By Zac de Silva, Grace Crivellaro and Tess Ikonomou in Canberra

Combating anti-Semitism will not be ignored in the fight to tighten gun laws, the prime minister says, despite push back from the National party and gun groups.

State and territory governments are considering clamping down on gun licences and banning non-citizens from owning firearms in response to the Bondi Beach massacre, the nation’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years.

Fifteen people were killed when Sajid Akra, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, fired at scores of people on Sunday night as they celebrated the Jewish festival of lights.

Anthony Albanese said any action on gun reforms could not substitute action on anti-Semitism, after coalition politicians, including former prime minister John Howard, and Jewish groups argued firearms laws could be used as a distraction.

Mr Howard overhauled gun laws after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

The prime minister said NSW could not act alone in implementing reforms and “the system is only as strong as its weakest link”.

“Common sense tells you that we need a national approach,” Mr Albanese told ABC News Radio on Wednesday.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government is capable of “combating “horrifying and evil acts of anti-Semitism as the same time as we tighten our gun laws”.

“I don’t know why in the wake of a mass shooting, some politicians, some current and some former, are trying to diminish our efforts to tighten gun laws,” Dr Chalmers told ABC RN.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry boss Daniel Aghion said political leaders shouldn’t forget the cultural changes needed to tackle hatred against Jews.

“The motive here is the hatred of Jews. That’s the open wound that this country needs to deal with,” he told AAP.

Nationals MP Bridget McKenzie criticised the prime minister’s push for gun reform and said he failed to name Islamic terrorism as the reason Jewish people were targeted.

Mr Albanese rebuked that claim and said he has made “ISIS-inspired extremist ideology” front and centre as the main issue.

“But we can’t get around the fact that a fellow was able to get a gun license and have six guns,” he said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley accused the government of not doing enough on the issue and set up an internal task force to develop policies on counter terrorism, deradicalisation and anti-Semitism.

The group of shadow ministers will meet with the government’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal on Wednesday, and plan to also sit down with other Jewish leaders.

Ms Segal handed her report on anti-Semitism to the government in July, but many of its recommendations are still unaddressed.

Asked whether he would fully endorse the report, Mr Albanese wouldn’t say which parts would now be implemented but said it will “continually be worked on”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government has already adopted parts of the report, including working with universities to make sure campuses are safe for Jewish students.

“We have criminalised forms of hate speech, but there’s more that needs to be done. We’ll do it,” he told ABC.