From Lex Stewart, election analyst and political commentator
Finally late afternoon today 24 December, the website showed the Hansard (157 pages, attached) of yesterday’s (23rd) long debate that commenced as usual at 10am, and ended almost 17 hours later at 0254am wednesday.
It was nonstop except for a small dinner break from approx 715pm till 8pm, and a short break from 2310hrs till 2328hrs
This conduct by the NSW ALP government is a grotesque DISGRACE of breathtaking proportions in many aspects.
There are 42 NSW Legislative Councillors.
The first “division” voting on page 6 of the Hansard showed 38 participants, and the next Division showed 40.
The final vote circa 0254am showed only 26 MLCs :-
18 Ayes (the ALP government) and
8 Noes.
I have read thru the entire 157 pages of Hansard, and made a summary.
The number of Amendments was high –
- 10 by the Animal Justice party
- 11 by the Lib/Nat Opposition
- 8 by the National Party
- 36 by the Greens party
- 4 by Mark Latham
- 60 by John Ruddick’s Libertarian party
- 51 by the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party
Only very few amendments got passed.
Even the Greens on occasions said some sensible things, pointing out problems, but none of their ideas, motions or amendments were approved by the ALP government MPs.
The voting pattern of a few Liberal Party MLCs was disgraceful.
Some Liberal MLCs and other MLCs said that they had not had time to consider the legislation and were voting no to amendments only out of not understanding the amendments and their implications.
The many rushed amendments to the NSW gun laws are enormous, widespread, insane, impractical and unworkable.
The Firearms Registry has been struggling for years, but its workload will increase to a huge extent.
The best part of the debate was when Scott Barrett MLC on page 70 of 157 quoted exPM John Howard, “I don’t want to be degraded into a debate about changes to gun laws. That is a diversion. The issue here is anti-semitism.”
Mark Latham’s speech at pages 32 to 35 of 157 is very good.
Chris Minns a tool of Israel – media release from NSW Labor:
The NSW Parliament has passed firearms laws to significantly tighten existing laws and address mass violence, following the devastating terrorist attack at Bondi Beach.
The reforms respond directly to lessons from the attack, where the offender brought multiple firearms into a public place, and are designed to limit access to high-risk weapons, strengthen oversight and put community safety first.
NSW now has the toughest laws in the country when it comes to firearms.
The new laws which passed:
Capping and restricting the number and types of firearms:
- Imposing a cap of four firearms per individual, with strict exemptions for primary producers and sports shooters, who may hold a maximum of 10 firearms.
- Reclassifying straight-pull/pump-action and button/lever release firearms into Category C, limiting their access primarily to primary producers.
- Reducing magazine capacity for Category A and B firearms to a maximum of five to ten rounds, from a current unlimted capacity.
- Introducing a complete ban on firearms that can use belt-fed magazines.
Strengthening firearms licence checks and accountability:
- Removing the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) review pathway, ensuring we can use sensitive police intelligence without concern that a decision will be overturned by a tribunal, while retaining a robust internal review process to ensure fairness and accountability.
- Reducing standard firearms licence terms from five years to two years, increasing the frequency of safety and suitability checks.
- Restricting firearms licences to Australian citizens only, with a carve out for New Zealand permanent residents engaged in roles such as primary production or security.
- Replace a current exemption allowing unlicensed shooting at shooting ranges with a robust NSWPF permit system to suitably assess unlicensed individuals before they access firearms.
Strengthening oversight, storage and compliance:
- Making gun club membership mandatory for all firearms licence holders, with the ability to exempt certain licence holders in the regulations.
- Requiring all gun clubs to use the GunSafe online platform to improve record-keeping, compliance and traceability of club membership and activities.
- Making safe storage inspections mandatory prior to the issue of a first permit to acquire a firearm, individuals will now need to meet the safe keeping requirements before obtaining a permit to aquire a firearm.
- Prevent any permit or licence holder from acquiring a firearm unless the Commissioner is satisfied that they meet safe keeping requirements. Police may conduct an inspection for this purpose.
- Tightening rules around deceased estates, requiring firearms licence holders to nominate alternative storage arrangements for safe keeping of their firearms in the event of their death when applying for, or renewing, their licence. Police will also be able to seize these firearms, if required.
In addition to new legislation, the Government will move quickly on a range of practical changes, including:
- Expanding disqualifying offences in the regulations, including personal and domestic violence offences within the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007.
- Increasing the use of criminal intelligence in firearms licensing decisions.
- A comprehensive audit of existing firearms licences, prioritising higher-risk cases, noting that licence holders will now be subject to scruitinty on reapplication evey two years, instead of five years.
A comprehensive buyback scheme will accompany these changes:
- These reforms will be paired with a buyback scheme, with further details to be announced before the changes are in force, in line the announcement by the Commonwealth Government.
- The NSW buyback scheme will be operated and funded in partnership with the Federal Government and AFP, to encourage gun owners to hand back guns that will now no longer be legal, to be destroyed.
- Existing unregistered firearms are already captured by the permanent national firearms amnesty and should be surrendered through that scheme.
The NSW Government will move to control access to all dangerous weapons – not just guns
- Consultation will commence around whether further knives or bladed articles should be made prohibited weapons under the Weapons Prohibition Act 1998, as well as how knives are stored in retail settings.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said:
“Gun reform alone will not solve hatred or extremism, but we can’t fail to act on restricting access to weapons which could lead to further violence against our citizens.
“We cannot undo what happened in Bondi, but we can act decisively to reduce the risk of this ever happening again.
“These reforms are about one thing: protecting people.”
Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said:
“These reforms are about putting the safety of the community above all else.
“Owning a firearm is a privilege, not a right and we are balancing that privilege with the overwhelming need for public safety.
“Our strong legislation reduces risk and increases oversight around firearms ownership with the aim of making this state safer for all.”
