{"id":409069,"date":"2026-01-12T22:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409069\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T22:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T22:19:11","slug":"nt-government-rejects-albaneses-national-gun-buyback-scheme-over-co-funding-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/409069\/","title":{"rendered":"NT government rejects Albanese’s national gun buyback scheme over co-funding proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Territory government has rejected the Commonwealth’s proposed national gun buyback scheme, saying the territory should not have to partly fund the initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the national buyback in December<\/a> following the Bondi terror attack, with the Commonwealth proposing to split the cost of the buyback with the states and territories on a 50:50 basis.<\/p>\n

The planned scheme, which will require legislation to be passed to provide funding, would include the buyback of surplus, newly banned and illegal guns.<\/p>\n

But on Monday, NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said her government would not support the buyback if the territory had to partly pay for it.<\/p>\n

“If the federal government wants to put a national buyback scheme in place, they should fund it, I will not have everyday Territorians foot that bill,” she said.\"Woman<\/p>\n

Lia Finocchiaro says the federal government should pay for the national buyback scheme in its entirety. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese has also proposed that the states and territories be responsible for the collection, processing and payment to individuals<\/a> for surrendered guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that approach was consistent with the gun buyback established by former prime minister John Howard following the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.<\/p>\n

PM recalls parliament to introduce hate speech and gun laws<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese has recalled parliament early to deal with sweeping hate speech and gun laws in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, Mr Albanese recalled parliament early<\/a> to debate the national buyback scheme.<\/p>\n

It came after Tasmania Police Minister Felix Ellis pushed back against the buyback over its costs<\/a>, and suggested other states had similar concerns during a national meeting of attorneys-general and police ministers last week.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio National, Mr Ellis noted the NT had been “quite strong” in its opposition to other gun law changes proposed by the federal government, including limiting the number of firearms a single person can own and further restricting the types of weapons that are legal.<\/p>\n

Both of those policies have already been adopted by NSW<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Felix Ellis says Tasmania is also opposed to the federal government’s proposed national gun buyback scheme. (ABC News: Morgan Timms)<\/p>\n

Ms Finocchiaro said there could not be a “one-size-fits-all-approach” to reform.<\/p>\n

“I make no apology for putting the best interests of Territorians first,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have been explicitly clear following National Cabinet \u2026 that we will work with the federal government to fast-track the national firearms register and allow additional use of criminal intelligence to reject or remove firearms licenses or firearms from people or households that are a threat to safety.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Marie-Clare Boothby says the NT government believes in focusing on criminal intelligence when it comes to gun control policy. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said the NT supported targeted, criminal intelligence-led measures “that strengthen public safety without undermining lawful firearm ownership”.<\/p>\n

“The most important work is improving how criminal intelligence is used to inform firearms licensing decisions,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

In late 2025, NT police seized more than 240 firearms from a property in Kakadu National Park. (Supplied: Northern Territory Police Force)<\/p>\n

“These are genuine, relevant reforms that help identify risk early and prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n

“We are not afraid to remove firearms or cancel licenses, and not just for individuals but entire households.”<\/p>\n

In late 2025, the NT government loosened territory firearm laws, removing the mandatory 28-day waiting period for Category A and B licence holders<\/a> purchasing another gun of the same category.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Territory government has rejected the Commonwealth’s proposed national gun buyback scheme, saying the territory should not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2324,64,63,192017,193612,193223,69,216604,216601,53822,4634,216603,216605,44,1098,17188,216602],"class_list":["post-409069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bondi-beach-shooting","tag-bondi-shooting","tag-bondi-terror-attack","tag-federal-government","tag-government-gun-buyback","tag-gun-buyback-program","tag-gun-laws","tag-guns","tag-national-gun-buyback","tag-national-gun-buyback-scheme","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-nt-government","tag-what-is-a-gun-buyback"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}