Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says she will move an amendment to the government's gun control reforms, arguing they should be broadened to include greater oversight of firearms used by law enforcement agencies.
The government says its gun control bill — which has been separated from its hate speech legislation — will tighten firearms import controls, establish a national buyback scheme, and strengthen background checks.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament the bill will "establish a national gun buyback scheme to purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms", following the Bondi attack last month.
He said the reforms mirror the work undertaken by former prime minister John Howard after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 — a comparison rejected by the Coalition, which does not support the bill.
Senator Thorpe said she welcomed the reforms, but said her amendment would ensure public transparency around the types of weapons used by law enforcement agencies, arguing, "accountability can't stop at civilian firearms".
She said the amendment would allow the public to know what firearms police have access to and how they are stored, and would ensure "transparent reporting when firearms are lost, stolen or decommissioned".
"The public has a right to know what firearms police are importing into this country, how they are stored and used, and what happens to them at the end of their lifecycle," Senator Thorpe said.
"We already know that stolen firearms are the biggest source of illegal guns in this country, and that most guns used in crime are stolen guns. Yet police firearms are excluded from national tracing systems. That is a dangerous gap."
She said oversight could be achieved by including law enforcement weapons in the National Firearms Register, establishing a dedicated national law enforcement firearms register, or creating independent oversight and public reporting through an appropriate mechanism.
Government data released this week shows Australians own more than four million firearms, exceeding the number in circulation before the Port Arthur massacre.
"It comes as a shock to most Australians that Australia now has more firearms than we had before Port Arthur, nearly 30 years ago. Many people are also surprised to see that it was possible for a visa holder to have a licence, and that the information held by our intelligence agencies was not integrated into the firearms licensing decisions," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday.
"A critical question that I've often been asked during this debate is, if this national reform package had already been in place, how many firearms would the [alleged] Bondi gunmen have held? Would it be six? Would it be five? Would it be four? The answer is zero."
The alleged domestic violence murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in 2024 were allegedly committed by former NSW police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon using a police-issued firearm — a case Senator Thorpe said raised "serious questions about the management and oversight of police weapons".
"Police armouries remain largely opaque. That limits accountability and undermines our gun control framework," Senator Thorpe said.
"A National Firearms Register that excludes police weapons is incomplete. If the goal is public safety, then transparency has to be universal."
The gun reform bill is expected to pass the Senate with the support of the Greens, after being introduced and passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
