National gun buyback to be implemented after Bondi massacre
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The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will implement Australia’s first major gun buyback since 1996 in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
The context: Speaking to reporters on Friday, Albanese confirmed the scheme would apply to “surplus newly banned and illegal firearms”, and was expected to see hundreds of thousands of weapons collected and destroyed.
It will mimic the national buyback implemented by John Howard in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, something Albanese described as “the right thing” to do.
The government will introduce legislation to fund the scheme, with the costs to be evenly split between the Commonwealth and the states and territories. The states and territories will be responsible for collecting the firearms, with the Australian Federal Police tasked with destroying those which are collected.
It comes after national cabinet took the first step towards limiting the number of weapons an individual can possess, and ending open-ended gun licences.
Albanese noted that one of the Bondi killers, Sajid Akram, had legal access to six longarm weapons despite living in suburban Sydney.
“There's no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns,” he said.
“If a bloke in Bonnyrigg needs six high-powered rifles, and is able to get them under the existing licensing scheme, then there's something wrong. I think Australians can see that.”
Despite the 1996 reducing mass shootings in Australia, Albanese pointed to recent killings of police officers in Queensland and Victoria, to show that trend had begun to reverse.
More than 4 million legal firearms are currently in circulation, roughly equivalent to the per-capita rates before the Port Arthur massacre.
Sunday will also be a formal day of reflection, with work to be done with the Jewish community about a day of mourning in the new year.
Albanese ruled out recalling parliament next week to pass a suite of laws, saying it was "not practical" to do so given the complexity of what the government planned.
"We want to make sure that these laws don't get passed, and then get knocked over," he said.
"We've seen courts make decisions ... we want to make sure that [the laws] are very tight."
What they said: “Australians are rightly proud of our gun laws and, until five years ago, Australians were rightly proud that there had not been a repeat of Port Arthur. They were rightly proud [that] we're not home to the constant carnage we see in some countries,” Albanese said.
The source: Prime Minister press conference
