The Australian Parliament’s lower house has passed new laws enforcing stricter gun measures, tighter background checks for gun licences, and a crackdown on hate crimes in response to one of the worst mass shootings in decades last month.
The key bills aimed at controlling gun licences and combating hate crimes were passed on Tuesday by the House of Representatives during a special sitting of parliament and are now expected to be tabled in the upper house, the Senate, for debate. The two bills are expected to pass with support from the Greens party, despite opposition from the conservative Liberal-National coalition.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said, “People with hate in their hearts and guns in their hands carried out the December 14 mass shooting at Bondi Junction that killed seven people.”
He added, “The events at Bondi Beach demand a comprehensive response from the government, which must do everything possible to counter both the motivating factors and the methods behind these attacks.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a special two-day parliamentary sitting to strengthen curbs after the shooting shocked the nation.
Burke said, “The number of firearms present in Australia is alarming and unsustainable given the cultural diversity of the country and its population.”
The gun control bill was passed by a vote of 96 to 45 without the support of the coalition.
“This bill reveals the contempt the government has for the more than a million gun owners of Australia,” said Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace of the Liberals, adding, “The prime minister has failed to recognise that guns are tools of trade for so many Australians.”
The second bill allows the Australian government to impose a jail term of up to 12 years on anyone convicted of inciting or committing hate crimes, and also provides new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who promote hate.
It passed the lower house 116 to 7, with support from Liberal MPs, while the National Party, their coalition partners, abstained.
Australia had a record 4.1 million guns last year, the government announced on Sunday, with nearly 1.1 million of those registered in New South Wales alone.
Follow us
