The Prime Minister today convened a meeting of National Cabinet following the evil anti-Semitic terrorist attack directed at members of the Jewish community celebrating Chanukah at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
The National Cabinet pledged to eradicate anti-Semitism, hate, violence and terrorism and emphasised Australia's commitment to national coordination on countering terrorism and violent extremism, social cohesion, resourcing and rhetoric to ensure community safety.
National Cabinet noted the ongoing work across jurisdictions to tackle anti-Semitism such as establishing the National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database, enhancing security of Jewish community and cultural sites, and coordinated work across intelligence and police agencies.
Leaders agreed that strong, decisive and focused action was needed on gun law reform as an immediate action, including renegotiating the National Firearms Agreement, first established after the 1996 Port Arthur tragedy, to ensure it remains as robust as possible in today's changing security environment.
First Ministers agreed to strengthen gun laws across the nation and have commissioned their Police Ministers and Attorneys-General to develop options, including:
- Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register;
- Allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licencing that can be used in administrative licencing regimes;
- Limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual;
- Limiting open-ended firearms licencing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and
- A condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship.
Premier Minns and Premier Cook will lead and coordinate this work across jurisdictions.
As an immediate priority, the Australian Government will commence work on potential further Customs restrictions of firearms and other weapons type importations, including 3D printing, novel technology and firearms equipment that can hold large amounts of ammunition.
First Ministers also reiterated their commitment to the Permanent National Firearms Amnesty to reduce the number of unregistered firearms in the community.
NSW Premier Chris Minns, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett, and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's Director-General Security Mike Burgess also briefed the meeting on the latest police intelligence and actions in relation to the incident yesterday.
Leaders agreed that yesterday's horrific anti-Semitic terrorist attack has no place in Australia and that the evil scourge of anti-Semitism must be eradicated.
This media statement has been agreed by First Ministers and serves as a record of meeting outcomes.
