Brooks raises fresh hurdle

MP’s exit stalls firearm laws review

THE RESIGNATION of Braddon MHA Adam Brooks has thrown a spanner in the timetable of a Lower House inquiry into Tasmania’s firearms laws.

The House of Assembly’s inquiry is due to report back on March 14 — two days after the Tasmanian Parliament’s first sitting day for 2019. Submissions closed in October and witnesses were due to start giving evidence yesterday.

A witness told the Mercury they had been contacted and advised the hearings had been deferred because of Mr Brooks’ resignation

Mr Brooks, the state’s former mining minister who resigned from his seat this week, was a member of the fourmember inquiry committee.

A government spokesman said it was a matter for the committee whether its work proceeds after his resignation.

Police Minister Michael Ferguson said the Government continued to look for- ward to the findings and recommendations of the inquiry when the committee was able to finish its work.

“It was the Government which moved for the establishment of the committee, and we fully support the finalisation of its work in due course,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The conduct of the inquiry is a matter for the parliamentary committee, and the members of the committee have resolved to resume the inquiry again when it has full membership addressed.

“The inquiry is a platform for all stakeholder views to be heard. The Government’s position is that our firearms laws are among the toughest in the world and that is how they should remain. Our overriding principle in relation to any proposed changes continues to be that we will not do anything to undermine the National Firearms Agreement.”

The committee, headed by Liberal Lyons MHA Mark Shelton, has been tasked with examining current and future gun licensing regimes, and whether the state complies with the National Firearms Agreement.

It is also examining submissions received by the disbanded Legislative Council gun laws inquiry. The defunct inquiry received 110 submissions but was cancelled after the Government abandoned its election promise to reform the state’s firearm laws, which included relaxing access to Category C firearms such as pump action shotguns, silencers and extending the duration of some gun licences. A new inquiry was then initiated.