Offender methodologies are changing, which is forcing policing jurisdictions to review, update and create new techniques and technologies.

This is particularly true for the response to potential active armed offender incidents like the terrible tragedy that played out in Christchurch and in a Tasmanian context began with the Port Arthur massacre.

Any response used to be the realm of the police tactical group, again in the Tasmanian landscape, the Special Operations Group. But that is not the case anymore.

The major paradigm change began to occur after the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The perpetrators, senior students murdered 12 students and one teacher. What was learnt in the aftermath of that tragedy began to change how police and first responders reacted to similar events.

Twenty years later the response and initial mitigation to these types of incidents is now fully in the realm of the first responder.

On average, active armed offender incidents are concluded within 12 minutes. One person is seriously injured or killed every six seconds. In writing this, I am in no way trying to minimise the horror of what occurs and what people, survivors, witness. But the reality is, because of the time restrictions, it is impossible to mobilise specialist tactical resources.

Every police jurisdiction in Australia understands this problem and is now training their first responders appropriately.

But training alone cannot equip our first responders appropriately. They need specialised equipment. Why? In simple terms, modern Work Health and Safety legislation. Basic risk management principles tell you to try and eliminate the risk.

This is not possible for policing - so policies, tactics and training are developed. Anyone with knowledge of risk management training will tell you the hierarchy of controls requires this and the last thing you do to treat a risk is provide Personal Protective Equipment. This is where Tasmania is in the first preparedness stage of risk mitigation.

This is why we are advocating for a "long arm" solution for first responders. By long arms we mean tactical, military-style weapons, currently carried by the Special Operations Group. Tasmania Police officers need similar long arm solutions.

If a perpetrator has this type of weapon, they can be accurate up to a distance of 300 metres. Tasmania police officers only carry pistols with an accurate range of around 10 metres.

Therefore, on a workplace safety basis, we need to our members provided with the safest work place possible.

This scenario has played out in Canada where the families of deceased police officers killed responding to an active armed offender incident are suing their employer.

The coronial process found the deceased officers were provided appropriate training but were not provided appropriate equipment. And Canada's WHS laws are very similar to Australia's.

This is what we are asking for: that our members have the safest work place possible, because they are doing a job only a small percentage of the community are willing to do.

As we view the aftermath of Christchurch, the members of the Police Association of Tasmania, like our brothers and sisters in the Police Federation of Australia, stand ready to offer any and all assistance to the first responders across the Tasman.

To watch the New Zealand first responders describe what they found within the mosques in Christchurch was truly gut-wrenching.

They are now living with what our members witnessed and lived through almost 23 years ago at Port Arthur.

I know that many of our members have suffered from memories flooding back, from memories that many of them live with every day - and every night.

By providing Tasmania Police officers with the necessary equipment, we will be able to do our jobs better - keeping Tasmanian families safer.