Parliament returns: firearms, renewables and crime on the rural agenda

Renewables projects, firearms reform, net zero and feral will all be debated throughout the year, kicking off in both the upper and lower houses on Tuesday, February 3.

This week will be the first time parliament sits since it was recalled on December 22 to pass the toughest firearms laws in the country, following the Bondi terror attack on December 14.

At the time, country MPs and organisations like NSW Farmers raised the alarm on new requirements for mandatory gun club membership for all firearms licence holders, and removing the ability of prospective firearms owners looking to challenge licence decisions through the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Newly minted Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh said his party would hold the government to account after what he described as rushed and unnecessary reforms.

"The complete lack of consultation with people who use firearms as tools of business was a slap in the face ... they put these rules into place without any regard for how they'll be implemented in the real world," Mr Singh said.

"We opposed it for many reasons, but we'll be looking at how we can at least get the best of a really bad outcome for regional areas with this bill."

Regional crime, natural disaster recovery and rural health were also key topics Mr Singh said his party would push to see change across regional NSW.

"We've got situations where expecting mothers aren't able to give birth in the same towns they were born in, because the services no longer exist," he said.

"In regional areas, we know that it matters to be born somewhere and to be from somewhere. It's unacceptable to see services go backwards and decline in regional areas."

Independent Wagga Wagga MP Dr Joe McGirr also promised to keep rural health on the agenda, advocating for a statewide Rural Health Action Plan to be adopted by government.

"It's my intention to build a bipartisan consensus on this so that the government can't resist the need to address rural health," he said.

"MPs recognise this is an important issue for rural people, and the way to handle this is to bring everyone on board to put pressure on the government."

Dr McGirr said the impacts of drought and feral animal populations were also key issues raised by Wagga Wagga residents, along with the renewables rollout.

In Western NSW, Nationals upper house member Scott Barrett said the dry was well and truly set in, with feral animals like pigs rushing crops and feed in the hundreds, requiring urgent action in parliament.

"Some of the solutions people come up with drought have clearly been thought up at a boardroom table and not the boards of a shearing shed or not in a paddock, and they're not really fit for purpose," he said.

"We're pretty strapped for feed at the moment, too, hay is in short supply across the state, we need to be looking at what options we have there."

After the acquisition of more pastoral land for national parks, Mr Barrett said the unintended consequences of buying out stations were still being felt in communities.

"You might have just taken the secretary out of the footy club, or the users of that road out, so now there's less incentive for council to invest in the road infrastructure there, or a job for a shearing team that now might mean that they're not productive in that area," he said.

"People aren't in agriculture just because of a job. It's their passion, it's their life ...they'd like to see some of that same passion from some of the government."

The Nationals may have found an ally in the fight for national parks to be better neighbours, after Greens MLC Sue Higginson told The Land there needed to be a significant increase in funding for active land management on government-managed properties.

"This concept of responsible rural regional neighbours just doesn't really seem to be happening yet, and we're getting to that crisis, critical point," she said.

"Otherwise, private landholders are sitting out there responsible for everything and not getting the assistance that's required."

Ms Higginson said the Greens would be advocating to incentivise producers supporting positive environmental outcomes while maintaining productivity.

"This idea that what I do on my farm doesn't impact what's happening on the farm next to me. We've got to stop that ... and the government needs to foot the bills," she said.

"The government has pegged much on the agricultural sector, returning a profit to the budget of NSW and to the economy ... We've externalised so much of the real costs of that. I don't think that family farmers, who are the backbone of NSW agriculture, can keep propping up that false economy."

Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty shared her confidence in the sector for the year ahead, after the "biggest bumper year on record" in 2025, amassing $25.5 billion in gross value product.

"We launched two important new funds to boost economic development and opened for applications at the end of last year - the $20 million Aquaculture Industry Development program and the $25 million Agriculture Industries Innovation and Growth program. The response from producers and farmers has been huge showing we were on the right track," she said.

"With more than several hundred applications for funding we know the industry is keen to invest in new areas and make productivity gains with a helping hand from our government. There is more work to do, and we will be driving hard this year."

Educating the next generation of farmers, agronomists and tradespeople outside of the big city, Skills, TAFE and Tertiary Education Minister Steve Whan said it was a "year of delivery" on every level.

"Schools we're building in Googong and Bungendore both have ag areas, which is really important for the region," he said.

"We've also rolled out mobile training units [for TAFE students], so the facilities come to them, for subjects like beauty and hospitality ... we're trying to make sure regional kids have a better ability to access those training opportunities."

Despite job cuts announced in July last year, Mr Whan said the administrative reshuffle had helped usher in more rural education opportunities.

"We've actually increased the number of TAFE teachers. About 3500 people have moved to permanent employment in the TAFE system right across the state," he said.

"The distance issue is a big one for people who are training and taking on trades ... late last year, we actually substantially increased the Vocational Training Assistance Scheme, by about 60 per cent."

Across the board, feral animal populations were a key issue, from peri-urban encroachment in the Monaro to the destruction of riparian habitat on protected waterways like the Macquarie Marshes. Independent Murray MP Helen Dalton said ensuring water remained the "single most important issue" in parliament this year.

"That includes pushing for a full water royal commission, stopping water buybacks, addressing the ongoing carp problem in our rivers, and properly managing invasive species such as wild pigs, foxes and feral cats," she said.

"I am also focused on separating from the Murrumbidgee Local Health District and establishing a Western Riverina Local Health District, so regional communities get the healthcare governance and outcomes they deserve."