Australia to toughen gun laws as it mourns deadly Bondi attack

SYDNEY: Australia’s leaders agreed Monday to toughen gun laws after attackers killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, the worst mass shooting in decades decried as antisemitic “terrorism” by authorities.

Dozens fled the tourist hotspot in panic as a father and son fired into crowds packing the Sydney beach for the start of Hanukkah on Sunday evening.

A 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi were among those killed, while 42 others were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of the leaders of Australia’s states and territories in response Monday, agreeing with them “to strengthen gun laws across the nation”.

Albanese’s office said they had agreed to look into ways to improve background checks for firearm owners, bar non-nationals from obtaining gun licenses and limit the types of weapons that are legal.

Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur in 1996, which led to sweeping reforms that were long seen as a gold standard worldwide.

Those included a gun buyback scheme, a national firearms register and a crackdown on the ownership of semi-automatic weapons.

But Sunday’s shootings have raised fresh questions on how the father and son — who public broadcaster ABC reported had possible links to the Islamic State group — obtained the weapons.

Police are still unravelling what drove the shootings, although authorities have said it targeted the nation’s Jews.

Albanese called it “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores”.

A string of antisemitic attacks has spread fear among Australia’s Jewish communities following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

The Australian government this year accused Iran of orchestrating a recent wave of antisemitic attacks and expelled Tehran’s ambassador nearly four months ago.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia’s government of “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism” in the months leading up to the shooting, referring to a letter he sent to Albanese following Canberra’s announcement that it would recognise Palestinian statehood in August.