Queensland will be left with the “weakest gun laws in Australia”, according to gun control advocates, after the Premier refused to impose new restrictions on the number or type of firearms people can own.
On Monday, David Crisafulli And the police minister, Dan Purdy, called it the second part of a three-part policy response to the Bondi shootings.
Under proposed changes to be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday, only Australian citizens would be able to obtain a firearms licence, Purdy said, adding that there would be “some exceptions for sport shooters and work, businesses”. [and] Primary Producers”.
He said the restriction would not be retroactive, meaning the reforms would not immediately revoke existing gun licenses.
“We’re not looking [at] Go back and try and audit how many people are on the register, what their citizenship status is,” he said.
“Going forward, when it is approved and announced, if you apply for a license, it will come into effect”.
Queensland has rejected a national gun buyback sponsored by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
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It does not follow New South Wales in setting a maximum number of guns per license holder. Laws passed in NSW on Christmas Eve limit the number of firearms recreational shooters can own four, and farmers 10among other changes, including a ban on certain firearms.
A gun control group founded after the Port Arthur massacre was “disappointed The Queensland Premier has placed the demands of the firearms industry over the public safety of the Queensland community”.
“Despite the Premier’s rhetoric, Queensland has one of the weakest gun laws in Australia,” he said.
“None of the initiatives announced today do anything to deter Bondi take it Tragedy
“Gun safety advocates from Bandy held 45 minutes of talks with the government. We were ignored in our calls for national consistency on gun reform. The gun industry has clearly carried the day in Queensland.”
If passed, the laws would create a mandatory minimum sentence for drive-by shootings, an increase Penalties for theft of firearms and ammunition and firearms trafficking, and creation of various new offenses designed to prevent ownership of 3D-printed weapons.
They also close a loophole the government says prevents police from interrogating people planning terror attacks.
The laws allow the police to consider a person’s criminal record when issuing a licence, even if no criminal charge has been registered.
Crisafulli has repeatedly said his priority in creating the law is to deal with anti-Semitism, but to make it easier to take guns away from “extremists and criminals.”
The government will also introduce a hate speech law, which will give powers to the attorney general Ban certain slogans, The government said the pro-Palestinian protest slogan “From the River to the Sea” should be included. A new offense prohibits the public distribution, publication, public display or public recitation of a prohibited phrase that threatens, harasses or causes offence, with a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Civil rights groups and the Greens described the move as “Orwellian” and an attack on free speech.
“The government is making itself the thought police. If they decide your words are offensive, you can go to jail for them,” said Greens MP Michael Berkman. “Is that the kind of democracy we want to live in?”
Terry O’Gorman, vice-president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, said: “Banning or criminalizing the catch-cry, particularly in public protest situations, may simply be a ’cause of offence’, an affront to free speech rights, which have been rightly protected in Queensland since its darkest days.”
Spokesperson Remah Naji said Justice for Palestine was considering a legal challenge against Queensland’s new anti-Semitism law.
The Premier will announce “Part Three” of the government’s response to the Bondi shooting on Tuesday.
