John Howard backs calls for Qld gun control boost after ‘disappointing’ state inaction
The former PM who transformed Australia’s gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre says any “sensible” strengthening should be considered by the Queensland government.
Former Prime Minister John Howard has called for a sensible strengthening of gun laws, while Queensland's’ top cop declared a major mental health check recommendation – born of the Wieambilla police massacre – must be looked at.
Mr Howard had only been leading the country for 50 days when Australia was rocked by the 1996 Port Arthur massacre that left 35 people dead and 21 injured.
Within a week he enacted an unprecedented crackdown on guns and introduced the most far-reaching gun reforms in the country’s history, including a total ban on the ownership, sale, possession and importation of automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
Asked whether he thought a key recommendation made in the wake of the Wieambilla police massacre to enforce mandatory mental health checks for gun license holders should be adopted, Mr Howard encouraged the strengthening of existing gun laws.
“My general view is that there should be no weakening of existing laws and, where sensibly considered, they should be strengthened,” he said.
“It would be a matter for individual state governments as to whether mental health checks should be strengthened in a way that does not weaken existing safeguards.”
Last week The Courier-Mail revealed some of the state’s most senior ministers have had regular meetings with pro-gun lobbyists and more than $150,000 has been donated by gun suppliers and pro-weapon groups to the LNP in the last eight years.
Asked six times on Saturday if he backed mental health checks for gun owners, or whether he would recommend cabinet seriously consider the key recommendation, Police Minister Dan Purdie said he was still working through the report.
Queensland Police Union Acting President Andy Williams last week labelled the inaction “disappointing and distasteful”.
When asked about the mental health assessments for weapons, Queensland Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police would “look very closely at it”.
“Yeah, look for me, anything that keeps people safer, we definitely have to look at it,” he said.
“We don’t want to go there, but we know that there’s an overrepresentation of people with mental health issues in relation to those sorts of situations.
“So I think that’s a really important one to look at.”
Mr Gollschewski said he met with Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic this week about issues relating to mental health.
“I’d love the situation where none of my officers ever have to pull their firearm and use it. And in particular someone with mental health issues.”
“But also, you’ve got this sort of situation in Wieambilla where people with a common delusion, I think was referred to by the coroner, have prosecuted this plan to take out police officers and where we are the targets.
“So increasingly that kind of thing seems to be happening in our community.
“We’ve seen what’s happening in Victoria and Tasmania and those places.
“So we’ll certainly look very closely at it.”
The Courier-Mail approached each member of cabinet to ask whether they supported the recommendation, but received a response from a spokesman from the Premier’s office saying the government will consider the findings.
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