John Howard calls push to tighten gun laws in wake of Bondi attack an 'attempted diversion'

Former prime minister John Howard, whose reforms to gun laws in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre spared Australia from countless shootings, says a move to further restrict gun laws is an "attempted diversion".

After 35 people were murdered by a lone gunman at Port Arthur, Tasmania, Mr Howard fundamentally reshaped Australia's gun laws, introducing prohibitions on some weapons, restricting who could acquire weapons and funding buybacks to remove guns from the community.

Last night, national cabinet agreed to consider tightening Australia's gun laws to limit ownership to citizens, limit how many guns a single person could own and further restrict what weapons could legally be possessed.

A national firearms register funded last term would also be accelerated, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his desire for licences to be time-limited, so that a person granted a gun licence does not hold it "in perpetuity".

That work will be led by NSW and West Australian premiers Chris Minns and Roger Cook, alongside state and territory police ministers and attorneys-general.

Mr Howard reflected on how much more death may have been enacted if his reforms had not been passed.

"I've reflected on a number of occasions since this terrible event how many more people would have died if the guns we outlawed … had still been available for evil people to use," Mr Howard told Sky News.

Howard fears gun debate is distraction from antisemitism

Mr Howard said he supported the laws being strengthened "where sensible tightening can occur".

But the former prime minister said the renewed push to tighten gun laws was a distraction, and he feared it would be made into an "excuse".

He said the failure that had led to the Bondi massacre was not gun laws but weakness on antisemitism.

"I do not want this debate post this horrible event to be used, the focus on guns be used as a pretext to avoid the broader debate about the spread of hatred of Jewish people and antisemitism," Mr Howard said.

"If the prime minister, immediately after the attack of the 7th of October 2023, had called an all-points cymbals and drum national press conference, convened a meeting of the national cabinet, he could have done that … and had that on the day after the attack, you would not have had that obscene demonstration at the Opera House," he said.

"From the beginning, people of the Jewish community would have felt there is somebody on their side. He didn't do that."'

Mr Howard said Mr Albanese had not done enough, "though clearly the people to blame for the murders are the murderers".

The Liberal luminary also blamed a "premature" decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state, despite final boundaries and a governing authority being unclear.

He said that it was "needlessly provocative and dumb" and done to soothe internal political pressure.

Ley yet to weigh in on gun laws

In the decade after Mr Howard's gun reforms, there were no fatal mass shootings in Australia and a decrease in firearm deaths, according to a 2006 study, which found the removal of firearms had been effective in reducing mass shootings.

The Bondi massacre is the most deadly mass shooting since Port Arthur three decades ago, and it has prompted renewed conversation over Australia's gun laws, which are already some of the toughest in the developed world.

But Opposition Leader Sussan Ley would not comment when asked yesterday whether she would support toughening gun laws.

"There are families waiting by the bedsides of their loved ones across hospitals in Sydney today. And my heart breaks for all of them. And with that in mind, this is not a subject I'm going to discuss today," Ms Ley said.

Her Nationals counterpart, David Littleproud, said the licensing regime had worked, and it was known that one of the gunmen possessed six licensed weapons.

"I think what we've got to be careful of is that we're trying to divert attention to firearm laws rather than the people who are in our society," Mr Littleproud said.

"Why wouldn't we have taken those steps to remove those weapons from their actual possession? I don't understand how that [didn't take] place. That's why those laws were put in place."

Nationals MP Colin Boyce also issued a statement rejecting that Australia had a "gun law problem".

"We have a security and immigration problem caused by a weak government," Mr Boyce said.

At a press conference on Monday, the prime minister would not remark on the Coalition's position on gun reform.

"This is not a time for politics, this is a time for national unity. We have organised for the Leader of the Opposition to receive a briefing from the security agencies yesterday, I think that her statement on Sunday night was entirely appropriate, and we stand ready to work across the parliament," Mr Albanese said.

The prime minister noted the bipartisan support Mr Howard's reforms had enjoyed since they were passed.