THE HON MARK DREYFUS KC MP
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
CABINET SECRETARY
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
MEDIA CONFERENCE
IPSWICH
SATURDAY, 27 APRIL 2024
SUBJECTS: National Firearms Register; What Were You Wearing rallies; violence against women; opinion polls; Federal Budget; Queensland youth crime.
MEMBER FOR BLAIR SHAYNE NEUMANN: I’m Shayne Neumann the federal for Blair with my good friend Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney-General, Police Minister Mark Ryan, here in Queensland to make an important announcement. Amongst the highest priorities of any government, state or federal, is community safety and protecting not just the public, but also the brave men and women of our police forces, both state, territory and also federal.
So I'm very pleased today that they’re here in Ipswich. This is another announcement which is a part of a journey of gun reform. Queenslanders know very much what happened. We had a local resident Alan Dare, who was an Ipswich local, who was up there, who was a good neighbor, trying to protect also and doing the right thing. And we saw the tragedy of the deaths of two constables up there. So I’m pleased today that we've got an announcement and Mark will deliver on behalf of the government, backed in, by, of course, the Queensland Minister for Police. So, thank you very much. It's really very important this particular thing and I want to thank the men and women of the Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police for the work they do here in Ipswich to make people safe, they are a tremendous service to the public, and I want to pay tribute to them and express my admiration for our police forces across the country.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL MARK DREYFUS: Thanks very much Shayne and thank you all for being here at Ipswich Police Station. I’m pleased to be here with Shayne, the Member for Blair, the Minister for Police and Corrective Services, Mark Ryan, Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough from the Australian Federal Police and Deputy Commissioner Chris Stream from the Queensland Police Service.
The Albanese Government is committed to keeping the community and our police safe from gun violence. Tomorrow is the 28th anniversary of the murderous rampage at Port Arthur in Tasmania. Following that shocking event Australian Parliaments united to pass some of the most effective gun laws on the world. These are laws which have helped us ensure that we have not experienced a repeat of that terrible day, but there is more to be done. The Albanese Government, in partnership with the Miles Government and with every other state and territory government is committed to completing the law reform that began almost three decades ago. In next month's budget, the Albanese Government will invest $161.3 million over four years to establish the National Firearms Register. The National Firearms Register is the most significant advance in Australia's gun safety regime since the 1996 National Firearms Agreement. This National Firearms Register will help ensure that police know what guns are in the community, where they are and who owns them. It will help keep all Australians, especially police officers, safe from gun violence. Queenslanders don't need reminding why this matters. The terrible events that occurred not too far from here in Wieambilla when four young police officers were fired at from inside a house resulting in the murder of two officers and a neighbour who came to help are catalyst for this reform. The National Firearms Register will connect Commonwealth, state and territory firearms information and share it in near real-time with Police Services across the country. Walter Mikac’s wife Nanette and daughters Alannah and Madeline were murdered at Port Arthur. When the National Cabinet signed off on the National Firearms Register last year, Mr Mikac described it as “the final part of the National Firearms Agreement”. Our nation will never forget the lives lost at Port Arthur, just as we will never forget the lives lost at Wieambilla. I am grateful to the gun safety advocates who worked tirelessly towards this reform. I am also grateful to responsible gun owners who abide laws that keep everyone safe. I'm proud to be part of a national government which has worked with the Queensland Government and all state and territory governments to make this as a very clear reality going forward. Thank you very much.
REPORTER: Attorney-General, a lot of the unions have said that it is a national disgrace that these laws haven't been implemented, it took nearly three decades, why did it take this long?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I think it's fair to say it took three decades because this was a complicated piece of the puzzle. Each state and territory is responsible for their own firearms
laws. Each state and territory has quite different arrangements for registration of firearms licensing and it's taken this long to get all state and territory governments. We put our effort into it, as I said, a catalyst was the shocking events at Wieambilla. I was very pleased when in December last year the National Cabinet agreed on this National Firearms Register and I'm even more pleased today to be making the announcement that in the Budget we will be committing $161.3 million to it. The short answer is complexity of state and federal laws, we get this in a federation quite frequently.
REPORTER: It seems like a lot of money. What will that money actually do? Is that for the people that are required? The technology?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I will give you a break-up. There is $29.4 million for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to build the Register system. There is $30.2 million for other Commonwealth reforms and system upgrades and $101.7 million as a contribution by the Commonwealth to the cost of state and territory reforms and system updates. There is different work that is required in each state, and, yes, it is a lot of money, but it is going to be a very worthwhile outcome.
REPORTER: It might take four years to set up? Why is that?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It’s going to take four years because of the complexity that I mentioned. You have some states that are moving from paper-based systems to digital systems. This will be a digital system. Other states are more advanced and there is a complexity about getting all those systems to talk to each other, there is complexity about the upgrades that we need.
REPORTER: Are you worried about cases slipping through the cracks in those four years?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: This isn't so much a case system as a system to keep our officers and the whole community safe from gun violence. It is going to improve the level of near real-time information so that when officers are standing at the top of the driveway wondering what they are going to face when they go down that driveway to a house that they don't know, they are going to be much better informed in the future because this near real-time system will tell them what guns are likely to be in that house, are there licensed firearms owners in that house. That's very important.
