Joe Rogan has accused Australia of having “f***ed up” its decision to surrender firearms after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, while also saying he would never relocate to the country.
During a January conversation with comedian Kurt Metzger, the influential podcaster attacked the gun buyback program introduced under then-Prime Minister John Howard, arguing that Australians had been misled about the policy.
“They thought they were doing the right thing… and now their government is just locking them up for anything they want,” Rogan said on a podcast earlier this year.
Metzger described Australia as a “cage” and its people as “a bunch of punks.” He also claimed, falsely, that the Port Arthur attack was a “government-run mass shooting,” while suggesting it was linked to an Arthurian-style shadow government.
Australia’s sweeping firearms reforms followed the Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed and the nation was left deeply shocked.
The Howard government joined forces with state and territory leaders to prohibit several types of weapons and establish a nationwide buyback. More than 650,000 firearms were eventually handed in.
A new National Gun Buyback Scheme was announced after the 2025 Bondi massacre, in which 15 people lost their lives.
Under the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2025, owners of newly prohibited firearms will be compensated for surrendering their weapons from November 2.
Joe Rogan said Australians “f**ked up” by handing over their weapons after the Port Arthur massacre
Kurt Metzger described Australia as a “cage” before claiming it was controlled by an Arthurian-style shadow government
Rogan has repeatedly criticised Australia in recent years, targeting a range of government measures including COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and censorship policies.
Not all of his guests, however, have agreed with his assessment of the Australian government.
Last year, Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe defended Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during an appearance on Rogan’s podcast, describing the political environment around the leader as a “conga line of stupidity.”
Crowe made the comments after Rogan asked him directly: “What is wrong with the way Australia is run?”
In reply, Crowe praised Albanese’s leadership and accused political rivals and media personalities of creating distractions that obscured his achievements.
“We’re a little bit lucky at the moment, we have a Prime Minister who is very much motivated by trying to help everybody, which should be the job of a politician, right? To improve the lives of the people they represent,” he said.
“There’s haters on every corner, but he’s a good man.”
On an earlier episode, Rogan offered a more positive view of Australia and its people, saying: “It’s a rugged place, and the kind of people that live there, they’re fun.”
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits the memorial site for victims of the Bondi shooting. The massacre prompted a new gun buyback scheme due to begin in November
He added: “They’ve kind of got a super f***** up oppressive government, unfortunately.”
In 2024, Rogan also declared that he would never move Down Under.
The remarks came during a conversation with retired mixed martial arts fighter Royce Gracie as they discussed what they saw as diminishing personal freedoms in the US amid rising crime.
‘I keep telling people if America falls I think the whole world will fall, the rest of the world will fall,’ Gracie said.
‘Yeah, maybe that’s the plan,’ responded Rogan.
‘There’s no place that has this kind of freedom,’ he added.
Gracie then asked: ‘Where would you go?’
Rogan said he had once considered Australia a viable alternative to the US, but had since changed his mind.
‘I used to think Australia but then I saw how they handled the pandemic. I was like, “oh f***, that well that’s what happens when no one has guns”,’ he said.
‘Yep, the army just rolls in and tells you what to do and puts you in concentration camps because you have a cold, like it’s crazy.’
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Australia required people arriving in the country to quarantine before entering the community.
Most were housed in hotels, while some were placed in temporary isolation facilities.
Rogan repeatedly attacked Australia’s COVID-19 response during the pandemic, accusing the government of imposing heavy-handed restrictions.
‘There’s some crazy shit going on right now where the army is trying to keep people inside in Australia,’ he said in 2021.
‘They have full on government lockdowns where the government is flying helicopters over streets saying “go back indoors, you’re not allowed outside”.
‘Which is crazy – this disease does not even transmit well outside. Being outside and getting vitamin D is probably one of the best things you can do.’
