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How the national gun buyback died · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Thursday July sixteen, twenty twenty six. Big superannuation funds
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  Speaker 1: warned access to Centerlink to share information, although that's sparking
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  Speaker 1: serious concerns among some MPs about privacy. Australian art, literature,
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  Speaker 1: music and journalism will be safe from theft by Big Ai.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: That's the big promise made by the Prime Minister as
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: he flags a huge package of rules to shape artificial
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: intelligence's future in this country. But will the PM really
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: be able to resist the temptation of Silicon Valley's billions.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: That storys live now at the Australian dot com AU,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: along with all our expert analysis. What's a national gun
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: buy back if it's not really national and not many
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: guns will be brought back? Anthony Albanese's big post born
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: massacre reform has faltered as politicians panic about regional voters
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and fight over money.
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  Speaker 2: So how did we get here? That's today's story.
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  Speaker 3: Australia's gun laws were last substantially reformed in the wake
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  Speaker 3: of the Port Arthur tragedy. The terrible events at Bondai
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  Speaker 3: show we need to get more guns off our streets.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: After the Bondai massacre.
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  Speaker 1: In December twenty twenty five, Anthony Albanesi announced a national
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: gun buy back. It would have been the biggest since
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  Speaker 1: the Port Arthur massacre in nineteen ninety six, but it
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: seems to be faltering. The Australian's Lachlan Leaming has been
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: breaking stories on this lockie. Is this national gun buy
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  Speaker 1: back actually going to happen.
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  Speaker 4: If it does, it's definitely not going to be in
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  Speaker 4: the form that Anthony Albanesi anticipated when he announced it
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  Speaker 4: just days after Bondi.
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  Speaker 3: Establish a national gun buyback scheme to purchase surplus newly
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  Speaker 3: banned and illegal firearms, the largest buyback since the Howard
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: government initiated one in nineteen ninety six.
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  Speaker 4: This week we've had New South Wales Premier Chris Mins,
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  Speaker 4: probably the most senior politician in the country to speak
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  Speaker 4: on this so far, confirm it's probably just New South
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  Speaker 4: Wales and the act who are going to do this
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  Speaker 4: falls well short of what Anthony Alberanezi announced in those
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  Speaker 4: days following Bondi.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really wouldn't be national.
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  Speaker 1: John Howard, of course, was the Prime Minister in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety six, and this was a seismic moment for him.
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  Speaker 5: At least thirty four people were killed and four others
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  Speaker 5: critically wounded when a twenty nine year old gunman with
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  Speaker 5: a history of mental problems opened fire in a popular
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  Speaker 5: tourist area. The cournage came to an end only this morning.
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  Speaker 1: He mobilized the National's leader, Tim Fisher and together they
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: took on the gun owners of Australia. They did a
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  Speaker 1: gun buyback which in today's dollars was worth nearly a
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: billion dollars. They gave very generous compensation to gun owners
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and in fact increased the medicare levy to pay for it.
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  Speaker 2: What's going on in terms of money at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Is the federal government going to actually kick in for
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: this or is that part of the problem.
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  Speaker 4: The jurisdictions that do want to take part in this,
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  Speaker 4: so New South Wales, the Act and kind of Tasmania
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: who want to run their own thing down there. Every
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: time they talk about it, they do emphasize the fact
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  Speaker 4: that this should be split fifty to fifty with the Commonwealth,
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  Speaker 4: which is what Anthony Albanezey promised he'd do when he
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  Speaker 4: announced this.
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  Speaker 3: Government is proposing that states and territories will be responsible
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  Speaker 3: for the collection, processing and payment to individuals for surrendered firearms.
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  Speaker 3: The Australian Federal Police will then be responsible for the
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: destruction of these firearms.
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  Speaker 4: The federal government has committed to chipping in a fair
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: share clayer, but it's not the only reason that states
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: are reluctant to join in on this. We've seen the
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: rise of one nation who have announced they oppose a
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  Speaker 4: buyback or a lot of the reforms ushered in around
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: firearm ownership.
