Government announces forward steps on gun reform and backward steps on protest
The Minns Labor Government has announced details on proposed reforms to curb gun violence and to prohibit peaceful assemblies in NSW.
Sue Higginson, NSW Greens MP and Spokesperson for Justice, said:
“Along with so many right now, I welcome with relief the Government’s announcement on nation-leading limits on gun ownership per person, the restriction on pull/pump action and button/lever release guns and the removal of legal loopholes including NCAT appeals for firearms licences. These are measures that gun safety advocates and experts have been calling for over years,
“There is a wealth of long-standing evidence on what it takes to curb gun violence and to reduce illegitimate gun ownership, and now is the time to lead and take action,
“I have not yet seen the legislation, but the reforms announced are a big step in the right direction and the Greens will work with the Government to progress these gun reforms through the recalled Parliament next week,
“I am utterly dismayed at the choice of the Minns Government to pursue unprecedented attacks on our democracy at this moment by proposing the most radical limits on peaceful assemblies in Australia’s history,
“The new regime is unlike anything ever seen. The Police with a tick from the Minister will be able to declare Public Assembly Restriction Areas, and the police will have a new excessive power to move people on from these areas. Under the regime police will be able to refuse an assembly authorisation application,
“Conflating the right to peaceful public assembly with the horrors of the antisemitic killings that we are all reeling from in Bondi is dangerous and divisive. To do this in this moment, when we should be proceeding in unity and calm is not leadership. Restricting the civil liberties of all Australians due to the actions of two depraved terrorists with guns is not conducive to social cohesion,
“It was alarming to hear Premier Chris Minns suggest that the March for Humanity over the Sydney Harbour Bridge had anything to do with the horrendous mass shooting at Bondi. The March for Humanity was some 300,000 good Australians coming together in the pouring rain to tell the world they would not sit by and watch the Israeli Government continue to kill and starve innocent men, women and children in Gaza - we must not forget that. The Premier can not rewrite history,
“I sincerely hope the Government and MPs across the Parliament will realise that once again the Minns Cabinet is engaging in authoritarian overreach, and again they are likely breaching the constitutional freedom of political communication. If the Government is hell bent on passing these draconian measures, the Parliament should make them a temporary measure, which will mean if these ill-conceived anti-protest laws are rushed through they can be immediately reassessed,
“The hate-fuelled antisemitic killings on our beach at Bondi must never happen again. It is so important for lawmakers to be unified and measured,” Ms Higginson said.