Federal Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey has told parliament calls and letters from concerned constituents have come from across the electorate in relation to changes to gun laws.
Mr Chaffey acknowledged that the Bondi Beach terrorism attack was the worst on the nation’s shores, resulting in the death of 15 innocent victims.
“This heinous act was the actions of two Islamic extremist terrorists with murderous intent as their sole motivation—and, yes, these terrorists used firearms, but they also prepared pipe bombs, and the truth is we may never know the full intent of their plan,” Mr Chaffey said.
Mr Chaffey spoke against the government’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026 and said there was inadequate time to debate democratically and offer amendments.
“Since that terrible day at Bondi, when attention returned to gun laws, I’ve been swamped with letters, emails and phone calls from regional Australians that this government has let down. Anger is growing to fever pitch in most of the towns and villages in the Parkes electorate and across regional Australia,” Mr Chaffey said.
“The calls and letters about these gun laws have been coming from Broken Hill, Cobar, Parkes, Gilgandra, Dubbo, Curlewis, Gunnedah, West Wyalong, Lake Cargelligo and many more communities throughout the Parkes electorate.
“My people are worried. Regional Australians are anxious. Guns are not a novelty in regional Australia.
“They’re a necessity for pest animal control, livestock protection and land management. Primary producers already follow tough regulations to retain their firearms. For many farmers, guns are simply an essential part of business. They are essential for providing the rest of the country and the rest of the world with quality food and fibre.”
Mr Chaffey said the bill has very little detail on the proposed gun buyback scheme.
“There is no detail in here to tell us how it will work, when it will happen and how much it will cost. Gun laws are a state-by-state and territory-by-territory concern. How can this be implemented at all when there are so many different laws, so many different approaches and so many different perspectives? Will the states and territories even agree to fund this buyback scheme?
Mr Chaffey said gun owners must be compensated at full and fair market value for property that they surrender.
“Compensation must also be made available for hardship and the loss of any business, including any buyouts of a business deemed unviable as a result of the introduction of this crazy legislation.
“It would be entirely irresponsible for us to support something that has very few parameters and contested costings and won’t achieve the result of preventing terrorism on our
shores.”
