National gun register in the frame for national cabinet

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will push for a national firearms register at the first ­national cabinet meeting of the year.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will push for a national firearms register at the first ­national cabinet meeting of the year, in the wake of the fatal shooting ambush of two police officers in December.

Two young constables and a good Samaritan neighbour were gunned down by conspiracy theorists Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train at a remote property at Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.

The shooting sparked calls from gun-safety advocates and unions representing the country’s police services for an efficient, workable and fast national database of licensed gun-owners, first agreed to by every Australian ­jurisdiction in 1996 after the Port Arthur massacre.

Ms Palaszczuk will lobby for the reform at national cabinet on Friday, with Prime Minister ­Anthony Albanese indicating he will support the move.

“The Premier is hopeful significant progress will be made so all states are working together,” a spokesman for Ms Palaszczuk said.

“Modern technology has evolved. Real-time data sharing across jurisdictions is easier and that data sharing is key to ensuring authorities have a better understanding of who has guns and the type of guns they have.”

Ms Palaszczuk and Queensland Police Service commissioner Katarina Carroll announce plans for a new police academy in Townsville. Picture: Shae Beplate

There is an existing national ­database of some gun information, the Australian Firearms Information Network curated by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, but Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers says the system is clunky, cumbersome and slow.

It also tries to combine eight ­different firearm licensing databases that have different definitions for firearms, gun parts and ammunition, and uses different technology.

“Let’s have a one-stop shop that’s available to all police around the country. When you’re en route to a call for service, you don’t have time to interrogate (eight separate databases),” Mr Leavers said. “We need the information at our fingertips. Each state is spending this money anyway. If we all come ­together as a nation, we can achieve this.”

Mr Leavers said a national ­register should also record how much and what types of ammunition gun-owners bought, so police officers could red-flag ­people who appeared to be stockpiling for no reason.

He said there were loopholes in gun laws across jurisdictions that allowed an unlicensed person to assemble a firearm using legally bought parts from different states and territories.

Australian Federal Police ­Association president Alex ­Caruana said the federal government needed to withhold funding from the states and territories to ensure all governments co-operated on a national register.

“It’s great to hear (state) leaders say that changes need to occur, but the time for talking is over, and it’s now time for action,” Mr ­Caruana said. “We want to see real changes to keep the community and our members safe.”

The AFPA is also calling for laws to be tightened to set limits on the amount and types of ammunition that can be bought, to prevent stockpiling and the fuelling of the black market.

Australian Gun Safety Alliance convener Stephen Bendle said the community and police expected a national register of firearms.

“We hope that all premiers and chief ministers understand the need for a single source of information on firearms that all law ­enforcement can access when they need to,” Mr Bendle said.

“The National Firearms Agreement says that the need to ensure public safety should dictate the management of firearms.

“We understand that there are difficulties in bringing together eight firearm management systems, but the overriding issue is to ensure public safety.”