Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that New South Wales will launch a gun buyback program beginning in November as part of a comprehensive policy response to a mass shooting at Bondi Beach last December. The initiative will be paired with stricter licensing requirements and enhanced efforts to combat hate-motivated violence.
The Bondi Beach attack, which occurred on December 14, 2025, claimed 15 lives during a Hanukkah celebration. The perpetrators obtained their weapons through legal channels. In response, New South Wales has already enacted legislation restricting individuals to owning no more than four firearms. The upcoming buyback scheme will provide compensation of up to 1,000 Australian dollars per handgun or rifle surrendered.
The government has highlighted growing firearms ownership across the country, with approximately 4.1 million guns currently in private hands nationwide. Albanese emphasized that current firearm numbers exceed those present during Australia’s previous major policy overhaul following the 1996 Port Arthur shooting, which killed 35 people and prompted sweeping restrictions on automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
Law enforcement officials have indicated that the Bondi Beach attack was perpetrated by a father-and-son team with alleged connections to extremist ideologies. The surviving suspect, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, faces multiple charges including 15 counts of murder and has not yet entered pleas.
Originally reported by Aljazeera →
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