A NEW national gun buyback scheme will now be debated in the Senate, with plans to buy back surplus or newly illegal weapons under suite of new laws.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today introduced the bill to the House of Representatives, sparking debate about whether targeting firearms was the right response to the Bondi terrorist attack at the end of last year.

The Coalition, One Nation and Bob Katter effectively been arguing that focusing on firearms is an attack on law abiding gun owners and a distraction from the main issue that sparked the attack.

Labor says while important to tackle the ideology behind the attacks, it is also important to tackle the method.

With so much debate about the firearm side of the law, Labor split the bill in two with one bill dealing with hate and extremism and another dealing with the firearms.

That move has created some confusion with members of both the crossbench and the Coalition saying they are unsure what they are voting for. The Nationals officially abstained from voting, with leader David Littleproud saying that the party will focus on the debate in the Senate.

Prime Minister insists the laws are not an attack on farmers

In participating in the parliamentary debate today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the laws were not about targeting law abiding gun owners.

“This legislation is not about targeting farmers, it is not about competitive shooters, it is not about those who are law abiding firearm owners,” Mr Albanese said.

“This federal bill will establish a national gun buyback scheme to purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms. This is based on the same buyback scheme that was introduced by John Howard, Tim Fisher and Kim Beasley – three leaders who stood up at an important time.”

In announcing the bill, home affairs minister Tony Burke said, under the new laws, the Bondi shooters would not be able to lawfully own guns.

“No one is pretending that dealing with guns, deals with everything that happened it Bondi. But it does deal with the method and we must deal with the method,” Mr Burke said.

“The father would not have been ineligible because he is not a citizen, the firearms that they were using would not have been available to them.”

Process is the issue, Littleproud

In speaking against the bill, Nationals leader David Littleproud said there were already strong gun laws in place and the issue was process.

“You cannot own a gun in this country just because you want one, you have to pass a ‘fit and proper person’ test,” Mr Littleproud said.

“You just can’t say ‘I want a high calibre weapon’, you have to demonstrate a necessity and you have to be able to prove that, you have to do training, you actually get inspected every 12 months about that weapon.

“This is a diversion and a cheap political stunt.”