Laws to ban hate groups and establish a national gun buyback scheme have passed the Senate after the Albanese government struck separate deals with the Liberals and Greens to legislate its response to the Bondi beach massacre. The two bills were rushed through on Tuesday night at the end of a special two-day sitting to deal with the political fallout to the 14 December shooting. Albanese says the laws were not as strong as the government initially put forward, but said the laws were 'no doubt' a good thing

Source: The Guardian January 21, 2026 05:29 UTC