FIREARMS (FIREARMS PROHIBITION ORDERS) AMENDMENT BILL

Final Stages

Consideration in committee of the House of Assembly's message.

Amendment No. 1:

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I move:

That the House of Assembly's amendment No. 1 be agreed to.

This is a technical amendment. It was moved by the government in another place. Clause 27 of the bill inserts new 26C into the Firearms Act. As passed by the council, 26C(1)(a) provided that a person aggrieved by the decision of the Firearms Review Committee to affirm a decision of the Registrar with a right of appeal against the committee's decision. In reality, the aggrieved person is appealing against the decision of the Registrar who makes the substantive decision about the licence and not the committee. That merely affirms the Registrar's substantive decision. The Registrar should be a party to any proceedings before the District Court. Amendment No. 1 amends proposed section 1A to reflect this, so it is a technical amendment correcting a drafting error that was picked up in the House of Assembly.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I indicate that the opposition supports the amendment that we have received from the House of Assembly. I have looked at the information provided and it is a technical amendment that corrects an anomaly, and we are happy to support it.

Motion carried.