Firearms Bill

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. Clause 3, page 6, lines 3 and 4 [clause 3(1)(a)]—Delete paragraph (a) and substitute:

(a) to confirm that firearm possession and use is subject to the overriding need to ensure public safety; and

No. 2. Clause 4, page 7, line 3 [clause 4(1), definition of ammunition, (c)]—

Delete 'live primers, propellants and'

No. 3. Clause 4, page 7, line 13 [clause 4(1), definition of arms fair]—After 'firearms' insert:

, firearms parts or ammunition

No. 4. Clause 8, page 18, line 11 [clause 8(2)(k)(i)]—Delete '21' and substitute '28'

No. 5. Clause 8, page 19, line 29 [clause 8(2)(r)]—After 'firearm' insert 'or an air handgun'

No. 6. Clause 8, page 20, after line 19—After subclause (6) insert:

(7) In this section—

air handgun means a handgun designed to fire shot, bullets or other projectiles by means of compressed air or other compressed gas and not by means of burning propellant.

No. 7. Clause 48, page 57, after line 3—Before subclause (1) insert:

(a1) For the purposes of the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013, a review under section 47 will be taken to come within the Tribunal's review jurisdiction but, in the exercise of this jurisdiction, the Tribunal will consider the matter de novo (adopting such processes and procedures, and considering and receiving such evidence or material, as it thinks fit for the purposes of the proceedings).

No. 8. Clause 64, page 71, line 20 [clause 64(3)]—Delete '21' and substitute '28'

No. 9. Clause 75, page 78, lines 8 to 35 (inclusive) and page 79, lines 1 to 3 (inclusive) [clause 75(2) and (3)]—Delete subclauses (2) and (3)

No. 10. Schedule 1, Part 4, page 81, after line 17—After clause 5 insert:

5A—Amendment of section 267AA—Offence where unlawfully supplied firearm used in subsequent offence

Section 267AA(6), definition of prescribed firearm offence—after 'Firearms Act 1977' insert:

or section 22(2)(a) or 45(9) of the Firearms Act 2015

No. 11. Schedule 1, Part 6, clause 9, page 82, after line 12—Insert:

(5a) Section 20AA(1), definition of serious firearm offence, (f)—delete 'section 10C(10) of the Firearms Act 1977' and substitute:

section 45(9) of the Firearms Act 2015

(5b) Section 20AA(1), definition of serious firearm offence, (g)—delete 'section 14 of the Firearms Act 1977' and substitute:

section 22(2)(a) of the Firearms Act 2015

No. 12. Schedule 1, Part 8, page 83, after line 2—Before clause 14 insert:

13A—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

(1) Section 3(1), definition of ammunition—delete 'Firearms Act 1977' and substitute:

Firearms Act 2015

(2) Section 3(1), definition of firearm—delete 'Firearms Act 1977' and substitute:

Firearms Act 2015

No. 13. Schedule 1, clause 29, page 86, after line 29 [Schedule 1, clause 29(2)]—After paragraph (a) insert:

(ab) no application fee is payable in relation to an application for a licence authorising possession of a firearm, or an application for the registration of a firearm, if the firearm is a firearm within the meaning of this Act but was not a firearm within the meaning of the repealed Act because it was not designed to be carried by hand and—

(i) the applicant was in lawful possession of the firearm before the commencement of this clause; and

(ii) the application is made before the end of the transition period; and

(iii) the Registrar is satisfied that the applicant is—

(A) a museum to which access is permitted to the public, whether for free or on payment of money; or

(B) the RSL or a sub-branch of the RSL; or

(C) a genuine collector of firearms of historical or other significance and genuinely has possession of the firearm for that purpose; and

No. 14. Schedule 1, clause 29, page 86, line 31 [Schedule 1, clause 29(2)(b)]—Delete 'deactivated'

No. 15. Schedule 1, clause 29, page 86, line 32 [Schedule 1, clause 29(2)(b)]—After 'paragraph (a)' insert:

or (ab)

No. 16. Schedule 1, Part 15, page 86, after line 34—After subclause (2) insert

(2a) If an application for a licence, or for the renewal of a licence, to which subclause (2) applies also includes an application for authorisation to possess a firearm that does not fall within the ambit of that subclause, then that subclause does not operate to preclude the requirement for payment of an application fee in respect of the application insofar as it relates to the additional firearm.

No. 17. Schedule 1, clause 29, page 86, line 37 [Schedule 1, clause 29(3), definition of deactivated firearm]—

Delete 'only'

No. 18. Schedule 1, clause 29, page 86, after line 38 [Schedule 1, clause 29(3)]—Insert:

RSL means the Returned & Services League of Australia (S.A. Branch) Incorporated.

Consideration in committee.

Amendment No. 1:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendment No. 1 be disagreed to.

