Govt seeks tougher gun laws after 15 killed in beach shooting
By CNN, December 15, 2025Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said his government is considering tougher gun laws in the wake of the killings.
A snap meeting of the national cabinet is underway as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, pushes to strengthen gun control laws in the wake of the Bondi massacre.
In his opening remarks to Monday, December 15, 2025, afternoon’s virtual meeting with state and territory leaders, Albanese said:
The antisemitic terrorism incident in Bondi, I think, has shaken the whole nation, not just people in Sydney and New South Wales, in particular, members of the Jewish community have been devastated by what is an unprecedented scale of attack on the Australian way of life.
The meeting is about making sure that we have states and territories aligned here, making sure we send a message as well to Jewish Australians that we stand together against antisemitism, giving a message to all Australians that we stand against terrorism and that we will do whatever it is that we can, if laws need to be adjusted, to make changes.
One of the suggestions that will be on the agenda today is to have an examination of our gun laws to make sure that if there are any tightening or changes which are required, we put in place mechanisms.
Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (Apan) has “unequivocally condemned [ed] the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach,” and said in a statement this afternoon that the “perpetrators of this horrendous attack do not represent our movement or the values we uphold”.
The organisation’s members are “deeply saddened and heartbroken by the violence” directed at the Jewish community, the statement said.
“Week after week, we have gathered together – the best of our community, from First Nations leaders, members of the Jewish community, side by side with Palestinian siblings, and the wider Arab community, among many other allies from all walks of life,” he said.
“Together, we have insisted on a world that is free from racism and hate. And we will continue to insist that antisemitism, like all forms of racism and hate, has no place in our society.”
In the midst of this tragedy, we saw an extraordinary act of courage – Ahmed al Ahmed’s heroic intervention in disarming the gunman and saving many lives. His bravery calls on all of us to respond in kind, by standing against hatred and refusing to demonise or vilify Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities. We can only counter violence and fear by coming together at every opportunity.
Apan also said it was “deeply concerned by comments from Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal that seek to draw false links between this act of violence and the March for Humanity earlier this year,” which was and remains peaceful, multicultural, uniting hundreds of thousands of people, including many in the Jewish community, in opposing genocide and racism, the statement said.
“Such claims by Segal misdirect grief, fuel division, and undermine the urgent need for unity and a clear rejection of all forms of racism, including antisemitism.”