Queensland government to introduce new gun control laws criticised as ‘weakest in Australia’ | Queensland politics

Queensland will have the “weakest gun laws in Australia” after the prime minister refused to impose new restrictions on the number and type of firearms people can own, gun control advocates say.

On Monday, David Crisafulli and police minister Dan Purdie announced what they called the second part of a three-part policy response to the Bondi attacks.

Under the proposed changes, which will be tabled in parliament on Tuesday, only Australian citizens will be able to obtain a gun licence, and Purdie said “there may be some exceptions for sport shooters and businesses.” [and] primary producers”.

He said the restriction would not be retroactive, meaning the reforms would not immediately revoke existing gun licences.

“We are not looking [at] “We are trying to go back and check how many people are in the records and what their citizenship status is,” he said.

“Going forward, once this is enacted and promulgated, if you apply for a licence, then it will come into effect.”

Queensland has rejected a planned national gun buyback sponsored by premier Anthony Albanese.

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It will also not follow New South Wales in setting the maximum number of guns per license holder. Laws passed in NSW on Christmas Eve limit the number of firearms recreational shooters can own to four and farmers to 10, among other changes including a ban on some rapid-fire weapons.

Stephen Bendle, senior advocacy advisor at the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, said the gun control group formed after the Port Arthur massacre was “disappointed” “The Queensland premier has put the demands of the firearms industry ahead of the public safety of the Queensland community,” he said.

“Despite the Prime Minister’s rhetoric, Queensland will have the weakest gun laws in Australia,” he said.

“None of the initiatives announced today do anything to prevent the Bondi or Wieambilla tragedy.

“Firearm safety advocates have had a 45-minute meeting with the government since Bondi. Our calls for national consistency on gun reforms have been ignored. The firearms industry has clearly had the day in Queensland.”

If passed, laws would impose mandatory minimum sentences and increase penalties for drive-by shootings Penalties for stealing firearms and ammunition and arms smuggling will be introduced, and a variety of new offenses designed to discourage the ownership of 3D printed weapons will be created.

It would also close a loophole that the government says prevents police from investigating people planning terrorist attacks.

The laws will allow police to take a person’s criminal record into account when issuing a licence, even if no convictions have been recorded.

Crisafulli has repeatedly said that his priority in drafting the law was to combat anti-Semitism, but that he also intended to make it easier to take firearms from “terrorists and criminals”.

The government will also introduce hate speech legislation that would give the attorney general the power to ban certain slogans, which it says include the pro-Palestinian protest slogan “river to sea.” A new offense would prevent the public distribution, publication, public display or public reading of a prohibited statement in a manner that constitutes a threat, harassment or criminal offense and is punishable by a maximum of two years in prison.

Civil liberties groups and the Greens described the move as “Orwellian” and an attack on free speech.

Greens MP Michael Berkman said: “The government is turning itself into the thought police. If they decide your words are offensive, you can go to jail.” “Is this the kind of democracy we want to experience?”

Terry O’Gorman, vice-chairman of the Queensland Civil Liberties Council, said “banning or criminalizing a slogan simply because it ‘might cause offence’, particularly in situations of public protest, is an affront to the rights of free expression which have been quite properly protected in Queensland since the dark days of the Bjelke-Petersen street march ban in 1977.”

Justice for Palestine is considering a legal challenge to Queensland’s new antisemitism law, according to spokeswoman Remah Naji.

The Prime Minister will announce “part three” of the government’s response to the Bondi attacks on Tuesday.