Nice place! Are there any restrictions on the kinds of guns you can buy?
Here in California, where they try to restrict gun purchases by type, we are able to buy an ever decreasing number of semi-automatic handguns because the CADOJ gets to “test” each specific model to see if it's “safe.” The handgun mfrs are refusing to add “features” that are unique to California (loaded chamber indicator, mag disconnect) so my wife and I stocked up a couple of years ago. But here, you need only pass a Federal BG check and wait ten days. The ten-day waiting period has been declared un-constitutional by a Federal Judge, but the State is dragging its feet on implementing the court's mandate.
BTW, I love Australia! Used to go there on business (Sydney and Canberra), and my dad served in the US Navy in Melbourne for four years during WWII.
Yes - as I say, we have our share of dumb laws. It's just not as bad as some people try to claim when they start talking about mass confiscations and bans.
It's all down to licencing. Almost any adult can get what is called an A/B licence (unless they have a recent or serious criminal record), but that really limits you to non-semi-automatic longarms - bolt action rifles and shotguns. If you want to own semi-automatics or handguns you need more specialised licences which are harder to get (though still not that hard). Anything seen as 'military style' requires an even higher level licence and that is genuinely hard for an ordinary person to get.
A basic handgun licence limits you to .38 or 9mm or smaller, no more than a ten round magazine, and no short barelled weapons. And even if you have a licence, you need to specifically apply for a permit to buy any new weapon and while that permit will almost certainly be issued, it can take up to 28 days to get it issued for no good reason at all.