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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-26 Daily Xml
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Firearms (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 14 October 2021.)

The Hon. C. BONAROS (18:11): I rise to speak in support of the Firearms (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2021. As members and the public know, SA-Best strongly supports any initiative that improves public safety. Proof of that are the changes we successfully advocated for recently to the Coroners Act that ensure the Coroner's recommendations are acted and reported upon.

I use that as the example because this bill arises from two catalysts. Firstly, the 2017 Coroner's recommendations into the tragic death of young Lewis McPherson, a young 18-year-old person who was tragically shot dead as he was walking to a party with mates on New Year's Eve in 2012 in suburban Warradale.

As we have done previously, I again offer my condolences to Mark and Kim McPherson. I do not think that any of us can begin to imagine their loss and their extended family's loss and the pain that they have had to endure since his passing. I just hope they get some small comfort from seeing laws that could have prevented their son's death passed by this parliament.

The Coroner was very clear—unequivocal, in fact—when he said, and I quote, 'The court is of the opinion that Lewis McPherson's death could and should have been prevented.' The coronial recommendations relate to the provisions in the bill that impose greater penalties for aggravated offences and redefine aggravated circumstances to include when the person to whom a firearm was supplied is under the age of 18.

An aggravated offence will now attract higher penalties from $50,000 or imprisonment of 10 years up to $100,000 or imprisonment for 20 years, dependent on the category of firearm. Of course, it is difficult to measure the deterrent effects of such laws, but we must do all we can to ensure children and youths under the age of 18 are not able to get hold of these firearms in the first place.

We need to ensure that youths like Liam Humbles, high on alcohol and drugs, cannot be in possession of a gun, a gun he fired twice before in highly dangerous and irresponsible circumstances and one he ultimately, and senselessly, used again to take the life of a young man with the rest of his life ahead of him.

As the Coroner said in his 2017 inquest findings, the commission of an offence with an illegally supplied handgun could hardly be regarded as an unexpected consequence of its supply. The Coroner also sought to close a loophole whereby sentences could be served concurrently and now the offence of supplying each firearm and/or providing the ammunition will be served cumulatively.

I cannot explain why it has taken four years for this government to act on those recommendations. Maybe the government can shed some light on that, but I can say better late than never and I am very pleased that we have finally implemented all the recommendations of the Coroner in relation to that matter. It just goes to highlight and demonstrate, again, the importance of the Coroner's jurisdiction in this state as it relates to making very important recommendations and of course the implementation of those recommendations.

The second driver of this bill is the National Firearms Agreement, to which all states are signed up. We welcome the amendments arising from that agreement, which involves re-categorising lever action shotguns from category A to either category B if the gun has a capacity of five rounds or less, or category D if it has a capacity of more than five rounds.

I am particularly pleased that this means all lever action shotguns will be subject to more stringent licence conditions, including the need to have a genuine need and purpose to have the gun. I know I am going to upset our primary producer friends, but outside of that I find it absolutely amazing that people could actually be in possession of these sorts of guns full stop.

It is my understanding that no such restriction currently exists for category A firearms. This means that sporting shooters, hunters, farmers and others with a genuine purpose and need for these lever action shotguns will still be able to own and use the guns as they are intended. SAPOL assures me it has undertaken extensive consultation with the estimated 3,500 registered owners of these firearms, and it has a transition strategy with grandfathering provisions to ensure current owners are not unfairly disadvantaged.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank SAPOL for its very comprehensive briefing. I was particularly pleased to confirm there is a permanent gun amnesty that we have in South Australia whereby anyone can surrender a firearm, licensed or unlicensed, to their local police station with no penalty or fear of being charged with an offence in relation to having that firearm in your possession, or indeed to actually seek to become registered if you have come into possession of one of those things via, for instance, a deceased estate.

I was at the local police station recently and I saw this play out in front of my eyes, where somebody came in and said that they had a gun to hand in to the police station and explained that it was the result of their father's deceased estate. They had cleaned the property and a firearm had been found. Knowing that you can go to the police and hand that in without fear of doing anything wrong but more importantly also ensuring that that firearm does not fall into the wrong hands is critical and I think something that we are all very grateful for.

I sincerely hope that people, like the gentleman that I saw that day handing in that firearm, continue to hand in firearms, and I would like to see continued promotion of this option. I was also very pleased to hear that a wide range of primary and secondary healthcare professionals and other child protection mandatory reporters diligently report individuals they believe should not be in possession of a firearm to a centralised area of SAPOL, which quickly responds to ensure the public's safety.

