Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has conceded that proposed hate speech laws, drafted after the Bondi terror attack, will not pass parliament. He agreed to a request from the Greens to separate the legislation, allowing tougher gun control measures to proceed on their own.
The opposition from the Coalition and the Greens meant the provisions aimed at combating antisemitism and creating new anti-vilification laws had no path through the Senate. Greens leader Larissa Waters indicated her party would support stricter rules on gun ownership and importation.
Albanese blamed the Coalition and opposition leader Sussan Ley for blocking laws they had previously called for, particularly after the December attack on a Jewish celebration in Sydney. He said the government would introduce legislation on Tuesday for a national gun buyback scheme and a crackdown on importing dangerous weapons.
The gun laws will establish the largest buyback since the Port Arthur massacre, toughen penalties for gun importations, and create new offences for online material related to firearms manufacture. Intelligence agencies will conduct background checks for gun licence applicants.
Labor will also push to ban hate groups such as neo-Nazi organisations and Hizb ut-Tahrir, and give the government powers to revoke visas for extremists. The Coalition has signalled it does not support tougher gun ownership rules, but the bill is expected to pass with Greens' support.
