Australian company built New Zealand’s national firearms database, not used domestically

An Australian-owned and operated company built New Zealand’s new national firearms database, prompting police advocates to ask why the same can’t be used domestically.

New Zealand's new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to the media during the swearing-in of the new government on Monday. Picture: Marty Melville AFP

An Australian-owned and operated company has built New Zealand’s new national firearms database, prompting police advocates to ask why the same can’t be done domestically.

ASX-listed Objective Corporation was last year awarded a five-year, $12m contract with the New Zealand Police to develop a register to regulate the country’s 250,000 gun-licence holders.

The database was activated in response to the Christchurch massacre in 2019, when 51 Muslim worshippers were shot dead by a white supremacist who held a gun licence and had legally purchased a number of firearms.

Objective RegWorks’ Arms Information System is now live at the new NZ Firearms Safety Authority and is a digital platform to manage all information about licensed firearms in NZ, including guns, parts, ammunition and other restricted weapons.

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But Australia’s own push for a national firearms register is stalled in a funding fight between the federal government, states and territories, and mired in technological problems because all jurisdictions apart from NSW need a full overhaul of their weapons databases.

The new system, which would likely be hosted by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, has been costed at about $200m, but Victoria, the ACT, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania are all baulking at the cost.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is putting $15m into building a new state register to plug into the national database, and on Monday she urged her state colleagues to dig deep, saying “if Queensland can find the money, I’m quite sure other states can find the money”.

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told police ministers at a meeting on Thursday that the financial negotiations would be settled by national cabinet before the end of the year.

Australian gun control advocate Philip Alpers’ ArmsTracker system – currently operating in a number of overseas countries – and NSW’s Gun Safe digital weapons register, designed by Salesforce, are other working databases.

Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Software company Appian also has a platform that is used across government, defence and intelligence agencies, which police say would be suitable to host a national gun registry.

Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana said the existing workable examples meant Australia’s register could be developed urgently.

“The AFPA is aware of databases such as ArmsTracker, Appian, Gun Safe and Objective RegWorks. Each system, like any system will have its pros and cons. Careful consideration of which system will best complement and enhance the existing systems is essential,” Mr Caruana said.

“With a national firearms database, we want a constable doing a traffic stop on an interstate vehicle to have real-time firearms information and intelligence on the ­vehicle’s driver. It’s ridiculous that with today’s technology, that police across Australia can’t access essential and potentially lifesaving information quickly.

“We also believe that such a database can assist firearms owners, especially in relation to the movement of firearms across state and territory lines. The current systems are cumbersome and time-consuming, and there is no guarantee that police officers on the ground can access this information quickly and in real time.”

A fresh push for a national register – first agreed to by Australian jurisdictions after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – was triggered by the shooting murders of two police officers and a neighbour by a trio of domestic terrorists at Wieambilla, in southern Queensland, on December 12 last year.

The Australian’s Target on Guns investigation revealed on Saturday one of the killers, Nathaniel Train, had firearms registered in both NSW and Queensland.

While the Shooters Union had previously cautiously supported a national firearms register in-principle, Queensland president Graham Park on Monday said the revelations about Train’s licensed guns proved firearm registration did not “protect the public or police, let alone prevent crime”.

“Shooters Union calls on the Queensland Premier to explain exactly how she thinks a national register of guns would have in any way protected those innocent lives, now that it has been revealed that the guns were already registered in not just one but two states, including Queensland.”

Ms Palaszczuk said she “couldn’t judge” whether a national firearms register would have prevented the Wieambilla tragedy. “What I do know, the police fully support having this national firearms registry, and it’s something we’re very keen to follow up on,” she said.

“I think this is of national significance, and if Queensland can find the money, I’m quite sure other states can find the money.”