The Christchurch Mosque Attack has resonated with the Australian politicians - who were at the forefront of a major gun law reform after experiences of their own.

In 1996, 35 people were gunned down at Port Arthur in Tasmania.

Within 12 months, Australia introduced a shooters' licensing scheme, created a gun registration programme, and banned automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

Former National Party of Australia leader Tim Fischer was Deputy Prime Minister at the time.

He said New Zealand needs to change its gun laws as well.

"Since Port Arthur, in 1996, if you put the index at 10 or more, there has never been one gun massacre in Australia. There have been no mass shootings as broadly defined since Port Arthur."

"The advantage New Zealand has is, of course, a unitary system of government and one parliament and I think you have the chance to respond sensibly."

Fischer said the government needs to start the consultation process and introduce a shooters' license system and comprehensive weapons registration system.

Prior to the Port Arthur shooting, there was already a gun debate in Australia, he said.

"There were some rallies...before we were smash hit by 35 people losing their lives in Port Arthur."

The former Deputy Prime Minister said while there was pushback at the time, it was the right thing to do.

"We have to take the cause, the explanation, the package of legislation to a public square and argue why we are doing this."

"If you're an Olympic shooter, a recreational shooter, a farmer requiring specific sets of sizes of guns, you will still be able to do that but we wanted to drain the towns, the cities, the community of semi-automatics and automatics."

He said the move worked which is shown by the fact that they haven't had a mass shooting since.

Fischer said New Zealand has the ability to respond to this crisis and ensure it doesn't happen again.

"I"m confident New Zealand has the capacity to respond positively, to work through these issues...and to get it right and to do so quickly."

"I certainly wish New Zealand well and express deep sympathy for the evens of last week in Christchurch."