Page 5879 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 7 December 2010
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It is quite clear that this is filling a gap. It is, however, not clear to the members of the opposition when this gap in the law was identified and whether it was something that was recently brought forward. We have asked when the government became aware of this gap and why the bill is being brought on for debate so soon after being introduced, but we have not received an answer from either the minister who has responsibility for the Firearms Amendment Bill or the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, TAMS being the principal users of the legislation. I put on record the fact that the opposition’s questions—why this is urgent and, if it is urgent, why it has taken so long to get to the notice of the Assembly—have not been answered.
It is clear from the advice that we have received that there is no critical time date on this matter. The only reason the opposition are supporting the government’s bill today is that it is a simple and straightforward piece of legislation and it is easily understood. We would have preferred the opportunity to have had more time for consultation with rural lessees on this matter.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.53): The Greens will be supporting this bill today. It seeks to amend the Firearms Act 1996, and the bill focuses on extending the capacity of the government to issue category D licences to people from outside the ACT, something that is currently prevented under the Firearms Act, under section 58. This is not dissimilar to the previous bill we debated, in that when we first looked at the bill it clearly caught our attention and we took a very careful look at it. That is particularly the case because of the nature of category D firearms. These are firearms that, of course, are very tightly restricted and are made up of weapons such as self-loading centre fire rifles, self-loading rim fire rifles, self-loading shotguns and pump-action shotguns. They are weapons where we obviously want to ensure that the restrictions around them are absolutely appropriate. Category D firearms licences are among the most highly regulated firearms licences in the territory, and appropriately so.
Specifically, the licence is to undertake vertebrate pest control, and the act outlines that the application must be one of the following: a professional contract shooter employed in controlling vertebrate pest animals on rural land; a person employed or authorised by a government agency prescribed by regulation that undertakes vertebrate pest control; or a primary producer, land owner, lessee or manager who is participating in an authorised campaign conducted by or on behalf of a government agency to eradicate animals that are affected by brucellosis or tuberculosis.
The specific bill seeks to allow category D licences to be issued to people from interstate. It has come about, as Mrs Dunne noted, because of the lack of suitably qualified people in the ACT to hold such a licence. To hold such a licence requires accreditation, something that is difficult to maintain in the ACT, because there is so little call for this category of licence and this particular set of skills. It would certainly be costly for the department to support somebody maintaining their accreditation and the skill set. The ACT has very little need for such licences to be issued, and yet if the need arose it is likely that a licence would be required quite quickly.
That brings us to the two reasons given for the use of semi-automatic weapons envisaged under this proposed amendment. The first of those is land management, and
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