In December 2025, Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that a gun buyback program would be created. The announcement followed a terrorist attack that occurred on Bondi Beach earlier that month. [1] [2] [3]
On December 14, 2025, [4] a terror attack killed 15 people. [5] The 15 individuals, aged between 10 and 87, were killed at a Hanukah celebration in Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, when two gunmen opened fire. [6]
In 1996, following the Port Arthur Massacre, a buyback program was put in place. The program saw the collection of approximately 650,000 privately held guns. During the two years when the program was carried out, 1996 and 1997, the percentage of homicide rates dropped the most in any two-year timeframe in Australia between 1915 and 2004. [7]
According to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, money raised by the buyback, which is expected to see the destruction of hundreds of thousands of weapons, will be split between Australia's federal government and Australia's states. [5]