The NSW court’s rejection of the Minns Government’s anti-protest laws under its controversial anti-terrorism laws has increased demands for an inquiry into the firearms laws that were enacted as part of the sweeping legislative package.
“When you rush legislation through Parliament in the dead of night to avoid scrutiny, you get bad law,” CEO of the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia, James Walsh, said, adding that the court’s decision “highlights a systemic failure in the government’s legislative process”.
His comments after the NSW Court of Appeal threw out the anti-protest laws after ruling they were unconstitutional.
“The NSW Court of Appeal has made it clear this Government prioritised political optics over constitutional validity,” Mr Walsh said.
“If the process failed so fundamentally on protest rights, there is every reason to question the firearms amendments as rigorously.”
SIFA is publicly demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the gun laws, adding to growing calls from the shooting community and from non-government politicians to see this happen.
“When part of the same legislative package has already been found unconstitutional, it is entirely reasonable to subject the rest to proper scrutiny,” Mr Walsh said.
He believes an inquiry would “test whether the measures are effective, proportionate, and capable of achieving their stated objectives, or whether they represent a policy failure driven by urgency rather than evidence”.
Since the laws were enacted immediately before Christmas, SIFA has been highlighting their severe unintended consequences.
“What was presented as a public safety response is now driving operational disruption, increased compliance burdens, and immediate financial pressure across an entire sector, with businesses facing lost revenue, uncertainty, and regulatory settings developed without proper consultation or technical input,” he said.
He also pointed to the complete lack of evidence that the laws would do anything to prevent further terrorist attacks or reduce crime.
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