Motion carried.

Amendment No. 2:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendment No. 2 be disagreed to.

We disagree with amendment No. 2 because the amount of ammunition that somebody can keep for up to 12 months—just to explain for the record, that is 12 months from the time the person may have an audit or a visit from the police. So, if the licensee who has the ammunition can satisfy the police that, going forward, it is 12 months, that will satisfy them.

Mr GARDNER: My comment on this is that the amount of live primer or propellant that one might naturally purchase would, in the general order of business, be much more than a 12 months supply for many people. If a person was to be charged for having propellant in excess of 12 months worth, which would be captured by the definition of ammunition under leaving 'propellant' in there, I think it would be useful—if the government is going to disagree with this and if the council is not going to insist on this—to have some comfort that there would not be a circumstance where if somebody was to buy, for example, 5,000 caps but they might only use a handful of those in a year. That is the nature of when you buy these things, that it is in large quantities. So, it would be useful for the minister to provide comfort to the council, I think, that such a person is never going to come under any danger because of the 12-month rule.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: What I can say is that, from time to time, a person may have not used as much, so: this is what they would normally use in a 12-month period, would be a defence. So, if you have used less and therefore have more on hand, all they need to do is explain to the registrar that normally that is their pattern of usage and for whatever reason that pattern of usage is different this particular time.

Mr GARDNER: But if, indeed, the way in which one buys some of these components, which are very small components, is not of a nature to make it reasonable for somebody to only have 12  months supply; for example, if 12 months supply for that person's use would be substantially less than that which is commercially available, then those people will not be caught out.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I can advise the chamber that if that is the only way that item can be purchased the police have a discretion and they will exercise that discretion in those circumstances.

Motion carried.

Amendments Nos 3 to 6:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments Nos 3 to 6 be agreed to.

Mr GARDNER: The opposition also agrees with these amendments, unsurprisingly.

Motion carried.

Amendment No. 7:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendment No. 7 be disagreed to.

We believe that the existing provisions in the SACAT Act do provide for a meaningful review and the review does provide for additional information to be put forward, as required under the SACAT Act. Also, the SACAT Act makes it very clear that any matter has to be considered on its merits and that the tribunal should not have regard for strict legal things and also the base of fairness. Therefore, we disagree and oppose amendment No. 7 because there are sufficient safeguards in the existing provision.

Mr GARDNER: This amendment was obviously proposed by the opposition. We believe it would have been an improvement to the current arrangements. However, it is a merits-based review that SACAT will be doing. It would have been better to have it de novo, but I do not think the Liberal Party is likely to seek that this be insisted on in the Legislative Council.

Motion carried.

Amendment No. 8:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendment be agreed to.

Mr GARDNER: We agree.

Motion carried.

Amendment No 9:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: We disagree with amendment No. 9, but we are happy to accept a modification to it. The case was put by both the Family First Party and the Liberal Party and they have got me to agree to 18 changes in this particular provision. We will propose an alternative.

The ACTING CHAIR (Hon. T.R. Kenyon): Are you moving an amendment to amendment No. 9 or are you moving an alternative amendment?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I have a new amendment.

The ACTING CHAIR (Hon. T.R. Kenyon): So you are moving an alternative amendment?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes, I am moving an alternative amendment, but can we come back to it?

The ACTING CHAIR (Hon. T.R. Kenyon): Perhaps you might postpone consideration of amendment No. 9.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes.

Amendments Nos 10 to 18:

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments Nos 10 to 18 be agreed to.

Mr GARDNER: In talking to amendments Nos 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, I can offer the following information to the house: amendment No. 10 is a government amendment. Obviously when this bill was drafted the firearms offences bill of the Attorney-General had not in fact gone through the house at that time, so amendment No. 10 provides that the new prescribed firearms offences in the Firearms Act that that bill created (the subsidiary offences) are incorporated into this bill as well. Amendment No. 10 really fixed a drafting problem, so is clearly necessary. Amendment No. 11 is the same, as is amendment No. 12.

Amendment No. 13 is an amendment of the Hon. Robert Brokenshire of the Family First Party, which I think goes hand in glove with a number of amendments that the Liberal Party moved in the House of Assembly and which were supported by the government in the House of Assembly, particularly in relation to those firearms that are deactivated or, in this case, some of which the classification of deactivated might be difficult to explain.

The purpose is that a firearm that is not designed to be carried by hand—and we are talking about an old-fashioned canon or a piece of artillery, the sorts of things that are significant collectibles and often in museums or RSLs or, indeed, in private collections—will not have fee applicable to them. These are items that have never caused us any problem at all.

They have never been a regulated item before, but the government has sought to include these items that are not carried by hand under the Firearms Act because I think their intent is to pick up the large semiautomatic or automatic machine guns that might be attached to vehicles, and the view of the government and the police certainly was that it is necessary to regulate those items. In doing so, they have caught up these large items—your cannons, your howitzers—which have never caused a problem.

