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MODS -- if this is getting too far off-topic, please feel free to shut it down or shift it; I don't mind answering the questions, though. Slow day at work.
)
Roscoe
I think the answer to your question lies in the two words you typed -- "(decades ago)".
Yes, the Australia I grew up in during the 60s (especially) began to be killed off during the great socialist experiments by the governments of the 70s and onwards. "Political correctness" and "multiculturalism" went from being admirable concepts to twin forces to be feared as ever more zealous converts took up their call.
Bureaucracies burgeoned and each department/official/bureaucrat sought new areas of our lives to inlict his/her prejudices and biases upon. This was
always accomplished by force of law -- because politicians believe they
have to pass laws to justify their existence (and their pensions).
Our schools (and as an ex-teacher, I was a direct part of this) took on a more and more left-leaning bent. We no longer taught two sides to a situation -- we were required to teach a single-sided, often revisionist, curriculum that openly held in disdain the values of Australia for the past 200 years.
Those students we taught now hold positions of influence and power -- they are driving the laws to make the country the way they have always been told it should be. Their buzzwords are "community, not individuality", "compromise", "apologise", "appease", "regret", "accommodate" and anything else which reduces people to groups and groups to communities and communities to a global village.
The Aussie of legend -- the laconic, anti-authoritarian bushman of yesteryear -- is long gone. We are now one of the world's most urbanised countries. The overwhelming majority of our population lives in the major (coastal) cities and capitals. The exodus from the land -- and from our roots -- continues.
Dr Phil, Jerry Springer, Rikki and Oprah are as familiar in our homes as yours, and more familiar to our youth (and younger adults) than Banjo Patterson, Breaker Morant, Sir Donald Bradman or even Ned Kelly. Our past is being deliberately trampled.
And with that goes the everyday, commonsense regard and attitude we had towards firearms. What was essentially a tool, or an item of sports equipment or just an inanimate collection of wood and steel that rested behind the kitchen door has been replaced with an irrational image of a killing machine, able of its own volition to "go off" and kill someone. "Smiley Gets a Gun" was replaced with "CSI: Miami". Mere ownership of a gun was enough to deny people their civil rights and liberties. As someone said, "The mere fact that someone
wants to own a firearm is enough reason to make sure they never get their hands on one".
Most of the people you knew are still there -- many still have the same attitudes. But they're getting older and more powerless. The stridency and sheer hate of some pressure groups in this country -- and I include parts of government in that -- cause people to shut up and, at least on the surface, comply.
But don't forget, after the government first banned certain classes of firearms in 1996, and made their possession illegal, with fines into tens of thousands of dollars and up to 14 years' prison for non-compliance, best estimates are that they only gathered about 25% of the now-illegal firearms. The other owners did what many Aussies have always done -- they shut up and totally ignored the government.
Sorry for the rant, but maybe it helps to explain things a little more.
Bruce
EDITED to add: I can't imagine the police in any state would allow a visitor to have a firearm licence here, other than for competition (a specific competition) or for an organised safari, run through a recognised group -- certainly not just to "carry around" on a holiday.
For example, here's the requirements to import a firearm as a visitor into Western Australia:
F20 Overseas visitors, temporary firearm permit.
Yes, you can bring firearms into Western Australia by filling out the Form 16.
ONE Overseas visitors need to ascertain from this website or by written correspondance [sic] with Firearms Branch, 210 Adelaide Terrace, Perth WA 6004, that they can actually license the firearm(s) they wish to visit Western Australia with (eg: you will not get a submachine gun licensed in Western Australia). The applicant will also require a genuine need and a genuine reason for bring the firearm(s) into Western Australia (eg: to compete in a specific competition, to be part of an licensed hunting group).
TWO Visitors will also require, from Firearms Branch, a Customs Importation Police approval form, known as a B709, which will be issued with the temporary firearm permit. This form permits the applicant, on arrival in Australia, a means of delaration to Customs officers, as to legality of firearm ownership and permission to bring these prohibited items into Western Australia.
They set a price which, for ordinary firearms, was non-negotiable. I honestly don't remember what I got for the shotgun now; just over $100 I think. The sad part was that it didn't matter what value (intrinsic or monetary) the prohibited gun had, it was crushed. I saw a photo of a smiling police officer with a $10 000+ presentation-grade Browning in the crusher. 
Historical firearms went too -- local museums and Returned Services League (veterans' association) museums were emptied of "offending weapons". There was a mass public anti-gun hysteria. Museums were, in many cases, forced to remove even old muzzle loaders from display because bliss-ninnies felt "threatened" by the sight of them. Cadets had their drill firearms confiscated, even though they were rendered permanently inoperable, because some people didn't want children "associated with firearms"! And these were kids, many of whom wanted to go and join the armed forces! 
