The Australian government has announced a gun buyback scheme in the wake of the Bondi Beach attack - its deadliest mass shooting in decades.

Axar.az informs, citing BBC, the scheme is the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead and prompted Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.

Speaking to media on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there are now more than 4 million firearms in Australia - more than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre.

"We know that one of these terrorists held a firearm licence and had six guns, in spite of living in the middle of Sydney's suburbs... There's no reason why someone in that situation needed that many guns.

"If you're going to reduce the number of guns, then a buyback scheme has to be a piece of that puzzle," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett added.

The new scheme will purchase surplus, newly banned and illegal firearms, and will be funded on a 50-50 basis with the states and territories. Hundreds of thousands of firearms will be collected and destroyed, the government estimates.