Peter Dutton in talks to create gun lobby ‘council’ to change firearms laws

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, is considering establishing a committee to allow gun importers to review proposed changes to firearm regulations for “appropriateness and intent”.

Following a meeting with a pro-gun lobbyist in February, Dutton is weighing up whether to establish a so-called “firearms advisory council”, which the gun lobby says would give it “a seat at the table” to advise the government on firearms policy.

Last month Dutton met with officials from Nioa, one of Australia’s largest gun dealers, and members of the shooting lobby to discuss the council.

Nioa is run by Robert Nioa, a major political donor to his father-in-law, the federal MP Bob Katter. He is also a director of the firearms industry lobbying group Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia, or Sifa.

Sifa’s other directors include the general manager of Winchester Australia, Clive Pugh and the managing director of Beretta Australia, Luca Scribani Rossi.

The group donated to Liberal and National MPs in the lead-up to the 2016 federal election and pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign that helped minor rightwing parties gain votes in last year’s Queensland state election.

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Held at Nioa’s company headquarters in Brisbane, the meeting was attended by Laura Patterson, Sifa’s communications and research officer, and Nioa official David Briggs. Robert Nioa was not at the meeting.

In a video posted by Sifa on social media, Patterson said the meeting was aimed at “formalising” the establishment of a “firearms advisory council”.

In the video, which included an image of the department’s logo, Patterson said the council would “establish a mechanism for expert government to industry consultation” and would allow Sifa to “review proposed regulatory changes for efficiency, appropriateness and intent”.

She said the council would help “review existing regulation for precision in language and purpose” and “enable industry-to-government alert mechanisms”.

Dutton, the former immigration minister now presides over a sweeping ministry covering border protection, the Australian federal police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesman for the minister said the government would “consider” Sifa’s proposal.

“The minister meets regularly with relevant stakeholders across the home affairs portfolio and hears a range of views,” she said.

“In relation to firearms policy generally, the government has a strong policy in place and the fundamentals of that won’t be changing.

“The government has recently received a proposal from Sifa which it will consider in due course.”

The meeting with Dutton – and the proposal to give the gun lobby more influence over changes firearm regulations – comes amid increasing concern that pro-gun interests are seeking changes to Australia’s strict firearm regulations.

In the lead-up to Tasmania’s state election the Liberal party government promised it would soften some gun laws.

Sam Lee from from Gun Control Australia said the government had a history of establishing firearms advisory councils “stacked with pro-gun lobby representatives”.

“These councils should be named for what they really are – gun lobby thinktanks,” she said. “How only listening to the wishes of pro-gun lobby groups whose aim is to erode gun law, or as they term it ‘red tape’, is in the interest of national security is beyond me.”

There are already several state and federal firearm industry reference groups.

In 2015 the former federal justice minister Michael Keenan was criticised after meeting minutes from the firearms reference industry group obtained by Guardian Australia showed Keenan told firearms lobby groups in September 2015 that the government wanted to cut “red tape” from gun regulation.

The Sifa already sits on the firearms industry reference group, which advises on the national firearms agreement. Rossi, one of the Sifa’s directors, is also named in the 2015 minutes representing the National Firearms Dealers Association.

Nioa has also previously been appointed to a Queensland weapons ministerial advisory council.

Patterson said that it was “common” for government to consult with industry groups over policy.

“It isn’t an exceptional situation, I wouldn’t have thought. There is certainly an appetite for policy making that is informed by genuine skills, knowledge and expertise, not emotive arguments,” she said.

• Editor’s note: This story was corrected on 15 March 2018. It originally reported that Robert Nioa was at the meeting with Peter Dutton, but he was not.