NSW Passes Controversial Gun and Protest Laws Following Bondi Beach Attack
The New South Wales Minns Labor government has passed an omnibus bill that tightens gun laws and grants police the power to ban street protests for up to three months following a terrorism determination. The bill was approved in the NSW Upper House with a vote of 18 to 8 after a marathon debate.
The new protest ban applies to street marches requiring a Form 1 permit. The Greens abstained from the vote, Liberal MPs supported the legislation, while Nationals and Shooters opposed it. Liberal MP Susan Carter attempted to broaden the ban to include beaches and parks, but this amendment was not adopted.
The gun reforms introduce a cap of four firearms for most owners and ten for farmers or professional shooters. Gun owners must now be Australian citizens. Semi-automatic multi-shot firearms are banned. Licences will need to be renewed every two years, and appeals against police refusals to issue licences have been curtailed.
These measures come in response to the 14 December Bondi Beach massacre, where two gunmen killed 15 people at a Hanukkah event.
Opposition to the bill includes protest groups planning constitutional challenges. Premier Minns stated the legislation was reviewed by the crown solicitor and deemed constitutionally sound, though he acknowledged the risk of a High Court reversal.
Within Labor, divisions emerged regarding civil liberties and the direction of the laws after Bondi, with some MPs expressing concerns over limiting peaceful assembly and political communication rights.
The omnibus nature of the bill prevented it from being split into separate parts, forcing members to vote on the entire package as a yes or no.
Key parliamentary voices included Nationals’ Sarah Mitchell, who warned about the impact on farmers, Shooters MLC Mark Banasiak, who argued licensed gun owners were not responsible for the attack, and Liberal MP Susan Carter, who attempted to amend the bill to broaden protest restrictions.
