Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026 (No. 2)

The short answer

Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026 (No. 2)

The Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026 (No. 2) is a private member's bill introduced in the House of Representatives on 7 September 2026 by the Member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, and seconded by the Member for Dawson, Andrew Willcox. It would repeal the National Gun Buyback Scheme and reverse several firearms-related amendments made by the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Act 2026, which Parliament passed in January 2026 after the Bondi attack of 14 December 2025. The bill would restore Commonwealth firearms and importation law to its position before that Act. It does not disturb the 2026 Act's firearms background checks or its prohibition on importing extremist material. The explanatory memorandum cites savings of about $5.8 million a year in departmental administrative funding and the removal of the buyback's costs. The bill is a No. 2 version: an earlier bill of the same name was introduced in the Senate by Senator Bridget McKenzie on 13 August 2026. At the time of writing the House bill had been introduced only. It has not been voted on, passed, assented to or commenced.

This is a federal system guide. State constitutions, parliaments and local-government laws can allocate comparable functions differently.

The useful question is not only “what is the rule?” but also “who administers it, which document controls it, and when might it change?” That distinction prevents an accurate general explanation from becoming wrong advice in a particular election, chamber or policy setting.

Evidence review

What the bill does

The Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026 (No. 2) is a private member's bill introduced in the House of Representatives on 7 September 2026. It was brought forward by the Member for Maranoa, David Littleproud, and seconded by the Member for Dawson, Andrew Willcox. Both are Nationals, and the bill is part of the Coalition's campaign against the firearms laws Parliament passed in January 2026.

The bill has two main objects. The first is to repeal the National Gun Buyback Scheme, the buyback arrangement the government established as part of its response to the Bondi attack. The second is to reverse several firearms-related amendments made by the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Act 2026 — referred to in the bill's explanatory material as the 2026 Act — so that Commonwealth firearms and importation law returns to the position it held before that Act passed.

The bill is not a wholesale repeal of the 2026 Act. According to its explanatory material, it leaves in place the 2026 Act's provisions on firearms background checks and its prohibition on importing extremist material. What it targets are the specific measures the proponent argues were pushed through under a significantly expedited process without sufficient agreement from the states and territories.

Evidence review

The January 2026 laws the bill would unwind

The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Act 2026 followed the attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025. The bill's explanatory memorandum records that the 2026 Act was enacted in that context and that it changed a number of Commonwealth laws, including the Criminal Code Act 1995 and the Customs Act 1901.

Among the changes the bill would reverse are amendments affecting the transmission of firearms information to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, public safety tests applied to firearms imports, and offences connected to using carriage services in relation to firearms manufacture material. Those are the provisions the explanatory material identifies as the ones the bill would undo.

The bill's framing is that these measures depended on cooperation from the states and territories that has not been secured. The explanatory memorandum notes that only New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have agreed to participate in the National Gun Buyback Scheme, and it describes the result as continuing uncertainty for licensed firearm owners, licensed dealers and other affected businesses.

Evidence review

The National Gun Buyback Scheme

The buyback is the centrepiece of what the bill would repeal. The proponent's public statements describe it as the Prime Minister's National Gun Buyback Scheme and argue that it has stalled because most jurisdictions have declined to take part.

Mr Littleproud said on introducing the bill that Queensland, the Northern Territory and Victoria had declined to participate, that Tasmania was pursuing its own arrangements, and that South Australia was refusing to change its laws, leaving only New South Wales and the ACT committed to the buyback. Senator Bridget McKenzie made the same assessment when she introduced the earlier Senate version of the bill on 13 August 2026.

Because the scheme depends on state and territory participation to operate in practice, the bill's supporters treat the repeal as a recognition that a Commonwealth-led buyback cannot function without national agreement. Opponents of the repeal approach the scheme differently: for them the lack of participation is an argument for stronger federal leadership rather than for abandoning the measure.

Evidence review

Fiscal and legal arguments in the explanatory material

The explanatory memorandum states that the bill is expected to reduce Commonwealth expenditure. It identifies savings of approximately $5.8 million a year in ongoing administrative funding for the Department of Home Affairs, and it also removes the cost of the buyback itself, which the material characterises as an undisclosed and unquantified expense.

On the legal side, the material relies on the interim report of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. It says the interim report confirmed that no agency identified any gap in the pre-existing legal framework that impeded the prevention of, or response to, the Bondi attack. The bill's proponents use that finding to argue the January legislation lacked a demonstrated necessity.

The bill's opponents rely on a different reading of the same events. They argue the 2026 Act was a necessary and proactive response to violent extremism, that repealing the buyback risks leaving more dangerous weapons in the community, and that unwinding the Criminal Code and Customs Act amendments would weaken the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to track firearms and interdict the manufacture of explosives. Both positions are recorded here as arguments about a bill, not as findings.

Evidence review

Introduction, passage, assent and commencement

The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on 7 September 2026. Introduction is the first stage of the parliamentary process and is the point at which a bill is formally presented; it is not a decision by the House on the bill's merits.

Passage requires the bill to be agreed to by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only then is the bill presented to the Governor-General for royal assent, which is the step that turns it into an Act. Commencement is a separate matter again: an Act comes into operation on the date or dates its commencement provisions set, which can be later than assent and can differ between provisions.

At the time of writing the bill had been introduced only. No second reading vote had been taken, the bill had not been passed by both houses, it had not received royal assent and it had not commenced. Nothing in the bill's introduction changes the legal status of the January 2026 Act, the National Gun Buyback Scheme or any firearms law currently in force.

Evidence review

Why the bill is called No. 2

The numbering matters because two bills with the same name are before the Parliament in the same year. An earlier Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026 was introduced in the Senate by Senator Bridget McKenzie, Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, on 13 August 2026. The House bill introduced on 7 September 2026 carries the suffix (No. 2) to distinguish it, because a bill of the same title already exists in the Senate.

The two bills pursue the same objective — repealing the buyback and restoring the pre-2026 Commonwealth position — but they are separate legislative instruments, each with its own progress and its own register entry. The status of the Senate bill does not determine the status of the House bill, and neither bill's introduction affects the other.

Both are private members' bills. Unlike a government bill, which is managed by a minister and generally receives programmed time, a private member's bill depends on the Parliament for time and on the support of a majority to progress. That makes the timing of any second reading debate, committee referral or vote less predictable.

Evidence review

What happens next

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives normally proceeds to a second reading debate, then to consideration in detail, before being sent to the Senate, where a similar process follows. Either house may refer the bill to a committee for inquiry and report, and the pace of consideration depends on the parliamentary sitting calendar and on the priorities of the chamber.

Because this is a private member's bill, none of those steps is guaranteed to occur on a set timetable. The bill may proceed to debate, be referred to a committee, or remain on the notice paper. The Parliament of Australia bills register records each stage as it occurs and links to the bill text, the explanatory memorandum and any committee material.

Readers should treat the bills register and the explanatory memorandum as the authoritative sources for the text and progress of the bill, and should note that this summary is based on the official register, the explanatory material and the proponent's public statements of 7 September 2026. It does not assert that the buyback has been repealed or that any firearms law has changed.

Common questions

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