Mourners gather at the Bondi Pavilion as people pay tribute to the victims of a mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Izhar Khan/Getty ImagesOne day after two gunmen killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025, Australia's federal, state and territory leaders agreed to pursue a major tightening of the country's firearms rules.
The attack was directed at members of Sydney's Jewish community and was treated by Australian authorities as an antisemitic terrorist attack. Police identified the alleged attackers as a father and son. The 50-year-old father was shot dead by police, while his 24-year-old son survived and was taken into custody after receiving medical treatment.
At an emergency National Cabinet meeting on December 15, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state and territory leaders agreed that police ministers and attorneys-general should develop options for stronger firearms laws. The proposals included tighter licence eligibility, limits on firearm holdings, greater use of criminal intelligence in licensing decisions and faster implementation of Australia's National Firearms Register.
Citizenship Requirement Was Proposed as Part of the Reform Package
One of the most significant proposals was to make Australian citizenship a condition of holding a firearms licence. At that stage, however, the measure was an agreed reform option rather than a single nationwide law already in force.
The distinction mattered because firearms licensing is administered primarily by Australia's states and territories, meaning National Cabinet agreement had to be translated into jurisdiction-specific laws and administrative rules.
The proposal was particularly relevant to the Bondi investigation because the older alleged attacker, Sajid Akram, was not an Australian citizen. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Akram had arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998 and later obtained a partner visa.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said Akram had held a firearms licence for about a decade and had six firearms registered to him. Police recovered six firearms from the attack scene.
Firearm Caps, Licence Reviews and Intelligence Sharing
National Cabinet also agreed to develop options for limiting the number of firearms that one person could possess and restricting open-ended firearms licences and certain types or modifications of firearms.
The December 15 agreement additionally called for greater use of criminal intelligence in firearms licensing decisions. That proposal was intended to improve information available to authorities when determining whether a person should be permitted to obtain or retain a licence.
Another priority was accelerating the National Firearms Register. The register had already been agreed by governments before the Bondi attack, but Albanese said implementation needed to move faster.
The reforms were not limited to licensing. The Commonwealth also began examining additional customs restrictions covering firearms, weapons-related imports, 3D-printing technology and equipment capable of holding large quantities of ammunition.
Why the Existing Firearms System Came Under Scrutiny
The Bondi attack renewed scrutiny of differences among state and territory firearms laws. Australia's National Firearms Agreement establishes a common policy framework, but individual jurisdictions enact and administer their own legislation.
Akram's legal ownership of six firearms became a central issue in the post-attack debate. In New South Wales, his Category A/B licence allowed possession of certain rifles and shotguns, subject to licensing and permit requirements. At the time of the attack, there was no general numerical cap on how many eligible Category A/B firearms a licensed person could possess.
The case therefore raised questions not only about what types of weapons could be legally held, but also about licence duration, intelligence sharing and whether authorities should impose numerical limits on firearm ownership.
Renegotiating the National Firearms Agreement
National Cabinet agreed to renegotiate the National Firearms Agreement, the framework created after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre and subsequently revised over the following decades.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and Western Australian Premier Roger Cook were tasked with coordinating the firearms-reform work across jurisdictions.
The process did not produce identical state laws immediately. Governments subsequently differed over elements of the proposed reforms, particularly firearm caps and participation in a national buyback. That reflected Australia's federal system, in which states and territories retain substantial responsibility for firearms regulation.
Later Developments: Buyback and New National Agreement
The initial December proposals were followed quickly by further measures. On December 19, 2025, the federal government announced plans for a National Gun Buyback Scheme covering surplus, newly prohibited and illegal firearms. The Commonwealth proposed sharing eligible buyback costs with participating states and territories.
Implementation then proceeded at different speeds across the country. Queensland, for example, introduced a citizenship requirement with limited exemptions, while Tasmania pursued its own reform package without adopting a general numerical cap on firearm ownership. New South Wales enacted extensive changes after the attack, including tighter licence reviews and firearm limits.
A major national milestone came on August 26, 2026, when First Ministers signed an updated National Firearms Agreement. The revised agreement included Commonwealth criminal-intelligence sharing with states and territories, Australian citizenship as a condition for firearms licensing subject to agreed exceptions, and restrictions concerning 3D-printed firearms and materials used to manufacture them.
The governments also reaffirmed work to accelerate the National Firearms Register and finalise arrangements for criminal and security intelligence sharing.
By August 2026, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory had reached agreements with the Commonwealth to implement gun-buyback programs. NSW authorities estimated that their new ownership limits and firearm reclassifications could affect as many as 274,000 registered firearms and about 50,000 licence holders.
What the Bondi Attack Changed
The December 14 attack was Australia's deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades. Fifteen victims were killed and more than 40 people were taken to hospital after the two attackers opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah gathering near Bondi Beach.
In the immediate aftermath, the central firearms-policy question was whether Australia's post-Port Arthur framework had kept pace with changes in security risks, firearm ownership and information sharing between agencies.
The December 2025 National Cabinet decisions were the beginning of that process rather than its completion. Over the following months, individual jurisdictions enacted or proposed their own measures, while the August 2026 updated National Firearms Agreement established a revised national framework. Differences between jurisdictions remain important because implementation continues to depend substantially on state and territory legislation.
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