McKenzie's bill would scrap the national gun buyback
After the Bondi attack in December 2025, Parliament rushed through new federal gun rules and a national buyback. Senator Bridget McKenzie's bill would wind most of them back. The new background checks would stay.
Official name: Firearms Legislation Amendment (Repealing Unfair Gun Laws) Bill 2026
- The National Gun Buyback Scheme would be scrapped.
- New federal crimes about sharing gun and bomb making material online would be removed.
- Rules for bringing in guns would go back to how they were before January 2026.
- The new gun licence background checks would stay. So would the ban on bringing in violent extremist material.
Who it affects
- Licensed gun owners: There would be no national buyback. Federal rules on bringing in guns would go back to the older settings.
- Gun dealers and importers: The extra controls on bringing in guns added in 2026 would be removed.
- People who share gun or bomb making files online: The new federal crimes for this would be scrapped.
- Police and spy agencies: Customs, which checks goods coming into Australia, would lose a special power to pass gun facts to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, a national crime facts agency.
Gun laws rushed after Bondi
On 14 December 2025 there was a terror attack at Bondi. In January 2026 Parliament passed a new law in a hurry. It is called the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Act 2026. Antisemitism means hatred of Jewish people. This article calls it the 2026 Act.
The 2026 Act did several things. It set up a National Gun Buyback Scheme, where the government pays people to hand in guns. It widened background checks for gun licences, including the use of federal spy agency facts. It added new controls on bringing guns into Australia. It also made new crimes about using the internet to share material for making guns and bombs.
States and territories run gun licences, who can own guns, and how guns are stored. So the 2026 Act needs their help to work. Senator McKenzie's notes say only New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory signed up to the buyback by the deadline. The government's deadline was 30 June 2026. She says this has left gun owners, dealers and businesses unsure where they stand.
This is a private bill. That means it comes from a senator, not the government. It aims to put federal gun law back to how it was before the 2026 Act, with two exceptions.
What stays
The bill keeps the new background check rules for gun licences from the 2026 Act.
It also keeps the 2026 Act's ban on bringing in or sending out violent extremist material. That ban also covers items showing banned hate symbols. That part of the 2026 Act is left alone.
Online gun crimes removed
The 2026 Act made it a federal crime to use a carriage service to deal in material for making guns and bombs. A carriage service means phone lines and the internet. The material includes things like files or how-to guides for making guns or bombs.
The bill would delete these crimes from the Criminal Code. That is the main book of federal crimes. It would also delete the meaning that goes with them. It would also take them off a list of serious crimes in the Crimes Act 1914. That list matters for police powers in some investigations.
Other crimes already in place would still apply. The bill's human rights statement says the general criminal law from before the 2026 Act would carry on in full.
Customs and import rules
The 2026 Act let two officials share gun facts with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. They are the head of the Home Affairs department, which runs the borders, and the head of Customs. That commission gathers and shares facts about crime for police around the country. The bill would remove those sharing powers.
The 2026 Act also changed the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956. These rules say which goods need permission to bring into Australia. They cover public safety tests for guns and weapons. They also cover the police forms used to approve bringing in guns. The bill says those rules would work as if the 2026 changes had never been made.
Say you are a licensed shooter bringing in a rifle from overseas. You would follow the steps that applied before January 2026.
Buyback scrapped
The bill would cancel the part of the 2026 Act that set up the National Gun Buyback Scheme. No new federal buyback payments could be made under it.
It would also change a tax word in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the main income tax law. The words "firearms surrender arrangements" would go back to meaning only the 1996 gun hand-in deal. That was the agreement federal, state and territory police ministers made on 10 May 1996. This matters for how buyback payments are taxed.
Short term rules
The minister could write short-term rules to help move back to the old law. These rules could only be made in the first six months. They would end after 24 months at most.
The rules could not create crimes or fines. They could not give powers to arrest or search. They could not set taxes or spend money. Parliament could also vote to cancel them.
Waiting in the Senate
If passed, the main changes would start the day after the bill became law. A bill becomes law when the Governor-General signs it. The Governor-General stands in for the King.
Senator McKenzie brought the bill into the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, on 13 August 2026. The debate on its main idea began that day. It is still before the Senate. It would need to pass the Senate and then the House of Representatives, the lower house, to become law. A matching bill, the No. 2 version, was brought into the House by David Littleproud, a National Party MP, in September 2026.
Its journey through Parliament
| 13 Aug 2026 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 13 Aug 2026 | Senate: Second reading moved |