Australian state tightens gun, protest laws after Bondi Beach attack

By Swati Pandey

 

Australia’s most populous state tightened laws on gun ownership and public assembly in the wake of a terrorist attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in which two ISIS-inspired gunmen killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration. 

 

The New South Wales government convened an emergency session of parliament to approve measures such as limiting the number of firearms an individual can own. It also bans a person owning a gun if they have been investigated for terrorism-related offenses or live with someone who has been investigated for such offenses, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

 

The Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which includes a ban on protests for up to three months after a terrorist incident, passed the upper house of parliament just before 3 a.m. and then cleared the lower house later Wednesday morning.

 

“These are very significant changes that not everyone will agree with, but our state has changed following the horrific antisemitic attack on Bondi Beach and our laws must change too,” Premier Chris Minns said Wednesday. 

 

Australia already has some of the world’s strictest gun laws, with firearm ownership treated as a regulated privilege rather than a right, requiring applicants to demonstrate a genuine need and pass extensive background checks. Still, there are 1.1 million guns in New South Wales, according to Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

 

Under the law, individual gun owners will be capped at four firearms, with exemptions for farmers, who would be allowed to own as many as 10. 

 

It limits pump action and button/lever-release firearms to farmers and other so-called primary producers, reduces magazine capacity for certain weapons and prohibits firearms using belt-fed magazines. Licensing rules will also be strengthened, requiring firearms owners to renew their permits every two years instead of every five.

 

Minns has said his state would spend A$300 million ($200 million) toward a gun buy-back plan in a pool with the federal government. 

 

Both the state and federal governments have rolled out a series of responses, pledging stronger action against extremism, including coordination with intelligence agencies and community leaders in the wake of the attack. 

 

New South Wales is also banning the public display of extremist symbols such as an ISIS, Hamas or Hezbollah flag.

 

At the federal level, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced tougher hate speech laws targeting those who promote violence or racial vilification, new aggravated offenses, and heightened powers to act against organizations and individuals spreading division. 

 

Officials have called the Dec. 14 massacre, carried out by a father and son, Australia’s worst terrorist attack. The father was killed in an ensuing shootout, while the son — identified as 24-year-old Naveed Akram — has been charged with 59 offenses including murder and terrorism. 

 

Minns has called for a state royal commission into the terrorist attack, a move backed by Albanese even as he resists calls for a royal commission at the federal level.