Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane pledged the Liberals' support for gun reform after the December 14 shooting attack, signalling that the party will not exploit electoral vulnerability to pressure the government into weakening Australia's firearms laws. The decision to back strict reforms despite the party being under political siege from One Nation in regional seats reveals the NSW Liberals' calculation about where the electoral centre lies.
The contrast could hardly be starker. Pauline Hanson's One Nation appears to have gained support from shooters who feel disenfranchised by their treatment at the hands of the Labor and Liberal Parties. The Shooters, Farmers and Fishers Party, meanwhile, can expect to benefit politically from the fallout. Yet rather than moving toward their position, the Liberals have chosen to stand firm alongside Labor on this issue.
Sloane expressed "serious reservations" about the legislation being rushed through parliament, saying "That is not best practice law-making, particularly in an area as sensitive and consequential as counter-terrorism and community safety". This nuanced position allows the party to criticise the Government's process while accepting the substance of the reform. The NSW Liberals said they would "use the parliamentary process in the coming months to ensure these reforms are implemented in a way that genuinely meets their stated objectives".
The reforms themselves are substantial. NSW will have the toughest gun laws in the country, imposing a cap meaning that an individual can have no more than four firearms, with exemptions for primary producers who can have up to ten, limiting straight-pull and pump action firearms to primary producers, reducing magazine capacity, and making gun club membership mandatory for all licence holders.
The political arithmetic explains the Liberals' choice. The package passed by eighteen votes to eight, with the Liberals supporting the government while the Greens abstained, meaning the party's support was decisive. But the Nationals, the Coalition's junior partners, took a different view. The Nationals opposed the gun reforms, saying they applied arbitrary limits and didn't give regional businesses the tools they needed, arguing the "proposed reforms would not have stopped last Sunday's attack and fail to address the root cause of the issue - anti-Semitism".
For the Liberals, backing the reforms signals to urban and suburban voters that the party takes community safety seriously in the wake of tragedy. It also positions them as institutionally responsible, unwilling to exploit a tragedy for partisan advantage by moving toward the gun lobby's position. Whether this strategy pays electoral dividends remains to be seen; the NSW state election will be held in March 2027.
The decision carries real risk. Shooters and gun owners who feel disenfranchised may support Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the Shooters, Farmers and Fishers Party, which can expect a big boost in support at the polls. Yet the Liberals calculated that abandoning this position would damage them more severely among the broader electorate than holding it would cost them among rural voters and firearms enthusiasts.