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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 4494 ..

Clause 4

MS TUCKER (5.03): I move:

Page 2, line 34, subclause (1), after the definition of "acquire" insert the following definition:

"`active', in relation to a member of an approved club, means a member -

(a) who, in the case of a club that includes amongst its regular activities the shooting of firearms, participates in an activity of the club that involves the shooting of firearms on at least 4 days in each calendar year; or

(b) makes a personal contribution (not being a financial contribution) to the club in a manner and to an extent that satisfies the Registrar that he or she is an active member of the club;".

The point of this amendment is to ensure that only people who are genuine sporting shooters are eligible to get a licence. Following discussions last night, we have removed the part referring to collectors clubs. The areas where the definition of "active membership" will apply are target sport shooting and an application for a licence under the category of "recreational hunting/vermin control". In the spirit of the Australian Police Ministers Council resolutions, we are proposing that an applicant must demonstrate to the registrar an active involvement in the sport of shooting in order to be eligible for a licence. The intention of the Police Ministers Council resolutions is clearly that licences should be available only to people who are genuinely involved in the sport of shooting. It is simply not enough to be a member of a club to get a licence, and that was why we were concerned about this initial amendment.

My office in the last few days has taken a number of calls about our proposed amendments, and some very interesting arguments have been put forward - that we would have to build more shooting ranges, for example. That is basically an admission that many people who want to have licences will not be genuine shooters, which the Police Ministers agreed and this Assembly endorsed. Another argument is that you should be able to have a gun if you want a gun. This is also not the basis for the new laws. Quite obviously, the basis for most of the arguments is that these people do not agree with the Australian Police Ministers Council resolutions, so they are trying to get politicians to water them down.

Under the definition we are proposing, which is based on the South Australian regulations, to be an active member of a club it will be necessary to be part of a club which includes amongst its regular activities the shooting of firearms and that the member participate in a shooting activity of the club on at least four days in a calendar year, otherwise an applicant will be obliged to demonstrate to the registrar that he or she makes a personal contribution, not being a financial contribution, to the club in a manner and to an extent that satisfies the registrar that he or she is an active member of the club.

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