A proposal to impose a limit of 12kg of powder per household on handloaders in NSW has been scrapped, following extensive lobbying and negotiation by a number of firearm representative organisations.
SafeWork NSW, which is re-writing explosives regulations, has confirmed there will be no changes to the current allowance of 12kg of smokeless propellant per firearm licence holder at a private address.
The retention of the status quo was announced late last week in an e-mail to stakeholders, which read in part:
In July 2021, SafeWork NSW undertook public consultation on the Explosives Regulation remake.
This included a proposal to limit the maximum amount of propellant powder that could be stored without an explosives licence to 12kg for single residential address, rather than the existing 12kg per license holder.
Following feedback received, we can confirm that this proposal is no longer being considered and there are no changes to the existing exemptions in place under section 48 of the Explosives Regulation 2013. That is, the existing limit of 12kg per licence holder will be retained.
Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) was among the stakeholder groups involved in the regulation consultation, and CEO James Walsh said the result was a win for shooters and industry alike.
“It’s a significant win for industry and a significant win for shooters, in that there’s no additional restrictions on powder,” he said.
“We are happy to say that this is a significant step in the right direction for the entire NSW shooting industry.”
Mr Walsh said the initial — and now quashed — proposal had been for the regulations to be altered so that there could only be 12kg of propellant at a private premises, regardless of how many licence holders lived there or any other relevant factors, and it was refreshing to see the NSW Government listening to both industry and commonsense.
“SIFA would like to thank all those, who when called to action, went to the trouble of preparing submissions on the original consultation. It is good to see commonsense prevail,” he said.
He said the outcome was the result of years of work, dating back to 2021, and also comes off the back of work undertaken by SIFA in successfully getting NSW regulations rewritten to remove red tape relating to commercial freight companies and the licensing/security requirements for transporting ammunition and firearms.
“The fact SIFA was able to lobby government for a regulatory change [relating to transport] — that’s enormous. We don’t often get changes in regulation or legislation in [shooters’] favour,” he said.
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