Tasmania’s new firearm legislation falls short of National Cabinet agreement

The lower house in Tasmania has narrowly passed new firearm legislation, which falls well short of the agreement in National Cabinet at the start of this year. The vote for the Firearms Amendment (Strengthening Firearms Security) Bill passed 16 to 15, with Labor, the Greens and some independents opposing.

The Hobart Mercury quoted Tasmanian Shooters Union President Phillip Bigg as saying, “I’m satisfied the cap amendment got knocked over … (as) slapping an arbitrary number on a farmer or a hunter does nothing to the people who steal guns or already have them illegally.”

Only, as Australia Institute research has shown, the greatest source of new illegal firearms is from stolen licenced firearms – so a higher number of licenced firearms increases the risk of a higher number of firearms entering the black market.

The Tasmanian Police Commissioner has been clear and consistent in calls for a cap on the number of firearms. Commissioner Adams wrote to the Minister for Police, Felix Ellis, in February 2026, saying, “Firearms present a real and increasing threat to both the public and our officers.” She went on to say, “Firearms theft means that even legally registered and stored firearms can fall into the wrong hands, enabling serious criminal activity, including family violence.”

As the Tasmania Police Firearms Dashboard shows, in the past twelve months, 164 firearms were stolen across 43 theft incidents. Only 33, or one in five of the stolen firearms, have been recovered.

The Alannah and Madeline Foundation criticised the law, saying that firearm licence cancellations have “quadrupled over the past five years”. CEO of the foundation, Sarah Davies, said:

Peak bodies and health professionals, from the Police Commissioner to the Australian Medical Association, are lining up to tell the government that a cap on the number of firearms a person can own is needed to keep Tasmanians safe. Unfortunately, this bill does not address that.

This bill makes two changes: reclassifying certain firearms and requiring citizenship for new owners, but both have been grandfathered so they don’t apply to people who already own guns.

That leaves the underlying problem, the sheer number of firearms already in the community, completely untouched.

Labor has vowed to push for firearm caps when the bill reaches the upper house.

Other states have plenty of work left to do on firearm caps. So far, only Western Australia, which had implemented a cap of 10 firearms before the Bondi Massacre, NSW and ACT have agreed to firearms caps. Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia have all rejected the proposed buyback scheme and determined not to introduce caps.

While the new Tasmanian bill increases some obligations for licenced firearms owners such as timely reporting of changes of circumstance to the police, it does not reach the target to which all states and territories agreed at National Cabinet in January 2026.

In a country like Australia where travel between states and territories is easy, it is sensible to have consistent legislation for something as important as firearm ownership. The Tasmanian Police Commissioner quoted the National Firearms Agreement in her letter to the minister: “firearm possession and use is a privilege, that is conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety”.

Academics, researchers, police unions and doctors continue to argue that firearm caps are a key measure for ensuring public safety.