Firearm laws are one step closer to being toughened after the surprise passage of a bill through the House of Representatives.
Having faced days of criticism over their national security credentials, Labor members on Thursday moved to bring on debate on the bill, introduced by the government only 24 hours earlier.
Leader of the House Peter Dutton then initiated an immediate vote which stopped speeches on the matter and saw the bill pass on the voices.
The Labor move came despite the party's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally earlier on Thursday telling ABC radio: "We haven't even seen this legislation and we will consider it carefully when we do."
"The fear I have is that they're going to try and use this to pick a fight on the issue of firearms," she said.
The proposal doubles the maximum penalty for existing firearms trafficking offences to 20 years in jail and/or a fine of 5000 penalty units.
There will also be a new aggravated offence for trafficking 50 or more firearms or firearm parts and mandatory minimum penalties of at least five years in jail for adult offenders.
Courts will have the discretion to reduce this minimum penalty if the offender pleads guilty to the offence and/or cooperates with law enforcement agencies.
Labor has historically opposed mandatory minimums, but did not vote against the passage of the bill through the lower house.
In presenting the bill on Wednesday, cabinet minister Stuart Robert said it would be a strong deterrent to criminals.
"It only takes one illegal firearm in the hands of someone with criminal intent ... to be of great concern to our community," he said.
"One illegal firearm in our community is clearly one too many."
The bill will now need to pass the Senate - which has limited sitting days before an election is due to be called - to become law.
