1 of 3 | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Jan. 8. During the press conference, Albanese announced the establishment of a royal commission on antisemitism, in response to the Bondi beach terrorist attack. Photo by Lukas Coch/EPA
Jan. 20 (UPI) — Broad gun reform is coming to Australia after its parliament overwhelmingly passed a package of gun laws on Tuesday in response to last month’s Bondi Beach shooting.
Reforms include a plan for a national gun buyback program, more stringent background checks and limits on imports of firearms.
Australia undertook legislation to tighten its gun laws after 15 people were killed in a shooting at a Hanukkah festival at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
Australia’s House of Representatives passed the gun reform package by a 96 to 45 vote. The package then passed the Senate.
Lawmakers returned to session two weeks early to discuss gun reform.
The shooters, 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, 24, owned the guns used in the shooting legally. Officials say they were motivated by anti-Semitism.
Tony Burke, Australia’s Minister of Home Affairs, said the new laws passed by Parliament would have prevented the shooting.
There are about 4 million registered firearms in Australia. The new buyback program seeks to reduce that number.
Along with gun reform, Parliament passed a bill meant to curb hate speech. Critics of the bill say it could have a chilling effect on free speech.
“This bill will have a chilling and draconian effect on political debate, on protest, on civil rights and on people speaking up against human rights abuses perpetrated by Israel or any other nation-state,” Sen. Mehreen Faruqi, deputy leader of the Greens party, said.
