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New Gel Blaster laws are part of changes to replica firearm legislation aimed at keeping the public in Central Queensland and across the state safe.
Queensland is the only jurisdiction in Australia that doesn’t require owners of the ‘toy’ guns to possess a firearms licence.
Popularity of the lifelike guns, that shoot gel balls which grow to 8mm when immersed in water for four hours, has skyrocketed in the past year, with two stores opening in Gladstone and three in Rockhampton.
It is estimated there more than 1 million gel blasters in Australia and the industry is worth $200 million annually in Queensland, employing hundreds of people.
“The evidence is clear that issues associated with personal drug use are best addressed through the health system, not the justice system,” he said.
Figures released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics ABS showed the number of offenders prosecuted by police in 2019-2020 was the lowest in the past 12 years.
ABS Director of Crime and Justice Statistics, William Milne, said there were 374,645 offenders in Australia in 2019-20, a decrease of 5 per cent from the previous year.
The QPC report found drug addicts lives would be improved by decriminalisation without increasing the rate of drug use.
If the reforms were implemented immediately, the QPC report found “the prison population would be between 20 to 30 per cent lower in 2025”.
THE HISTORY of Queensland oldest operating coastal lighthouse at Bustard Head reads like a Hollywood script featuring murder, suicide, shark attacks, drownings, and ultimate triumph over adversity. Stuart Buchanan began his first stint as lighthouse keeper at the 152-year-old structure in 1974, and has written six books during that time about the fascinating tales associated with the historic light. These include
Light of their Lives: The fight to save Bustard Head. An aerial photo of the Bustard Head lighthouse and the 1770 LARC, which conducts regular tours to the historic light station.
Construction Bustard Head Lighthouse Association Inc president Stuart Buchanan said the cast iron structure was designed and its heavy panels founded in the United Kingdom, before being shipped to Australia and assembled on site.