The announcement comes as New South Wales unveiled a series of new gun control measures, including a limit of four firearms for most recreational shooters, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Speaking on Friday, Albanese said the cost of the buyback program—expected to lead to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of weapons—will be shared between the federal government and the states. Under the plan, states and territories will be responsible for collecting surrendered firearms, while the Australian Federal Police will oversee their destruction.
The prime minister also announced that Sunday will be observed as a national day of reflection for the 15 victims of the Bondi attack. He further confirmed intelligence from the Office of National Intelligence indicating that the attackers had used a standard online video game feed associated with the terrorist group Islamic State.
Albanese faced questions over whether intelligence failures had contributed to the killings. He said there was no information to suggest sharing of data could have prevented the carnage.
The buyback comes as state governments prepare to tighten gun laws through national cabinet, expected to see gun licences issued only to Australian citizens as well as better background checks, limits on the timeframe licenses can be issued for and limits on the number of weapons individuals can own.
A long-awaited national firearms register – first recommended after the Port Arthur massacre – is being accelerated but will not be ready until 2027 at the earliest.
“We know that one of these terrorists held a firearm licence and had six guns in spite of living in the middle of Sydney’s suburbs. There’s no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns,” Albanese said.
There are more than 4m legally owned guns in Australia, an increase of more than 25% since landmark law reforms were introduced by the Howard government after 35 people were killed in the Tasmanian tourist town of Port Arthur in 1996.
The subsequent buyback and amnesty saw about 650,000 weapons destroyed.
The new buyback will allow gun owners whose collections exceed new laws to surrender them, and could include voluntary surrendering.
The prime minister called for bipartisanship on the issue of gun law reform, even as members of the Coalition, minor parties including One Nation and Labor backbencher and Olympic shooter Dan Repacholi said changes were not necessary.
Albanese praised Repacholi’s record as the member for Hunter but warned tougher rules were overdue, including to protect safety in suburbs of Australia’s biggest cities.
“If a bloke in Bonnyrigg needs six high-powered rifles and is able to get them under existing licensing scheme, then there’s something wrong,’ he said.
