Barnaby Joyce, David Littleproud question Albanese government’s legislation
National defector Barnaby Joyce and former leader David Littleproud are running rival campaigns against the Albanian government’s proposed firearms reforms; It declares that its plans to restrict imports of high-powered weapons and buy back weapons discriminate against regional communities and lack the support of state governments.
Albanese’s reforms will be introduced to parliament next week in a single bill proposing new controls on hate speech, as well as a federal arms buyback, provisions for greater information sharing between law enforcement agencies and tighter controls on firearms imports.
Nationals leader Littleproud criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s reforms in response to the Bondi attack, which included reforms to both hate speech and firearms laws, as “petty, childish, university policies” and demanded the government produce separate bills for each issue.
But his National Coalition partners in the Liberal Party have not decided how to respond to plans for greater control, and Littleproud said he would seek feedback from the party room before deciding on a position.
Joyce, who joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party in early December, said he could not support the bill in its current form on the grounds that the gun buyback would be unfair to rural communities.
“We don’t have any, no one has, there hasn’t been a massacre based on fundamentalist beliefs in Tamworth, Dubbo or Wagga Wagga. We have other problems but this is not one of them,” Joyce said.
There is a groundswell of support for Joyce’s new party, leaving many of his former National Party colleagues uneasy about losing votes to him.
One Nation received 6.4 percent of the primary vote in the May 2025 election. The Resolve Political Monitor conducted for this imprint showed primary voting rose 16 percent in the week after the Bondi attack. Polls published in other media last week show One Nation’s primary vote exceeding 20 percent.
While the government has a significant majority in the lower house, the National Assembly could be crucial to the fate of reforms in the Senate, with the government needing support from the Greens or the opposition to pass a combined bill on hate speech penalties, increased security provisions and weapons reforms.
Like the coalition parties, the Greens have not yet finalized their stance on the bill.
He said a little proudly Sky News Federal plans for gun buybacks “became a bit of a moot point” because state governments outside NSW did not support it.
State governments control gun licenses, which determine who can own firearms and how many. But Albanese’s reforms aim to provide a federal buyback with costs shared equally with the states.
NSW has introduced laws imposing a four-gun limit for individuals, with exemptions for people who need firearms for work, such as farmers, pest controllers and sport shooters, and can own up to 10 guns.
“The Northern Territory told [Albanese] Littleproud said: “Tasmania is basically not interested. Queensland is unlikely to change any of its laws.”
Both Joyce and Littleproud said Albanese’s gun laws were a distraction from the critical goal of combating Islamic extremism; This view is shared by former Liberal prime minister John Howard, despite his own gun control legacy.
They claim that recreational shooters living in area towns provide crucial assistance to farmers in controlling harmful wild pests.
The Tasmanian and Northern Territory governments have warned they may not support gun buybacks under the current proposal to split funding 50-50 with the federal government, while the Victorian government is reviewing gun laws before announcing a position. Queensland has said it supports reform but the priority must be tackling extremism.
Western Australia has introduced legislation to tighten gun laws in 2024, and NSW has based its latest reforms on that legislation.
Joyce said the reforms were too intrusive.
“I just want to be left alone; a law-abiding citizen, obeying everything I’m required to do,” he said.
“We have a lot of people coming to our house to go hog hunting. They live in the town and this is their entertainment. I used to poop because of the people who come here all the time, as my father always said, how can a man love his country if you don’t let him set foot on it?”
Greens leader Larissa Waters said her party was reviewing the law and wanted to make sure it did not restrict political freedoms, such as Australia’s ability to criticize a foreign government.
“We must make sure we strike the balance by banning hate speech, limiting guns from being in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, while avoiding unintended consequences,” Waters said.
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Mike Foley is the climate and energy correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
