The Albanese Government’s national gun buyback scheme has failed, with the majority of states and territories refusing to sign up before the March 2026 deadline expiration.
Australians saw this for what it is – an overreach by a government scrambling to look like it was doing something in the wake of the Bondi attack, rather than delivering a considered and effective response that met community expectation.
This was the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil, yet the Government has not introduced a single measure to strengthen our counter-terrorism responses. Despite urgent calls from whistleblowers, experts and the AFP union to boost resourcing and powers, nothing has been delivered. The terrible reality is Australians are no safer today than they were on 14 December.
Compounding this, the Government stubbornly refused for weeks calls from the Coalition and the community to hold a Royal Commission – which has now been thrown into further disarray following the resignation of Dennis Richardson.
Given this was a centrepiece of Labor’s response to the Bondi attack, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Jonno Duniam says that this failure shows how badly Labor have mishandled their response.
“The Albanese Government’s national buyback has badly backfired. States and territories have walked away from this heavy-handed and unworkable scheme for good reason – because it was a desperate overreach by the Albanese Government in relation to the rights of Australians.”
“The Government botched its response after the Bondi attack. It resisted calls by the Coalition and the Australian community for a Royal Commission for weeks and weeks before backflipping.”
“The gun buyback was an attempted distraction to paper over the Albanese Government’s failures on antisemitism and extremism.”
“The Coalition opposed this scheme from the outset because it didn’t address the real issues facing the country in the wake of the Bondi attack.”