NSW Farmers’ has presented the state government with a range of improvements the organisation says need to be made to firearms regulations.
NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said the sudden, sweeping changes to firearms laws made without consultation created adverse and unintended consequences, while ongoing uncertainty caused big problems for food and fibre producers.
But legislation was only part of the process in changing firearms rules in NSW, and Mr Martin said a set of regulations, which had only recently been reviewed, also needed to be changed.
“At the moment I’m hearing from a lot of farmers who don’t know whether they’re breaking the law or not because there’s this cloud of uncertainty hanging over them,” Mr Martin said.
“For farmers these are vital tools – expensive tools – that are needed to do a job, and we’ve made it clear to the NSW Government that it needs to get the settings right around their new laws.”
NSW Farmers called for several feasibility issues to be resolved, including:
Buyback Scheme: While NSW Farmers did not support the firearms changes or need for a “gun buyback scheme”, if owners were to be required to surrender firearms to meet new state-based requirements then fair compensation needed to be available to avoid financial penalty. Importantly, this needed to include ammunition, accessories and parts associated with the surrendered firearms, with compensation based on fair market value prior to 14 December 2025.
Gun club membership: Those involved in agriculture had to be exempted from the mandatory gun club membership requirement, which was considered severely impractical, especially in rural and remote areas where gun clubs and shooting ranges were sparse or oversubscribed. It was NSW Farmers’ view that this mandate would result greater movement of firearms off-farm, at odds with the primary production genuine reason.
Firearms Caps: Farm operations varied significantly in size, commodity, operating environment and pest pressures. As a result, there would be farmers that had genuine use-cases requiring more than 10 firearms, and they needed a feasible and reliable pathway to apply to the Police Commissioner for approval of additional firearms based on primary production requirements. The limit of two Category C firearms had to be amended to account for the recategorisation of several firearms, and caps on the number per individual made cumulative based on the genuine reasons attached to the license – as was the case in Western Australia.
Firearms registry resourcing-license terms: There was a high risk of processing delays due to increased frequency of license renewals/applications and additional background checks. NSW Farmers did not support the need to reduce license terms to two years and existing mechanisms to cancel licenses based on criminal behaviour had to be enhanced in the first instance.
License decisions: The merit review pathway to appeal licensing decisions through NCAT had to be restored to provide procedural fairness and avoid unintended consequences regarding false accusations.
Recreational hunting licences: Many farm businesses relied on recreational hunters and the significant changes for this group had to be practical, including collaboration with other farmers on their properties.
Timing: Amendments to the regulation and design of the gun buyback scheme needed to be informed by robust stakeholder engagement including primary producers. In addition, sufficient time and clarity for licence holders was needed to transition, especially in remote/rural contexts.
“We’re conscious that there are ways to improve practicality for farmers,” Mr Martin said.
“The process to update the Firearms Regulation 2017 must not be rushed and it must provide adequate consultation opportunities with key stakeholders such as NSW Farmers to mitigate adverse and unintended consequences for food and fibre production, and the state’s biosecurity and landscape management.
“We’re continuing to build engagement with government, opposition, crossbenchers and agencies to make the best out of this situation, so we can sort out the confusions, and let farmers get on with the important job of producing healthy plants and animals.”
