The “horrifying” terror attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach is Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades.
Since the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, in which 35 people died, Australian gun laws have been heralded as some of the strictest and most effective in the world.
The overhaul of gun laws led by then-prime minister John Howard was regarded as a massive success – including a national gun buyback programme when more than 650,000 weapons were removed from circulation.
It led to the 1996 National Firearms Agreement, which solidified the law across all states to restrict the importation of certain weapons like semi-automatic guns.
The regulations also required gun purchasers and owners to prove they had a “genuine reason” for owning a firearm.
“We have done something that will send a signal to people… that ours is not a gun culture, ours is a culture of peaceful co-operation,” Howard said at the time.
The Bondi Beach attack is the worst mass shooting in Australia in nearly 30 years (Photo: Mark Baker/AP)With various updates to its gun laws since then, Australia has long been acknowledged of exhibiting a gold standard firearms policy.
Since 2021, a permanent amnesty has been in place, where members of the public can hand over unregistered or unwanted guns “anonymously and without penalty”.
But despite this, gun ownership has markedly increased in Australia over recent years.
The fatal shooting of two police officers and a neighbour in Wieambilla, Queensland, in 2022 led to renewed calls for a firearms register.
The implementation of this began in July 2024 but is only expected to be operational from 2028.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack an “act of evil antisemitism” (Photo: Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty)Attacks that led to Australia’s gun law overhaul
September 1984: Milperra
Seven people were killed and 28 injured after a gunfight broke out between rival motorbike gangs on Father’s Day in a suburb of Sydney.
The battle resulted in a massive court case, resulting in 63 convictions for murder and 147 for manslaughter.
This prompted stricter gun laws in New South Wales on the right to bear firearms in public.
August 1987: Hoddle Street
This shooting in a suburb of Victoria resulted in the deaths of seven people and serious injuries for 19 more.
When the gunman, a 19-year-old Australian Army officer cadet, was sentenced, the judge described it as “one of the bloodiest massacres in Australian history”.
December 1987 – Queen Street
Occurring only a few months later, this took place at a Post Office in Melbourne, where a gunman opened fire on office workers at random.
He killed eight people and injured five, and after being tackled and disarmed, he fell from an 11th-floor window and died on impact.
August 1991: Strathfield
The perpetrator killed a 15-year-old girl before going on a shooting rampage and killing six more, including himself, at a Sydney shopping centre.
April 1996: Port Arthur
The most significant mass shooting in recent Australian history, the Port Arthur massacre claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded a further 23.
The gunman opened fire on afternoon customers at the Broad Arrow cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania.
His crime prompted restrictions on semiautomatic weapons and led to the biggest shift in gun policy and attitudes towards ownership in Australian history.
October 2002: Monash University
Two students were killed and five others were injured when an international student opened fire while standing on a desk at a university in Melbourne.
He was immobilised by an injured lecturer and another student, and did not go to prison due to mental impairment.
December 2014: Lindt Cafe
An Iranian man who had been resident in Australia for 20 years took 18 hostages inside the cafe in Sydney and held them for 16 hours.
He killed the cafe manager, and another person was killed by stray police bullet fragments when they stormed the building.
Last year, a decade on from the attack, former NSW coroner Michael Barnes, who led the inquest into the tragedy, warned that “at any stage, something like that [siege] could occur again”.
December 2022: Wieambilla
Three people were killed at a property in rural Queensland.
Two were police officers sent on a welfare check, while a neighbour was also killed by the gunfire which came from the family living in the house.
The event led to renewed calls for a national firearms register.
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