The decision by the NSW Liberals to apparently walk back from its support for strengthening gun laws after the Bondi Beach terrorist attack is perplexing and politically counterproductive.
New Liberal leader Kellie Sloane was to be congratulated for the alacrity with which she responded and backed the Minns government’s proposals to introduce some of Australia’s strictest gun reforms. She took a lot of heat from NSW Nationals, who claimed they had not been consulted, and the new laws penalised licensed law-abiding shooters.
Unlike her federal counterparts, who split over the Nationals’ skittishness on both vilification laws and buying back guns, Sloane bravely faced down her NSW Coalition partners, who opposed gun, but not hate, reforms.
But with the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia claiming it has had a rush in applications from women seeking firearms training to obtain gun licences to ensure their partners would not be disadvantaged by reduced limits on firearm ownership, Sloane is now saying changes to weapons laws after the Bondi massacre were too rushed and should be reviewed.
The NSW Parliament was recalled for two days to debate an omnibus bill, Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, and it was passed on Christmas Eve. It included measures to combat hate speech, prohibit hateful symbols, restrict public assembly and cap gun ownership to four for individuals and 10 for primary producers.
Other provisions limited straight-pull/pump action and button/lever release firearms to primary producers and made gun club membership mandatory for all firearm licence holders. Also, people can no longer try to overturn licence decisions through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Since restrictions on gun ownership were announced, there has been a significant increase in firearms licence applications. Firearms Registry data released to the parliament showed holders who applied to add sport/target shooting as a genuine reason to hold a licence had jumped from 124 to 964.
Sloane said the increase was an “unintended consequence” of the reforms, and the legislation needed to be reviewed.
She is calling on the government to release advice that led to the cap being set at four guns per person. “We’re saying it’s not good enough to rush legislation so quickly just before Christmas, then close the book and not be prepared to revisit it – we’re happy to revisit it if it provides better laws,” Sloane said.
The Liberals had plenty of opportunity to voice concerns about limiting gun ownership during debate in parliament. But amid the frenetic political atmosphere that erupted in the days after the shootings, they chose to remain silent.
These are difficult days for the Liberals. Sloane’s newfound fervour is understandable, but her timing – coinciding with the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion’s opening – would appal some.
Sloane’s change of heart just two months after a bipartisan consensus carried the vote is a bad look and risky politics: in the Liberal heartland, there has never been much support for more guns, and certainly not since John Howard’s post-Port Arthur reforms.
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