Tasmania has reversed a decision that effectively banned people who hold interstate firearms licence from hunting there, confirming that hunters from elsewhere in Australia will now be able to hunt in the state using their home state gun licence.
It was recently reported that firearms licences from interstate or overseas would not be recognised in Tasmania following the revocation of a long-standing exemption to the Firearms Act, causing backlash from across the shooting community.
Representatives from several shooting and hunting groups — including the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party, Field & Game Australia, and Shooters Union — spoke out against the changes, pointing out the serious economic damage they would cause to Tasmania’s rural economy and tourism industries.
Following the outcry, Tasmanian Police Commissioner Donna Adams signed an exemption to s55 of the Firearms Act 1996 to allow interstate Category A and B licence holders to use their licences in Tasmania for hunting, provided they had the written permission of either the land owner/occupier, the director general of national parks, or the CEO of the Forestry Corporation.
The Tasmania Police (TASPOL) Firearms Services website was updated on Monday this week to reflect the change, noting that:
“If you are visiting Tasmania for the purpose of recreational hunting or vermin control, you are not required to hold a Tasmanian Category A or B firearms licence so long as you hold a corresponding licence issued in another Australian jurisdiction.
“You must also have written permission from the landowner to shoot a type of animal on any land in Tasmania.
“This arrangement is pursuant to the Commissioner’s approval of recreational hunting and vermin control as an ‘approved purpose’, pursuant to Section 55 of the Firearms Act 1996.”
The approval document, dated Monday, 13 January, 2025, can be viewed at this link.
Shooters Union Tasmanian president Phillip Bigg said while he was glad that interstate and overseas hunters could now legally shoot in Tasmania, the fact remained that an unelected official had caused potentially serious issues for the state’s regional economy.
“I believe Police Commissioner Adams does not want to hold any responsibility or liability in any way,” he said.
“We’ve seen citing of the Firearms Act as justification time and time again to remove regulatory exemptions such as the one which allowed licensed interstate and international shooters to hunt in Tasmania,” he said.
“Shooters in Tasmania contribute more than $100m to the economy. This contribution should be seen as an investment to not only help support the smaller communities, but to promote a healthy lifestyle.
“We shouldn’t keep having these situations where someone at TASPOL ‘discovers’ that a long-standing aspect of the firearms law is only an exemption, has it revoked, then scrambles to come up with a solution to a problem they created for absolutely no reason.
“It’s already hard enough for licensed shooters from the mainland and overseas to come to Tasmania, so we should be looking at ways to encourage this regional tourism by hunters, not making it more difficult.”
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