The advice we have from SAPOL is that those figures are actually quite high in terms of the reports they get. Obviously, the person reporting does not know whether the person has a firearms licence for not, but a healthcare professional is well placed to have some appreciation of whether someone poses a danger, and those reports are a very important tool in terms of keeping our community safe and keeping firearms out of the wrong hands.

While we congratulate ourselves in Australia for our effective gun control measures compared with highly unregulated countries such as the US, we can never be complacent about guns falling into the wrong hands. I have spoken about that at length in this place. In fact, I was criticised for speaking about that at length in this place during the COVID pandemic last year. We need to make sure the life of someone like Lewis McPherson is not so tragically cut short in such a horrific manner and that no other parent loses a loved and cherished child, as the McPhersons did.

The measures in this bill go some way towards improving these protections by implementing those recommendations of the Coroner and of course implementing the other measures which are in line with our federal responsibilities under the agreement that we have signed up to. With those words, I commend the bill to the council and hope it passes very swiftly.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (18:19): Thank you to the Hon. Ms Bonaros for speaking first. I rise to speak on the Firearms (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2021. It is important to put on the record, as the shadow minister in the other place has, the Labor Party's position on firearms so that no-one has any doubt. It is our position that public safety and the safety of the community are absolutely paramount. Any support for law changes comes on the back of that one principle, and that being public safety.

However, across the state there are thousands of responsible gun owners, gun owners who also believe that public safety is central to responsible firearms policy, who use guns for legitimate reasons to maintain public safety, such as police and security officers as well as those who use them for recreational sporting and hunting purposes, and so on. The Labor Party supports all of these legitimate and responsible uses.

This bill has arisen out of two catalyst circumstances. The first is the tragic murder of Lewis McPherson in 2012 and the finding of the coronial inquest into his death. I am aware that the family of Lewis McPherson are very keen to see the recommendations outlined in the inquest enacted in order to save other young lives. This bill will do just that.

The second catalyst is the National Firearms Agreement, which all states are either in the process of signing up to or willing to very soon. The report of the McPherson inquest lays out the reasons for some of the amendments to this bill, which relate to public safety, particularly the safety of young people in this state. The increasing rates of young people engaging in violent acts and the unsettling reality of the increased use of firearms in these acts is a growing concern and one that is actually hard to believe. I would like to share with you from the inquest report:

Lewis Mike McPherson was 18 years of age when he met his death on the evening of 31 December 2012. As he walked with his two male companions in Sixth Avenue, Warradale he was shot once to the chest with a projectile from a small calibre handgun. People in the street rendered assistance. Ambulance officers arrived at the scene. By then Lewis McPherson was unresponsive, with absent pulse and respiration. Resuscitative measures were administered at the scene by ambulance officers. He was transported to the Flinders Medical Centre Emergency Department where resuscitation efforts continued but which were ultimately unsuccessful. Lewis McPherson's life was certified extinct at 8.50pm that evening.

This is an important point:

The gun and ammunition that (was used) to shoot and kill Lewis McPherson had been (the) possession (of the perpetrator) for some time. As a person under the age of 18, he was not lawfully permitted to possess the firearm. Prior to the shooting (the perpetrator) had irresponsibly caused the weapon to discharge on two occasions of which the Court is aware, one time in a public car park and the other inside a house.

The bill specifically addresses the alarming findings of the inquest: the age of the offender. He had ready access to a firearm at the age of just 17. The bill amends section 22 of the Firearms Act by imposing greater penalties for aggravated offences. It redefines an aggravated offence as circumstances in which it has been proven that the person to whom the firearm was supplied was a person under the age of 18 years.

This parliament must make it clear to the community that we do not want to see firearms unlawfully in the hands of young people. As well as these aggravated offences for supplying firearms to minors, the inquest also supports the introduction of requirements upon courts to impose sentences for certain offences relating to unlawful possession, use and acquisition of firearms and ammunition.

Out of the National Firearms Agreement currently being enacted or signed up to by all other states, this bill has reclassified lever action shotguns. Those weapons with a capacity of five rounds or less will be category B firearms and those with a capacity of more than five rounds will be category D firearms. I am told they are currently classed as category A firearms.

As stated by the shadow minister in the other place, police have advised that the tests to register a category B firearm or a category D firearm—that is, the 'fit and proper person' test and the 'reason for use' test—are far more stringent than those for category A firearms. This means that new classifications put lever action shotguns in the same category as pump action shotguns.

I am grateful for the consultation of the police, the work done by the coronial inquest and the advocacy of Lewis McPherson's family. This bill increases public safety, maintains a strong regime against criminal use and supports the legitimate and responsible use of firearms in our community. The opposition supports this bill.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. D.G.E. Hood.

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