25/12/2025
MCDONALD LAW - TAKING THE NSW FI****MS LAWS TO COURT
McDonald Law Fi****ms Reform Test Case Fund
Purpose of this campaign
We are raising funds to bring a properly prepared legal challenge to aspects of the NSW Government’s fi****ms reforms passed on the 24 December 2025 as contained in the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025.
Why we are doing this
Our focus is the rule of law. The NSW Parliament has imposed sweeping changes affecting hundreds of thousands of ordinary, law-abiding licence holders and fi****ms dealers. These changes severely restrict access to fi****ms and, in many cases, will ruin businesses and livelihoods.
Laws of this magnitude must be fair, transparent, and capable of lawful administration. Where reforms reduce independent external review and expand the secrecy of government and the Commissioner of Police in decision making, it becomes essential to test whether the scheme and its operation comply with State and Constitutional limits, and the fundamental administrative law principles of natural justice and procedural fairness.
What we reject
Lawful fi****ms owners are being treated as though they were responsible for the Bondi attacks. We were not, and we never will be responsible for radical Islam.
Criminals and extremists do not follow laws. They find ways around them. More punitive regulation directed at the law-abiding community is not a solution.
These reforms risk scapegoating responsible licence holders for the acts of violent offenders. Government overreach is evident. They need to hear, clearly, that they do not speak for us and their power is not limitless.
What we are trying to achieve
The only effective way to push back is through a proper legal challenge since our leaders in the Minns and Albenese Government have woefully failed us.
This campaign exists to ensure the government and the Commissioner of Police remain subject to the law, that decisions are made lawfully, and that the law-abiding population is not treated like criminals by default.
We are seeking to hold the system to account, to limit overreach, and to restore fairness, transparency, and independent oversight.
What we are trying to achieve
Our objective is to run a staged test case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales with the capacity to progress to the High Court of Australia if a genuine constitutional question of the validity of the law arises.
This is not about claiming a constitutional right to fi****ms. Australia does not have that. This challenge is about whether the State can implement these reforms in a way that is lawful, procedurally fair, and consistent with the constitutional and administrative law constraints that protect every person from arbitrary executive power.
Funding milestones and estimated cost benchmarks
Litigation of this complexity is expensive. A realistic end to end budget, from first instructions through to a High Court challenge, is in the order of $500,000 to $1,000,000.
All funds will be raised on an appropriate fundraising platform (TBC) and then deposited into an auditable trust account administered by McDonald Law and independently overseen and audited by Kendalls Behrens Accountants.
The figures are an estimate only. Our legal costs depend on how the Government responds, the number of steps, how much evidence is needed. We should expect that the Government will dig a deep trench to fight any legal challenge.
They have OUR tax dollars to spend in mounting any defence and are a determined opponent with a bottomless pit of cash in the Treasury Managed Fund (TMF).
To keep this disciplined, we will work to staged funding benchmarks. Each milestone unlocks the next stage of work.
There are 5 Milestones in total - the first estimate is below - all milestones will be published on the fundraising page - for this post I will provide the first estimate.
It should be acknowledged that this outline does not constitute a cost disclosure agreement and McDonald Law is not bound by these estimates.
It should also be acknowledged that litigation is not guaranteed until we can say formally that there are reasonable prospects of success as required prior to the commencement of any civil litigation.
Milestone 1: Foundation and Case Build
Estimated benchmark: $50,000 to $150,000
- McDonald Law formally instructed.
- Immediate legal research and advice on reasonable prospects and grounds.
- Engaging a litigation team and briefing Counsel and Kings Counsel.
- Evidence gathering plan, including affidavits, Document Discovery, Notices to Produce, Expert Reports etc.,
