New South Wales will launch a new gun buyback programme in November as part of the national response to last year’s Bondi Beach attack that killed 15 people.
The “taking guns off our streets” scheme will start on 2 November, according to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.
New laws introducing gun buyback programmes and tighter checks for arms licences were enacted in January this year.
Following the mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on 14 December, it was reported that the two gunmen, a father and son allegedly inspired by Isis, had obtained their powerful firearms legally. The attack brought to focus the accessibility of guns in Australia, where people held a record 4.1 million firearms last year.
Nearly one in four guns were reported to be in the most populous state of NSW.
Mr Albanese and New South Wales premier Chris Minns said in a joint statement on Sunday that the buyback scheme would pay Australians returning rifles and handguns up to A$1,000.
"This is too important for NSW,” Mr Minns said.
The scheme, the statement added, could take around 274,000 guns out of circulation, more than the post-Port Arthur massacre buyback.
"Australians are quite rightly proud of our gun laws but the fact is there are more guns in Australia today than there were at the time of dealing with the Port Arthur gun buyback," Mr Albanese said.
The prime minister called out other states for enacting "farcical" firearms legislation and giving out paper licences that “couldn't be traced”.
NSW opposition leader Kellie Sloane was critical of the move. "To suggest a gun buyback is going to solve this for us, is going to stop another Bondi, it's absolute bulls***. I am sorry for the language, it's entirely unlike me, but I’m frustrated, and we need to make sure that we are addressing the real enemy," Ms Sloane said, according to ABC News.
"You have got to be absolutely kidding yourself if you think criminals, organised criminals, the people shooting up our streets in south-west Sydney, or that would-be terrorists are going to walk into a cop shop and hand over their guns.”
Read MoreDannii Minogue’s ‘heart is broken’ after death of talent show host Johnny Young
US special forces ready to step up combat drills in Philippines and help deter aggression in Asia
Australia probes three near-misses in less than two weeks at Sydney airport