Sydney, 19 December (H.S.): One week after a father-son duo unleashed Australia's deadliest mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration near Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Friday the nation's largest gun buyback since 1996, vowing to purge dangerous guns from streets amid national mourning.

Hanukkah Massacre: 15 Slain in Antisemitic Assault

On December 14, Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, opened fire at Archer Park beside Bondi Beach during a Chanukah by the Sea event attended by around 1,000 people, killing 15—including a 10-year-old child and a rabbi—and wounding over 40 in an Islamic State-inspired antisemitic rampage.

Police shot dead Sajid at the scene after a firefight; Naveed, wounded and previously known to authorities for extremist ties including hunting training, faces 59 charges encompassing 15 murders from his hospital bed.

Investigators dismissed Philippine training rumors, confirming the duo's legally registered firearms fueled the carnage, Australia's worst since Port Arthur's 35 deaths.

National Reflection: Candles, Silence, Half-Mast Flags

Albanese designated Sunday, December 21—the final Hanukkah day—a National Day of Reflection, urging Australians to light candles at 6:47 p.m. for a minute's silence in solidarity with grieving Jewish communities.

Flags will fly at half-mast on government buildings, with a separate New Year mourning day planned post-funerals; Parliament's condolence book captures public anguish over hatred piercing Australia's multicultural fabric.

Buyback Blitz Targets Surplus, Banned, Illegal Arms

The federally funded scheme—states handling collections and payouts, police overseeing destruction—aims to seize hundreds of thousands of weapons, building on post-Port Arthur reforms that slashed gun violence.Albanese stressed Australia's rising firearm stocks necessitate action: The Bondi tragedy proves we must get more guns off our streets, echoing 1996's transformative response.

Experts anticipate legislation soon to bankroll the effort, fortifying laws amid grief from the first funerals Thursday.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar