It's the politician who passed it who is speaking. Surprise he finds it success? Here is a chart from a study about gun deaths in Australia.
Here is current Australian gun law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia Finnish gun law has been as strict since or stricter 1998. Gun ownership has required permit since 1933. 1969 Pihtipudas cop killings. Four dead. 1998 * law changes * 2007 Jokela school shootings. Legal weapon. Seven dead. 2008 Kauhajoki school shootings. Legal weapon. Ten dead. 2009 Sello shots. Illegal weapon. Four dead. Mass murders seem to follow some sort of weird fashion. When there is one, second is on it's way. Strict gun-law did help in Finland. The police knew that both these school shootings happened with .22lr semiautomatic pistol, and as that cannot penetrate body armour SWAT could have made a charge. But it was too late. I did not include bombings to keep this clear.
The major thing here is lack of mass shootings. Otherwise violence trends were falling already.