On 22nd January, the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, expressed his apology that he had failed to stop the Bondi Beach mass shooting, and the whole country celebrated a day of mourning for the victims of the attack.

According to police, on December 14, 2014, a father and a son opened fire upon an event celebrating the Hanukkah Jewish festival, killing 15 people in the worst mass shooting in Australia in decades.

The government has termed the two men to have been inspired by the Islamic State to execute the attack, which they termed an act of terrorism against the Jewish people.

Flags were lowered all over the nation before a memorial service at the great Sydney Opera House, during which Albanese made an apology to the families of the victims in the crowd.

“You came to celebrate a festival of light and liberty, and you left with the carnage of hatred. I am extremely, extremely sad and regretful that we were unable to save your loved ones out of this evil,” Albanese said to a prolonged applause in his speech at the occasion.

The prime minister has already apologised to the Jewish community and the nation in general, but this was not a sufficient apology, according to some of his relatives.

One minute of silence, even on the national television stations, was observed throughout the country a minute after 7 p.m. in Sydney (0800 GMT) when the event started in honour of the victims.

Participants of the event lit candles and spoke by other lawmakers, and Jewish prayers and video tributes.

The lighting of buildings in the country, even the Melbourne and Perth cricket stadiums, was used, and during the Australian Open tennis competition, the play was halted to observe a minute of silence.

The Bondi attack was a wake-up call in the country and resulted in more intense efforts against antisemitism and gun control, and critics of Albanese argued he had not done enough to stem a series of attacks on the Jewish community in recent years.

This is disagreed with by the government, which already enacted laws that would increase the background checks required to obtain a gun licence, and a second law that would reduce the standard of legal actions taken against offenders of hate speech.