Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday announced plans for stricter national gun controls after a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach left at least 15 people dead and dozens wounded.
The attack, which targeted a family-oriented Chanukah by the Sea event on a busy summer evening, also injured about 38 people who were treated in hospitals. Among the dead were a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor. The two assailants, a father-and-son pair, opened fire indiscriminately before one was shot dead and the other, the son, was wounded and detained.
Albanese said the government would seek tougher measures, including limits on how many firearms a licensed owner can legally acquire. The move follows revelations that the older of the two gunmen, a 50-year-old father, had legally accumulated six firearms. The prime minister argued licences should not be treated as permanent, because circumstances can change and people can become radicalised over time.
“We are prepared to take whatever action is necessary,” Albanese told reporters, and he plans to present proposals to a national cabinet meeting with state leaders. He noted some measures fall under federal law while others require state legislation and stressed the need for coordinated action across jurisdictions. Australia’s current gun regime stems from major reforms enacted after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
The father, who arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and was an Australian resident at his death, held a firearms licence and a gun-club membership that legally permitted him to own weapons for approved reasons such as target shooting, hunting or pest control; self-defence is not an accepted reason for ownership. New South Wales police said six firearms were recovered from his property. The 24-year-old son, born in Australia, is in hospital and may face criminal charges.
The attack has intensified scrutiny of rising antisemitism and whether authorities did enough to detect the perpetrators beforehand. Jewish leaders and community members expressed anger and fear, questioning whether warnings were missed and calling for investigations into lapses that might have allowed the attack to occur. “There’s been a heap of inaction,” one parent who rushed to the scene said, describing frustration over prior warnings.
Political leaders and community representatives called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism. Albanese pledged a national moment of unity and said there was no place for antisemitism in Australia. The government has taken steps since October 2023—when the Israel–Gaza war intensified—to combat antisemitism, including appointing a special envoy, strengthening laws and increasing security funding for Jewish schools and synagogues. Still, attacks and incidents such as arson, graffiti and assaults have been reported across Sydney and Melbourne over the past year.
A number of people at Bondi were applauded for their actions during the attack. Video showed a man tackling and disarming one of the gunmen; he was later identified by the Home Affairs Minister as a 42-year-old fruit shop owner who was shot in the shoulder and survived.
International reactions included comments from Israel’s prime minister, who said he had warned Australian leaders about risks associated with failing to confront antisemitism and criticized Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state as contributing to tensions. In August, Albanese had cut diplomatic ties with Iran after blaming it for two earlier attacks, though authorities have not said Iran was connected to the Bondi shooting. Investigations into the massacre remain underway.
With a Jewish population of roughly 117,000 in Australia, the attack has reverberated across the country. As investigations continue, Albanese’s proposals aim to tighten firearm access and licensing oversight, while officials and community leaders press for answers about security, intelligence and how signs of radicalisation might be better detected and prevented in the future.
