Bondi shooting live updates: PM says Australia to establish national gun buyback scheme; men arrested in Liverpool had ideological links to shooters, police say

Here’s what the prime minister had to say on Australia’s gun laws and the reintroduction of a buyback scheme mimicking the one put in place in 1996.

“Australians are rightly proud of our gun laws. And until five years ago, Australians were rightly proud that there had not been a repeat of Port Arthur,” Albanese said.

“We’re not home to the constant carnage we see in some countries, but there have been, of course, incidents in both Queensland and Victoria that have seen so-called sovereign citizens murder police officers,” he said.

“We will introduce this national buyback scheme to get guns off our streets and to help, to assist, to make all Australians safe.”

The Office of National Intelligence has identified a regular Islamic State online video feed that Albanese says “reinforces” assertions that the Bondi terror attack was inspired by radical Islamic beliefs.

“In responding to the mass murder that we witnessed on Sunday, we must consider both motivation and method,” Albanese said.

“Further work is being done by the security agencies around motivation, and we’ll continue to meet and provide them with whatever support they need at this difficult time.”

The national security committee continues to consider the circumstances leading to Sunday’s terror attack, and has met six times since the mass shooting.

The government will introduce legislation to support its newly announced gun buyback scheme, but has not provided details on when it will be introduced or when the scheme will begin.

“The government is proposing that states and territories will be responsible for the collection, processing and payment to individuals for surrendered firearms. The Australian Federal Police will then be responsible for the destruction of these firearms,” Albanese said.

“The national gun buyback scheme is on top of the work that was agreed by national cabinet on Monday, limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual, limiting open-ended firearms licensing and the types of guns that are legal, making Australian citizenship a condition of holding a firearm licence, accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register and allowing the additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licensing,” he said.

Albanese said there were four million firearms in Australia, more than in 1996 when some of the world’s strongest gun regulations were put in place.

The Albanese government will establish a national gun buyback scheme, replicating the Howard government’s program following the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996.

Albanese described it as the “largest” of its kind in almost 30 years.

“The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets. We know that one of these terrorists held a firearm licence and had six guns in spite of living in the middle of Sydney suburbs there at Bonnyrigg, there’s no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns,” he said.

The prime minister is expecting hundreds of thousands of guns will be collected, and is splitting the cost with the states.

This coming Sunday will be listed as a “day of reflection” to commemorate last week’s terror attacks in Bondi, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced, with flags flown at half-mast.

He also announced a national day of mourning to take place in the new year: “This will allow families the time and space to lay their loved ones to rest and to support those still recovering.”

Albanese asked Australians to light a candle at 6:46pm on Sunday evening to mark a week from the attack, and is coordinating with media to observe a nationwide minute of silence.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra shortly, following a meeting of the National Security Committee.

Albanese held a press conference yesterday in which he announced the government’s plan for tackling antisemitism.

We’ll bring you the press conference when it happens.

Words written by the couple’s son, Alex, have been read out by the rabbi at Boris and Sofia’s funeral.

“If you were lucky enough to know Sofia and Boris, you didn’t just know them. You felt their presence in your life,” he said.

Sofia is remembered as having a “natural authority” about her: “From a young age, she was always the one a little further ahead, the first up the tree, the one entrusted with responsibility, the one others instinctively followed,” he said.

Boris is remembered as being “something of a troublemaker” in his younger years.

“If there was mischief to be found, more often than not, Boris seemed to find it … but over time, that energy matured into a deep sense of responsibility and care for the world around him.”

The rabbi said there was a “separate place in heaven” reserved for the “courageous” pair.

“I want to tell the family and the grieving parents it is unnatural for parents to come and say goodbye to the children,” he said.

“Every single member of our community feels the pain of one another. It’s like a large family that has suffered multiple losses.”