Tim Costello comments on proposed Victorian gun law changes
Today Show
Channel 9
6 March 1998
PRESENTER - TRACY GRIMSHAW…Yesterday Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett, defended his changes to national gun laws, claiming his state was still committed to tough gun laws. unfortunately high profile port Arthur victim and anti-gun campaigner, Walter Mikac, tends to disagbree with the Premier, and later today Victorian Police Minister, Amanda Vanstone to discuss the changes.
Joining us now is one of the men behind the original anti-gun protests, the Reverend Tim Costello.
Reverend Costello, good morning.
TIME COSTELLO… Good morning Tracy.
GRIMSHAW…Do you believe that Amanda Vanstone will be able to prevail upon Victorian Police Minister, Bill McGrath, to drop these amendments later today?
COSTELLO…I sincerely hope so. I believe she'll need to convince him that this is a very bad step, because the National Firearms Agreement, one of the finest achievements in our nation's history, can only hold if states like Victoria play their part and don't back away on their own, as Victoria tragically is doing.
GRIMSHAW…Premier Jeff Kennett told us yesterday morning, and continued this line throughout the day, I gather, that the changes will make little difference to the national system.
COSTELLO…Well, they're small changes at the moment, but they're the s..the first breaches in the wall. What occurs in a federal system like ours is that the national laws are only as strong as the weakest state, and as this happens in Victoria it will happen in other states, because the sporting shooters are already massively..massively lobbying, they've got campaigns running on TV in prime time in New South Wales. We always knew the shooters would come back once the memory of Port Arthur started to fade. They're now coming back very strongly , capturing the National Party here in Victoria, and our Police Minister's a National Party Member, and Mr Kennett needs now to show the strong leadership that he's..he's renowned for.
GRIMSHAW…So if I could ask you to expand upon hat point, are you saying that.. that you agree that the changes now are not such a huge worry, it's the..it's the potential for greater change that worries you more than what's being proposed now?
COSTELLO…Well, these changes are a huge worry in so far as they actually send signals to other states, and to the sporting shooters that this is just the first step, that they've actually won these concessions. They're changes where you're extending semi-automatic weapons to sporting and other shooters, or you're allowing guns into towns where you don't have the cooling off period if you've already got a licence, which is in place at the moment if you try and get a second gun, or your gun is old and used. . and out of use. But whilst they may not put more weapons immediately in the hands of..of people, they are heading in that direction, and most importantly, you don't actually have a federal system, because only states can actually legislate here, that really works once you go down this track. Mr Kennett knows that. This is all about party politics, about the National party being given some wins here in Victoria and putting at risk one on the greatest achievements that we've ever made as a nation.
GRIMSHAW…Graham Eames from the Field & Game Association told us this week that he would welcome a referendum on gun laws.
COSTELLO… No, I.. I mean, if you had a referendum on capital punishment or a referendum on a whole range of things, depending on what's happened the week before, you would actually maybe see a majority. A referendum isn't Going to help. What does help is that the nation remembered what happened in April two years ago, they remembered that this happened because of lax gun laws, in that..in this case in Tasmania, but because we're a federal system, unless those laws are tight everywhere it will happen again.
GRIMSHAW…So…so…
COSTELLO…That's what people..
GRIMSHAW…Sorry, If I could just interrupt you. Are you saying that you think that you might lose a referendum, and that the nation would support a relaxation of the gun laws if one were held?
COSTELLO…Well, referendums depend on who has the most money. The sporting shooters are enormously organised, they had a hundred thousand people that marched here in the streets of Melbourne. When you've go one focus, and I'd have to say for many of them an obsession, and that's your one interest in life, you can organise huge amounts of dollars, and huge amounts of dollars can buy people's minds. However, I think good government doesn't depend on knee jerk referendums, it depends on saying, "We know national firearms laws are going to save lives", and there's absolutely clear evidence about that. And that's why John Howard was magnificent in his leadership in..in staring down the National Party, in staring down the sporting shooters, to bring in the National Firearms Agreement.
GRIMSHAW…OK. We'll leave it there. Thank you for your time.
COSTELLO…A pleasure.
GRIMSHAW…Reverend Tim Costello in Melbourne.
ITEM ENDS.
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