Australia recalls Parliament early to pass hate speech, gun laws
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Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese laying flowers at the scene of the country's deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, in Bondi Beach on Jan 8.
PHOTO: AFP
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SYDNEY - Australia’s Parliament will reopen two weeks early to crack down on hate crimes and gun ownership following the mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach
The country has flagged a suite of reforms to hate crime and gun laws since the Dec 14, 2025, attack on a Jewish festival that killed 15 people
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would recall both Houses of Parliament for a sitting from Jan 19 to 20 to pass new legislation and offer condolences to the victims.
Members of Parliament had originally been scheduled to return from their summer break on Feb 3.
“The terrorists at Bondi Beach had hatred in their minds but guns in their hands – this law will deal with both,” Mr Albanese told a news conference.
The legislation would create new offences for “hate preachers”, stiffen hate crime penalties, expand a ban on prohibited symbols, and set the framework for a new list of banned hate groups.
It would allow the home affairs minister to reject or cancel visas for people intending to spread hatred, the prime minister said.
The laws would enable the launch of a national guns buyback scheme, the largest since Australia last targeted firearms following a mass shooting in 1996 that killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
Stricter checks would also be imposed for gun licences, the government said.
Details of the draft laws are to be released publicly on Jan 13.
Last week, the government announced a royal commission inquiry into the Bondi Beach shooting
The federal royal commission – the highest level of government inquiry – will probe everything from intelligence failures to the prevalence of anti-Semitism in Australia.
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly targeted Jews attending a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.
Sajid, 50, was shot and killed by the police during the assault. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders. AFP
