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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 (Hansard) 16 May) . . Page.. 1396 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

He asks that we delay any action to ban semiautomatic and pump-action rifles and firearms. I think Mr Tully is really asking a bit much. The fact of the matter is that these weapons are in our community at the moment and there is quite clearly a will for them to be prohibited. If Mr Tully wishes to take these issues further, I would suggest that he do so with the consultative body that generally looks at proposals for weapons and firearms in the ACT. I think that asking this Assembly to delay action is probably asking too much.

I believe that it is up to this Territory to remain at the forefront in our quest for a safer and less violent community, and remaining at the forefront involves legislating both appropriately and swiftly when we see the need. I believe that the action the Attorney-General has taken in this matter is appropriate. I was fortunate, together with the Greens, to be able to discuss with the Attorney-General the kind of approach he might take to that Police Ministers Council meeting. We were all agreed that there would be no backdown whatsoever from the ACT, that the present ACT legislation is the minimum standard we should expect for our community, and that the only initiatives Mr Humphries would agree to would be initiatives that added to the restrictions and the stringency of our gun legislation. I am very pleased to see that that was indeed the outcome, and I congratulate Mr Humphries on his stand. I know that the stand of the ACT and one or two other States was crucial to getting agreement at that meeting. I believe that the Territory has been well served by this Minister on this occasion, Mr Speaker.

As I said, Mr Speaker, the Opposition will support this legislation. Indeed, we will support any legislation that is aimed at increasing the safety of our community in the broad and restricts what are extremely dangerous weapons, weapons to which there can be said to be no right whatsoever. I heard those gun lobbyists talking about their freedom, saying that they would fight to maintain their freedom to bear arms. This is no such freedom. To call it a freedom is an illusion. There can be no freedom in a society where you need to bear arms. There is most certainly no freedom for the many people who are terrorised or injured or killed by these weapons on a daily basis, unfortunately. We support the legislation and look forward to the further package of amendments to be brought forward to give effect to the Police Ministers Council meeting.

MS TUCKER (5.00): Mr Speaker, the Greens are also happy to support this Bill, although we believe that we could be taking stronger measures. Weapons of war have no place in civilian life, and that is basically what these weapons that are going to be banned are. Weapons of war should have no place anywhere. However, right now we are focusing on civilian life and the recent disastrous massacre at Port Arthur. Weapons of any kind are a symbol of brutality and are grossly offensive to many people, particularly women. We do not see many women walking the streets with the gun lobby.

Debate interrupted.

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