{"id":"BILL-r7421","name":"Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026","slug":"combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":446058,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-r7421-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"royal_assent","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The Act received royal assent on 21 January 2026.","complexity_score":8,"likely_questions":["What items are now subject to the public safety test for import?","How does the national gun buyback scheme operate for firearm owners?"],"complexity_factors":["extensive amendments to multiple Acts and Regulations across customs, background checking and criminal law","new intergovernmental financial arrangements and automated information sharing frameworks"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act tightens Australia’s firearms and customs regime: banning import/export of violent extremist materials, imposing a ministerial public‑safety test and stricter controls on a range of weapons and parts, establishing national background checks, creating new offences for sharing online instructions to build or modify weapons, and funding a national gun buyback. \n\nIt affects importers/exporters, licence applicants and holders, dealers, online publishers/users of weapon-making material, and state/territory governments administering licensing and buybacks — increasing federal oversight and public safety tools."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":9,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act goes beyond a narrow, one‑off firearms response and substantially restructures multiple regulatory and intelligence processes. It couples a national buyback and extensive import controls with permanent institutional changes: routine automatic information sharing from Customs/Home Affairs to the ACIC (s 273L), a new statutory criminal intelligence assessment function in the ACC with secrecy and limited notice for firearms licensing cases (ACC Act Part III), and statutory authorisations for ASIO and the ACC to automate assessment actions (ss 92E, 54G). It also creates new Commonwealth criminal offences for online possession and distribution of weapons‑manufacture material. Those additions broaden the law’s scope from combating specific extremist incidents to building a durable, cross‑agency intelligence, compliance and enforcement architecture that affects data flows, automated decision‑making, platform liability and state licensing processes (see Schedule 2, Parts 1–3 and Part 7)."},"complexity_factors":["Large multi‑part Act with 3 Schedules and many Parts touching customs, intelligence, criminal law, taxation and administrative review regimes","Introduces a new Part III into the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (criminal intelligence assessments) spanning many sections (approx. ss 52–54M) with detailed rules on assessment, disclosure, notice, review and secrecy","Extensive cross‑referencing to multiple Acts and regulations (ASIO Act, AusCheck Act, Customs Act, Criminal Code, Crimes Act, Privacy/Surveillance/Telecoms laws and various transport security Acts and regulations)","Numerous new defined terms and changes to existing definitions (e.g. \"firearms information\", \"firearms and explosives manufacture material\", assisted/straight‑pull repeating action, \"public safety test\"), increasing interpretive load","Multiple delegated powers and ministerial/CEO instruments (legislative instruments, notifiable instruments, non‑legislative 'arrangements') that set detailed rules (public safety tests, automation definitions, buyback funding cap)","Automation provisions that permit computer programs to take decisions or specified actions (ASIO ss 92E–92G; ACC ss 54G–54H) with oversight requirements but non‑invalidity clauses","Patchwork of exceptions and exclusions (e.g. for licensed businesses, law enforcement, research, State licensing decisions), plus mixed fault standards (intention, recklessness, strict and absolute liability, evidential/legal burdens) in new offences","Transitional and savings rules plus authorisation for Ministers to make transitional legislative rules (Schedule 3) with explicit limitations create additional application complexity","Consequential amendments across at least 10 Acts and 3 regulations, affecting procedural rights (notice/review), disclosure rules and data‑sharing across agencies"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law changes (mechanics)\n\n- Expands customs bans to cover \"violent extremist material\" and goods that depict or contain Criminal Code-defined \"prohibited symbols\". (Customs (Prohibited Imports/Exports) regs amendments — Schedule 1, items 1–4.)\n\n- Creates a Commonwealth-led national gun buyback scheme, with a defined buyback period (default 1 Jan 2026–31 Dec 2027), mechanisms for States to run approved compensation schemes, and an arrangement for the Commonwealth to reimburse States subject to a determination under the Federal Financial Relations Act. The AFP Minister sets some operational details and an overall Commonwealth funding cap is to be set by instrument. (Schedule 2, Part 1, items 1–5.)\n\n- Tightens import controls for a wide range of firearms, parts and accessories (including assisted/straight‑pull repeating firearms, large-capacity magazines, belt-fed weapons, frames/receivers, handguns, skirmish markers like airsoft/gel blasters, silencers, speed loaders). It adds new import tests (\"public safety tests\") and narrows or re-categorises permitted import pathways. It also removes some previously used open-ended police certification permit forms. (Schedule 2, Parts 4–6, multiple amending items.)