‘Stunning backflip’: NSW opposition criticised for pledge to scrap gun buyback scheme if elected

The New South Wales opposition plans, if elected next year, to freeze the state’s gun buyback scheme and unwind key firearms restrictions introduced after the Bondi beach terror attack.

NSW will become the first state to undertake Australia’s biggest gun buyback in 30 years, with the scheme set to begin on 2 November, providing compensation to licence holders for firearms under new ownership limits and the reclassification of certain weapons.

The Liberal opposition voted with the NSW government last year in support of a buyback, but now pledges it will scrap Labor’s firearm ownership caps for primary producers.

The state opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, on Saturday unveiled the Liberals’ plan to tackle firearms crime, proposing a commission of inquiry into gun laws and a freeze of the buyback while it completed its work.

“Following the inquiry, any buyback will be better targeted, provide fair compensation and allow associated ammunition and accessories to be surrendered in the same transaction,” Sloane said.

The NSW minister for police and counter-terrorism, Yasmin Catley, fired back at the Liberals’ plan, calling it a “stunning backflip” that would leave more guns in circulation and unwind key community safety protections.

Those protections were put in place after the worst terror attack in NSW in which 15 people were shot dead at Bondi beach on 14 December, 2025, at a Hanukah celebration.

Catley accused the Liberals and Nationals of following One Nation and putting politics before public safety.

“On an issue as serious as gun safety, the Coalition has gone from supporting stronger laws after Bondi to promising to unwind them as One Nation campaigns for them to be repealed,” she said in a statement.

“Our position is simple and it has not and will not change: fewer dangerous guns in circulation means a safer NSW.”

Sloane accused Labor of rushing through complex legislation without properly consulting licensed firearm owners, farmers, sporting shooters, collectors, firearms businesses and other affected stakeholders.

Sloane said the Liberals’ plan aimed to combat threats to community safety: organised crime, gangland violence, terrorism, firearms trafficking and illegal guns.

“We will fix Labor’s flawed laws and back our police with the powers and resources they need,” Sloane said.

The Liberals’ plan includes increased funding for the NSW firearms registry and relevant police commands to disrupt criminal networks, seize illegal firearms and combat gangland violence.

The maximum penalty for trafficking firearms would also be increased from 20 years’ jail to life imprisonment, with mandatory jail terms for carrying illegal guns.