If they have been purchased from the Defence Force, for example, then the Defence Force renders them incapable of firing a shell, and you cannot buy the shell anyway. They are used on ceremonial occasions. I think that one of my constituents, Mr Ray Carn, owns a number of these items, and he has used his generosity to support the Australian Defence Force in some of their commemorative ceremonies by firing a blank from one of the devices on a formal occasion for the Australian Defence Force. Amendment No. 13 will ensure that they are not so disadvantaged, and that will give comfort to those people.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

Mr GARDNER: I will provide further information, yes; the minister is happy for me to do so as we amate the detail of the last amendment. I think that Robert Brokenshire's amendment is useful. I am glad that the government has agreed to it because it will assist greatly in ensuring that those members of the public who are genuine collectors of firearms of historical or other significance and who generally have possession of the firearm for that purpose will be covered. Members of the public, the people who represent stakeholder groups and who give of their time and effort and their collections to assist the community in such courses of events, will be covered, and that is very good news.

I believe that amendment No. 14 is consequential to amendment No. 13 and so requires no further detailed explanation. Amendment No. 15 looks to me like a consequential amendment as well, dealing as it does with clause 29, which is in relation to the registered firearms to have identifying marks. It appears to be consequential from our having added an extra subparagraph elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 16 is a government amendment, which was moved by the Hon. Gail Gago in the other place. An amendment we had earlier was to ensure that the registration of deactivated firearms did not require an application fee. It was already causing somebody inconvenience, so in the House of Assembly the government accepted that we did not want to charge those people a fee for either their permit or for the licence inasmuch as it pertained to the deactivated firearm.

A number of licensees will hold a licence for one category or another for guns in addition to holding what is the new requirement, a licence for their deactivated guns.

As I understand it, this amendment ensures that they are not precluded from still having to pay their normal gun licence that they would otherwise have, even though the deactivated firearms licence that they will have is going to continue to be free. Amendments Nos 17 and 18 look to me pretty much along the lines of ensuring that RSLs and museums do not have to pay for the deactivated firearm permits that they hold. With that, the opposition also indicates that we support those amendments.

Amendment No. 9:

The CHAIR: You have an alternative amendment?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes. I move:

That the House of Assembly disagree with this amendment made by the Legislative Council and make the following alternative amendment:

Clause 75, page 78, lines 8 to 32 [clause 75(2)]—Delete subclause (2) and substitute:

(2) This section does not apply in relation to a person who is charged with an offence under any of the following provisions:

(a) section 9;

(b) section 19;

(c) section 22;

(d) section 37;

(e) section 45.

Just to put it into context, previously that clause had a number of other exclusions, in fact, another additional 18 exclusions, so we have narrowed the exclusions. We have accepted the strong arguments put by both Family First and the Liberal Party and so the effect is that the general defence will apply with this reduced number of exclusions. While I was not entirely happy, I accept that they made a number of representations on behalf of their constituencies and we reluctantly accept them.

The CHAIR: Were I in my place and able to ask a question, I would ask what they apply to.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Can I just clarify that it should be:

Delete subclauses (2) and (3) and substitute:

(2) This section does not apply in relation to a person who is charged with an offence under the following provisions:

(a) section 9;

(b) section 19;

(c) section 22;

(d) section 37;

(e) section 45.

Mr GARDNER: I will await the confirmation from the Clerk and the Chair, perhaps, that that written-in clarification on the amendment sheet is indeed fine. But to be very clear, subclause (3) in the bill, as it went to the Legislative Council, created a power for the regulations to remove the general defence from offences that are contained within the regulations, and there are a good number of offences that may be dealt with in the regulations, and it is certainly the intent of the Liberal Party to assume that the general defence will cover those that are in the regulations.

The remainder of the amendment provides that offences under sections 9, 19, 22, 37 and 45—and these are matters such as manufacturing, firearms, prohibition orders and the like—are the only ones that are to not be covered by the general defence. While this is a matter that I have not had a chance to double-check with the Family First party in the time since it has been discussed with the minister, I think it significantly improves the government's initial amendment as it went through the House of Assembly. The government has withdrawn 18 sections of offences that would not have been covered by the general defence. The general defence will now cover those 18 sections which is critically important and we are very pleased to see it.

The ACTING CHAIR (Hon. T.R. Kenyon): Perhaps I might be able to indicate to the house and to the member for Morialta that the Clerk has agreed with the minister that the alternative amendments are what the member for Morialta and the minister have agreed.

Mr GARDNER: So is that subclauses (2) and (3)?

The ACTING CHAIR (Hon. T.R. Kenyon): Subclauses (2) and (3) are there.

Motion carried.