Western Australia and South Australia have ruled out signing up to the federal government\u2019s gun buyback scheme after NSW became the first state to agree to undertake the jointly funded reform. <\/p>\n
The measures are the biggest crackdown on firearms since the Port Arthur massacre nearly three decades ago. They were introduced as part of legislation passed in January following the Bondi terror attack. <\/p>\n
Last week, NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed his state would implement the scheme, administered by NSW Police. Administration costs will be split 50:50 with the federal government, while the state government will fully fund destruction costs for surrendered firearms. <\/p>\n
From November 2, NSW will provide compensation to individuals for firearms above the new ownership limits and newly reclassified firearms, plus a flat fee for associated ammunition.<\/p>\n
On Monday, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey told ABC Radio National the principle behind the reforms should be uncontroversial. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have demonstrated since Port Arthur that if you reduce the number of guns in circulation, you reduce the prospects of gun violence. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s particularly controversial,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But his West Australia counterpart Rita Saffioti told the same program her state had \u201calready undertaken\u201d a similar program, referring to the state-funded Voluntary Firearms Buyback Scheme. <\/p>\n
She described WA\u2019s program \u2013 which ended in January this year \u2013 as \u201cmore significant\u2019 than the federal government\u2019s proposal. <\/p>\n
South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis warned his state would only participate in a buyback scheme fully funded by the federal government. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe John Howard buyback was fully funded by the commonwealth government, so they funded it in its entirety. This is a mix between state and federal governments,\u201d Mr Koutsantonis said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe think we\u2019ve got the mix right in South Australia. If the commonwealth want to do more in South Australia, they\u2019re more than welcome to, but it won\u2019t be done by the state government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community Strong Australia MP Allegra Spender, whose Wentworth electorate includes Bondi, questioned the reluctance of states to participate in a scheme she described as an \u201copportunity\u201d for the country to be safer. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think my community would genuinely welcome New South Wales getting on board with this but I think genuinely have questions why the other states won\u2019t get on board as well,\u201d Ms Spender told ABC AM. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know that the gun buybacks on their own won\u2019t stop terrorism, won\u2019t stop violent extremism, but we are a safer country because of actions to reduce gun ownership in previous governments, and this is an opportunity for us as a country to be safer and we should take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Adelaide<\/a>Perth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia and South Australia have ruled out signing up to the federal government\u2019s gun buyback scheme after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[106196,106190,39592,106205,106185,41565,106182,106178,56246,106200,67023,106203,106191,25939,45822,18288,46057,106202,22,21,20839,5139,106194,82475,106177,10948,106184,106187,4279,106175,57598,104052,31488,105098,106183,106186,38157,44353,43890,37392,15150,37045,40066,68095,59079,82728,355,106207,2054,106199,596,2021,1103,30962,3121,24350,106193,16460,2806,121,105072,66103,13518,106206,8312,106189,41856,41127,106176,37024,14897,66036,106192,106204,106197,84411,106180,106201,39151,61274,106179,94209,106208,36946,48270,105096,38409,40686,106198,36844,58716,39096,106195,12341,3735,106188,106181],"class_list":["post-73802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-gun-buyback-scheme","tag-s-program","tag-s-proposal","tag-106205","tag-a-buyback-scheme","tag-a-country","tag-a-firearms-scheme","tag-a-flat-fee","tag-a-mix","tag-a-safer-country","tag-a-scheme","tag-a-similar-program","tag-abc-am","tag-abc-radio-national","tag-actions","tag-administration-costs","tag-an-opportunity","tag-associated-ammunition-on","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-board","tag-bondi","tag-bondi-gun-reform","tag-circulation","tag-community-strong-australia-mp-allegra-spender","tag-compensation","tag-destruction-costs","tag-federal-gun-buyback-scheme","tag-firearms","tag-fresh","tag-gun-ownership","tag-gun-violence","tag-guns","tag-her-state","tag-his-state","tag-his-west-australia-counterpart-rita-saffioti","tag-individuals","tag-its-entirety","tag-january","tag-last-week","tag-legislation","tag-monday","tag-mr-koutsantonis","tag-ms-spender","tag-my-community","tag-nearly-three-decades","tag-new-south-wales","tag-newly-reclassified-firearms","tag-newswire-politics","tag-november-2","tag-nsw","tag-nsw-police","tag-nsw-premier-chris-minns","tag-nsw-treasurer-daniel-mookhey","tag-part","tag-port-arthur","tag-previous-governments","tag-questions","tag-sa","tag-south-australia","tag-south-australian-treasurer-tom-koutsantonis","tag-state-and-federal-governments","tag-states","tag-surrendered-firearms","tag-terrorism","tag-the-biggest-crackdown","tag-the-bondi-terror-attack","tag-the-commonwealth","tag-the-commonwealth-government","tag-the-country","tag-the-federal-government","tag-the-first-state","tag-the-gun-buybacks","tag-the-john-howard-buyback","tag-the-jointly-funded-reform","tag-the-measures","tag-the-mix-right","tag-the-new-ownership-limits","tag-the-number","tag-the-other-states","tag-the-port-arthur-massacre","tag-the-principle","tag-the-prospects","tag-the-reforms","tag-the-reluctance","tag-the-same-program","tag-the-scheme","tag-the-state-government","tag-the-state-funded-voluntary-firearms-buyback-scheme","tag-the-wake","tag-their-own","tag-this-year","tag-two-australian-states","tag-violent-extremism","tag-wa","tag-western-australia-and-south-australia","tag-whose-wentworth-electorate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}