Palaszczuk to raise gun data with national cabinet after fatal shootout

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she will raise the long-running issue of a national firearm registry when national cabinet meets in the new year, after a confrontation that left two police officers, a neighbour and three accused shooters dead.

Police are yet to formally confirm if either of the Train brothers at the centre of the incident were legally allowed to hold the “significant weaponry” said to have been found on the Wieambilla property, about three hours west of Brisbane.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the start of a meeting of national cabinet in September.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

But Ron Train, the father of property owner Gareth, 47, and his brother Nathaniel, 46, told A Current Affair in an interview on Wednesday he had been surprised when police told him his older son’s fingerprints had identified him and “he was licensed to have guns”.

NSW police have also declined to confirm reports that Nathaniel held a licence in that state, where he had been working as a teacher between 2020 and August last year, or what detail may have been shared between the state authorities.

Asked on Thursday about renewed calls for a national firearm database by Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers after the shooting this week, Palaszczuk suggested she was on board.

“I’d absolutely support more national consistency and [I’m] happy to raise that at national cabinet when national cabinet meets next year,” she said. “And also too I think there have been some reports that some more mental health checks need to be undertaken as well.”

Such a suggestion was also first floated by Leavers this week, alongside comments that risk assessments undertaken before police entered the property did not raise “any concerns”.

There is no suggestion at this stage that Gareth, Nathaniel or Stacey had any mental health conditions.

Online accounts in Gareth’s name had been active on fringe conspiracy and sovereign citizen sites for years, claiming the Port Arthur massacre was staged and bragging about telling police to leave his property, sparking warnings from experts.

Nathaniel and Stacey had refused to get COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for their school work.

All three were eventually shot and killed by specialist police after what police said was an “ambush” killing of two of the four officers sent to the property — constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow — in response to a NSW police missing person report for Nathaniel.

Neighbour Alan Dare was also shot dead by the trio after going to investigate the commotion.

Police have also given little further detail about what weaponry was held on the property, but suggested the group retrieved and used Arnold and McCrow’s service pistols. News Corp reported on Thursday the group had also used .22 rifle, a .30-06 bolt action rifle and a shotgun.

During a condolence motion in federal parliament earlier in the day, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the situation the four young officers walked into was, “unbeknown to them”, not a normal home or farm but “a fortress and an armoury”.

A national firearm registry was first recommended more than 30 years ago after mass killings in Victoria, repeated after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, and fast-tracked after the 2014 Lindt cafe siege.

But the outcome, the now-dubbed Australian Firearms Information Network, has not yet lived-up to expectations because of the patchwork data across jurisdictions.

The Australian Federal Police Association labelled the lack of action a “national disgrace” in a 2022 election campaign booklet.

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