Coalition opposes gun control changes as laws pass House

The Coalition has voted against tougher gun controls following the Bondi massacre, as the laws passed the lower house of parliament on Tuesday morning backed by Labor MPs and teal independents.

The new laws tighten firearm controls with greater co-operation among security agencies for background checks of licensed gun owners, beef up restrictions on firearm imports and create the powers for the federal government to enact a national buyback scheme.

Nationals leader David Littleproud speaks on gun reform in the House of Representatives.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the scheme was similar to the buyback enacted by the Howard government after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 and contained import measures to prevent dangerous individuals from owning guns.

Albanese rejected arguments from Nationals MPs that the laws unfairly focused on rural residents.

“This [legislation] is not about targeting farmers, it’s not about competitive shooters, it’s not about law-abiding firearm owners,” Albanese said.

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“State governments control licenses ... state governments control gun limits. This legislation does not interfere with those arrangements.”

The firearms legislation passed with 96 votes for and 45 against, with no amendments. The Coalition opposed the bill, as did independent MPs Andrew Gee, Rebekha Sharkie, Bob Katter and Dai Le, and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. Labor MPs voted in favour, with teal independents and regional independent Helen Haines. It will be voted on in the Senate at about 6.30pm.

The government requires support from either the Liberals or the Greens to pass its bills in the Senate. The Greens have committed to backing the gun laws, and while the Liberals engaged with the government over potential amendments to the bill, the prime minister refused to budge and the Coalition voted against the changes as a bloc.

Shadow attorney-general Andrew Wallace said on Tuesday the Coalition opposed the “fundamentally flawed” gun reform and claimed the government was showing contempt for law-abiding firearm owners.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the restrictions were an unnecessary distraction from tackling antisemitism.

He told parliament on Tuesday that the gun bill was a “cheap political diversion”.

“We do not have a gun problem, we have a radical Islam problem,” the Nationals leader said.

Littleproud had campaigned against tighter controls soon after the Bondi massacre and pre-empted his senior Coalition partners in the Liberal Party, as he did on the Voice to parliament referendum and Australia’s legislation of a net zero emissions target.

More to come

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