Australia's parliament has voted in favor of a national gun buyback, tighter background checks for gun licences and a crackdown on hate crimes, a month after the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach. Introducing the gun reforms, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the gunmen who carried out the attack at Bondi Beachwould not have legally had access to firearms if had such legislation was in place prior to the attack. The individuals who killed 15 people on 14 December had "hate in their hearts and guns in their hands," Burke said. The father in the father-son duo allegedly behind the attack legally owned six firearms, while his son had been on the radar of intelligence agencies. Two bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed on Tuesday by the House of Representatives in a special parliament session will now go to the upper house Senate for debate. The gun control laws are expected to pass with the support of the Greens party despite opposition from the conservative Liberal-National coalition. The anti-hate laws are likely to pass with support from the Liberal party. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled parliament early from its summer break for this week's special two-day session to toughen curbs after the shooting shocked the nation and prompted calls for more action on gun control and antisemitism. The proposed gun control measures enable the largest national buyback scheme since a similar campaign after a 1996 massacre in Tasmania's Port Arthur, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people. They also toughen background checks for firearm licences issued by Australian states, making use of information from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Australia had a record 4.1 million firearms last year, the government said on Sunday, with more than 1.1 million of those in New South Wales, its most populous state and the site of the Bondi attack. "The sheer number of firearms currently circulating within the Australian community is unsustainable," Burke said. The bill passed by a vote of 96 to 45 without the support of the coalition. A second bill steps up penalties for hate crimes, such as jail terms up to 12 years when a religious official or preacher is involved, and allows bans on groups deemed to spread hate. The bill, which also provides new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who spread hate, passed the lower house 116 to 7, with support from Liberal party lawmakers while the National party, their coalition partners, abstained. "This bill targets those that support violence, in particular violence targeted at a person because of their immutable attributes," said Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. Such conduct was not only criminal but sowed the seed of extremism leading to terrorism, she added. Police say the alleged Bondi gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group. The measures were originally planned for a single bill, but backlash from both the coalition and the Greens forced the government to split the package and drop provisions for an offense of racial vilification. — Agencies