\n\n- Enables routine, automated sharing of firearms-related information held by Home Affairs and Customs with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) — including by automatic transmission between electronic systems. \"Firearms information\" is defined broadly to include import/export data, licences/permits and personal information. (Customs Act amendments — Schedule 2, Part 3, items 122–123.)\n\n- Expands and formalises firearms-related background checks by: (a) adding \"firearms background checks\" to the AusCheck scheme; (b) creating a statutory role for the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) to make \"criminal intelligence assessments\" to support those checks (including \"adverse\" assessments); and (c) permitting ASIO and the ACC to use computer programs under senior-officer oversight to take certain assessment actions (automation). The ACC must provide some adverse assessments to agencies and there are limited review rights via the Administrative Review Tribunal, but exceptions apply for firearms licensing decisions in States/Territories. (Schedule 2, Part 2, Divisions 1–4 — AusCheck Act, ACC Act and ASIO Act amendments, e.g. sections introducing Part III to the ACC Act and ss 92E–92G in the ASIO Act.)\n\n- Creates new Commonwealth criminal offences for using a carriage service (that is, online/telecommunications services) to access, transmit, publish or possess \"firearms and explosives manufacture material\" (broadly: instructions, designs, files or material that facilitate manufacture or modification). Penalties up to 5 years' imprisonment; the law sets out a number of defences and exceptions for licensed businesses, law enforcement, research, and certain legitimate functions. (Criminal Code, new Subdivision HB — items 212–215, sections 474.45F–474.45J.)\n\n- Makes consequential and privacy‑related amendments in several Acts and regulations (surveillance, interception, spent convictions rules, customs forms, aviation/maritime security, tax treatment of buyback proceeds, and transitional rules allowing Ministers to make specified transitional legislative instruments). (Multiple Schedules and items — see Schedule 2 Divs 4–6 and Schedule 3.)\n\n\nWho this affects and how it works in practice\n\n- Importers, freight forwarders and customs brokers: new prohibited categories, requirements to pass public safety tests, and tightened documentation/identification rules (including proof of Australian citizenship in some cases). Import permission can be refused on public safety grounds administered by the Minister. (Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations changes — e.g. regs 4FA and 4HA.)\n\n- Firearms owners and dealers: the national buyback purchases specified classes of firearms and State schemes must be approved to qualify for Commonwealth reimbursement. Import pathways and allowable categories for commercial supply change; some accessories and parts are explicitly covered. Dealers will face altered certification and import tests. (Schedule 2, Part 1 and Parts 4–6.)\n\n- State and Territory police/licensing authorities: their firearms licensing decisions can trigger Commonwealth firearms background checks that rely on ACC and ASIO assessments. The law allows Commonwealth criminal intelligence to be provided to State/Territory decision makers; however, in some cases the usual notice and review provisions for adverse assessments do not apply to firearms licensing decisions. (ACC Act Part III — sections on assessments and notice/exceptions such as 54D–54J.)\n\n- Intelligence and law‑enforcement agencies (ASIO, ACC, ACIC, Home Affairs, Customs, AFP): gain new information‑sharing powers, ability to produce and transmit automated assessments, and statutory authorisations to receive firearms import/export and personal data. (Customs Act s 273L; ACC Act Part III; ASIO Act ss 92E–92G.)\n\n- Internet platforms, publishers and individual users: distributing, hosting, linking to or accessing materials that reasonably amount to \"firearms and explosives manufacture material\" via a carriage service can be a Commonwealth offence unless a specified exception applies. The offences carry a prison term and shift evidential burdens in some respects (presumptions/statutory burdens). (Criminal Code, Subdivision HB.)\n\n\nStated purpose and then testing that purpose against costs, incentives and trade‑offs\n\n- Stated purpose: the instrument is presented as measures to combat antisemitism, hate and extremism and to reduce risks arising from firearms and extremist materials (see the object of the buyback Part and Customs amendments). The text links the national buyback specifically to the Bondi Beach attack of 14 December 2025 (Schedule 2, Part 1, item 1).\n\n- Implementation costs and who pays: the Commonwealth appropriates money for reimbursements and other payments (Schedule 2, Part 1, subitem 5(10)). States can run compensation schemes and seek Commonwealth reimbursement under a determination made under the Federal Financial Relations Act (Schedule 2, Part 1, items 3–5). There will also be administrative costs for Customs, Home Affairs, ACIC, ACC, ASIO and AFP to run expanded checks, data transfers, automation programs and enforcement of new offences.