Australia had a chance to do something big. Then came weak leadership and fatal errors
Then came weak leadership and fatal errorsBy Bevan ShieldsJuly 25, 2026Anthony Albanese’s national gun buyback is a stark contrast to the success of John Howard’s 1996 scheme. Victoria Police also wanted a cap and was ignored.Queensland is also out, as is South Australia. Tasmania won’t have a cap and Western Australia has just had 83,000 guns returned under a voluntary return program and feels no need to tie itself to Albanese’s proposal.It took Howard just five months to announce, negotiate and begin his national gun buyback scheme following the Port Arthur massacre.
- ▪Then came weak leadership and fatal errorsBy Bevan ShieldsJuly 25, 2026Anthony Albanese’s national gun buyback is a stark contrast to the success of John Howard’s 1996 scheme.
- ▪Victoria Police also wanted a cap and was ignored.Queensland is also out, as is South Australia.
- ▪Tasmania won’t have a cap and Western Australia has just had 83,000 guns returned under a voluntary return program and feels no need to tie itself to Albanese’s proposal.It took Howard just five months to announce, negotiate and begin his n
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| Original publisher | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| Canonical URL | https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/australia-had-a-chance-to-do-something-big-then-came-weak-leadership-and-fatal-errors-20260624-p609jo.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed |
| Publication time | Sat, 25 Jul 2026 05:01:00 +1000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-24T19:14:21.580Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-24T19:14:21.580Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Sydney Morning Herald.