Australia Proposes New Gun Buyback and Hate Speech Laws Following Bondi Beach Attack

In the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans for a national gun buyback program and stricter hate speech laws. The proposals, which come after what officials confirmed was an ISIS-inspired attack, have sparked intense debate across the country.

Albanese acknowledged the delicate balance required in drafting the new legislation. “There are issues of free speech involved in this as well — we want to make sure that these laws don’t get passed and then get knocked over,” he told reporters on Friday. The government is still working to “get the laws right,” he added, recognizing the complex legal landscape.

The proposed changes would include federal offenses for “aggravated hate speech,” targeting preachers who promote violence and “serious vilification” based on race. These measures come just ten months after the government had already strengthened federal hate speech laws aimed at curbing antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Simultaneously, New South Wales (NSW), where the terror attack occurred, is considering banning chants of “globalize the intifada,” which many consider an antisemitic call for violence against Jews. The proposed ban would also apply to public displays of ISIS flags and extremist symbols. Additionally, NSW Premier Chris Minns indicated that police would receive enhanced powers to demand protesters remove face coverings during demonstrations.

Critics argue these measures fail to address the underlying causes of the attack. Dr. Reuben Kirkham, one of the directors of the Free Speech Union of Australia, expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of strengthening existing laws. “It’s not clear what they’re proposing to do,” he told Fox News Digital. “What they’re probably going to try and do is widen it to include a bunch of things that are not to do with hate speech, necessarily.”

Kirkham warned that the laws could potentially be used as political weapons rather than protections for everyday people. More concerning, he suggested the approach could inadvertently exacerbate antisemitism by creating the perception that certain communities are being censored specifically “to protect the Jews.”

The debate over the government’s response comes as intelligence officials confirm that the Bondi Beach attack was indeed inspired by ISIS. “We’ve been informed that the Office of National Intelligence has identified a regular online video feed from ISIS that reinforces that this was an ISIS-inspired attack,” Albanese said.

Security experts have focused attention on the attackers’ trip to the Philippines prior to the shooting. The father-son gunmen stayed at the GV Hotel in Davao City, arriving earlier than their scheduled booking and extending their stay three times while paying in cash. Philippine National Police Brigadier General Leon Victor Rosete noted that the older gunman had shown interest in firearms and visited a firearms shop during their stay.

The hotel is located on Mindanao island, which Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, described as a “known hotbed for Islamist groups.” While Davao City itself is not under the U.S. State Department’s “Reconsider Travel” advisory that applies to much of Mindanao, the location raises questions about the gunmen’s activities.

“If they weren’t at actual camps to get training, they could have been getting advice on how to plot the attack, where to plot the attack, what the target should be,” Roggio explained. He noted that the three-week stay would not be enough for comprehensive training but was clearly sufficient for the attack they carried out.

Roggio pointed to a broader issue in the Western response to such attacks. “The problem here is there’s this radical Islamist ideology that spans a spectrum from political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood, to Hamas and Palestinian terrorist groups, to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and we in the West refuse to, and have from the very beginning since 9/11, refuse to actually take that on,” he said.

As Australian authorities continue investigating the attack, the debate over the effectiveness of the government’s proposed measures intensifies. Critics maintain that without addressing the fundamental issues behind Islamic extremism-inspired violence, new gun buyback programs and hate speech laws may ultimately prove to be insufficient responses to a complex threat.