Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak against the proposed Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026. These should not even be in the same sentence—this is totally ridiculous! This bill is a diversionary tactic. It will not stamp out antisemitism, hate or extremism. This bill will not change the culture of antisemitism, hate, extremism and radical Islam that has been allowed to flourish due to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's weak leadership. All this will do is punish law-abiding firearm owners that are being used as a scapegoat.

Australia already has the strictest gun laws in the world and the most stringent licensing. They do thorough background checks and withholding periods both before you get a licence and before you obtain a firearm. The coalition supports law-abiding firearm owners. The coalition supports the National Firearms Register. The question is this. Everything is already in place for the gun register's introduction. It's been in place for two years. Why hasn't the Albanese Labor government implemented it? That's the question.

As a fully licensed firearm owner myself, who shoots rifles, pistols and shotguns for pest control and recreation, I'd like to explain to the parliament why shooters use so many different guns. The reason is, essentially, they do different jobs. They're for different purposes. For the destruction of birds and other pests that destroy crops, farmers might use a .22 calibre, which could be a .22 calibre long rifle, a .22 calibre Hornet or a .223 for longer range. They all have different jobs. They're the same calibre, but they shoot further. For rats and rabbits, you might use the same sort of calibre, but you might change what projectile you use. For a pig, you might use a .30-30, if you're in the scrub at close range. You might use a .308 if they're out on the open. Pigs come in and rip up your tomatoes and capsicums and make a mess.

The golfers have to understand why golfers need so many different clubs. I'm trying to use an analogy here that people will understand. I get that people don't fully understand firearms, but that shouldn't be a reason to be afraid of them. For the golfers, you don't see someone teeing off with a putter. You don't see someone on the green with a driver. If you're a landholder and you come across a beast that's broken their leg or something, and you need to destroy that beast, you can't use a .22 calibre, because that's inhumane. So you need a higher calibre rifle to dispose of that—to put that beast out of its misery.

If that landholder is also a sporting shooter, they might have three different types of shotguns. If you're shooting guns at the range, you might want a long barrel for shooting down the line, a shorter barrel for shooting trench or an even shorter one for shooting skeet. That's three different shotguns. If that landholder also shoots, say, western action out at the pistol club, they might need a pistol, a lever action rifle and a shotgun. Again, they're all different. There would also be different actions. You could have a single action, a double action or a semiautomatic. The horse people out there might understand this analogy. It's horses for courses. You don't see a dressage horse racing in the Melbourne Cup.

That's why I do not support this legislation. Twenty guns in the hands of a law-abiding grazier, sporting shooter or collector is fine. One gun in the hands of a radical Islamic terrorist is a massive problem. Do you honestly think that terrorists and criminals will come and hand their guns in? Do you honestly think that's going to happen? No. Law-abiding firearm owners will be punished due to the failure of this government. I don't want to even talk about buybacks, but, if this bad legislation does go through, buybacks need to give appropriate compensation. But this is bad legislation. It's time this government faced up to the real problem, which is radical Islam, not the firearm owners.

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