Australia is getting closer to having its firearm laws fortified after the Criminal Code Amendment bill quickly passed through the House of Representatives.
The Labor party swiftly moved to initiate debates on the Criminal Code Amendment bill introduced by the coalition government just 24 hours earlier.
Leader of the House Peter Dutton then triggered an immediate vote ending speeches on the topic seeing the bill passed through.
Labor’s move occurred even though the party’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally told ABC radio earlier on Feb. 17 that the party had not seen the legislation and would consider it carefully.
“The fear I have is that they’re going to try and use this to pick a fight on the issue of firearms,” she said.
The bill will allow the federal government to double the maximum penalty for existing firearms trafficking offences to 20 years’ imprisonment or a fine of 5,000 penalty units—around $900,000 (around US$654,000), or both.
It also introduces a new aggravated offence for trafficking 50 or more firearms or firearm parts, as well as compulsory minimum penalties of no less than five years in prison for adult offenders.
In addition, the legislation granted courts the discretion to ease this minimum penalty if the offender confesses their crime or cooperates with law enforcement agencies or both.
Historically speaking, the Labour party has objected to mandatory minimum penalties, but it did not vote against the bill in the House of Representatives this time.
In proposing the legislation on Feb. 16, cabinet minister Stuart Robert said it would play the role of a solid deterrent to criminals.
“It only takes one illegal firearm in the hands of someone with criminal intent ... to be of great concern to our community,” he said.
“One illegal firearm in our community is clearly one too many.”
However, for the bill to become law, it will have to pass the Senate, which currently does not have many sitting days left before the federal election.