REPORTER: With inefficiencies in the system, do you worry there are more guns out there than you know about?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We've done a fantastic job here in Australia in reducing the number of guns in circulation. That has included reducing the number of unlicensed firearms and illegal firearms in circulation. We now have a Permanent Amnesty in place at the federal level which is further reducing those numbers. We've got, I think, relatively low levels of gun ownership compared to some other Western countries, notably the United States, and we've got a lower level of illegal firearms in Australia than many other Western countries. There is more to be done, but I'm very proud of the licensing system that we have in Australia. This system, the National Firearms Register, is going to improve all of that information.
REPORTER: How will it pick up illegal guns, though, because surely there will be guns out there that we don't know about, that police don't know about it?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I frankly admit to you that it will not pick up illegal guns in Australia. That's why we have gun amnesties, that’s why we work at reducing the number of firearms in circulation. That's why we encourage people when they find in the attic of the home they've just bought or in the attic of an older person's home who has died, they find a firearm that nobody knew about, we have an amnesty system that encourages those guns to be handed in. There are very severe penalties for having an unlicensed firearm in Australia. Most gun owners are overwhelmingly responsible and I thank all of those responsible gun owners in Australia for their conduct. But it is a problem, this problem of illegal firearms is one which all police forces work at constantly and we are trying to doing something about it.
REPORTER: In the four years while it is being set-up, what will be put in place to make sure a Wieambilla situation doesn't happen again? Is there information-sharing between departments? It seems like that is what let down the officers on that day.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We have already got a national criminal intelligence system which, in the last couple of years, has come online and dramatically improved the sharing of information between Australia's police forces and criminal intelligence systems so that officers are now much more well informed. But this is, if you like, a last piece in the puzzle of a National Firearms agreement. We need to make sure that officers, when they are on duty, have the ability to find out what firearms are going to be at the scene that they are about to attend. That is why we are committing this $161.3 million. Yes, it is going to take four years to get it fully set up and running, but it will be a very, very worthwhile thing once it is set up and running.
REPORTER: Is it your understanding that had this been set up years prior that the Wieambilla situation may not have eventuated? I believe it is the case that Daniel Train had a suspended licence in New South Wales but was able to legally purchase ammunition here in Queensland.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It is that precise situation that this National Firearms Register is designed to address, so that you won't be able to escape the notice of a police force in one state by purchasing firearms in another state or being licensed in another state or purchasing ammunition in another state. This register will ensure that that information is available to police in all states, and it will link to the licensing system.
REPORTER: Are there other areas in this space that need regulation of certain weapons?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Well, regulation of certain weapons is an ongoing issue. Did you want to saying is about that, regulation of certain weapons – I will hand to Mark to saying is about it at the state level, but we have import controls on a whole range of weapons. That's the federal end of firearms regulation in this country, and there are different state regimes applying to different kinds of weapons in each state and territory. But again, I’d say we've done very well in this country in reducing both the number of illegal weapons and the number of licensed weapons in this country which, I think, is helping to keep our communities safe.
REPORTER: Attorney-General, there are rallies across the country because of the situation with women facing murders every week. It seems like the public has been exasperated that the government can't do enough to protect women. What what's your message in response to that when we keep saying these horrific cases?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: These rallies reflect a very high level of community distress about the number of women who are dying, who are being murdered at the hands of those who profess to love them. I spoke about this at a Family Court conference on family violence last week. And as I said, we have in this country an epidemic of male violence and we all need to step up. We need to do more about it. What these rallies are about are reflecting that level of community distress. The Prime Minister plans to attend one of these rallies tomorrow and I plan to attend one of these rallies in Melbourne that is going to be held tomorrow and I understand that a number of my federal colleagues are planning to do the same thing because we stand with the community in standing against male violence. We want to see more done about it. We've committed some $2.3 billion in measures since we've come to office. We have a National Plan to counter violence against women. We've got a whole range of measures, I have commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission to look at justice system responses to sexual violence. We've established paid leave for family violence reasons. We’ve got a whole range of measures directed at prevention. I've worked with state and territory Attorneys-General on principals of coercive control and I could go on, but we know more needs to be done, and in part it is about men stepping up. That's what I said in my speech last week, I'm going to keep saying it: men need to step up. Men need to talk to their sons, to their brothers, to their colleagues at work and try to work together. It cannot be left to women to do something about this.
REPORTER: Why do you think the message isn't getting through to men?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I wouldn't say that the message isn't getting through. I used to be a barrister a long time ago and I can say that there's been a step change in the way we talk about issues of family violence, the way we are trying as a community to do more about this. So I don't think it's true to say that we haven't had change, but what I'm saying is that more needs to be done on this. We've got to do even more than we have been doing because we are seeing in the fact that this year one woman has been murdered every four days. That is a shocking statistic. One death is too many, one murder is too many, and that's telling us that we have to do more.
