Australia announces national gun buyback scheme after Sydney shooting

RNE Network.

 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday announced that his government will launch a national gun buyback scheme in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Sydney.

The proposed buyback plan will mirror gun reforms introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, when a lone gunman killed 35 people. That incident led Australia to adopt some of the toughest gun control laws in the world.

Facing criticism that his centre-left government has not done enough to address a rise in anti-Semitism, Albanese also said the government would move to strengthen hate laws.

Meanwhile, late on Thursday, police said they intercepted two vehicles and detained seven men in Sydney’s southwest after receiving intelligence that a “violent act was possibly being planned.”