The ACT has dramatically hiked the cost of firearms licences and PTAs, with a licence application or renewal almost tripling in price to $487 – up from the $179 it cost before 1 July.
A permit to acquire (PTA) has jumped 50% to $60 including the registration fee, up from the $40 they were previously.
Firearms licences in the ACT are generally valid for five years, with the cost now working out at just over $97 per year – higher than every other Australian state and territory except Western Australia and, surprisingly, South Australia.
The fee hikes are part of the 2026-27 ACT budget, and ACT Policing claims the higher licence fees “will support the delivery of a new digital ACT Firearms Registry, improving services for licence holders, dealers and law enforcement” – in other words, they will help bankroll the ACT’s involvement in the National Firearms Registry.
SSAA ACT has publicly condemned the fee increases, describing them as “unprecedented” and saying they “impose a disproportionate burden on law-abiding firearms licence holders”.
“The community has not been shown the data, modelling or analysis used to justify these increases,” the organisation said in a media statement.
“Without transparency, it is impossible for stakeholders to understand how these fees were determined.”
The organisation has also formally written to the ACT Police Minister expressing its concerns and asking for an explanation.
In addition to the fee hikes, which have already been announced, it appears likely the ACT is going to follow NSW’s lead and introduce firearms ownership caps — despite its own inquiry into the matter finding no actual evidence to support the policy from a genuine public safety perspective.
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