Firearm Act Committee: Bungled online firearms portal rollout left gun owners turning to misinformation

A committee looking into Labor’s contentious Firearm Act reforms has admitted the problem-plagued rollout of the online firearms portal and a lack of public communication undermined the laws. The findings from the committee were released on Thursday, following a month of hearing evidence from a range of stakeholders, in response to Labor’s Firearm Act reforms which were passed through Parliament in 2024. All of 47 findings and 11 recommendations were made by the committee after receiving 2670 public submissions, the vast majority of which came from angered gun owners. Presenting the report to Parliament, committee chair Katrina Stratton said they found “little wrong” with the laws but conceded communication and rollout had been poor. “Immediately after the legislation came into force on 31 March, 2025 further, a new digital Firearms Portal was not prepared for the volume of traffic,” she said. “Many submitters told the committee they thought the act and regulations were fundamentally flawed, and then went on to describe their unfortunate experiences in trying to register on the new portal to renew licences or register land for hunting purposes. “However, those problems were not caused by the legislation, they were caused by the new digital portal that came into operation as part of the state’s contribution to the National Firearms register.” Ms Stratton also said a lack of available information allowed misinformation to spread. “We were also told, and we accept that, there was little information available to firearms users on the police websites or otherwise and that calls to the firearms licencing helpline frequently went unanswered when advice was given it was sometimes contradictory or incomplete,” she said. “These circumstances led firearms owners and users to seek alternative sources, and those alternative sources were frequently misleading and unduly inflammatory.” The reforms capped the number of guns owners could have as well as increased licence compliance requirements, much to the dismay of gun owners. They were unanimously referred to the committee in May, to consider rollout problems with the laws and any recommendations for amendments to the Act. The committee had heard evidence since it was unanimously referred to a committee inquiry in May by the upper house. During the hearings evidence was presented from safety advocates who advocated for even stronger measures to protect the community. Meanwhile evidence from sport shooters and industry professionals suggested the reforms were made with little opportunity for community input. The Firearm Act reforms were nearly repealed in August when the Opposition and members of the cross-bench teamed up to try and make the Government “go back to the drawing board”. But with support of the Greens, Labor was able to defeat the motion by just two votes. During debate Liberal upper house leader Nick Goiran said the rollout of the regulations had not been responsible. “We’re supporting the disallowance motion this afternoon,” he said. “We, the Opposition, are doing that because despite all of the concerns, despite all of the problems and despite this Parliament ordering a review the simple truth is this Cook Labor Government are still not listening. “All they’ve done is to deflect, dismiss and deny.” The day of the vote drew a large crowd of firearm owners outside Parliament, who argued the government were overstepping, and punishing legal firearms owners. More to come.