Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) — I rise to contribute to the debate on the Firearms Amendment (Trafficking and Other Measures) Bill 2015. I will touch on the comments made by the member for Frankston, who spoke about not going down the same path as the US, as I will focus a large portion of my contribution on exactly that.

Before I go to the bill I point out that I think it is critical that state and federal governments in Australia limit the prevalence and use of firearms in the community. As we have just heard from the member for Frankston, members will be well aware of the high incidence of gun deaths in the United States. I love statistics, but the statistics in this situation are absolutely frightening. The ABC reported that:

The United States has the highest rate of private gun ownership of any developed nation, at nearly 89 firearms per 100 people. It also leads overwhelmingly in the number of firearm deaths.

For every 1 million Americans, there are 29.7 homicides by firearm each year, the Human Development Index reported.

Switzerland, the nation with the next highest rate, has 7.7 firearm homicides per million people, while Australia, which saw its gun death rate plunge by more than half since 1996 when it tightened gun laws, has just 1.4 firearm homicides per million.

There is no doubt in my mind and no doubt in the minds of members in the house tonight that taking guns off the street and limiting the sale, use and availability of guns significantly reduces injury and death within our community.

The ABC also reported that:

US mass shootings occur with devastating frequency. According to the Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been 248 mass shootings in the 238 days of 2015.

That number is devastating and very frightening. While the US constitution’s second amendment enshrines the right to bear arms, laws on possession and purchase of firearms vary from state to state. Members know that the US constitution provides the right to bear arms, and it is generally accepted that over the past 30 years we have seen gun laws across the United States easing rather than tightening. That in itself is extremely concerning.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has spent millions of dollars in successful efforts to help roll back dozens of gun restrictions since 2009. It is hard to believe that there are those such as members of the NRA who still believe the right to carry a gun or a weapon trumps the right of the community to feel safe. That goes to the absolute heart of this argument: you should be able to walk down the street, go to school, go to work, be on the train and enjoy your weekends free of fear of harm. You should not have to worry that the person sitting next to you may have a concealed weapon or, in many cases, especially in the US, a weapon that is not concealed.

In Victoria we have seen a rise in the discovery of guns by police, with reports that guns are being found in cars every two days in Melbourne’s north-west. According to the Age, police in the north-west have reported firearm-related incidents, such as drive-by shootings, every six days; an increasing trend of children as young as 16 carrying guns; regularly finding guns in cars, including sawn-off shotguns and automatic machine guns, during routine car intercepts; and guns stolen from rural homes being used in violent crime. When you ask police what the most dangerous part of their job is often they will say it is randomly pulling people over on the road because you never know who you are going to get and what is going to be in their car.

The Australian Crime Commission estimated that in 2012 there were 260 000 firearms on the illicit market. Many of the guns on the black market were never handed in when the national firearms agreement was established in 1996 following the devastating Port Arthur massacre. This is all extremely concerning, and the government is responding with this legislation, which will lower the trafficable quantity of unregistered firearms from 10 to 3 over a 12-year period, reverse the onus under which a person is taken to be in possession of a firearm found on a premises or in a vehicle, create a new offence for the unlawful manufacture of firearms and introduce an offence of theft of a firearm in the Crimes Act 1958 with an increased maximum penalty of 15 years jail. The government has worked closely with a range of groups on this bill, including Victoria Police and the Police Association of Victoria. We also welcome the contribution of the Shooters and Fishers Party to these discussions.

If we are looking specifically at the deemed possession provision — and the member for Frankston certainly outlined this very clearly in his contribution — we are looking at amending the definition of ‘evidence of possession’ in section 145 of the Firearms Act 1996. The amended provision will shift the focus away from a person’s relationship with the firearm to their relationship with the premises or vehicle where a firearm is located.

Once again, when you are speaking to police — I have some terrific police in my community who do a wonderful job day in and day out, often putting their lives on the line for ours — you realise that they need to be supported in what they do. The police need to be assisted with legislation that is practical and that enables them to enforce the law in the way it is intended to be enforced. One of the key objectives of the deeming provision is to overcome problems encountered by the police in dealing with serious and organised crime. The provision has been specifically sought by Victoria Police in order to deal with unregistered firearms that are found largely in the possession of or on the premises of serious organised crime groups, such as bikie gangs. Victoria Police has dealt with scenarios in which firearms were found on premises and in vehicles but of which all gang members denied knowledge.

It should also be noted that it is extremely important that the bill address the unlawful manufacturing of firearms, which potentially leads to unregistered and unlawful firearms spreading throughout the community. A new offence will be created for a person who is not a licensed firearms dealer and is involved in the illegal manufacture of firearms and firearms parts. It will carry a penalty ranging from 600 penalty units or five years imprisonment for the illegal manufacturing of category A or category B firearms or paintball markers to 1200 penalty units or 10 years imprisonment for illegally manufacturing the more restrictive category C, D or E firearms.

This bill is extremely important to ensure that the government is assisting police and emergency services authorities in doing the very important job of keeping our community safe. The responsibility of state and federal governments is first and foremost to make sure that our communities are safe and that people feel protected and able to go about their daily lives without being concerned about firearms. Will this remove every illegal firearm from the streets? No, it will not, but what we know is that this bill goes a long way to making sure that these laws are tightened up and that those who do the wrong thing will be adequately punished. It is a very important bill, and I commend it to the house.