Mrs Giulia Jones MLA

Chair

Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety

ACT Legislative Assembly

GPO Box 1020

CANBERRA ACT 2601

Dear Mrs Jones

I refer to the comments on the Firearms and Prohibited Weapons Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 (the bill) made by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety (Legislative Scrutiny Role) in its Scrutiny Report 10 of 18 October 2017.

The Committee has commented on new section 18C to be inserted into the Firearms Act 1996 by clause 7 of the bill. As the Committee has pointed out, new section 18C is limited to allowing the requirements of new section 18C(2)(b) to be dispensed with when the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the court is considering a review of a decision to refuse an application for a firearms licence on the basis of security sensitive information held by a law enforcement agency. The Committee has recommended that consideration be given to amending the explanatory statement of the bill to ensure this is made clear.

I will be writing to the Committee to indicate that I intend to move government amendments to the bill, and have produced a supplementary explanatory statement to accompany those amendments. The government will take the opportunity to address the Committee’s comments in this supplementary explanatory statement.

I thank the Committee for its continued scrutiny of legislation, and for its considered comments.

Yours sincerely

Mick Gentleman MLA

Minister for Police and Emergency Services