So, the issuance of licenses is on a moratorium - and, of course, getting to this point started in June when 7News started exposing the pervasive racket and corruption around the issuance of gun licenses.
One thing we have pressed for throughout is an audit of the current register of gun licenses. The Minister and the Commissioner have publicly supported it - but there's been no action on that commitment. In fact, at the House Committee meeting in August, the CEO for Home Affairs said he had asked the Commissioner for an audit 6 months prior and none had been forthcoming.
That was two months ago - and there's still no audit of that register.
We asked the Minister about it today:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I mentioned this previously, I was asked about this I think about two or three months ago and the auditor general's ministry, the department, is tasked to do audits so I'm certain they have a huge backlog themselves so I'm certain that that is something they will engaging in moving forward but we cannot force the auditor general's office to do a particular audit, we have to wait for them to come and do it."
Courtney Menzies:
"How do you ensure it doesn't fall to the wayside?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I don't believe it is, I think this has been in the public domain for quite some time and I'm sure it's on the radar of the auditor general so I look forward to that happening in the coming months."
The conventional wisdom is that it will be a challenge for the new board to move forward if they do not have a full and complete grasp of the existing register of gun licenses - whose database is housed at the Commissioner's office.
