Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan has again criticised the Minns Labor Government’s rushed and poorly considered firearms laws, warning the changes will deepen confusion and uncertainty for farmers and regional communities across NSW.
The Government pushed the reforms through in the final days before Christmas, in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, a move Mr Moylan said was “policymaking on the run” that ignored the realities of life in the bush.
Mr Moylan said the NSW Nationals voted against the laws, arguing they were unnecessary, poorly targeted, and out of step with the rest of the country.
“No other state is forging ahead with buybacks or new restrictions, yet the Minns Labor Government insists on ploughing ahead alone,” Mr Moylan said.
“If this was genuinely a sensible national reform, other states would be signing up, but they’re not.”
He said farmers still have no clarity about what firearms they may lose, what compensation will be offered, or how the buyback scheme will operate.
“City based policymakers simply don’t understand how firearms are used on working farms and in regional NSW,” Mr Moylan said.
“Law-abiding firearm owners are being treated as an easy target, despite using firearms responsibly for feral animal control, livestock protection and animal welfare.”
Mr Moylan warned the laws would hit cross border communities particularly hard.
“Many farmers in the electorate of the Northern Tablelands own or lease land on both sides of a state border,” he said.
“Under the NSW Labor Government’s plan, they could face different rules on each side, different limits, different paperwork, different red tape. It’s a bureaucratic mess that will make day to day farm operations harder.”
He said the Government had failed to explain why farmers should be forced to shoulder financial losses for a policy “they didn’t ask for, don’t support, and no other state is adopting”.
“Regional NSW deserves better than rushed laws written in Macquarie Street with no understanding of how they play out on the ground.”
Media Release: Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan
