Australian news and politics live: Albanese’s hate speech laws pass Parliament following gun law call

National Party MPs abstained from voting on the Government’s contentious hate speech laws as the legislation passed Parliament’s lower house on Tuesday.

Leader David Littleproud said the Nationals party room has been meeting to discuss amendments which “provide greater certainty around unintended consequences of the hate group legislation reforms”.

“Unfortunately, there is not enough time before the vote in the House of Representatives to get this certainty,” he said in a statement.

The junior Coalition party will put forward amendments to “fix these issues” when the Bill is introduced to the Senate this evening.

Greens leader Larissa Waters says she’s “proud” of her team after widespread criticism of language used in the party’s condolence motions on Monday.

The Greens accused the major parties of politicising the Bondi massacre — only to use their condolence speeches on Australia’s worst-ever terrorist attack to criticise Israel.

Asked on Tuesday if she felt her party had struck the right tone, Senator Waters insisted they had, including deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi who had accused the Federal Government of wanting to silence critics of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, using the word “genocide”.

“I’m very proud of the strong hearts of our team, and I think some of the commentary in the Murdoch press, who are simply trying to sell their newspapers, was inaccurate at best and inflammatory at worst,” she said.

“Senator Mehreen Faruqi is such a champion for human rights and for peaceful protest, and I think the words that she said were very appropriately conveyed.”

The Young Nationals have declared their opposition to the combating anti-Semitism, hate and extremism bill.

“The Labor Government is trying to consolidate power over the truth and outlaw dissent through its draconian hate speech laws, as well as crushing law-abiding gun owners ​​through its firearm laws,” the branch said in a statement.

“The Young Nationals will never support Labor’s war on free speech and responsible gun ownership.”

Assistant Defence Minister Peter Khalil says the Albanese Government is hoping the United States will reach a negotiated settlement with Denmark over its push to take over Greenland.

President Donald Trump is threatening to hit European nations with a slew of new tariffs if they do not strike a deal to hand over the strategic self-governing arctic territory to the US.

Asked whether the situation represented a threat to NATO, Mr Khalil said it was an issue that Denmark and the United States needed to manage while respecting the wishes of Greenland’s population.

“I get a lot of my knowledge around Greenland from the Danish political drama Borgen, which uncannily, is kind of almost, you know, art imitating life, or life is now imitating art in some respects,” the Assistant Minister told Sky News.

“I hope that there can be some sort of negotiated settlement that this doesn’t get out of hand. And the Australian government has always been very clear about upholding international law and international norms”.

Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns has accused the Liberal party of being hypocrites after forcing Anthony Albanese to water-down the hate speech laws in response to the Bondi Beach attack.

Mr Burns told the House on Tuesday it was a “shame” that the proposed laws were “not the full set of bills that should have passed this parliament today”.

“It is just an absolute shame that we came here today, and the full suite of laws aren’t what they should be,” he said.

“Because the Liberal Party refused to support the very things that they said they did. But these bills, as they stand, have a significant impact.”

He added that while the Liberal party claimed to support the full adoption of Special Envoy to Combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal’s report, their approach went against one of the key recommendations.

Mr Burns read recommendation 3.2 to the House which related to federal laws targeting anti-Semitism, “including with respect to serious vilification offenses and the public promotion of hatred”.

“You cannot claim to support the special envoy and then refuse to support the very recommendation that a special envoy put forward in her report,” he added.

The Albanese Government has agreed to establish a National Firearms Safety Council as part of its negotiations with The Greens to pass the reforms during a special summer sitting of Parliament.

Teal MP Sophie Scamps had called for the council in an amendment she put to the House as the gun reforms were debated on Tuesday.

She suggested the council would be evidence-based and independent from the influence of “powerful vested interests and cashed-up gun lobby groups in Australia”.

Ms Scamps suggested the council could collate data on licensing numbers and types, approvals and refusals and emerging trends and “report to parliament annually to ensure transparency and accountability”.

Tony Burke stood up after her address to reveal that while the Government wouldn’t back her amendment, it had already set the wheels in motion for establishing a council.

“While the Government doesn’t support the amendment, and the form of doing this, we are in support of establishing the National Firearms Safety Council,” The Home Affairs Minister said.

“A similar conversation has been happening with The Greens and the Senate as we’ve been dealing with these issues over recent days.

“Earlier today, I put in writing to (Greens leader) and Senator (Larissa) Waters that we will be establishing a National Firearm Safety Council.”

Tony Burke said while he “agreed completely” with Zail Steggall’s concerns about domestic violence offenders having access to weapons, he claimed it wasn’t something the Federal legislation in response to the Bondi attack would address.

“It’s exactly right that these issues should be taken into account in the issuing of a firearms license,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

“But they have to be taken into account at the state level.

“The states are the holders of information on family and domestic violence.

“The states are the holders of the information on AVOs (Apprehended Violence Order).

“While I agree completely that this issue must be taken into account, it’s not something we can do in the federal part of the process.”

Anthony Albanese has sought to highlight the limits on Commonwealth jurisdiction over gun regulation compared with states and territories.

It came in response to suggested amendments in the House, including by independent teal MP Zail Steggall, who called for protections from domestic violence perpetrators holding guns.

The Prime Minister said state-level processes, which hold information on family and domestic violence, would still need to be addressed separately by jurisdictions.

“It is important to comprehend that state governments control the issue of licenses,” the PM said.

“State governments control categories. This legislation does not appear to interfere with those arrangements. What the federal government controls is the importation of weapons.

“This is sensible reform, including stopping non-citizens importing weapons.”

Bob Katter went on to claim that under less restrictive gun laws in Queensland years ago, there were eight annual gun-related deaths compared to 54 under “draconian legislation in Victoria”.

“In the year that that happened, Queensland had no gun laws at all,” he said.

“I went in to buy a pair of socks and ended up buying an AK-47 rifle and 350 rounds of ammunition, which was a lot better than my socks.”

He was met with interjections and a colder reception when he stated: “You might think twice about shooting somebody, if that person can shoot back”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stood up shortly after and raised concerns about “factual issues” with Mr Katter’s statement, but agreed it was “a problem” that the father was granted access to guns.

Despite this, the PM stated he would only move the bill as it currently stood before Parliament, claiming it was the “right legislation to be carried”.

“The father in this alleged atrocity was someone who was granted a license in 2013 that was not pursued, and then later on he was given access to guns, we agree that that’s a problem,” the PM said.

“That is the very issue of what we have focused on with the security authorities.

“And that is why this legislation should be carried without amendment.”

Queensland independent Bob Katter has used a sex analogy when arguing that people known to Australian security services should have their firearm license immediately revoked.

The Kennedy MP gave an impassioned speech to the House on Tuesday morning when introducing amendments to Labor’s proposed gun laws in response to the Bondi attack.

He questioned why the Akram family had licensed guns when the 24-year-old son and alleged killer, Naveed Akram, was on ASIO’s radar since 2019.

While he said gun licenses should be revoked in such a scenario, Mr Katter stated he was against “draconian legislation”.

He claimed more guns doesn’t necessarily mean more gun deaths, warning the Parliament to do their research on gun-death statistics in various jurisdictions in parallel with the governing legislation.

Mr Katter suggested banning guns may actually increase fascination with them, comparing it to Victorian England “banning sex” but still having a population explosion.

“I don’t know why, when you ban guns, you have more fascination with guns,” told the House.

“But all I can say is, in Victorian England, they banned sex, but gee, they had a lot of population explosion during those years.”