Katrina BRANDON and David BRAITHWAITE
RECENT events at Bondi have prompted reviews into gun laws across the country.
Federal and state governments are considering whether gun laws need to be changed in the wake of the horrific terror attack that left at least 15 people dead.
The federal government immediately stopped its Christmas break and returned to Cabinet early (on Monday, December 22), where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns proposed new gun legislation.
The National Security Committee has met around a dozen times to discuss how to combat antisemitic terror attacks.
Local gun owners have already felt the impact of possible changes.
Tom Hall, owner of Alpine Country Outdoors Morwell, noted that gun and ammunition sales have already taken a hit since the December 14 attack at Bondi.
“It (government’s reaction) is 100 per cent a typical knee-jerk reaction,” he told the Gippsland Farmer.
“What happened in Bondi was just disgusting. I think the biggest issue here is that there is room for change, particularly in eligibility requirements for firearm licenses. But to limit numbers is ridiculous.
“I might (for example) own five or six guns depending on what I am going for – such as you wouldn’t use the same gun you would use on a deer for a rabbit … there would be nothing left.
But, some might also have firearms that have been passed down through generations that have sentimental value, something that has been in the family for 100 years.”
Living in the “hunting state”, Mr Hall said Gippsland has a massive hunting and gun community, and that a total ban on firearms would be an overreach.
“I think the actual Firearms Act, as it stands, probably doesn’t need to be changed too much, it’s more about the existing eligibility criteria,” he said.
“Hunting is a huge thing (in Gippsland). It’s not just blokes running around the bush, it is a family thing.
“They should consider all their national and international athletes, clay shooters, target shooters, and more. Will you work out if you’re going to ban all the guns and get rid of this, and get rid of that, you might as well kiss away most of our Olympic teams.”
Nationals leader, David Littleproud, also agreed that gun laws “were not the problem”.
“It was the people who were using the guns. They were terrorists,” he told the ABC.
“This was an act of terror that slaughtered innocent Australians, targeting Jewish Australians in the most heinous act.
“If you are committed to going and slaughtering innocent Australians at Bondi Beach, you are going to find a means to find a weapon, whether it be a gun, a knife, or a vehicle.
“Let me make it also clear that to get a gun licence in this country, you have to undergo a fit and proper person test. You just can’t walk in and get a gun. You must also demonstrate the need for the gun, and if it’s high-calibre, that need is even greater.”
Mr Littleproud highlighted that while Australian gun laws are “world-leading”, it was “the ignorance of the detail of what licensing looks like” that was of major concern.
“The fact is that one of the perpetrators had a licence. What concerns me is that both the New South Wales Police Commissioner and the ASIO director said that this individual was someone that they watched and were watching,” Mr Littleproud said.
“If someone was being watched and they knew that they had six licensed firearms in their possession, would you not think that those agencies would have taken those firearms and taken that license off that individual?”
Federal Member for Monash, Mary Aldred said that while the attack was horrendous, Australian firearm owners, such as farmers, should not be punished.
“I represent farmers who rely on firearms for pest control, as well as recreational shooters who demonstrate responsible gun ownership, already comply with rigorous obligations and contribute back to our community. While I am open to considering sensible proposals like a requirement of Australian citizenship for gun ownership, I won’t support any moves to punish responsible gun owners while not addressing the real issues at hand,” she told the Gippsland Farmer.
The establishment of a National Firearms Register (NFR) has been raised.
The NFR will be a nationwide database for firearm-related information. It will enable the sharing of near-real-time, reliable information between Australian law enforcement agencies and governments.
While the registry was expected to be active by mid-2028, authorities are considering bringing it forward.
“The consideration that will take place includes limiting the number of guns an individual can own, the type of guns that are legal, whether gun ownership should require Australian citizenship, and accelerating work on the National Firearms Register,” Mr Albanese said in the aftermath of Bondi.
“We’ve provided over $160 million to do that, including over $100 million to states and territories.”
Australia’s gun laws were last substantially reformed following 1996 Port Arthur tragedy, with the current government saying the Bondi attack highlighted the need to finish the job the Howard government started on gun reform.
