When something goes wrong in Sydney, police are often minutes away. When something goes wrong on a farm outside Tenterfield, Bourke, Cobar or Broken Hill, help can be an hour away or more.
That reality is understood by every farmer, every rural landholder and every regional family in Australia.
Which is why the recent attack on Keith and Di Blessing near Tenterfield has struck such a chord with people across the country.
The couple were allegedly attacked in their own home and suffered serious stab wounds. Keith called police and waited for help to arrive. But before police could get there, the alleged offender reportedly returned. By that stage Keith had retrieved his firearm and used it to defend himself, his wife and his home.
All three people involved ended up in hospital.
Police have publicly praised Keith’s actions. The Premier has publicly praised Keith’s actions.
Yet police have also refused to rule out charges. That should concern every Australian.
Because if a man who has been stabbed in his own home, while protecting his injured wife and waiting for police, can still be left wondering whether he will be prosecuted, then something is clearly wrong.
And this isn’t simply a firearms issue. It is a question of whether Australians have a clear legal right to defend their homes, families, businesses and farms when help is not immediately available.
For people in regional Australia, this is not a theoretical debate. Rural crime is a daily reality.
Stock theft costs producers millions of dollars every year. Fuel theft, machinery theft, break-ins, trespass and property crime are common across many parts of NSW. Increasingly, farmers are also dealing with organised trespass, unlawful entry and activists deliberately entering private property.
The uncomfortable truth is that police cannot be everywhere. Nor should they be expected to be.
But when police are not there, who is responsible for protecting your family, your workers, your stock and your property?
The answer is obvious. You are.
The Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party has been arguing for decades that the law should recognise this reality.
Back in 1995, John Tingle introduced the Home Invasion (Occupants Protection) Bill into the NSW Parliament. After years of debate, the Home Invasion (Occupants Protection) Act became law in 1998.
For a brief period, NSW recognised that people confronted by violent intruders inside their homes deserved specific legal protection.
But those protections were later repealed and folded into broader self-defence laws.
The result has been uncertainty. Ordinary people are left wondering where they stand until after an incident occurs. And by then it is often too late.
Just ask Newcastle father Ben Batterham. In 2016, he confronted an intruder who had entered his family home through a bedroom window and made his way into his daughter’s room. The confrontation ended with the intruder dying from his injuries.
Batterham was charged with murder and manslaughter. Years later, a jury found him not guilty.
Most Australians know exactly what they would do if they found a stranger in their child’s bedroom.
The problem is not whether ordinary people will act. The problem is whether the law will back them when they do.
And Batterham is not alone. In 2011, Sydney homeowner Don Brooke confronted intruders inside his Yagoona home and spent months under investigation before police ultimately decided not to pursue charges.
In 2019, Harrington Park father Francois Schwartz confronted an intruder inside his family home while his wife and young daughter were present. The intruder later died following a struggle and Schwartz found himself under homicide investigation before police ultimately declined to lay charges.
That simply isn’t right.
That is why Mark Banasiak’s Crimes Amendment (Use of Force Against Intruders) Bill matters. It builds on the work John Tingle began almost three decades ago, but goes further.
Unlike the original legislation, the bill does not simply focus on homes. It extends protections to homes, vehicles, businesses and commercial farms.
Importantly, it recognises that law-abiding people should not be required to retreat from their own property.
The bill expressly provides that a person may use force against an intruder even if they could have retreated or used another means to avoid the confrontation.
It also recognises that victims should not have to wait until they are physically attacked before acting.
Under the bill, a person may use force where they reasonably believe an intruder is committing, or is about to commit, an offence inside the premises and force is necessary to stop it.
For regional Australians, that matters. A farmer confronting stock thieves. A business owner facing a violent break-in. A family confronted by an intruder in the middle of the night.
These people should not be expected to abandon their property and hope for the best while waiting for help. Nor should they be left second-guessing whether defending themselves will land them in hand-cuffs.
Mark Banasiak first introduced this legislation in 2025. It did not proceed to a second reading. It will be introduced again shortly, and the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party will again pursue stronger protections for law-abiding Australians who are forced to defend themselves, their families, their businesses and their farms.
