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ABC News
8 minutes ago
- ABC News
Australian Defence Force rolling out variant of handgun with history of accidental discharge allegations
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is standing by its newly issued handgun despite a major command of the US military ordering an indefinite "pause" of the use of a similar weapon. The US Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the M18 service pistol not be used until further notice after Airman Brayden Lovan died when his M18 unexpectedly fired on July 20, while he was on duty at a base in Wyoming. The M18, and the ADF's new handgun, the F9 Sidearm Weapon System (SWS), are both based on a model of pistol known as the Sig Sauer P320. "For the Australian Defense Forces, the SIG Special Weapons Group utilized a P320 variant similar to the U.S. Military's M18," Sig Sauer's website reads. The discharge involving the airman is now the subject of a comprehensive US Air Force investigation. "Our information is that the gun fired without the airman's hand or finger touching the trigger," said Robert Zimmerman, a lawyer who told ABC NEWS Verify his firm had been retained by the airman's mother. A spokesman for the ADF said it was aware of an ongoing investigation into an incident with a US model M18 pistol. It said the ADF's in-service F9 pistol system was different to the M18, without providing more detail. It did not respond to several other questions, including a further enquiry seeking an explanation on how exactly the F9 differed. Sig Sauer has for years been plagued by allegations, and lawsuits, claiming its P320 can fire without its trigger being pulled. The company vehemently denies this is possible, saying: "The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull. "This is verified through extensive testing by Sig Sauer, the U.S. Military, elite law enforcement agencies, and independent laboratories," it says on its "P320 Truth" website. Bill Lewinski is the founding partner of Force Science and an expert on accidental shootings. He has previously told the Washington Post that "the number and frequency of injuries are strongly suggestive of a design flaw versus a human performance error. What we're seeing is highly unusual". Mr Lewinski told ABC NEWS Verify that he stood by the statement. "Further — without a clear understanding of the reason for the problem or any subsequent effort at remediation, some of our local to national departments are in full retreat in the use of the P320," he said. The firearm is what is known as "striker-fired". The striker, like a "firing pin" in a rifle, is the object that impacts the primer in a cartridge, firing a bullet. In the P320, and its variants, the striker is at all times held back by spring tension — meaning when the trigger is pulled, the striker simply moves forward. The firearm contains internal safety systems that are designed to prevent the firearm from discharging without the trigger being pulled. Mr Zimmerman said his firm represented more than 100 individuals and family members of people who had been injured or killed by P320 variants. "We believe this is the most dangerous pistol available on the market for users and those around the gun," he told ABC NEWS Verify. "We are aware of well over 350 incidents of unintended discharges in total," he said. Mr Zimmerman said his law firm had been retained by the mother of the airman killed on July 20. He said he understood the 21-year-old's gun fired while still in its holster, after it was placed on a table. "I believe it was prudent for the division of the US Air Force to halt its use of the P320 variant at this time, and we and our clients are calling for others to follow suit," he said. Unlike some variants of the P320, the F9 and the M18 used by the US Air Force feature an external manual safety, designed to prohibit the trigger function of the firearm. Jeffrey Webb is a master gunsmith from US gun store Grey Wolf Armory. He is a long-term critic of the P320, and in 2022, he wrote an analysis as an expert witness for a case against Sig Sauer. "This author has firsthand accounts of a sample M17 pistol [the US Army's less-compact P320 variant] finding the manual thumb safety disengaged while still in its holster through normal body movement," the analysis read. "The existence of, and voluntary use of, a manual thumb safety on this model firearm does not appear to fully mitigate that the firearm could discharge a round un-commanded by the user. "The basic fact is that a single-action, striker-fired pistol with no inertia safety on the trigger (the two-stage trigger like on a Glock) is an unsafe design at its core," Mr Webb told ABC NEWS Verify. "My advice, such as it is, to your military regarding adopting a P320 variant, is one word: DON'T," he said in an email, with capitals added. The US Air Force Global Strike Command told ABC NEWS Verify it was currently conducting what it called "100 per cent inspections" of all M18 handguns "to identify any immediate safety concerns". Sig Sauer addressed the US Air Force incident in a July 24 statement posted online. "We proactively offered assistance to the U.S. Military as they investigate the incident and remain willing to help in furtherance of their ongoing inquiry," it said. "We have absolute confidence in the Military's ability to conduct a thorough investigation