Queensland’s police minister says he supports a national gun register to keep track of firearm ownership, after the ABC revealed police killer Nathaniel Train illegally crossed the state border carrying multiple weapons.
Key points:
- Queensland farmer said Train illegally crossed into Queensland via his property last year
- Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler says the Wieambilla shootings investigation will be lengthy
- The police minister says upgrade to weapons licensing system is being funded
Nathaniel, his brother Gareth and sister-in-law and former wife Stacey shot and killed Constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, and neighbour Alan Dare last Monday afternoon. Two other officers escaped the property.
All three attackers were then later killed by specialist police.
A farmer in the Goondiwindi region told the ABC that in December 2021, Nathaniel Train crossed the flooded land border but destroyed his car engine in flood waters.
Train was observed throwing items into a flooded creek, which the farmer later discovered were loaded weapons.
Train told farm workers who helped tow the car out that he was an “anti-vaxxer” who wanted to see his family in Queensland.
The farmer gave Train a lift north towards Talwood and reported the incident to police, who later collected the weapons but left behind the car and documentation detailing Train’s NSW Education employment history.
The incident occurred months after Train quit his job at Walgett Community College in northern NSW in August 2021, saying he had had a cardiac arrest.
He crossed Queensland’s land border, which had been closed to control the spread of COVID-19, days after it reopened to fully vaccinated travellers.
‘Exhaustive investigation’
Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler today declined to answer questions about what police knew about Train’s crossing in Queensland and whether police had known about the farmer’s reported incident before the four constables attended Train’s brother’s property in Wieambilla last Monday.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Wheeler said he understood people were seeking answers, but the investigation into what happened at Wieambilla would be lengthy and “take time”.
“This is an exhaustive investigation that will take many weeks, if not months,” he said.
“What I can say is, a number of people have been interviewed, of course all of the normal scientific and ballistic-style examinations are being made.
“It is still a crime scene, we still have that area being guarded.”
Deputy Commissioner Wheeler said the two surviving police officers from the incident, Constables Keely Brough and Randall Kirk, were recovering and being interviewed as part of the investigation.
Queries were also being made interstate, and police were also handling a large volume of information from the public through Crime Stoppers and in person, he said.
Calls for national gun register
Police Minister Mark Ryan said he fully supported a national gun register and would be happy to discuss the proposal at a national level.
“Queensland has committed money to upgrade its entire weapons licensing system, we committed that in the budget,” he said.
“It’s a significant investment, many millions of dollars, and we hope to have that new system up and running by the end of next year.”
Nationally, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) runs the Australian Firearms Information Network (AFIN), which Mr Ryan said Queensland had signed up to in 2020.
AFIN, operated by the ACIC, was prioritised following the 2014 Lindt cafe siege, collating data from state and federal archives on gun registrations.
However, Mr Ryan said not all states had yet signed up.
Last week Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers called for a review of how Australia manages and tracks firearms nationally.