Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed tougher gun laws after gunmen killed 15 people in a mass shooting targeting a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The alleged attackers, a father and son, fired into crowds at the beach for the start of Hanukkah on yesterday evening.
The father was killed at the scene, taking the number of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son is in a critical condition in hospital, police said at a press conference.
Police confirmed the 50-year-old father was licensed to hold six firearms, which they believed were used in the shootings.
Mr Albanese said stricter gun laws were needed, including a limit on the number of firearms that can be owned by any one person.
“The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” he told reporters.
Anthony Albanese said gun licences ‘should not be in perpetuity’
The prime minister said he would take the reforms to a National Cabinet meeting with state premiers this afternoon.
“People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity,” he said.
The father was killed at the scene, taking the number of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son is in acritical condition in hospital, police said at a press conference.
Officials have described yesterday’s shooting as a targeted anti-Semitic attack.
Police said 40 people remain in hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in a serious but stable condition.
The victims were aged between 10 and 87 years old.
Witnesses said the attack at the famed beach lasted about 10 minutes, sending hundreds of people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets.
Police said around 1,000 people had attended the targeted Hanukkah event, which was held in a small park off the beach.
A bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives.
Watch: Man wrestles the gun out of the attacker’s hand at Bondi Beach
7News Australia named him as Ahmed al Ahmed, citing a relative, who said the 43-year-old fruit shop owner had been shot twice and had undergone surgery.
A fundraising page for the man has raised more than A$350,000 (€198,539).
Police did not release the shooters’ names, but said the father had held a firearms license since 2015 and had six licensed weapons.
Home Minister Tony Burke said the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while his son is an Australian-born citizen.
Police did not provide details about the firearms, but videos from the scene showed the men firing what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.
“We are very much working through the background of both persons,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.
“At this stage, we know very little about them,” Mr Lanyon added.
A makeshift memorial was set up at the Bondi pavilion
Bondi local Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.
“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends and the rest were just people that were on the street,” she said.
“But people, their phones had been left down the beach and everyone was just trying to get away,” she added.
A makeshift memorial with flowers alongside Israeli and Australian flags was set up at the Bondi pavilion.
An online condolence book was also established.
Police and private Jewish security guards wearing earpieces were positioned around as mourners paid respects and laid flowers.
A grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was strewn with discarded items from people fleeing the killing, including a camping table and blankets.
People gathered flip flops, sneakers and thermos flasks, and lined them up in the sand for collection.
Personal belongings left at the scene of a shooting at Bondi Beach
Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.
At the suspects’ home in Bonnyrigg, a suburb, there was a heavy police presence, with a cordon wrapped around several neighbouring houses.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach to lay flowers near the scene of the attack.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of anti-Semitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Mr Albanese told reporters.
He said: “The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say ‘we stand with you’.
“We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out anti-Semitism.
“It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”
The prime minister said Australia is mourning the dead by flying flags at half-mast
Mr Albanese later urged Australians to light a candle in solidarity with the Jewish community “to show that light will indeed defeat darkness – part of what Hanukkah celebrates”.
He said Australia is mourning the dead by flying flags at half-mast.
The prime minister said several world leaders including US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had reached out, and offered condolences and support.
The shootings were the most serious in a string of anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Mr Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood would fuel anti-Semitism.
In August, Australia accused Iran of directing at least two anti-Semitic attacks and gave Tehran’s ambassador a week to leave the country.
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur in 1996.
The so-called Port Arthur massacre led to sweeping reforms that were long seen as a gold standard worldwide.
These included a gun buyback scheme, a national firearms register and a crackdown on the ownership of semi-automatic weapons.