Minns willing to make next state election a gun fight over buyback scheme

NSW Premier Chris Minns has declared he is willing to fight next year’s state election on a move to buy back firearms despite staunch opposition from One Nation and the scheme costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Following the Bondi Beach terrorist attacks last December, NSW has become the only state to join a planned national scheme which will force about 50,000 licence holders to surrender firearms, as part of a deal that splits the cost of the plan with the federal government.

With a resurgent One Nation opposed to the gun buyback scheme, Minns said Labor was “ready to fight an election” on it while acknowledging that forcing licence holders to hand over their guns would be regarded as controversial in some quarters and face stiff opposition.

“Clearly, One Nation has said they’re scrapping all of this. So it is on the ballot whether we want it or not,” he said.

“We’re not changing our position, and voters ought to know that when they cast their ballot next March.”

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said legal gun owners were being crucified, telling News24 that it was the “people behind the guns that are responsible for the Bondi massacre”, and not the guns.

“Look at the radicals. Look at the numbers that are on the watch list. This is what we should be going after – not law-abiding Australians who are trying to go about their business, like the farmers that need their guns,” she said.

The NSW scheme involves paying a fixed price for firearms to individual licence holders who are above a new legal limit. It includes $1000 for a revolver handgun, $850 for a double-barrel shotgun and between $450 and $1000 for rifles.

Owners of higher-value firearms will be able to pursue more compensation of between $3000 and a cap of $10,000.

New laws enacted in NSW following the Bondi massacre limit most owners to a maximum of four guns, while primary producers and sport shooters will be restricted to 10.

Minns did not put a specific figure on the cost of the buyback scheme but acknowledged that it will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It is expensive, but it’s a price worth paying,” he said.

Asked about whether other states and territories will eventually join the scheme, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said they would make their own decisions, and would have a willing partner in the Commonwealth if they chose to do so.

“I’ll continue to work constructively with states and territories,” he said.

Minns said it would be “better if every state was on board” a national scheme, but he would not be waiting for others to join.

“I’m not going to let perfection be the enemy of the good here. We feel this is necessary for our state today, and if it means we’re the first mover or even the only mover, that’s what we need to do,” he said.

The NSW government expects it to take a year to complete the buyback from November 2, when registries will open for people to hand over firearms.

Up to 274,000 firearms – about a quarter of the total number of registered guns in the state – will have to be handed back to comply with the limits.

The Commonwealth will fully fund the cost of destroying surrendered firearms, while covering 50 per cent of the scheme’s administration expenses.

Albanese and Minns promised the buyback following the Bondi antisemitic terror attack of December 14, and the scheme was a key recommendation of Virginia Bell’s interim report from the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

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