Australia passes tougher laws on guns, hate crimes after Bondi shooting


A visitor places a pebble at a memorial site in remembrance to the lives lost during the Bondi Beach mass shooting on December 14, 2025, in Sydney, Australia, January 16, 2026. REUTERS/Jeremy Piper

SYDNEY, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australia has enacted new laws ‌for a national gun buyback, tighter background checks for gun licences and a crackdown on hate crimes in response to the country's worst mass ‌shooting in decades at a Jewish festival last month.

Two bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed the House of Representatives and Senate ‌late on Tuesday during a special sitting of parliament.

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