O'Connor DamienARMS (LICENCE HOLDERS' APPLICATIONS FOR NEW LICENCES) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingHon DAMIEN O'CONNOR (Minister of Agriculture) on behalf of the Minister of Police: I present a legislative statement on the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Barbara Kuriger): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website. Hon DAMIEN O'CONNOR: I move That the Arms (Licence Holders' Applications for New Licences) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. The delay in processing licence applications is a great concern to the firearms community and this bill puts in place new measures that will ensure that firearms licences remain current while the police are processing a new application. This bill takes action to ensure that existing licence holders can continue to possess and use firearms. It also includes two minor amendments: to ensure that the commencement date is set from the issue date when a new licence is issued after the expiry date of the previous licence and the final change is to enable police to issue electronic notices outside of the registry. The bill was first tabled in the House on 3 November and it passed its first reading with cross-party support on 8 November. Firstly I'd like to thank the Justice Committee for the way they dealt expeditiously with this bill. They have worked hard under a very tight one-week time frame and have made suggestions to improve the quality of the bill. I want to also thank the 143 submitters who took time out of their busy lives to participate in the democratic process within 24 hours of this bill passing its first reading. Your feedback has been taken on board for both the bill and the implementation. The Justice Committee also considered revisions which are incorporated in the revised bill before us today. There is nothing in the amendments that have been made that would change the cross-party support evidenced at the first reading on Tuesday 8 November. Many submitters raised concerns about the police's ability to process licence applications. These submitters expressed concerns about the challenges and frustrations that they have experienced due to processing delays. The purpose of this bill is to provide a foundation for police to be able to address the high number of applications and move forward in a more efficient and practical way. I want to also acknowledge the inconvenience and safety concerns associated with firearms licence holders having to move firearms when their licence expires. This bill is about putting an end to these challenges. Some submitters suggested alternative solutions such as issuing temporary licences requiring firearms to be handed in within 14 days of a licence application being declined and specifying a minimum time to make an application before a licence expired. These suggestions are out of scope of the bill as they present a fundamental change to the Arms Act and would require further consultation. These changes could not be considered under urgency. Some submitters sought clarification on how this bill will be implemented. This feedback has been useful to ensure that Police has considered implementation for all licence holders including those who travel domestically and internationally or who live and work in remote and rural areas. The narrow scope of this bill means that the number of changes to the bill is minimal. There are two substantive changes in the bill since its first reading. These are related to the electronic delivery of notices and transitional provisions. The first change relates to the questions that members asked during the first reading about ensuring that electronic notices are delivered to the relevant person. Under the Arms Act there is a general assumption that if a document is posted it will be received by the relevant person. Under the revision a qualification has been added to limit the electronic email address to an address that has been provided as an address for service. The recipient will need to agree to electronic communication to the email address that they have provided. For recipients that do not have sufficient internet access they will be able to continue to receive documents via the post or hand-delivered. There are also two changes related to transitional provisions. For the avoidance of doubt an additional provision was added to the transitional provisions to make it clear that the licence holders who have a firearms licence as continuing in force under regulation 28ZB of the Arms Regulations 1992 will also benefit from this provision. These are the licence extensions that related to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021. The second change to the transitional provisions is that for the avoidance of doubt endorsements that existed at the time that licence expired will also be reinstated when this amendment comes into force. These amendments to the bill are consistent with the original purpose of the bill to ensure that law-abiding citizens are able to continue to comply with the law and to enjoy the privileges associated with holding a firearms licence. The arms amendment bill before us today will mean that law-abiding firearms owners who apply for a new firearms or dealers licence before their current licence expires will no longer have to worry about being non-compliant with the law. I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Barbara Kuriger): The question is that the motion be agreed to.