Australia calls on gun owners to give up their firearms in wake of Bondi Beach attack

Australia will introduce a nationwide gun buyback scheme and tighten firearms laws after a terror attack in Sydney’s Bondi area killed 15 people, the deadliest mass shooting in the country in almost three decades.

The announcement came days after two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of more than 1,000 people celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, in Archer Park near Bondi Beach on Sunday evening. Dozens were injured in the attack, which authorities say was inspired by terror outfit Isis’s ideology.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, prime minister Anthony Albanese said existing laws had failed to prevent the violence. “The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets,” he said.

The proposed buyback will be the largest since reforms introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, which prompted Australia to adopt some of the world’s toughest gun controls. Mr Albanese said more than four million firearms are now in circulation nationwide – more than at the time of Port Arthur nearly 30 years ago.

Under the plan, the federal government will purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, with costs split equally between Canberra and Australia’s states and territories.