and are working with the Air Force and Army to answer any of their questions." In 2022, the ADF released a statement that said the federal government had signed a multi-million-dollar agreement "to start acquiring and supplying the next generation of small arms for the Australian Defence Force". It revealed the ADF's new service pistol would be the Sig Sauer P320 XCarry Pro, which would be fitted with a sight and a torch. The gun would replace the Browning Mk3 pistol, which had entered service in Australia in 1964. The next year, in 2023, an eight-month-long investigation by the Washington Post and The Trace, a not-for-profit gun-related news outlet, revealed allegations from more than 100 people that their P320 pistols had discharged when they did not pull the trigger, with dozens injured. Sig Sauer disputed the claims in the story. It addresses allegations of unintended discharges on its "P320 Truth" website. "Verified incidents of unintended discharges are all attributed to improper handling, incompatible equipment (i.e. holsters), trigger access vulnerability, or a lapse in firearm safety, not to any defect in the P320," it reads. The ADF designated its new pistol the F9, and its rollout began in 2024. For a time, Sig Sauer sold an "AUSTRALIA M.O.D" model of the P320 as part of a program that sells "contract overrun firearms from militaries around the world". The company's online advertising for the pistol also references Australia. "In the scorching heat of the outback, the P320 is taking the Australian Defence Forces into the 21st century," it states. The incident involving Airman Lovan and the M18 has reignited online discussion about the safety of the P320, and its variants, on social media and gun forums. One video has attracted more than 800,000 views on YouTube alone — showing a man claiming to put a millimetre of pressure on his P320's trigger with a screw. He then plays with the gun's slide, causing it to fire. He repeats it four more times. "If you have any debris, sand, carbon build-up, that's preventing the trigger from being fully disengaged… You basically have a hand grenade," one repost on X read, sharing part of the video. ABC NEWS Verify asked Sig Sauer about the video, but did not receive a response by publication. The company's media representatives did not respond to any questions put to it. The company posted a statement on its social media channels in early March captioned: "The P320. It ends today". "The P320 CANNOT, under any circumstances, discharge without a trigger pull — that is a fact. The allegations against the P320 are nothing more than individuals seeking to profit or avoid personal responsibility," the post said. "Furthermore, lawsuits claiming that the P320 is capable of firing without the trigger being pulled have been dismissed in courtrooms around the country," it said. Sig Sauer has been successful in having several cases dismissed. But Mr Zimmerman said that was not the case for all. "A gun should not be capable of firing when it is holstered and when the user is not touching the trigger," he told ABC NEWS Verify. "The only two cases our firm has taken to verdict have resulted in findings for the Plaintiff and against Sig, where juries have found that Sig was negligent (and in one of the two cases, reckless) and that the P320's design is defective," he said.
News.com.au
16 minutes ago
- News.com.au
The Geelong suburbs where homes sell every single day
A rise in people hunting new homes sees a group of Geelong suburbs where a property effectively sells each day of the year. Armstrong Creek, Lara and Highton, along with Torquay each scored more than 365 residential sales in the 12 months to July, new PropTrack figures reveal. Sellers in Geelong's biggest-selling suburbs are also enjoying the injection of competition from investors as buyers seek affordable entries, good yields and long-term growth prospects. Armstrong Creek is Geelong's biggest market, with 455 home sales in FY25 almost 100 greater than the same time 12 months ago. The median house price has sat around $650,000 at Armstrong Creek over the year, while the rental yield improved to 4.24 per cent. House and unit sales combined to crack more than 400 sales in Lara, while 367 homes transacted each in Highton and Torquay. McGrath, Armstrong Creek agent Sam Parsons said a good portion of sales in the suburb are to investors in the $650,000 to $700,000 range. He estimated investors now represent up to 40 per cent of buyers in the growth corridor. 'The big portion in that price range is first-home buyers, or people with that budget to get in the market, because there is now that true fear of missing out in that price range,' Mr Parsons said. 'There's genuine competition against them now, which wasn't there nine months ago.' He suggests some investors may have 'jumped the gun' when they sold up as the state government hiked land taxes and other compliance costs. 'They do add up, but that's part and parcel of owning an investment property,' Mr Parsons said. 