Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot support this Albanese firearms bill, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026. In Australia, we already have some the most restrictive gun laws in the world. You can't just go and buy a gun when you please. There are already restrictions, waiting periods, a genuine needs test and an intensive licensing regime. This bill risks punishing law-abiding citizens while failing to address the root cause of extremism and terrorism. The root cause of the Bondi terrorist attack was radical Islam; the government should be laser focused on combating that issue instead of going after law-abiding firearm owners.

Antisemitism in this country has been building for some time, and we needed to take action a long time ago. This legislation is simply a stunt to make it look like the Albanese government is taking action. Just slapping the words 'Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism' into the title of the bill doesn't mean that the legislation will have that effect. Who do we expect to actually hand back their guns under this regime? It will, of course, be the law-abiding owners like WA farmers, recreational shooters and hunters. It won't be the criminal gangs or anyone intending to do us harm.

This falls well short of the Prime Minister's own stated goal of instituting a John Howard buyback. There is no legislative guarantee of fair-market value compensation for property surrendered, which would be consistent with the 1996 model. Additionally, there is no legislative guarantee of compensation for hardship and loss of business, including the buyout of businesses deemed unviable. Rushing this legislation shows a contempt for Australia's one million gun owners. Guns have a real purpose for many in my community, whether they be farmers who need guns for pest management or their livestock, or for recreation, which I know they enjoy seriously in my electorate of Durack—they are entitled enjoy that sport.

The coalition will not be supporting this legislation, but, unfortunately, it looks like some dirty deal has already been done between the Labor Party and the Greens political party. This will be just the latest in a long list of examples of the Labor-Greens alliance penalising regional Western Australia. We've seen this play before. We've seen the contempt of the WA Labor government, and now we are seeing it from the federal Labor government. Like the WA Labor gun law changes, it is the law-abiding WA farmers, pastoralists, shooting clubs and firearms businesses that will bear the brunt of this legislation, which will do nothing to confront the threat from radical Islamists or extremists in our community. I can't support this legislation.

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