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  Speaker 6: Barnaby, good morning to you.
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  Speaker 7: You're calling the bill very mischievous.
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  Speaker 3: Isn't the government really just addressing community concerns around these issues.
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  Speaker 6: No, it's not.
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  Speaker 7: What it's doing is it's finding an easy target, which
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: are people from the country and saying, well, to deal
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  Speaker 7: with an issue, which is Islamic fundamentalism from the western suburbs,
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: Southwest suburbs of Sydney, We're going to go out and
• 4:16
  Speaker 7: stop people recreating in regional areas.
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  Speaker 4: And we've seen in places like South Australia and Victoria
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  Speaker 4: that's been a really big consideration of their labor governments
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  Speaker 4: pushing back on Anthony Alberanesi, which is pretty rare.
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  Speaker 6: We don't see that often.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a very real concern for state governments who,
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  Speaker 1: of course some of them will go to elections before
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  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi has to face the voters. One Nation is
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  Speaker 1: a very real threat, especially in the Bush, and that's
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  Speaker 1: also where the guns are a big issue.
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  Speaker 2: I had a look at the One Nation platform.
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  Speaker 1: It says that they oppose any kind of gun buyback
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  Speaker 1: or any kind of health checks for gun owners. WA
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  Speaker 1: in the background, has been doing a gun buyback over
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  Speaker 1: the past couple of years that seems to have been
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  Speaker 1: quite successful, and that involves health checks for any gun
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  Speaker 1: owner locky, you know, including whether they've got the capacity
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  Speaker 1: to stay in control of their emotions and not use
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  Speaker 1: a weapon in anger. I mean, that's a whole other level,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it of restriction that we're not really talking about
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  Speaker 1: with the buyback, aren't we?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 4: And I think there's such a patchwork of different regulations
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  Speaker 4: and different licensing categories, and then you've got what you've
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  Speaker 4: just mentioned in WA. It's different between every state and territory. Still,
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: one of the reforms that was meant to come out
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  Speaker 4: of the Port Arthur massacre was a national Firearms registry.
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  Speaker 6: It's still not done.
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  Speaker 4: It's not due to be finished until twenty twenty eight,
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  Speaker 4: nearly thirty years after or more than thirty years after
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  Speaker 4: the Buyback's just one course of action to tackle gun violence,
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  Speaker 4: which as we can see, is so multifaceted it's almost
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  Speaker 4: impossible to say, how do you hold that up as
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  Speaker 4: the one single policy one nation.
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  Speaker 1: And the shooter's lobby and some labor politicians would say
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  Speaker 1: that legal, lawful gun owners are not the problem. Farmers
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  Speaker 1: and sporting shooters are not the problem.
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  Speaker 2: And they have the farmers.
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  Speaker 3: You have Laura Biding. Shooters out there are saying, well,
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  Speaker 3: have we got to take the blame for this? Are
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  Speaker 3: we going to be faced with loose now guns because
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  Speaker 3: they didn't do.
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  Speaker 7: The right thing.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the people who was involved in the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Bondai massacre, Sijit Akram, who died at the scene, had
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: six guns that he owned legally. He was a sporting shooter,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: is a member of a gun club. That's why New
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: South Wales has gone to this idea of restricting the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: number of firearms. Have they successfully done anything there?
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  Speaker 4: We saw just before Christmas some marathon sitting periods in
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  Speaker 4: New Southwest Parliament.
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  Speaker 8: They were there.
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  Speaker 6: It's at four o'clock in the morning. From memory.
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  Speaker 4: They have passed the strictest gun cap in the country,
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  Speaker 4: which is four for the majority of license holders, and
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  Speaker 4: then if you're a farmer you can get leeway to
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  Speaker 4: own up to ten.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to understand though, why anyone who's not a
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  Speaker 1: farmer needs more than one weapon. Look here, you're from
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  Speaker 1: the country. I'm not am I missing something here.
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  Speaker 6: I think you've touched on.