'The ones that held on, or that (will) hold on to them long term, are always going to be better off. Land tax and other things are not great for an investor when the bill comes, but when the investor looks at the bigger picture, their investments are doing well for them.' Mr Parsons said buyers were seeking homes aged between one to five years, which required less maintenance and the ability to claim depreciation against their taxable income. He said the best time to claim depreciation on an investment property was in the first 10 years. The PropTrack data shows a 5.6 per cent drop in Highton's median house price over the past 12 months to $861,000. But Hayeswinckle, Highton agent Michelle Winckle said while more locals were downsizing, contributing to the decline, there was a real lack of stock in the lower price brackets now driving competition. 'To be honest, people are misreading the market – they don't realise how good the Highton market is,' Ms Winckle said. 'A lot of people believe Highton has dropped, but there's actually not enough stock in Highton – we've got more buyers than we actually have sellers.' That was evident last weekend when a three-bedroom house in Strickland Ave attracted 10 bidders. The house was listed with a $640,000 reserve price, but sold to an investor for $751,000. Ms Winckle said plenty of people were looking to downsize in Highton, while family buyers were also a sizeable portion of the market. Investors and families tended to compete for similar properties in Highton, because the fundamentals driving interest in the suburb were good schools, access to shopping and the Geelong Ring Road. 'It's a very popular family area because it's close to all the schools. There's so many schools around us, so Highton is good for that.' Elite Buyers Agents' Geelong buyers agent Vicky Whittaker said people waiting for the market to rise were contributing to the shortage of sub-$900,000 homes in Highton. 'I think there is a lot of vendors thinking the price is going to go up, they're going to get more growth on the property, so they're sitting on their hands.' Ray White Lara agent Matthew Wade-Taylor said another cut to interest rates after better inflation figures this week would increase competition in the market. Lara's $682,000 median house price had slipped 2.7 per cent over 12 months, but showed more signs of improvement over the short term as the average time to sell a house has also been slashed. 'We were getting two, three people at an open homes, sometimes zero (12 months ago). Now properties at a price below $700,000 we're getting to the first open sometimes 10 to 15 people.' Mr Wade-Taylor said families were the biggest demographic for mid-range properties, with investors typically keen below $650,000. First-home buyers are typically coming out on top if they're coming up against investors, he said. 'Advocates are coming with a lot of conditions whereas first-home buyers know there's a bit of competition so it's putting them in a position where they have to tighten up their conditions.'
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Tax debts drive record level of calls to financial helplines, as ATO denies 'heavy-handed' methods
Financial counsellors are calling on the tax office to give small businesses and individuals more time to pay tax debts, as the level of money owed sees calls to the debt helplines hit unprecedented levels. More than 65 per cent, or $36.6 billion, of the $55.9 billion in total debt owed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is owed by small business, according to the agency, which said much of that is undisputed debt. But the ATO's increased use of its extraordinary powers to recoup tax debts is sending more small businesses under, and putting people into severe financial hardship. "We've seen increased activity across that full spectrum of debt collection methods," Australia's Tax Ombudsman Ruth Owen said. While Ms Owen understood the ATO's need to collect on debts, she said it needed to be more understanding of cost-of-living pressures and give people more time to pay. These people who are pursued for money owed often don't have access to well-paid lawyers and accountants to give them the right advice and help them navigate out of crippling tax debts. "Families, businesses are all struggling — there's a lot of bills, there's a lot of debt out there and they [the ATO] could do more to support taxpayers, to pay their tax when it's due, and give them appropriate arrangements if they fall into hardship," she said. The ATO said, "following a return to ordinary debt collection activities in June 2023 and the implementation of a targeted payment strategy in August 2024, the annual rate of growth of collectable debt has slowed and is trending down". The agency defended the way it goes about collecting debts owed. "The ATO does not agree with the proposition that we take heavy-handed actions," an ATO spokesman told ABC News. "We expect taxpayers to fulfil their legal obligations — that is to lodge and pay tax bills in full and on time." A financial helpline for small businesses has told ABC News that calls have been running hot as the ATO ramps up debt recovery action, noting the agency's refusal to waive general interest charges in some cases. The Financial Counselling Australia manages the Small Business Debt Helpline, as well as the National Debt Helpline. In June alone, 559 cases were reported to the small business helpline. While it was down slightly from the record high hit in May, it was an increase of 31 per cent compared with June 2024. If you have more information about this story please contact Nassim Khadem at or nassimkhadem@ And 64 per cent of cases that came through to the helpline in June related to