Page 4821 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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MADAM SPEAKER: Point of order, Mr Parton?
Mr Parton: The question was specifically about why there has been such a dramatic increase in the frequency of Gambling and Racing Commission inspections at the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club.
MADAM SPEAKER: In response to that, maybe be more concise in the time you have left, minister.
MR RAMSAY: I have nothing more to add.
MS LEE: Minister, did you or your office or your directorate direct the Gambling and Racing Commission to increase the frequency of inspections?
MR RAMSAY: No, I did not. No, my office did not. I will take on notice if there was any communication from the directorate.
Government—firearms amnesty
MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. Minister, in your answer to question on notice 665, you advised that ACT legislation requires firearms to be surrendered exclusively to a police officer during an amnesty, and that this process is contrary to the system in New South Wales. You stated that “in New South Wales, all firearms, firearm parts, ammunition and prohibited weapons could have been surrendered to a participating firearms dealer”.
Minister, given that the ACT is completely surrounded by New South Wales and that the ACT government is often seeking to harmonise firearms laws with New South Wales, have you sought to amend the ACT legislation so that, should we have another firearms amnesty, people can hand their un-needed or unregistered weapons in to firearms dealers as well?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Mrs Jones for her question. It was a very successful amnesty this year, as I have reported to the Assembly. In relation to where people can hand firearms in during an amnesty, we did quite a bit of work with ACT Policing, with firearms dealers in the ACT and with the Firearms Consultative Committee and came up with the advice that it would be better if there were a single point of handover, and that was the ACT Firearms Registry in Mitchell. Some of the reasons for that were that it would be a salient place to deliver the weapons as a safe measure and also that it is a bit out of the way and less embarrassing for some people who have found firearms, perhaps from family inheritances and so on, and do not want to go directly to a public place.
With regard to New South Wales, of course they have different sets of opportunities there. People from the ACT could drive to New South Wales and hand over to dealers if they wanted to. But we said to people in the ACT that the point of repository would be the ACT Firearms Registry, and that is appropriate at this time. If we do another
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