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  Speaker 4: It's a u huge issue in the country and it's
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: one of the reasons I think one nation has embraced
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  Speaker 4: repealing a lot of these restrictions so enthusiastically because they
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: know it plays well in the country. A limit of
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  Speaker 4: ten guns for some big primary producers, they say that's
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: not near enough. It's interesting, though, I think the reason
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  Speaker 4: this buyback was jumped on so quickly by Anthony Albanesi
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  Speaker 4: in the wake of Bondai is we didn't know much.
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  Speaker 4: The amount of intelligence we had after that horror Bondie
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  Speaker 4: attack was largely limited at that point, publicly to the
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  Speaker 4: fact that Serged Akram owned six guns legally. As Anthony
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  Speaker 4: Albanesi said, He got up at this press conference five
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  Speaker 4: days after the attack and he said, what bloke from
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  Speaker 4: Bonnie Rigg needs to own six guns lawfully.
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  Speaker 3: There's no reason why someone in that situation New died
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  Speaker 3: that many guns.
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  Speaker 4: So I think that's why we've seen this was held
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  Speaker 4: up as such an important policy post Bondai, but now
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  Speaker 4: that states are rejecting joining in, it just continues to flail.
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  Speaker 1: New South Wales and WA have both introduced restrictions on
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  Speaker 1: the type of weapons.
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  Speaker 2: In New South Wales after Bonda.
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  Speaker 1: They banned things like beltfit magazines and various other kinds
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  Speaker 1: of categories of weapon. Is that something that we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about nationally as well, or if we can't get to
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  Speaker 1: the gun by bag itself and we're not going to
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  Speaker 1: get there either.
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  Speaker 4: The official press release released by the federal government days
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  Speaker 4: after the attack said the gun laws are only as strong.
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  Speaker 6: As a weaker state.
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  Speaker 4: The laws are just so different between states and territories. Claire,
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  Speaker 4: and it's Australia. If there's different states with different rules,
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  Speaker 4: it's pretty easy to get across the border. There's no
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: border checks within our country. So I think that's one
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  Speaker 4: of the aspects of this that makes this sort of
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  Speaker 4: whack a mole style of introducing different restrictions in different states.
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  Speaker 4: The fact that it's not uniform severely weakends the overall
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  Speaker 4: argument that this is good gun control policy.
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  Speaker 1: What about the compensation for gun owners? This was a
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  Speaker 1: big issue for John Howard and Tim Fisher back in
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the nineties. They were very generous and gave what would
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: now be about one thousand dollars to gun owners. You're
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: handed in a weapon to buy new a weapon, it's
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  Speaker 1: sort of north of one thousand dollars really, and if
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  Speaker 1: you're dozens of guns, that's a huge amount of money.
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  Speaker 1: Are New South Wales and the Act going to be
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  Speaker 1: able to be generous with the people who are forced
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  Speaker 1: to hand in their guns.
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  Speaker 4: There's a better chance if the Commonwealth doesn't have to
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  Speaker 4: stump up funding for all the states because it's only
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  Speaker 4: New South Wales and the Act, there's a better chance
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  Speaker 4: out the Commonwealth will happily pay enough money that gun
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  Speaker 4: owners get what they consider fair compensation. Tasmania, they're talking
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  Speaker 4: about the value and a half of a gun, so
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  Speaker 4: one point five times the value of what you're handing
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  Speaker 4: In New South Wales and the Act still negotiating with
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: the Commonwealth.
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  Speaker 6: We've got no idea yet what they're going to pay.
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  Speaker 4: But if it's not sort of that value plus of
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  Speaker 4: a firearm that's handed in, I think the shooters union
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  Speaker 4: or the shooter's lobby. Sorry, well they'll be letting politicians
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  Speaker 4: know exactly how.
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  Speaker 6: They are about that.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And of course people bought these weapons legally. They've presumably
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: complied with all the rules about storage and so on,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: which can be pretty onerous. They have a right to
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: expect that get fair compensation, right.
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  Speaker 4: Every time I think the government, and whether it's guns
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: or anything else, anytime the government sort of comes in
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  Speaker 4: and says, well, what you own, or what you've done
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  Speaker 4: or what you've got.
