Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the biggest gun buyback scheme since the 1990s following Sunday's terror attack in Bondi.

Mr Albanese said on Friday morning 19 December that the scheme will purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.

He also said "hundreds of thousands" of firearms will be removed under the national scheme. 

"The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets," he said during a press conference.

"We know that one of these terrorists held a firearms licences and had six guns in spite of living in the middle of Sydney suburbs in Bonnyrigg. There's no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns."

Mr Albanese said the scheme will be similar to the 1996 scheme brought in under then Prime Minister John Howard following the Port Arthur massacre.

Anthony Albanese speaks to media on Friday morning 19 December. [IMAGE: YouTube/ Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal]

The states and territories will be responsible for collecting the guns and giving payments, while the Australia Federal Police will be charged with destroying them.

Mr Albanese said the state and federal governments will split the cost of the scheme 50-50.

The NSW parliament will return on 22-23 November to discuss gun reform after two men fired on crowds celebrating the start of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, with has claimed the lives of 15 people including an 10-year-old girl.

Debate over recreational hunting licences

Authorities said that the men were inspired by "Islamic State ideology," and owned the guns under a recreational licence.

The NSW police commissioner also said that one gunman was a member of a gun club and met eligibility for a firearms licence for recreational hunting.

The tragedy has led NSW premier Chris Minns to consider removing recreational hunting as a genuine reason to own a firearm.

While gun control groups have backed the proposal recreational shooters opposed to the idea say they should not be punished for the terrorists' actions.

"I don't think any law should be sacrosanct. I think all laws should be open to regular review. I just don't understand what any of that has to do with the Bondi shooting.

"I don't understand what my gun safe has to do with Islamic terrorism," said Ned Makim, who lives in Inverell and is the national president of the Australian Pig Doggers and Hunters Association (APDHA)

"It just seems it's terribly confusing to have watched that have then heard that one of the perpetrators was on an ASIO watch list. His father then obtained a New South Wales firearms license, and the person on the watch list was allowed to live in the same house as the firearms.

"If that's the case, why isn't that the very first thing that's on the agenda, rather than talking about recreational hunting?"

He also said that recreational groups have not been consulted about the changes.

The NSW government has also proposed capping the number of guns a person can own to four, with the limit extended to ten for farmers and sports shooters. 

State MPS will also vote on restricting the types of guns that are legal and limiting magazine capacity.

Some of Australia's peak gun safety advocates backed a ten-point plan for reform this week, which includes creating a national monitoring institute responsible for overseeing firearms compliance.

They also want to end home storage in metropolitan areas for non-work-related guns.

“The National Firearms Agreement is 30 years old – there have been changes to firearm technology, to ownership patterns, to community expectations. It is time to renew the Agreement and re-prioritise public safety. The Bondi horrors reveal the need for reform,” said Professor Joel Negin, a gun violence researcher at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health.

Over 1,140,000 firearms are registered in NSW, according to a July 2025 update from the state's Firearms Registry.