Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday announced that a national firearm buyback scheme will be established to reduce the number of guns in the community following the Bondi Beach shooting.
Albanese said at a press conference in Canberra that the federal government will establish a national buyback to purchase and destroy surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms.
The scheme will mimic a buyback that was established in response to the fatal shooting of 35 people at Port Arthur in the island state of Tasmania in 1996.
The fatal shooting of 15 people at Bondi Beach on Sunday night was Australia's most deadly mass shooting since the 1996 attack, which prompted a major overhaul of the country's gun laws.
Albanese said there are currently over four million firearms in Australia, more than there were at the time of the Port Arthur massacre.
Australia's states and territories will be responsible for collection, processing and payments under the buyback, and the Australian Federal Police will be responsible for destroying the surrendered firearms.
Albanese said he expects hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed.
Previously on Monday Australia's leaders at a snap National Cabinet meeting agreed to take decisive action to strengthen gun laws following the Bondi Beach shooting.
Australian PM announces national gun buyback following Bondi Beach shooting
Australian PM announces national gun buyback following Bondi Beach shooting
Australian PM announces national gun buyback following Bondi Beach shooting
Dense fog and icy conditions have forced the closure of major expressways in multiple provincial-level regions across China since Friday morning.
At 12:00 on Friday, traffic control measures, including closures, remained in effect on 16 sections of national and provincial trunk roads in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Xinjiang. Among these, two sections had their mainlines closed, while toll stations on 14 sections were shut.
Starting from the early hours of Friday, multiple areas in Dezhou City of Shandong Province experienced dense fog, with Xiajin, Pingyuan and Yucheng reporting visibility less than 100 meters.
In parts of Xiajin, visibility dropped below 50 meters, prompting local meteorological authorities to issue a red alert for dense fog.
Affected by the fog, temporary control measures were implemented on some expressways within Dezhou, with multiple entrances closed. Traffic police strengthened presence at service areas, entrances and exits of expressways to ensure road safety.
So far, all expressway entrances and exits in Dezhou have resumed normal operation.
Many areas in Hebei also experienced dense fog, with visibility less than 200 meters in eastern Baoding, western Cangzhou, Xingtai, and eastern Handan in the province. Some localities even reported visibility below 50 meters.
Shortly after 6:00, the Hebei Provincial Meteorological Observatory issued an orange alert for dense fog.
From 23:00 on Thursday to Friday morning, over 10 key routes in Hebei, including the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Kunming, Daqing-Guangzhou, Tianjin-Shijiazhuang, and Qingdao-Lanzhou expressways, were affected by dense fog.
Expressway traffic police closed some toll stations along these expressways according to fog conditions, and activated traffic diversion points to divert vehicles.
By 10:00 Friday, as visibility improved, some toll stations resumed operation.
On expressway sections with insufficient visibility, traffic police used patrol cars to lead and control the speed of vehicles, guiding stranded traffic to pass through orderly and safely.
Additionally, due to snowfall and icy road surfaces, control measures were taken on 28 expressway sections in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Xinjiang. Among them, the mainlines of 14 sections were closed, while toll gates were shut on the other 14 ones.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a blue alert for snowfall on Friday morning, with parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Gansu expected to be hit by heavy snow.
Foggy, icy weather forces road closure across China
