Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I have the great advantage when I am questioned by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about gun regulation in Australia of actually knowing something about the subject matter. That does give me a great advantage in this matter. The premise of her question is completely and utterly false. The idea that this government in any way, shape or form did what she is alleging—somehow traded on gun laws—is completely and utterly false. I already set out in the House on Tuesday exactly what has happened here. It was a very simple process that resulted in a conversation between the then government and Senator Leyonhjelm. We put a sunset clause on a regulation that restricted the import of lever-action shotguns with a capacity of over five rounds, and we did that at his request as part of a conversation that we were having with him. I had hoped that we would have concluded the negotiations with the states, which actually have responsibility for classifying guns in Australia, during that 12-month period. There was no understanding with anybody, including Senator Leyonhjelm, that the government would do anything other than extend that ban if that agreement had not been put in place. Indeed, I can read you the specific words from the regulation that we passed through the Senate on 7 August 2015. The regulation said:

… a temporary prohibition on the importation of those firearms is being put in place. This is an interim measure until the review and update of the National Firearms Agreement are completed.

And we used very similar language when we renewed that regulation, when that sunset clause came into effect 12 months later.

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