Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The 15 souls that tragically lost their lives on 14 December on the beach at Bondi are owed at least the honesty of their polity. The honest truth—perhaps the hard truth for those opposite—is that we don't have a gun problem in this country; we have a problem with radical Islamic extremism. Objectively, a reasonable person might conclude that the US does have a gun problem, but we don't. We have some of the strictest gun laws in the world, a product of very hard decisions taken by former prime minister John Howard and his government. That's why I can't support these changes in the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026.

They're a product of a couple of things, principally an attempt to hoodwink the Australian people and, sadly, to gaslight lawful, legitimate licensed Australian gun owners. I'm not going to stand in this place and support it. I know many of my colleagues won't either. The truth—again, a hard truth for those opposite—is that what happened at Bondi was not a failure of our national gun laws but a failure of national leadership. When the time came to deal with the rising tide of antisemitism in this country, our national leadership hid under the doona. We should be reflecting on those poor choices, not seeking to strengthen gun laws in effect as an attempt to distract people from what actually happened here. I remind the House that these terrorists not only had firearms; they also had improvised explosive devices. I remind the House that we have seen this kind of terror in Sydney with people wielding knives. I remind the House that we've seen it in Melbourne with people driving motor vehicles. It's always the motivation; it's never the method. I say to those opposite: please, don't gaslight Australian gun owners.

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