Adler import ban: Barnaby Joyce supports Nationals Senate colleagues crossing floor to vote against Government
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Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says he "absolutely" supports his Senate colleagues' decision to cross the floor and vote against the Government on the controversial Adler shotgun import ban.
A temporary import ban on the weapon was introduced under the Abbott government in 2015 and was set to expire in July, but the ban was extended.
Debate on the ban reignited last month amid reports the Turnbull Government had been willing to negotiate the ban with crossbench Senator David Leyonhjelm in exchange for his vote on industrial relations legislation.
Nationals senators John Williams and Bridget McKenzie last night backed Senator Leyonhjelm's bid to lift the ban, while the three Nationals' Cabinet ministers in the Senate, Fiona Nash, Nigel Scullion and Matt Canavan abstained from voting.
The major parties and the Greens teamed up to defeat the motion — meaning the ban will remain in place — but Senator McKenzie said she crossed the floor because she was tired of law-abiding firearm owners being "derided and belittled by political elites who think they know better".
Senator Williams echoed this sentiment, telling Sky News, "we just decided we have to stand up for the innocent, honest gun owners here", but said he informed his leadership team in advance he would be voting against the Government's position.
Labor Senator Penny Wong seized on the division, telling the chamber the Government had "split" on the floor of the Senate but Mr Joyce played it down this morning.
He told the ABC he supported the right of his Senate colleagues to cross the floor, adding that the National Party believed in the "freedom of the individual".
"We are our own party, the National Party is its own party, the Liberal Party is its own party," he said.
"I'm proud of that culture in our party."
However, Mr Joyce would not say whether he too supported moves to lift the Adler import ban.
Topics: federal-parliament, law-crime-and-justice, australia