REPORTER: Some would argue that a lot of the laws and restrictions in place restrict the women and not enough being placed on the perpetrators themselves?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: One of the things we need to look at is whether or not the current arrangements we've got for things like apprehended violence orders, domestic violence orders that seek to restrict potential perpetrators are in fact enough, are the right measure. And we've seen some shocking examples in recent weeks of men who had already been identified as perpetrators, who had already been accused of or charged with, offences against the woman that they ended up murdering. We've got to have another think, I think, about how to get better restraint on that kind of perpetrator once they have been identified.
REPORTER: Attorney-General, are you troubled by poll results which show that Peter Dutton is more popular in Queensland than the Prime Minister?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I'm not going to comment on polls. We are a government that is absolutely committed to doing more about reducing the cost of living, more about measures in our Budget that will deal with this. We've got tax cuts coming in on 1st July which is going to make a tremendous contribution. That’s the things I'm focused on. I've been working on the Budget that will be announced in the second week of May.
REPORTER: Maybe that is not resonating with voters, though, as they are leaning towards the Opposition?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I'm not going to comment on polls.
REPORTER: But how important is it for the Albanese Government to make inroads in Queensland for re-election next year?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It's obviously important for the Albanese Government when the next election comes to seek to win more seats in Queensland and we are aiming to do just that.
REPORTER: On domestic violence quickly. We've seen support services and [inaudible], is there going to be more funding in the budget?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I will leave it to the Budget. I'm not going to make more pre-budget announcements than the one I'm already making today about the National Firearms Register. But I think people have seen, since we came to office in 2022, our level of commitment to doing more on family violence, our level of commitment to the National Plan, to working on every single aspect of this that is within the reach of the Federal Government. And I mention again the National Principles of Coercive Control, the law reform inquiry that I've set up into justice responses to sexual violence, all of the measures about prevention that we have already established and we aim to continue with that work. We aim to continue working with states and territory governments on this.
REPORTER: Would you consider a federal royal commission?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: This is a matter for cooperation, for working together with state and territory governments, and I've personally already established an inquiry that the Law Reform Commission will complete, it’s a pretty short, sharp inquiry being conducted by Judge Liesl Kudelka from the District Court in South Australia and Marcia Neave, very eminent Australian lawyer in South Australia, I'm looking forward to what they've got to say.
REPORTER: Would you consider paying superannuation payments for carers, the way that the government is going to pay superannuation on parental leave, carers who look after loved ones say they're also missing out on having that superannuation benefit while they're on their support, would you consider it?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am not going to step into the Treasurer's turf, particularly at a time when we've just been sitting in the Expenditure Review Committee of Cabinet for weeks and weeks and weeks. Our Budget will be committed to reducing the cost of living for all Australians.
REPORTER: So is that a no to the royal commission question?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I've said that we think that the question of violence against women is one that has to be dealt with by cooperation between federal government working with state and territory governments and I think we have actually identified a whole range of actions already that need to be taken. And I think what we probably can say is that we need to be working harder on the kinds of actions that have already been identified.
REPORTER: Just a quick question on polling to the Minister, the Premier said it was likely the Government would lose the election, what do you think about those comments?
QLD POLICE MINISTER MARK RYAN: I think the Premier has always been upfront about the challenge for the next election. We know it's going to be a tough election, we've said as much. And when it comes to numbers, the numbers that we care about are the numbers that make a difference for Queenslanders and things like the number of extra police we’re employing, like the number of hospitals that were opening was the number of nurses and teachers that were employing. And those numbers are important, because with those numbers, we increase them, LNP cuts them. If they were elected at the last election, the number that we need to be reminded about is 1000. That’s how many police they would have cut. So we'll fight every single day for what we believe is right, which is of course community safety, health, schools cost of living. The LNP needs to be transparent about their plans, and if they're going to be the government of Queensland, they need to put their plans on the table. Because all we've got to go by is what they promised last time, which was cuts.
REPORTER: Minister, what do you think of the gun amnesty, do you think that would have made a difference for the officers?
RYAN: The gun register?
REPORTER: Yes.
RYAN: We've got a coronial process which is going on in respective to Wieambilla and you know, no Queenslanders heart will ever heal when it comes to Wieambilla, just like with Port Arthur, our hearts will be forever broken. This is about an investment in community safety, the National Firearms Register. I commend the Attorney-General for this leadership. Queensland put this on the agenda. We raised it following Wieambilla, Mark took this under his wing. And now we are delivering legacy reform which will forever make Australia and Queensland a safer place. So I commend the Attorney for getting the money for the Federal Government's contribution towards the National Firearms Register. Queensland’s committed our money. I think we were actually the first jurisdiction to commit our money. But that is a big investment in community safety and it is one that we would hope will potentially avoid tragedies in the future.
REPORTER: On youth crime quickly, would you consider removing detention as a last resort before the election?
RYAN: We’re considering the select committee’s recommendations. The premier has been very upfront about that, we've announced some legislative reforms already. Allow us to go through the process of considering that report and we'll make further announcements.
ENDS
