Allan rejects Albanese’s gun buyback scheme and firearms limits

Licensed firearm owners in Victoria will not be restricted on how many weapons they own after the Victorian government rejected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s gun buyback scheme.

Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed on Monday the government had rejected a key recommendation from former police chief commissioner Ken Lay to cap the number of guns a licence holder can own at four, as part of a sweeping review into the state’s firearms laws.

Lay’s rapid review of gun laws was ordered by the state government after the Bondi terrorist attack last year, and made 16 recommendations to toughen gun legislation.

While the government accepted 15 recommendations, including to restrict gun ownership to citizens, the first – which sought a strict limit of four category A and B firearms per person – has been rejected.

The outright rejection puts Victoria directly at odds with Albanese and puts the future of the national gun buyback scheme – which involves limits on individual firearm ownership – heavily in doubt after South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory also rejected gun caps.

Allan said she did not believe caps were necessary because the overwhelming majority of firearms owners did the right thing.

“They don’t break the law. What we have to focus in on is those criminals who do,” she said.

A gun limit could have been politically difficult for the Allan government to implement in an election year. The concept has drawn opposition from recreational shooters groups and key regional electorates.

A petition tabled in state parliament earlier this year, sponsored by One Nation upper house MP Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, received 25,552 signatures and called on the government to halt changes to gun laws and instead push for tougher measures against non-Australian citizens.

Allan denied the decision to reject caps was to avoid a regional backlash – including in her own seat of Bendigo East.

Police Minister Anthony Carbines said Victoria would not be part of the federal government’s buyback scheme as it currently stands.

“The government is not engaging in caps, and so the government won’t be engaging in the buyback scheme,” he said.

In his report released on Monday, Lay said the review carried forward the lessons of the Port Arthur massacre and responded to the tragedy at Bondi by supporting firearms laws that were evidence-based and kept Victorians safe.

“The review proceeds from a consistent starting point: no recreational pursuit, however valued, can take precedence over the safety of the whole community,” it read.

The review found that the average Victorian firearm licence holder owned about four weapons. However, depending on the type of licence and need for different firearms, some recreational hunters own up to 68, while sports target shooters hold as many as 288.

Under Lay’s recommendation to limit guns to four per licence holder, there would have been exemptions for up to 10 firearms if applicants could demonstrate “compelling need”.

Further exemptions would be available if an applicant could demonstrate “exceptional need”.

However, the government’s response to the review, also made public on Monday, rejected the concept of an ownership cap.

The government accepted the remaining 15 recommendations, which included considering limiting eligibility of firearms licences to Australian citizens, or New Zealand citizens with permanent residency; considering new laws to update firearms categories so that higher-risk guns are appropriately categorised; and introducing health assessments as part of the licensing application and renewal process, and mandatory screening for unlicensed people at shooting ranges.

“Our response to the rapid review builds on Victoria’s proud history of tough gun laws by making it harder for the wrong people to get guns,” the government’s response read.

“It does this by toughening sentences for a range of firearms offences, making licensing decisions stricter, and giving Victoria Police more powers. Victoria will be safer thanks to these reforms.”

Lay’s report acknowledged a cap was the most prominent and contested issue addressed in the review.

“There is no clear evidence that numerical caps on individual ownership, by themselves, reduce firearms-related harm,” it read.

“Equally, there is no evidence that they are ineffective, or that they undermine broader public safety objectives when implemented as part of a wider regulatory framework.”

Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell accused the government of capitulating to “powerful gun lobby groups” in marginal seats ahead of the November election.

“Victorians are right to ask why anyone needs dozens or even hundreds of firearms and why Labor is letting them,” she said.

“This is exactly why people are fed up with Labor. They’ll say or do whatever they need to cling to power, even if it means rejecting common-sense reforms to keep people safe, just because the lobbyists will get upset.”

A spokesman for Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the Coalition did not support capping firearms for licensed holders, and would assess the remaining 15 recommendations in Lay’s report.

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