation across Australia that is consistent between States, there is a risk - I think this is the point that has been

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