Amnesty is supported by the Nationals and would target black market and increase penalties for gun smuggling

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The Turnbull government will begin a national gun amnesty after a wave of gun-related crime across the country. It also plans to increase penalties for gun smuggling.

The justice minister, Michael Keenan, said the gun amnesty had the support of the Nationals and would allow Australians to hand in illegal guns without penalty. It would not be a buyback.

He said the details of the amnesty were yet to be worked out but had in-principle support from his state and territory colleagues.

“Everybody is on board with this because there’s no one in the Coalition who wants to see more illegal guns on the streets,” Keenan said on Wednesday.

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“This isn’t about targeting people who legally own firearms. This is about targeting the grey market, the black market for guns and getting guns that are not registered or held properly off our streets.”

State and federal ministers have requested a gun amnesty after an increase in violent, gun-related crime, particularly in Victoria.

Shootings have become a weekly occurrence in Melbourne and gun-related crime has doubled since 2011, according to reports.

There have been three national gun amnesties since 1988, according to Philip Alpers and Amélie Rossetti, from the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney.

The Turnbull government will also introduce legislation to parliament this week to double the maximum penalties for gun smuggling to 20 years in prison, and for mandatory minimum sentencing of five years for those who are convicted of gun smuggling.

The Coalition has tried to introduce five-year mandatory minimum sentences for gun smuggling in the past but its attempts have been blocked by Labor. The increased penalties will honour an election commitment.

The Law Council of Australia says it supports the plan to double the maximum prison time to 20 years.

But it criticised the government’s proposal to introduce five-year mandatory minimum sentences, warning it would be counterproductive.

“Mandatory sentencing is likely to lead to unjust punishment by forcing courts to apply a rigid standard without regard to the particular circumstances of a case,” council president, Stuart Clark, said.

“Judicial discretion is a core principle of our justice system for a very good reason. The world is complex and judges need to be able to adapt their sentence to the circumstances of an individual case,” Clark said.

Keenan said the increased penalties were not a concession that Australia’s firearm laws needed to be tightened. He said the National Firearms Agreement was working well, so there was no need to restrict further what type of guns can legally be owned.

“They work exceptionally well and of course they’ve been very successful over the past 20 years since that terrible massacre in Port Arthur in keeping us safe,” he said.

“We have some of the strictest gun ownership laws in the world and the results of that are very clear for all Australians to see. That’s something we’ll continue to maintain while we’re in government.”

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The former prime minister John Howard – who introduced a sweeping package of gun restrictions after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – warned earlier this year that existing gun laws ought to be strengthened. He also said firearms amnesties worked best when they were “done nationally”.

Keenan said the government’s legislation to increase penalties for gun smuggling was not connected to the National Firearms Agreement.

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation – which was founded by Walter Mikac after his children Alannah, 6, Madeline, 3, and their mother, Nanette Mikac, were killed in the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 – has welcomed the amnesty.

“We support any measure that potentially reduces the death rate due to firearms,” the foundation’s chief executive, Lesley Podesta, said. “Reducing the number of firearms in the community – particularly illegal firearms – does reduce the potential for firearm deaths.

“The Australian community cannot get complacent about this [gun control] – for people to feel that it’s all done and fixed”

Podesta said the foundation would continue its campaign urging state and territory governments to strengthen their respective gun legislations. He also called for ongoing community education about the purposes of the amnesty as well as more information on gun safety.

