MEDIA RELEASE - 16 August 2026
NSW Buyback Begins — But the Nation Has Not Followed
New South Wales is now the only jurisdiction implementing the National Gun Buyback. With a clear majority of states having declined it, SSAA ACT INC urges the ACT Government to make any participation a question of ACT-specific evidence — not National Cabinet alignment.
CANBERRA, ACT — New South Wales has become the first — and, at present, the only — jurisdiction to begin the National Gun Buyback announced after the December 2025 Bondi terror attack. From 2 November, NSW licence-holders who exceed new ownership caps, or whose licences no longer permit certain firearms, may surrender them for payment: up to 274,000 firearms — about a quarter of the State’s registered stock — from some 50,000 licensed owners, at a cost of “hundreds of millions of dollars,” co-funded 50:50 with the Commonwealth.
Billed as the first stage of a nationwide reform, the scheme is in substance nothing of the kind. Queensland and Victoria have rejected it; South Australia now says it has no plans to change its firearms laws; the Northern Territory will not contribute funds; and Western Australia ran its own separate scheme. Tasmania and the ACT are described as “committed,” but their funding remains unresolved — which is not a firm commitment. On the facts, New South Wales is not the first of many. It is the only jurisdiction actually proceeding.
“Billed as national reform, this is at present a vanguard of one. New South Wales is the only jurisdiction actually proceeding; a clear majority have looked at the same measure and declined it. Before the ACT falls in behind, the question must be what the evidence shows here — not what was agreed in National Cabinet.”
Nicole, Secretary, SSAA ACT INC
The Evidence Does Not Support the Benefit
The scheme acquires and destroys the lawfully registered firearms of vetted owners who have committed no offence, at very large public cost. The question any decision-maker should ask is what measured reduction in harm that cost buys. On the best independent evidence, that benefit is not established.
The Lay Rapid Review of Victoria’s Firearms Laws (May 2026) found there is “no clear evidence that numerical caps on individual ownership, by themselves, reduce firearms-related harm.” The ACT’s own Standing Committee on Legal Affairs — examining the very caps proposed here — found “significant uncertainty over the operation of the proposed numerical caps” (Report 9, Finding 1, May 2026). And the most rigorous recent study of Australia’s 1996 buyback (Duenow and others, 2024) found that while firearm deaths fell, overall homicide was not reduced — lethal harm was substituted to other means rather than removed. Most firearm crime, in any event, involves illicitly held firearms, not the licensed, registered stock this scheme targets.
Value, and the Just-Terms Question
Where firearms are acquired, compensation must be fair. A fixed schedule running from $450 to $1,000, with a $10,000 ceiling even for higher-value firearms, is likely to fall short of fair market value for many quality sporting and collectible arms — so that a compelled surrender is not fully compensated. Compensation should reflect pre-December 2025 market value, not the depressed prices that followed the announcement, and should extend to the accessories and ammunition that become worthless or unlawful once the firearm is gone. Because the scheme is co-funded by the Commonwealth, whether compensation is “just” is a live legal question — one a scheme of this scale should answer on the record.
There is also a difference between the two jurisdictions that matters here. New South Wales, as a State, is not bound by any constitutional guarantee of just terms, and can fix compensation by schedule however it chooses. The ACT cannot. Under section 23 of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cth), the Territory may acquire property only on just terms — so the arbitrary, schedule-based approach New South Wales has adopted is not one the ACT could lawfully copy. In the ACT, an owner whose firearms were compulsorily acquired would be entitled to just, market-value compensation, not a capped figure set below it.
The ACT Should Decide on ACT Evidence
The ACT has not firmly committed to the scheme; its funding is unresolved, and its caps remain proposed legislation only. That is the right posture. Participation should turn on ACT-specific evidence — as the Territory’s own committee urged — rather than on alignment with a national political position a clear majority of jurisdictions have independently declined. SSAA ACT INC continues to advocate a proportionate alternative: a voluntary buyback at fair market value, a five-year evidence review, and strengthened firearm storage, compliance and licence pre-approval — the measures the evidence actually supports — in place of numerical caps and compulsory acquisition.
“Our members are law-abiding, licensed and vetted. We are not opposed to sensible firearms regulation — we are opposed to spending hundreds of millions acquiring lawfully held firearms when the independent evidence does not show it makes anyone safer. We will keep making that case, on the evidence, at every step.”
Nicole, Secretary, SSAA ACT INC
-ENDS-
MEDIA CONTACT
Nicole
Secretary
SSAA ACT INC
info@ssaaact.org.au
NOTES TO EDITORS
Scheme detail and figures are drawn from ABC News reporting of the NSW announcement (commencement 2 November; up to 274,000 firearms and 50,000 licence-holders; a compensation schedule of $450–$1,000 with a $10,000 ceiling; 50:50 Commonwealth–State funding; jurisdictional positions). Evidence sources: Lay Rapid Review of Victoria’s Firearms Laws (May 2026); ACT Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Report 9 (11th Assembly, May 2026), Finding 1 and Recommendation 7; Duenow and others (2024), Health Economics.
The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia ACT Inc (SSAA ACT INC) is the peak body representing licensed firearms owners, competitive shooters, hunters and rural users in the Australian Capital Territory. SSAA ACT represents approximately 5,700 members; there are approximately 7,000 licensed firearm owners in the ACT (these are distinct figures).
This release is for public information and does not constitute legal advice.