Queensland rejects key Wieambilla recommendation in new gun reforms

The Queensland government has rejected calls to pursue mandatory mental health checks for gun ownership applications – a key recommendation from the inquest into the fatal 2022 ambush of police officers in Wieambilla.

A new suite of firearm reforms will instead include mandatory mental health reporting, which will require professional carers to make a referral to police when they assess whether an individual is a higher risk to commit violence with a weapon.

The tranche of measures, included in a ministerial directive, comes after a coronial inquest into the shooting of constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, along with neighbour Alan Dare, by religious fanatics and conspiracy theorists Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train.

The inquest recommended the government review the feasibility of a mandatory health check scheme, but the Crisafulli government dismissed this as merely a study that lacked action.

“The recommendation was about a feasibility study – we’re taking action today, and that shows how serious we are about dealing with the problem,” Premier David Crisafulli said.

Police Minister Dan Purdie also said there had been issues with a similar West Australian policy that requires mental health clearance from a GP.

“In WA, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has raised concerns about whether GPs have the proper skills to do that risk assessment,” he said in response to questions.

“Mandatory reporting for health practitioners, coupled with the mandatory reporting for applicants … is the best step forward, and I’m confident we are strengthening the processes.”

The mental health reporting measure proposed by the government would not have stopped the Trains from lawfully owning guns, however, given the murderers were not being treated by the mental health system.

Purdie said this was why the suite of measures included a firearm prohibition order, which will provide extra powers to the police commissioner to remove gun ownership from high-risk individuals, such as those sharing extremist ideology or who are involved in organised crime.

The new range of reforms will be effective once firearm reforms introduced in response to the Bondi terror attack are legislated, with the separate suite of laws including a restriction on non-Australian citizens owning a gun.

The laws, introduced into parliament on Tuesday, also include increased penalties for stealing firearms; for unlawfully trafficking, possessing, supplying and modifying weapons; and a new offence penalising the “reckless discharge of a weapon” on a building or vehicle to crack down on drive-by shootings.

But the Crisafulli government on Monday doubled down on its rejection of the Albanese government’s national buyback scheme, meaning Queensland will likely be the only state not to be part of the federal gun policy.

Shadow attorney-general Meaghan Scanlon accused the government of buckling to pressure from the gun lobby and far-right members of the LNP’s party room.

“None of these reforms would actually have prevented the fatalities that occurred in Bondi or Wieambilla,” she said.

“All they’re doing is increasing the penalty for crimes that already exist, and issuing a health directive on something that is already practised and doesn’t apply to private health services or private hospitals.”

Before introducing the state’s broad response to stamping out antisemitism after the Bondi Beach terror attack – which also includes the nation’s strictest criminalisation of phrases viewed by some as hate speech – Crisafulli delivered a broadside at the federal government.

“Where others have failed to act or show leadership, we will send the strongest possible message that we don’t tolerate antisemitism in our state, in our nation,” he told state parliament on Tuesday.

“We cannot afford to return to the inaction and the silence, where words became vandalism, vandalism became violence, violence became murder.”

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