Australia has passed new laws for a national gun buyback, stricter background checks for gun licenses and a crackdown on hate crimes in response to the country's worst mass shooting in decades at a Jewish festival last month.
Two bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed the House of Representatives and Senate late Tuesday during a special session of parliament.
Gun control laws were passed with the support of the Green party despite opposition from the opposition conservative-Liberal-National coalition. Anti-hate laws were passed with the support of the Liberal party.
Introducing gun reforms, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said individuals with "hatred in their hearts and guns in their hands" carried out the December 14 attack on the famous Bondi Beach that killed 15 people.
"The tragic events at Bondi demand a comprehensive government response," Burke said. "As a government we must do everything we can to challenge both the motivation and the method."
The father-son gunmen suspected of being behind the attack on Jewish Hanukkah celebrations used powerful firearms that had been legally obtained, despite the boy having been previously screened by Australia's spy agency.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called parliament back from its summer recess for a two-day special session this week to tighten restrictions after a shooting that shocked the nation and prompted calls for more action on gun control and anti-Semitism.
The proposed gun control measures enable the largest national gun buyback scheme since a similar campaign following a 1996 massacre in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people.
They also tighten firearms import laws, as well as background checks on firearms licenses issued by Australian states, using information from the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.
Australia had a record 4.1 million firearms last year, the government said on Sunday, with more than 1.1 million of them in New South Wales, its most populous state and the site of the Bondi attack.
"The large number of firearms currently circulating within the Australian community is unsustainable," Burke said.
The bill was passed without the support of the opposition coalition, by a vote of 96-45 in the lower house and 38-26 in the Senate.
"This bill reveals the contempt the government has for Australia's millions of gun owners," said Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace of the Liberals.
"The Prime Minister has failed to acknowledge that guns are tools of trade for so many Australians."
A second bill increases penalties for hate crimes, such as prison sentences of up to 12 years when a religious official or preacher is involved, and allows for the banning of groups deemed to spread hatred.
The bill, which also provides new powers to cancel or deny visas for those who spread hate, passed the House of Representatives by a margin of 116-7 and the Senate by 38-22.
He won the support of Liberal Party lawmakers after the ruling Labor Party reached an agreement to include changes such as a requirement that the government consult with the opposition leader on the listing and delisting of extremist organizations.
The Liberals' coalition partners abstained from the vote and the Greens opposed it, arguing it would have a "chilling effect" on political debate and protest.
"This bill targets those who support violence, particularly violence directed at a person because of their immutable attributes," said Attorney General Michelle Rowland.
Such behavior is not only criminal, but sows the seeds of extremism that leads to terrorism, she added. Police say the suspected Bondi gunmen were inspired by the ISIS group.
The measures were originally planned for a single bill, but strong backlash from both the coalition and the Greens forced the government to split the package and remove provisions for a criminal offence of racial defamation.
In its reforms, New South Wales limits individuals to possessing four weapons and strengthens police powers to quell protests during designated terrorist attacks.
