SENATOR THE HON BRIDGET MCKENZIE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LEADER OF THE NATIONALS IN THE SENATE
SENATOR FOR VICTORIA
TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW: ABC RADIO NATIONAL WITH JADE MCMILLAN
TOPICS: Victorian Bushfires, CFA, Hate Speech Legislation, Gun Control
14th January 2026
E&EO …
JADE MCMILLAN
Staying with federal politics and the looming debate over the government’s proposals for gun and hate speech restrictions, Bridget McKenzie is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development and a Nationals Senator for Victoria. Welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Great to be with you, Jade.
JADE MCMILLAN
I want to ask you first about the fires that are still burning in your state. What are you hearing from people in the affected areas about the devastation that’s been caused?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Well, obviously the fires have been devastating. We’ve lost countless head of stock. People have lost livelihoods. We’ve seen a body (deceased farmer, Max Hobson of Longwood) found 100 metres from the car as a result of the Longwood fire. So, there’s a lot of social cost, but also economic devastation. So, making sure community can get back on their feet as quickly as possible. We’ve had a flood of fodder into those affected communities, which has been for the animals that obviously have nothing to eat at the moment. wonderful volunteers in the CFA have just been tireless protecting communities. So, the long road to recovery begins now.
JADE MCMILLAN
Turning to the legislation that’s being introduced next week in response to the Bondi attack, have you had a chance to review that yet and will the Nationals be supporting it?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Well, Jade, as your listeners will be aware, we only saw the 500 plus pages of legislation yesterday. It’s being subject to an abrupt inquiry by the Intelligence and Security Committee, a very short inquiry for a piece of legislation of this significance. When we had the marriage equality debate in this country, when we looked at The Voice as a country, those pieces of legislation were subjected to long, lengthy and appropriate scrutiny by the parliament, by the broader community, by the experts, so that we as a parliament could get it right.
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has chosen to play politics with this bill. He’s lumped migration changes in with the management of firearms obviously in with hate speech laws. So, there’s a lot to unpack and not enough time before we debate it to actually get those opinions from the experts about the impact. With the public hearing yesterday, officials in the department couldn’t even give answers about the impact of these laws on everyday Australians. So there’s a lot of concerns, but we’ll be going through the process as best as we can in coming days, in preparation for next week.
JADE MCMILLAN
The opposition had been urging the Prime Minister to act quickly here in response to Bondi. Is it fair to now accuse the government of rushing this?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Well, Jade, we were very clear. Having stood in Bondi, having attended Rabbi Eli’s funeral and stood with the community, post this Islamic terrorist attack, it was right and appropriate that we as an opposition seek to work with the government to call a Royal Commission to bring Parliament back to move motions of condolence and support for our Jewish community in response to that. The Prime Minister said no. Now he’s bringing us back next week to appropriately move those motions of condolence.
I know so many MPs and Senators look forward to putting that on the record and standing with our Jewish community. But when it comes to a piece of legislation, that should go through the appropriate processes of Parliament so that we can get it right. That is one of the concerns. I mean, if you just go to the gun laws, the terrorists, the bikies and the criminals are still going to have illegal firearms, whether this legislation passes or not, whilst law-abiding firearm owners like myself are absolutely being targeted as the Prime Minister seeks to somehow lump us in with Islamic terrorism. I think it’s deeply offensive to the over one million law-abiding firearm owners that the government’s response to the horror of the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack is that law-abiding Australians’ property rights, are being taken away instead of dealing with the problem.
JADE MCMILLAN
You’re listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Bridget McKenzie. Are there any proposed changes in this legislation when it comes to gun laws you would support?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Well, Jade, as your listeners will know, gun management is the purvey of state governments. State ministers met with the federal government last week. I don’t think there’s anonymity amongst them about their response to the gun buyback at all. You see in the Northern Territory, they say it’s not necessary. Tasmania’s been quite strong that they don’t need to do that. So, when you look across the Commonwealth, WA is not going to bother doing it. State governments are saying, well, that’s all good and well, Prime Minister, but we don’t see that as necessary. This was an attack on our Australian Jewish community.
Taking guns off law-abiding citizens is not the appropriate response. John Howard took on his own voters after Port Arthur, with those gun law changes. Prime Minister Albanese refuses to take on Western Sydney, where the heart of Islamic extremism lives.
His response to this terrorist attack is purely political. This is his great conflict, I think.
His refusal to even acknowledge or speak honestly about the reality of how this came to occur is why he’s got his response wrong. This is pure deflection. By lumping it all in together, it makes it clear. If he was really serious, he would take on his own constituency in Western Sydney and deal with the actual problem at its source.
JADE MCMILLAN
Thank you for joining me this morning.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE
Anytime, Jade.
ENDS