Sydney, Dec 24 Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had asked the governor-general to institute a special honors list for first responders and other heroes from the Bondi fatal mass shooting, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Wednesday.
Albanese said that the recipients, who would be announced in 2026, would include police, medical staff, and members of the community who rushed to help in the wake of the terror attack.
He said that those who had risked their own safety to help strangers deserved public recognition.
The mass shooting, which targeted an event celebrating the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, killed 15 victims on December 14, Xinhua news agency reported.
The parliament of Australia's state of New South Wales (NSW) had passed tough new gun and protest laws in response to the fatal mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, the ABC reported.
ABC said that the bill, which packaged gun reforms with a ban on protests for up to three months, passed 18 votes to eight just before 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday and included a key amendment on tightening firearms laws for people with suspected terrorist links.
The legislation went back to the lower house to be rubberstamped, it added.
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the Christmas period will be colored by 'grief and sadness' following the Bondi Beach terror attack.
Albanese said at a press conference in Canberra that the fatal shooting of 15 people that targeted a Jewish festival at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14 was an antisemitic attack on the Jewish community as well as an attack on "Australian values and on Australian society."
He said that the Christmas period would feel different for many as a result of the attack, but praised the courage, kindness and compassion shown by Australians.
"What is normally a time of celebration and family and faith will this year be colored by grief and sadness, but in the weeks since the attack, we've also seen the best of the Australian character and the best of Australian spirit," he said.
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