In the first meeting of its kind since the last Queensland state election, senior members of the state’s Liberal National Party (LNP) have met with senior shooting representatives to discuss ongoing issues with the Weapons Licensing Branch.
Graham Park, president of the Shooters Union, and Steve Bullock, representing the Firearms Dealers Association of Queensland (FDAQ), met with LNP members at Parliament House last week.
Mr Bullock is a former senior sergeant in the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and was able to bring valuable insight to the meeting.
Shadow Agriculture Minister and vocal supporter of shooters Tony Perrett organised and facilitated the meeting, which was attended by Opposition Leader David Crisafulli MP, Shadow Police Minister Dale Last, and Shadow Customer Service Minister Steve Minnikin MP.
The meeting was said to be productive, lasting for several hours, with Shooters Union and FDAQ outlining some of the major issues facing Queensland firearms licence holders — particularly long licence application processing times, delays in issuing PTAs and general communication issues with the Weapons Licensing Branch (WLB).
SU and FDAQ also outlined proposed solutions to some of the issues, including the automation of Category A PTA issuance, establishment of a Client Service Charter similar to those present in other public-facing government departments, staff development initiatives, and removal of the requirement for firearms to be stored with their bolts out/actions open.
They suggested improvements to WLB computer systems, including better triaging of applications, a specialised dealer portal, and having PTAs emailed directly to applicants.
Mr Park said the LNP representatives were interested to be briefed on the circumstances and there was a lot of meaningful discussion about how to address the situation being dealt with by licensed shooters and licence applicants in Queensland.
“We are particularly thankful to Tony Perrett for his hard work in not only arranging the meeting, but ensuring it remained in diaries and on calendars — we appreciate his support immensely,” he said.
“We greatly appreciate Mr Crisafulli, Mr Last and Mr Minnikin making the time to meet with us to discuss these very serious issues too. We know they are busy people so the fact they were willing to make so much time available shows how seriously they are taking the issue and their willingness to be part of the solution.
“We’ve met with LNP representatives one-on-one before but this is the first time we’ve had so many senior members in a meeting together; it was a worthwhile and productive experience on both sides.”
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