\n\n- Incentives and behavioural responses: importers may avoid or reroute shipments, or seek alternative suppliers; some buyers may choose to surrender firearms into the buyback rather than face more onerous licensing or import restrictions; online actors may move materials offshore, encrypt or fragment instructions to avoid the online offences. Regulated businesses (manufacturing/repair) retain a statutory defence if they hold relevant State/Territory licences (Criminal Code defences, 474.45J).\n\n- Compliance burden: increased. Private actors face new documentary and identification requirements (e.g. proof of citizenship for importers, police certification forms altered/invalidated — Schedule 2, Part 6). Platforms and content hosts face a risk of criminal liability for some user materials unless an exception applies.\n\n- Bureaucratic discretion and regulatory design risk: multiple provisions delegate significant discretion to Ministers (to make public safety test rules by legislative instrument — regs 4FA(6) and 4HA(6); AFP Minister to determine some buyback details; Ministerial instruments to set automation actions for ASIO). These delegate both substantive policy and procedural choices to executive instruments rather than primary legislation, concentrating decision‑making power in administrative hands.\n\n- Automation and oversight trade‑offs: ASIO and the ACC may arrange for computer programs to take \"specified\" assessment actions under senior oversight (ASIO Act ss 92E–92G; ACC Act ss 54G–54H). The law requires the Director‑General/CEO to take reasonable steps and consult oversight bodies, but also states that failure to comply does not invalidate actions taken by the computer program. That creates a risk of error with limited legal remedies for affected individuals, and raises implementation and audit costs.\n\n- Privacy, secrecy and review implications: the Act expands categories of information that can be shared between agencies (Customs → ACIC) and allows ACC and ASIO to make adverse assessments that can be withheld from the person where specified certificates are in force (ACC Act, ss 54D–54E and Minister/CEO certificate rules). The Act makes disclosure of criminal intelligence assessment information a secrecy offence with criminal penalties (ACC Act s 54M). For firearms licensing decisions, the usual right to timely notice and review of adverse assessments is expressly limited (ACC Act s 54E(3) and s 54J(4) exceptions), which reduces procedural remedies in the firearms context.\n\n- Market effects and substitution: tighter import rules and bans on certain accessories will reduce legal supply of particular goods (magazines >30 rounds, some frames/receivers, belt‑fed parts), which will raise prices for legally permitted items and could incentivise a shift to domestic manufacture or illicit markets. The buyback shifts ownership from private to public ownership for purchased items and compensates sellers; the distributional incidence is concentrated: owners surrendering certain firearms gain compensation, taxpayers (Commonwealth and de facto State co‑funding) bear the cost.\n\n- Enforcement and prosecution patterns: new carriage‑service offences add a digital enforcement dimension. The offences use differing fault standards (intention for conduct, recklessness for circumstance, absolute/strict liability for some elements and evidential presumptions in possession cases) which will affect prosecutorial strategy and defendants’ burdens in court. (Criminal Code Subdivision HB.)\n\n\nConcrete implementation risks and opportunity costs\n\n- High administrative overhead to stand up automated assessment systems, secure data flows between agencies, and run the buyback at national scale.\n\n- Risk of false positives from automated assessments affecting licensing outcomes where judicial review and notice are limited.\n\n- Platforms and content hosts may change service offerings or apply conservative content restrictions to avoid liability for user‑generated material, with compliance costs and potential over‑removal of lawful material.\n\n- Opportunity cost of public funds used for the buyback and system upgrades: money used for buyback and enforcement could otherwise be used for other crime‑prevention, mental health or community safety programs.\n\n\nBottom line (mechanical):\n\n- The Act is a multi‑strand package that (1) extends customs prohibitions to extremist materials and symbols, (2) establishes a Commonwealth-backed national gun buyback and tightens import controls on many firearms and parts, (3) expands and formalises firearms background checks using ACC and ASIO assessments (including automated assessment tools), (4) authorises automatic data sharing of firearms information to the ACIC, and (5) criminalises online access/transmission/possession of firearms/explosives manufacturing materials with a number of statutory defences and exceptions.\n\n\nKey statutory cross‑references/examples: ACC Act Part III (new criminal intelligence assessments) — Schedule 2, items 22–37; ASIO automation provisions (ss 92E–92G) — Schedule 2, items 26–31; Customs → ACIC information sharing (s 273L) — Schedule 2, item 122; Criminal Code carriage service offences (ss 474.45F–474.45J) — Schedule 2, items 212–215; national gun buyback object and funding mechanism — Schedule 2, Part 1, items 1–5."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026","history":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026/history","analysis":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/combatting-antisemitism-hate-and-extremism-firearms-and-customs-laws-bill-2026/documents"}}