The government proposed for states and territories to agree to ambitious new gun law reforms no later than March, and for reforms to be legislated no later than July 1.
The Gun Safety Advocates have also stepped forward, sharing its “plan of action”.
“Australia’s gun laws have not kept pace with changes in firearm technology, shifts in ownership patterns and contemporary risk factors,” they said.
“Authorities have confirmed that the weapons used in the Bondi attack were legally owned, exposing serious gaps in licensing, firearm categorisation, storage, oversight and national coordination.”
The Gun Safety Advocates proposed the following to reduce firearm harm;
- Remove the recreational hunting licence category;
- Further restrict high-capability firearms;
- End metropolitan home storage for nonoccupational firearms;
- Limit the number of firearms per individual;
- Explicitly prohibit the use of firearms by children;
- Introduce robust, renewable licensing;
- Establish national reporting and oversight;
- End unlicensed shooting;
- Ban political donations from the firearms industry, and;
- Establish a National Firearms Safety Council.
Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath, stood with Field and Game member and law-abiding firearm owner Ryan Weeratunge on the steps of state Parliament to launch a new e-petition calling on the Allan Labor government to properly enforce existing gun laws and reject rushed, ineffective changes.
In the wake of the devastating tragedy and amid growing concerns about extremist terrorism and hate crime, Ms Bath said community safety must always come first – but warned against hurried legislative responses that risk missing the real problem.
“What we witnessed was horrific, and Australians rightly want action to prevent terrorism, combat antisemitism and ensure Victorians are safe,” Ms Bath said.
“But changing laws in a hurry, without evidence, risks penalising responsible, lawabiding firearm owners like Ryan, while failing to address the failures in intelligence, monitoring and enforcement that have underpinned serious incidents.”
Mr Weeratunge is a licensed, law-abiding Australian who hunts duck and deer for his table and shares his harvest with family and friends. Like thousands of regional Victorians, he complies with Victoria’s already strict firearms laws and storage requirements.
Ms Bath said Victoria already has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and that past serious incidents have repeatedly involved individuals known to authorities -pointing to breakdowns in compliance, resourcing and enforcement, not gaps in legislation.
“The Nationals strongly support decisive action to prevent terrorism and keep Victorians safe, but any review of firearms laws must be evidence-led and free from pre-determined assumptions about lawful owners,” Ms Bath said.
The petition calls on the state government to:
- Properly enforce existing firearms laws and fix compliance and resourcing gaps;
- Ensure the current Victorian review is evidence-based and transparent;
- Reject new restrictions unless clear, publicly available evidence shows they will improve safety, and;
- Guarantee genuine consultation with lawful firearm owners, sporting shooters and hunting organisations.
Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has warned the federal government’s proposed changes to firearms laws will unfairly target rural and regional Australians, while failing to address the causes of the Bondi terrorist attack.
Mr Chester accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of using gun law reform as a distraction from the government’s failure to act decisively on the growing threat of anti-Semitism and Islamic extremism in Australia.
Mr Chester said Australians expected strong leadership focused on preventing extremist violence, not rushed and ill-conceived policy changes that penalised people who have done nothing wrong.
“Instead of confronting the hard issues around extremism, social cohesion and national security, the Prime Minister appears to be pursuing a knee-jerk response that unfairly targets law-abiding firearm owners, particularly in regional and rural communities like Gippsland,” he said.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said, a generation after the previous reforms, it was time to update gun laws “to keep our country safe”.
“We have to address the motivation and the method of these crimes. No one can justify why this household had so many firearms,” Mr Burke said.
Mr Chester said firearms were used legitimately across Gippsland for pest control, farming, sport, and hunting, and these activities had nothing to do with the extremist violence seen at Bondi.
“It wasn’t farmers or sporting shooters who carried out this terrorist attack,” he said.
“This was an act of violent extremism, and the government’s focus should be on strengthening counter-terrorism measures, enforcing existing laws, and implementing the findings of its own Anti-Semitism Envoy, not taking rights away from law-abiding gun owners.”
Mr Chester said the Liberal-National Coalition remained open to sensible, evidence-based reforms that closed genuine loopholes, but would not support measures that stripped rights from responsible firearm owners without any consultation.
