Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

This legislation, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026, is bad. It's rushed. There was no consultation with affected Australians—one million constituents, one million Australians who didn't get a say—and there was definitely none done with firearm related researchers and academics who are saying this legislation will not work. It will not achieve the outcome of reducing illegal firearms. This is instead a very expensive stunt to distract from the Prime Minister being forced kicking and screaming into a royal commission and to respond to the tragedy of the Bondi massacre.

What an outrageous, discriminatory and dumb statement to say there are too many guns in Australia. This demonstrates the anti-gun agenda of Labor and the Greens, and their lack of understanding of different sorts of firearms; apparently, all guns are the same. Senator McKenzie gave us some great examples of why we have a need for different firearms—as well as for different golf clubs! Their lack of understanding of why Australians need and enjoy firearms—worse; this is a government who seeks to deny Australians the very basic right to choose what firearms they own for their enjoyment. Of course there are more guns in Australia; there are nine million more Australians than there were at the time of Port Arthur—Australians who enjoy competitive shooting, clay target shooting and hunting, and many Australians who use guns for work, such as farmers, graziers and pest contractors. To be clear, there are fewer guns proportionally now than after Port Arthur—less! Australia has some of the strongest firearm laws in the world. They are strict and they have been shown to work.

This bill before us today does not build on what works; it risks punishing the wrong people for the wrong reasons. There was no input from legal experts or criminologists. Their subsequent submissions, that have been sent to me, show that the rate of firearm related crime is less. The rate of crimes with knives, cars, fists and hands is increasing. Perhaps next time, the government will introduce legislation that would limit the number and types of knives that can be owned by Australians—well, of course not; that would be ridiculous, but not much more ridiculous than this massive overreach. The Australian Institute of Criminology has data that demonstrates these laws won't work. They are simply an attack on everyday Australians who enjoy guns—one million Australians. Maybe it's not the sport you enjoy, but that does not make it wrong.

Let us be clear about the rushed nature of this legislation—the legislation that would have prevented the importation of clothing and equipment used by competitive shooters and clay shooters. Senator McKenzie has talked about it. Olympic vests—that had to be changed once the member for Hunter pointed out how ridiculous that was. What about those Australians who reload their ammunition? Sometimes it's for cost; that's what my father did in drought years. That's what Australians who want to be really accurate with the sort of missile and the powder they use do. That's the fun of being an expert at something. That's the joy of competition. But we won't have that in Australia.

This bill also allows us the use of AI to assist with decision-making on intelligence findings. That contravenes a recommendation of the robodebt royal commission, but it's in the legislation.

So let us be clear about who lawful firearm owners are in this country. At last count—this is a couple of years ago—there were 943,000 licensed firearm holders nationwide, including farmers, professional pest controllers, sporting shooters and collectors. Forget the stereotypes. Lawful gun owners aren't hillbillies, blasting away; they are white-collar professionals, tradies, police officers, veterans and military personnel—and I would like to add senators to that list—who take the responsibility of gun ownership very seriously. They are also the people who volunteer for the SES. They help at community groups. They're mums and dads and grandmas and grandpas.

There are more than four million registered firearms, each tracked, regulated and subject to strict licensing conditions. In Queensland alone, there's over 224,000 licensed owners. For the Queensland senators in here, these are the people we come to represent. In New South Wales, there are more than 252,000, Senator Cadel. In Victoria—Senator McKenzie will know this—there are 236,000 Australians who are licensed for guns. These Australians are not criminals. They're not extremists. And they are not responsible for terrorism or hate-motivated violence. They go through stringent police checks, and they will tell you the hoops that they are required to jump through to purchase, to store and to use firearms. Yet, under this bill, they're just collateral damage in what amounts to a policy response driven by fear and not fact. They are Australians, whom we should be here to represent and defend and protect.

At last week's parliamentary hearings, the department made some absolutely extraordinary admissions. When asked whether it had conducted any research into gun buyback schemes overseas, its answer was no. When asked if it had modelled whether this bill would reduce gun crime, its answer was no. When asked if the buyback scheme would reduce the number of illegal firearms in Australia, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission said it was highly unlikely.

That matters because Australia has an estimated 260,000 illegal firearms circulating in the criminal black market and being used by organised crime groups and illicit drug barons. But this bill does nothing to address that. It will not stop gangland shooters. It won't stop criminal trafficking networks and standover men. Perhaps the government could turn its mind to that, rather than undermining ordinary law-abiding Australians. It will not prevent terrorists from accessing illegal weapons. Instead it targets firearms that are already licensed, registered and securely stored.

Expert evidence tells us this approach is fundamentally flawed. Dr Samara McPhedran, an internationally recognised firearms violence researcher and former member of the Queensland police weapons advisory panel, has shown that, over nearly 30 years in Australia, legal firearm ownership has increased. That's a good thing. Firearm homicide and misuse have declined. There is no demonstrated relationship between levels of legal gun ownership and firearm violence. That evidence directly undermines the core premise of this bill. More legal firearms have not meant more crime. If anything, Australian data shows the opposite.

Industry groups are also sounding the alarm. The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia has made it clear that legal firearm owners and businesses are not the problem. This bill lacks evidence. It lacks detail. It lacks fairness. Poorly designed buybacks can actually increase safety risks, not reduce them. Unlike the 1996 buyback, this bill provides no guarantee of fair market value, provides no certainty for small businesses and shifts massive financial risk onto the states. The federal allocation of around $1 billion falls dramatically short of industry estimates, which suggest costs could exceed $15 billion. That shortfall will be pushed onto taxpayers or, worse, onto compliant businesses and volunteer-run clubs that simply cannot afford it. Clubs like the Ipswich and District Rifle Club have said plainly these reforms do not address criminal misuse or hate motivated violence but impose significant burdens on lawful sporting communities. Even Labor's own member for Hunter warned on Christmas Eve that when you rush things through it has unintended consequences. Yet here we are, rushing again. What was the urgency? Could this have not waited two weeks for it to be properly considered?

Let me be very clear on one final point. This bill dangerously links lawful firearm ownership with antisemitism and terrorism. That linkage is wrong. It is unsupported by evidence, and it unfairly vilifies Australians who have done nothing wrong. I urge critics of gun ownership in this country, especially those opposite: visit your local shooting club. There you will find men and women with a total commitment to safety and the law. Cowboys aren't tolerated. Education is paramount, and there is constant reinforcement that breaking the rules is totally unacceptable. We should also bear in mind those who own businesses supplying lawful firearms, accessories, spare parts, ammunition and hunting gear. The lawful firearms and shooting sector represents a multibillion dollar, highly regulated industry contributing between $2.8 billion and over $3.5 billion annually to the Australian economy and supporting tens of thousands of jobs, many in regional Australia.

Terrorism is driven by ideology, not sporting rifles locked in safes. If the government is serious about community safety, the evidence is clear about what works: targeted policing; disrupting trafficking networks, including at our international borders; seizing illegal firearms; and investing in intelligence and counterextremism capabilities. That is where resources should go, not into a poorly designed buyback that won't reduce the number of illegal guns. This bill should be amended, paused for proper consultation, rejected or anything but rushed through and passed today because legal, lawful firearm owners are not the problem. Criminals are, terrorists are and our laws should focus squarely on them. These laws are a sellout on law-abiding Australians under an unholy alliance between Labor and the Greens. They are not supported by science, they are not supported by data and they are not supported by ordinary Australians who just want to live their lives. I urge you to reject this legislation as I will.