an ATO debt — up from 60 per cent a year earlier. Throughout the 2025 financial year, ATO debt was also consistently identified as one of the top five reasons why people called the more general National Debt Helpline. Over the past 18 months, almost 12,000 people have visited the National Debt Helpline website looking for advice on how to deal with a tax debt. Overall, calls and chat messages to the helpline totalled 168,148 in the 2025 financial year, up from 162,376 in FY24. Financial Counselling Australia's policy and campaign director Rebekah Sarkoezy argued the ATO's rigid policies and legal constraints have restricted access to financial hardship relief and debt release. She said people struggled to access affordable repayment plans and other reasonable hardship options including deferrals, debt reductions, pausing the accumulation of interest. "People are really desperately wanting to pay their tax debts. They're trying to find options, but they're finding … they're not able to get access to payment plans that they can actually afford or access to a bit of time to get back on their feet." Some small businesses have been targeted by predatory lenders, in their desperation for cash to pay back ATO debts and avoid going under, while others have restructured their businesses to avoid insolvency. The ATO told a recent parliamentary inquiry it had received 23,291 calls to its hardship line last year. Calls increased steadily in recent years, with 20,325 calls in 2023, 17,914 in 2022 and just 12,102 in 2021, when the ATO had paused its debt recovery action because of the pandemic. However, the ATO said "not all taxpayers who use the hardship line are genuinely experiencing vulnerable circumstances". The UNSW tax clinic's supervisor Annette Tasker said their clients also included victims of fraud, where "accounts have been hacked or fraudulently obtained in some way" or where "refunds have been paid, sometimes into a mysterious bank account" that the client isn't aware of. "Suddenly the tax office is trying to claw that debt back and the client, or the taxpayer, doesn't understand how it's occurred in the first place," she said. Ms Tasker noted that in many cases, the people affected were experiencing severe problems like drug addiction and the tax debt has devastating impacts. "There's a huge impact on their families, not only their own themselves and their children, but parents or anyone who's able to support them. "They feel like they're just getting their lives back on track after these undesirable circumstances … and then suddenly they're taken down again. So mental health becomes a serious, serious issue and they just can't cope." Ms Tasker argued the ATO lacked understanding of these unique and difficult circumstances and took "a hard line": "They have no sympathy whatsoever." She said people are often faced with an ATO call centre representative saying, "'This is the rule, or this is our policy. This is our process.' It's very hard to get somebody who will … think a little more carefully about the individual." Ms Tasker compared the way that those who have access to legal and tax advice are treated, to her clients who do not. "Taxpayers should be treated consistently to ensure there's no special privilege because you're using a high-profile firm or adviser," she says. The ATO said taxpayers who need additional time to pay may be eligible to set up a payment plan, and noted that as of May 31, there were over 631,000 active payment plans in place for over $11.1 billion of tax debt. The agency said taxpayers can request to have interest charged on tax debts waived, and it is trying to "better understand the circumstances of, and provide support to, taxpayers experiencing vulnerabilities and cost of living pressures". The ATO told ABC News it is "prioritising recovery action on superannuation guarantee charge, pay as you go withholding (PAYGW) and GST debts". It said those that "repeatedly refuse to engage and continue to ignore reminders to pay, can expect ATO actions to escalate quickly". The ATO pointed to data showing that over the year to May 31, 2025, collectable debt had increased by a smaller rate of 2.3 per cent, or $1.3 billion, compared to same period the year before (when it grew by 4.7 per cent or $2.5 billion). Of the total $55.9 billion collectable debt owed to the ATO by individuals and small businesses, it said 79 per cent ($42.9 billion) is primary debt, 17 per cent ($9.3 billion) comprises general interest charges, and 4 per cent ($3.7 billion) relates to other penalties and shortfall interest charge. The Tax Ombudsman has an investigation underway into the ATO's increased use of general interest charges, which are applied on top of hefty tax debts. She said interest charges often caught people off guard, especially with a 10 per cent annual interest charge levied on top of tens of thousands of dollars of primary tax debts. "What we're seeing because everybody is facing increasing pressures in their financial businesses or in their family budgets right now, is that it can cause real anxiety for people and mental health issues." Ms Owen also argued it was unclear how the ATO is coming to decisions about whether to waive general interest charges. "Feedback we're hearing is it's really, really inconsistent, that it's very, very hard to tell how they're making those judgements and decisions," she said.
