The LNP has confirmed that it won’t be supporting the Katter’s Australian Party disallowance motion in parliament tonight, which aims to prevent the ALP’s proposed changes to the categorisation of lever action shotguns in Queensland from becoming law.
As reported by the Queensland Country Life, the Palaszczuk government has announced plans to restrict access to high capacity lever action shotguns.
Lever action shotguns with a capacity of five or fewer round will be transferred from category A to category B, and those able to hold more than five rounds will move to the virtually inaccessible category D.
This is in line with a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) resolution last December, which Katter’s Australian Party MPs Rob Katter and Shane Knuth vowed to oppose when it came before the Queensland Parliament.
The LNP said on Wednesday afternoon that law-abiding firearm owners will still have full access to the weapons required for day-to-day management of their properties despite the proposed ALP changes.
“In fact, firearm owners can still access the Adler, its category is just being reclassified,” a spokesman said.
“The Queensland LNP will continue to back former Prime Minister John Howard’s sensible gun laws.
“It is for this reason that we will not be supporting tonight’s disallowance motion, which is nothing more than a political stunt by the Katter’s Australian Party who are desperate to distance themselves from a Labor Party they have faithfully served for the past three years.”
The Shooting Industry Foundation Australia had called on Queensland MPs to “stand up for rules that meet Queenslanders’ standards and to send Labor back to the drawing board on firearms policy” and vote in support of the KAP disallowance motion.
Industry spokeswoman, Laura Patterson, described it as an opportunity for the LNP to stand up for their own newly minted policy, saying many were watching with great interest.
An open letter from the peak body to Queensland MPs stated that Queensland would soon be the first state in Australia to hold an election since the National Firearms Agreement 2017, which it saw as an opportunity to test community sentiment on the government’s changes to gun laws.
”In the view of Australian firearms industry experts, Queensland Labor’s new rules defy the logic of the National Firearms Agreement and independent research shows Queensland Labor’s new rules will not deliver the firearms laws Queenslanders desire,” the letter said.
According to SIFA, the research shows:
- Queensland voters want regulations that are practical and pragmatic
- 84% want police resources spent on criminal activities, not increased paperwork
- 12% will swing their vote to minor parties and independents in protest against major party support for greater firearms restrictions.
“Contrary to the clear expectation of voters, Queensland Labor’s new rules are impractical and counter-intuitive, focus law enforcement resources on red tape not illegal activity and may stimulate protest votes at the upcoming state election,” the letter said.