Mark Golding | Madam Speaker how come we haven’t heard anything on the IC’s report on the FLA?

Dear Madam Speaker, I was alarmed by the contents of the captioned newspaper article this morning, as I had hitherto been unaware that an Integrity Commission investigative report on the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), such a critical body, had been sent to Parliament on March 30, 2026 and yet still has not been tabled in the House. 

The newspaper article says that, in your capacity as Speaker of the House, you received a letter from the Integrity Commission advising that the report addresses “allegations of corruption, impropriety, and irregularities in the grant, variation, and revocation of firearm licences and storage of firearms and ammunition at the Firearm Licensing Authority”.

 Based on that letter, this investigative report includes matters of great national importance. Its protracted non-disclosure is a very serious and dangerous matter. The FLA is not a private citizen. It is a public body with statutory responsibility for serious functions. 

There is therefore clearly a strong public interest in exposing and addressing any impropriety or irregularities affecting the FLA’s operations. The Integrity Commission’s main statutory purpose is to ensure transparency and accountability in public affairs, as a key pillar in the fight against corruption. It would be inimical to the pursuit of that fundamental objective for a public body like the FLA, merely by filing Court proceedings applying for judicial review, to be able to cast a cloak of silence over an investigative report to which the law intends for parliamentarians, the media and the wider society to have prompt access via prompt tabling in Parliament.

 The existence of Court proceedings cannot be a lawful or proper basis for the continuing non-disclosure of this report. In this context, it is relevant to note that the Courts have recognised that public discourse and criticism are vital to a democratic society, and that public bodies are expected to endure scrutiny rather than use the courts to defeat transparency, undermine accountability and silence critics. This is why the Courts have determined (see, for example, Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers) that allowing public authorities to sue for damage to their “governing or administrative reputation” would severely stifle public opinion, which the courts will not countenance.

 The crux of the matter at hand is that the Integrity Commission Act requires this report to be tabled, a vital step which is essential to achieving the objectives of the Act. Unless the Court has made an order preventing the tabling of the report, this report should be tabled immediately. As Leader of the Opposition, it is therefore my duty to demand the tabling on this report at the next meeting of the House. I trust that, as Speaker of the House, you will also do your duty by ensuring that this happens next Tuesday afternoon. 

Sincerely, Mark Golding MP Leader of the Opposition