{"id":20266,"date":"2026-02-09T19:44:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=20266"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:44:47","slug":"queensland-government-to-introduce-new-gun-control-laws-criticised-as-weakest-in-australia-queensland-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=20266","title":{"rendered":"Queensland government to introduce new gun control laws criticised as \u2018weakest in Australia\u2019 | Queensland politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Queensland will be left with \u201cthe weakest guns laws in Australia\u201d, according to gun control advocates, after the premier rejected putting new restrictions on the number or type of firearms that people can own.<\/p>\n

On Monday, David Crisafulli<\/a> and the police minister, Dan Purdie, announced what they called the second part of a three-part policy response to the Bondi shootings.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed changes to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday, only Australian citizens will be able to obtain a gun licence, with Purdie saying there would be some exceptions for \u201csporting shooters and for work, businesses [and] primary producers\u201d.<\/p>\n

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He said the restriction would not be retroactive, meaning the reforms will not immediately revoke any current gun licences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not looking [at] going back and doing an audit to try and find out how many on the register, what their citizen status is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving forward, when this is passed and proclaimed, if you apply for a licence, that\u2019s when this will take effect\u201d.<\/p>\n

Queensland has rejected a planned national gun buyback sponsored by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.<\/p>\n

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Nor will it follow New South Wales in setting a maximum number of guns per licence holder. Laws passed in NSW on Christmas Eve capped the number of firearms recreational shooters can own at four, and farmers at 10<\/a>, among other changes, including a ban on some rapid-fire weapons.<\/p>\n

A senior advocacy adviser of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Stephen Bendle, said the gun control group, founded after the Port Arthur massacre, was \u201cdisappointed <\/strong>that the Queensland premier has put the demands of the firearm industry over the public safety of the Queensland community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland will have the weakest gun laws in Australia, despite the premier\u2019s rhetoric,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the initiatives announced today does anything to prevent a Bondi or Wieambilla<\/a> tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirearm safety advocates have had 45 minutes\u2019 discussion with the government since Bondi. We have been ignored in our calls for national consistency in gun reforms. The firearm industry have clearly carried the day in Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n

If passed, the laws would create a mandatory minimum sentence for drive-by shootings, increase <\/strong>penalties for stealing firearms and ammunition and for trafficking guns, and create various new offences designed to prevent ownership of 3D-printed weapons.<\/p>\n

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They would also close a loophole the government says prevents the police investigating people who are planning a terror attack.<\/p>\n

The laws would allow police to take into account a person\u2019s criminal record when issuing a licence, even if a conviction was not recorded.<\/p>\n

Crisafulli has repeatedly said that his priority in drafting the legislation was dealing with antisemitism, but that he also intended to make it easier to take firearms off \u201cterrorists and criminals\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government will also introduce hate speech legislation which would give the attorney general the power to ban specific slogans, <\/a>which the government has said would include the pro-Palestine protest chant \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d. A new offence will prevent the public distribution, publication, public display or public recitation of a proscribed phrase to cause menace, harassment or offence, with a maximum two-year jail sentence.<\/p>\n

Civil liberties groups and the Greens described the move as \u201cOrwellian\u201d and an attack on free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is making itself the thought police. If they decide your words are offensive, you can go to jail for them,\u201d Greens MP Michael Berkman said. \u201cIs that the kind of democracy we want to live in?\u201d<\/p>\n

The vice-president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O\u2019Gorman, said \u201cbanning or criminalising a catch-cry, especially in public protest situations merely because it may \u2018cause offence\u2019, is an affront to free speech rights which have quite properly been protected in Queensland since the dark days of the Bjelke-Petersen street march ban in 1977\u201d.<\/p>\n

Justice for Palestine is considering a legal challenge against Queensland\u2019s new antisemitism legislation, according to spokesperson Remah Naji.<\/p>\n

The premier will announce \u201cpart three\u201d of the government\u2019s response to the Bondi shootings on Tuesday.<\/p>\n