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The Queensland government has hit out at federal Labor’s handling of its Bondi massacre response but refused to detail its own much-anticipated approach to gun reform and antisemitism.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles has seized on the detail to accuse the Crisafulli government of placating the gun lobby and fringe elements of its party, while undermining national reforms.
“If Queensland is not part of the scheme, then Queensland will just become a refuge for those dangerous guns and dangerous people, which will make Queensland a more dangerous place,” Miles said.
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor was left to face the media on Tuesday over the state’s response to the Bondi attack.Credit: Matt Dennien
The federal Coalition voted against tougher gun controls in Canberra on Tuesday, but the bill passed the lower house with support from independents.
Labor and the Liberals did agree on amendments to a separate bill on hate crimes and banning some radical groups.
Premier David Crisafulli’s cabinet met on Monday for the first time this year to hash out a state-based response to Bondi with its own promised laws.
But after ministers emerged late in the day, all that was said officially was that cabinet was continuing to work through the laws, to be introduced when parliament resumes next month.
A government spokesperson said the cabinet would “never be distracted from the core issue of antisemitism” after the December attack, in which 15 people were killed.
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With no additional detail, media outlets were also told the state would not back the Albanese government’s national gun buyback scheme – the first jurisdiction to take that position.
Neither Crisafulli, Police Minister Dan Purdie nor Attorney-General Deb Frecklington faced the media in Brisbane on Tuesday, with the task falling to Housing Minister Sam O’Connor.
O’Connor repeatedly refused to provide additional detail about the government’s plans, deferring such questions to Purdie and Frecklington, and saying more would be announced in due course.
“They’ve been dealing constructively with their interstate counterparts and with the federal government,” he said.
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“We are seeing a pretty messy process out of Canberra, and I don’t think that’s anything any Queenslander would want to see happen here.”
O’Connor said the Crisafulli government was monitoring progress in federal parliament this week, with its reforms to be considered in the state’s response.
Asked if the state would rule out negotiating with the federal government on its proposed gun buyback scheme, O’Connor said he was “not ruling anything in or out”.
At a media conference of his own, Miles accused Crisafulli of listening only to “the fringe elements of his backbench and the gun lobbyists who have bought him off”.
“The fact is, a national gun buyback scheme won’t work if Queensland is not part of it. You cannot be tough on crime while you are soft on guns,” he said.
While touting its planned response for weeks, the state government has been tight-lipped about what it will involve, along with if – and how – it will address calls for gun reforms by the Wieambilla inquest.
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said last month the state had so far only “signed on” to changing limits on the number of guns a person could possess.
Frecklington has previously said the state would also look to expand the number of banned hate symbols as part of the antisemitism element of the government’s response.
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