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  Speaker 6: Is now against the rules.
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  Speaker 4: If you've acquired everything legally, I think it's fair that
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: you'd expect to be recompensated fairly.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Coming up, is there any hope for the gun controlled dream?
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  Speaker 1: So if it's only New South Wales and the Act,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: presumably then it comes back to Anthony Albineasi to answer
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: questions about whether he's going to try to make it national.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Is he going to convene some sort of emergency summer
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to what are they saying to you.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: They're not saying much clear, So yeah, I know it's surprising.
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  Speaker 4: Like I said, like Premier Chris earlier this week saying
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: it's probably only New Southwest and the act is some
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: of the one of the biggest updates we've had on
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: this in months. So the Commonwealth insists they're still negotiating
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: with states and territories. We don't know the parameters of this,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: how much compensation people will get, whether it'll include ammunition,
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: basic stuff like this is still unanswered. And it's now
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: seven months since Bondi. I think from memory port Arthur's
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: buy back started about six months after their massacre, But
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: as it stands publicly, we have so little information on
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: when this will start and what it will include.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: It's amazing, isn't it That after Arthur, when semi automatic
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: weapons were banned and the big buy back happened, Australians
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: have felt very kind of proud of ourselves that we
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: have some of the toughest s gum walls in the world,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: that we don't have a lot of mass shooting events.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: That's why one of the reasons why Bondi was so shocking.
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  Speaker 1: Where do you think we're going to end up here?
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  Speaker 1: Do you think Anthony Albanezi has the will for a
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: big fight with particularly as we see Pauline Hanson in
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: One National rise.
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  Speaker 4: I think the litmus test will be the Victorian election
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  Speaker 4: and the New South Wales election, because you've got two
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: state governments who have elections coming up, who have now
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: taken wildly different approaches to this. Victoria, as we know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: sort of surprised everyone and said we're not going to
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: do the buyback.
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: We don't agree with caps, so.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: We're not participating, whereas New South Wales has ushered in
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: the strictest laws and is probably the most vocal supporter
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: of this national buyback that I know that not.
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  Speaker 8: All Australians that live in New South Wales support these changes,
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  Speaker 8: but we have decided it's the best way of ensuring
• 12:39
  Speaker 8: we do everything possible to keep the people of New
• 12:42
  Speaker 8: South Wales safe.
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  Speaker 4: So let's see how One Nation and even the Nationals
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: parties and other conservative parties like the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: let's see how they use that during the election, the
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: effectiveness of that in winning seats, and then I think
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: that will give Anthony Albernesi and Federal Labor a bit
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: more direction on how damaging this could be for them electorally.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Paul In Hanson's platform is to repeal any gumbles that
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: are introduced, but she's not likely to get anywhere near
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: actual government at this stage. Anyway, things could change, so lucky.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: What about the Nationals? The coalition is stumbling around in
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: search of some ideas and some policies and rediscovering their
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: kind of purpose. Is this something where they think that
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: they can make some ground.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: The Nationals, I think we're seeing, have been vocal critics
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: of the buy back, both the states and federal level,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: but I think they've got to temper their criticism because
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: they're Liberal partners. Liberal coalition partners have often in various
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: jurisdictions supported the buyback and stricter gun restrictions. So in
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: a way, they're a little bit hamstrung by being in
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: that coalition with the Libs, and it's that classic city
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: country split, as we've seen with one nation, they can
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: be a bit more free wheeling, let's put it that way.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: They don't have anyone else they have to consider. It's
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: just them and how they feel on the day. We've
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: seen in the last couple of years the Nats and
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: the Libs are don't minor scrap with one another, though,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: so let's say this might keep things interesting.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: We might get break up number three for the Coalition
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: in the next a little while.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: It's as if there's not enough already going on. Claire,
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Thanks Locky, awesome, thanks claim.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Lachlan Leaning is the Australians New South Wales political correspondent.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: You can read all our coverage
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Of politics right now at the Australian dot com dot
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: au