2026 Australia gun buyback program

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On 19 December 2025, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese announced a proposed national gun buyback program following a terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales on 14 December 2025. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Bondi Beach shooting

On 14 December 2025, an Islamic State (ISIS)-inspired mass shooting occurred at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration with two gunmen allegedly killing fifteen people and injuring forty. [4] [5] [6] The fifteen victims were aged between 10 and 87. [7] [4] One of the gunmen had a firearms licence and was the registered owner of six firearms. [8]

New state and territory firearms laws

On 15 December 2025, at a national cabinet meeting, all the state and territory governments agreed to strengthen firearms laws in the wake of the mass shooting. [9] [10] [11] The federal government proposes that state and territory governments agree to ambitious new firearm law reforms no later than March 2026, and that reforms are legislated no later than 1 July 2026. [1]

Buyback funding

The federal government will introduce legislation to support funding the buyback. [1] The cost of the buyback, which is expected to collect hundreds of thousands of firearms, will be split between the federal government and with the state and territory governments. [1] [6] [12] On 20 January, the federal parliament passed laws to establish the funding scheme for the buyback. [13] [14]

Collection of prohibited firearms

The federal government proposes that states and territories be responsible for the collection, processing and payment to individuals for surrendered firearms. The Australian Federal Police will be responsible for the destruction of surrendered firearms. [1]

Precedent

In 1996, following the Port Arthur massacre, a buyback program was put in place. The program saw the collection of more than 650,000 newly prohibited firearms. [15] [16] 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. [17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Albanese, Anthony; Burke, Tony (19 December 2025). "Albanese Labor Government will establish a National Gun Buyback Scheme". Prime Minister of Australia . Retrieved 7 January 2026. CC-BY icon.svg This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
  2. ↑ Dick, Samantha (19 December 2025). Proposed gun buyback scheme facing criticism inside and outside government. ABC News (Television broadcast). Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 7 January 2026– via YouTube.
  3. ↑ True, Maani (19 December 2025). "Prime minister announces 'largest' gun buyback scheme since Howard era". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 "16 dead, 40 injured following public place shooting – Bondi". New South Wales Police Force (Press release). 15 December 2025. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  5. ↑ Albanese, Anthony; Minns, Cris; Barrett, Krissy; Lanyon, Mal (16 December 2025). "Press conference - Sydney - Transcript". Prime Minister of Australia . Retrieved 24 December 2025. CC-BY icon.svg This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
  6. 1 2 McIlroy, Tom (19 December 2025). "Australia launches biggest gun buyback in 30 years after Bondi beach terror attack". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  7. ↑ Kolovos, Benita; Evershed, Nick; Nicholas, Josh (17 December 2025). "'Left an immeasurable void': Holocaust survivors, community heroes and 'spirited child' among victims of Bondi terror attack". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  8. ↑ Fell, Julian (16 December 2025). "The Bondi shooter only had a basic gun licence. How could he buy multiple high-powered rifles?". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  9. ↑ Albanese, Anthony (15 December 2025). "Meeting of National Cabinet". Prime Minister of Australia . Retrieved 7 January 2026. CC-BY icon.svg This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
  10. ↑ Truu, Maani; Armstrong, Clare (15 December 2026). "National cabinet agrees unanimously to strengthen Australia's strict gun laws in wake of Bondi terror attack". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 8 January 2026.
  11. ↑ Jervis-Bardy, Dan; McIlroy, Tom; Butler, Josh; Buckley, Penny (15 December 2025). "Bondi beach shooting: states agree on tougher gun laws after worst terror attack in Australian history". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Albanese, Anthony; Burke, Tony; Barrett, Krissy (19 December 2025). "Press conference - Canberra". Prime Minister of Australia . Retrieved 7 January 2026. CC-BY icon.svg This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
  13. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (20 January 2026). "Australia's strongest gun reform since the Port Arthur massacre has become law. Here's what you need to know". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  14. ↑ Burke, Tony; Rowland, Michelle (21 January 2026). "Albanese Government passes legislation to combat antisemitism, hate and extremism". Commonwealth Attorney-General (Press release). Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  15. ↑ Humayun, Hira (18 December 2025). "Australian PM announces gun buy-back plan, day of reflection following Bondi Beach shooting". CNN . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  16. ↑ Morris-Grant, Brianna; Yussuf, Ahmed; Cooper, Luke (19 December 2025). "The PM has announced the 'largest' gun buyback since the Port Arthur massacre. Here's what we know". ABC News . Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  17. ↑ Beauchamp, Zack (May 2022). "Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and suicides plummeted". Vox . Retrieved 20 December 2025.
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