US EditionAustralia Passes Gun Buyback After Bondi Terror Attack
Australia enacts its largest gun buyback since 1996 and tightens background checks to curb extremist access after the Bondi Beach attack killed 15 people.
- On Tuesday, January 20, 2026, Australia's Parliament in Canberra passed new gun restrictions and moved the anti-hate speech bill, with the firearms bill cleared by the Senate and the anti-hate bill expected to pass by Wednesday.
- After the Bondi attack last month that killed 15 people, officials said one attacker legally owned six guns while his son had been on an ASIO watchlist, exposing licensing and intelligence gaps.
- Lawmakers approved measures changing import and licensing rules while voting tallies showed clear margins: firearms legislation passed 96-45 and the anti-hate speech bill 38-22 in the Senate.
- However, the measures exposed deep political splits as the Nationals party opposed the anti-hate speech laws, and the national gun buyback faces resistance from Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
- With a record 4.1 million firearms in private hands, the reforms include limits on gun ownership and expand powers to outlaw groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and ban online weapon-making instructions.
108 Articles
108 Articles
Australia passes tougher laws on guns, hate crimes after Bondi Beach shooting
A response to the country's worst mass shooting in decades at a Jewish festival last month; Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke: individuals with 'hate in their hearts and guns in their hands' carried out attack that killed 15 during a Hanukkah festival
The Australian Parliament passed stronger hate crimes and firearms laws on Tuesday, a decision that came a few weeks after the anti-Semitic killing on Bondi Beach in Sydney, which killed 15 people on December 14. - One month after Sydney's killing, Australia passed stricter firearms laws (International).
Australia passes gun control laws over Bondi mass shooting
Australia's lower house of Parliament on Tuesday passed laws to enable a national gun buyback and tighten background checks for gun licences in response to the country's worst mass shooting in decades at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month. The bill, which was opposed by conservative lawmakers, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 96 to 45 and will now go to the Senate. The 14 December attack at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people w…
Australia’s Parliament passes gun laws, and debates anti-hate speech bill after Sydney attack
Australia’s Parliament on Tuesday passed new gun restrictions and began debating draft anti-hate speech laws proposed after two shooters killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month in an attack that authorities say was inspired by the Islamic State group.
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