Across the border in Queensland, politicians have spent years debating youth crime, home invasions and tougher criminal penalties. But that debate largely focuses on what happens after an offender is arrested.
Keith Blessing’s story reminds us that there is another question politicians must answer. What about the victim?
What about the person standing in their own home, on their own farm or in their own business while the crime is actually taking place?
What about the person waiting for police to arrive?
In 1998, the NSW Parliament had the courage to draw a line in the sand when John Tingle’s Home Invasion Act became law. Today, Parliament faces the same choice.
Keith Blessing has been called a hero by police. Keith Blessing has been called a hero by the Premier.
The question now is whether the NSW Parliament has the courage to back those words with action.
If Keith Blessing is a hero, then the law should say so, too. Parliament should have the guts to make that clear.
ARTICLE REFERENCES & HYPERLINKS
KEITH BLESSING / TENTERFIELD HOME INVASION
7 News Australia
Elderly couple fighting for life after man fends off alleged home intruder
https://7news.com.au/news/elderly-couple-fighting-for-life-after-man-fends-off-alleged-home-intruder-c-22383095
ABC News
Man shot after alleged home invasion near Tenterfield leaves elderly couple seriously injured
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-05/torrington-home-invasion-shooting-near-tenterfield/105387040
NSW Police Media Release
Strike Force Menzies established after home invasion and shooting – Torrington
https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/article?id=122868
JOHN TINGLE / HOME INVASION ACT
NSW Parliament
Home Invasion (Occupants Protection) Bill 1995
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/Profiles/home-invasion-(occupants-protection)-bill-1995_18152.aspx
NSW Legislation
Home Invasion (Occupants Protection) Act 1998
https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/repealed/current/act-1998-109
NSW Legislation
Crimes Amendment (Self-defence) Act 2001
https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/repealed/current/act-2001-116
BEN BATTERHAM
ABC News
Ben Batterham acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges over death of Richard Slater
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-16/ben-batterham-acquitted-of-murder-over-richard-slater-death/11422190
ABC News
Ben Batterham receives compensation settlement from NSW Government
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-09/ben-batterham-gets-payout-from-state-for-wrongful-prosecution/106322122
Newcastle Herald
Ben Batterham found not guilty of murder
https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6330958/ben-batterham-not-guilty-of-murder/
DON BROOKE
9 News
Man who killed intruder to escape charges
https://www.9news.com.au/national/man-who-killed-intruder-to-escape-charges/982fafc8-5f4d-4338-9931-56deff5c8d0
Sydney Morning Herald
Homeowner likely to avoid charges over death of intruder
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/homeowner-likely-to-avoid-charges-over-death-of-intruder-20111011-1liwz.html
ABC News
No charges over home invasion death
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-11/no-charges-over-home-invasion-death/3565128
FRANCOIS SCHWARTZ
ABC News
Homeowner questioned after bodybuilder intruder dies following struggle
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-19/sydney-man-who-confroted-bodybuilder-intruder-posted-on-thieves/10824552
The New Daily
Francois Schwartz released without charge after fatal home invasion confrontation
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2019/02/18/francois-schwartz-intruder-death
9 News
No sympathy for thieves: home invasion victim
https://www.9news.com.au/national/no-sympathy-for-thieves-invasion-victim/c17be4d9-d918-46b0-8a44-980cb66f9597
MARK BANASIAK BILL
NSW Parliament
Crimes Amendment (Use of Force Against Intruders) Bill 2025
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bills/Pages/bill-details.aspx?pk=18793
CURRENT NSW SELF-DEFENCE LAW
NSW Legislation
Crimes Act 1900 – Section 418 Self-defence
https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1900-040#sec.418
NSW Legislation
Crimes Act 1900 – Section 419
https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1900-040#sec.419
QUEENSLAND COMPARISON
Queensland Parliament
Criminal Code (Defence of Dwellings and Other Premises – Castle Law) Amendment Bill 2024
https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/tp/2024/5724T1849-4E9E.pdf
Queensland Parliament
Bill details and explanatory material
https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-the-Assembly/Bills-and-Legislation/Bills-previous-Parliaments/Bills-of-the-57th-Parliament?view=2024-016
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