Allan announces $2m community safety package
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at the Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre in Caulfield to announce a $2m community safety package.
The package includes:
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$900m for the Community Safety Group to deploy further security measures at community events, holiday programs and Jewish cultural ceremonies
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$250,000 to increase security at Jewish youth summer camps
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$100,000 each for the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria
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$280,000 for JewishCare, including for mental health services
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An additional $250,000 will also be spent on a therapeutic intervention program to combat radicalisation.
Allan says:
This is immediate support because it will provide additional capacity for the Community Safety Group to be able to provide resources around a range of cultural events that will be going on and [for] school holiday programs that have been scheduled over this summer period.
Key events
Maimon said he has warned against the dangers of antisemitism for the last four years and that he has visited every synagogue that has been attacked.
It is also very important to remember that when we’re talking the Jewish community, we are talking first and foremost about Australians. Australian citizens.
From here, I would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to the community, to all Australians and to join the community and their call to the government to take all necessary measures to make sure that the life of every Australian, whether they are Jewish, Muslim or Christian, would be safe.
The Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, is speaking in Bondi.
My vocabulary is not rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart. … The Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community. My people. The people that were brutally murdered here are people that I have known. I have met.
Allan announces $2m community safety package
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is holding a press conference at the Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre in Caulfield to announce a $2m community safety package.
The package includes:
-
$900m for the Community Safety Group to deploy further security measures at community events, holiday programs and Jewish cultural ceremonies
-
$250,000 to increase security at Jewish youth summer camps
-
$100,000 each for the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria
-
$280,000 for JewishCare, including for mental health services
-
An additional $250,000 will also be spent on a therapeutic intervention program to combat radicalisation.
Allan says:
This is immediate support because it will provide additional capacity for the Community Safety Group to be able to provide resources around a range of cultural events that will be going on and [for] school holiday programs that have been scheduled over this summer period.
Pip Edwards, a fashion designer, was there on Sunday, and posted on Instagram about having to hide after the gunmen opened fire.
“The gun man [sic] fired his first round of shots right behind my girlfriend newand I as we had just passed the bridge were they were standing,” Edwards wrote in an Instagram post.
The shots continued to fire incessantly, and quite literally as close as two metres away.
We had to immediately take refuge under a van and watched the gunman’s feet with his gun pace in front of the van right at our heads, using our van as his post.
Edwards and her friend took cover and hid under the van for about 15 minutes until the shooting stopped.
I was convulsing with fear, trapped, thinking this was it for us. I cannot comprehend nor compute it at all.
Krishani Dhanji
Gun law changes won’t stamp out antisemitism, opposition claim
The shadow home affairs minister, Jonathon Duniam, says the opposition is open to supporting changes to gun laws but want to see the detail first.
Duniam spoke with ABC’s Radio National Breakfast earlier this morning, and said he’ll wait to see what proposals states and territories come back with on gun reforms before offering bipartisan support. But he said those reforms don’t go far enough on combating antisemitism.
Changes to gun laws that prevent serious incidents like this from happening will always be welcome, I think it’s important for us to see the detail.
But what a change to gun laws won’t do is stamp out antisemitism and that was the driver behind these attacks and we can’t forget that fixing the gun laws in some way will not prevent from happening what happened yesterday. If it’s not guns, it’s explosive devices, it’s knives, it’s other forms of attack weapons.
Duniam claims the government hasn’t acted on recommendations by Jillian Segal that would crack down in institutions like universities that allow “antisemitic behaviour to occur on campus”.
Penry Buckley
One injured police officer identified as families thanks first responders
The families of two NSW police officers who were injured as they sought to apprehend the alleged gunmen have issued a statement, passing on their “thoughts to the loved ones of those who were killed and injured in the Bondi shooting tragedy”.
One of the officers has been named by NSW police as Constable Scott Dyson, who has been attached to Bondi’s local eastern suburbs area command for 18 months. Dyson remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
The NSW police commisioner, Mal Lanyon, said yesterday that the two officers suffered gunshot wounds as the multiple officers exchanged fire with the two alleged gunmen.
NSW police have yet to confirm the identity of the second officer, who was also taken to hospital following the attack.
In a statement shared on social media, NSW police said the families wanted to “express their heartfelt gratitude to all first responders who acted with courage, in particular the police officers and paramedics who responded”.
“They also wish to thank their hospital team, and especially those in ICU.”
“They thank the community for their support but have asked for privacy as their loved ones focus on recovery and healing.”
Israel’s ZAKA Search and Rescue team has been deployed to Sydney to assist authorities and the Jewish community in ensuring proper kavod hameit — dignity for the dead in accordance with Jewish law, faith and tradition.
ZAKA’s CEO, Dubi Weissenstern:
Our mission is simple and unwavering: ZAKA is there for every Jew, no matter where they are, in times of crisis.
We bring deep experience from terror scenes, working hand-in-hand with law enforcement to preserve critical forensic evidence, while also ensuring the dead are treated with the utmost dignity and can be buried as quickly as possible in accordance with Jewish law.
ZAKA officials said responders will provide both technical assistance and spiritual support to local communities grappling with the aftermath of the attack.
Nearly 50,000 people have registered to donate blood and plasma, more than double the previous Lifeblood record
Nick Visser
Lifeblood said this morning nearly 50,000 people across the country have made appointments to donate blood, more than double the previous record.
The agency said a total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma and platelets were made yesterday across Australia.
Lifeblood is urging people to continue booking appointments for donations through the week and the rest of the holiday season
In Sydney yesterday, lines to give donations stretched out the doors and around the building of the Lifeblood donation centre at Town Hall in the CBD. You can read some of those reasons why Sydneysiders showed up to donate here:
Rabbi remembers friend and colleague
Rabbi Eli Feldman, who was a close friend of Eli Schlanger, who was tragically killed in Sunday’s attack, has just been speaking on the ABC.
Asked about his friend, he said:
He was an angel in the guise of a human. I have known him for 25 years. We studied together in Israel before either of us was married. And [have] been close ever since. What a special human being, loved everybody, doesn’t matter who you are.
Caitlin Cassidy
‘What does that look like now?’ Sydney’s Jewish community members question their safety in wake of deadly shooting
When Rachel arrived at Bondi Pavilion with her baby, Zane on Tuesday morning, she laid down flowers and immediately burst into tears.
She was soon joined by her friend, Josie, who immediately embraced her. Another stranger soon joined, and held her close. Both Rachel and Josie live in Bondi, a stone’s throw from one another, and are active members of the Jewish community.
The bridge where the shooting lakes place is usually where Josie’s father walks their dogs every morning and evening. She was wrapped in an Israeli flag on Tuesday, as she was on Monday, and both were wearing Star of David necklaces.
“I didn’t even take a second guess to put it on [my flag],” Josie says.
Rachel wears her necklace every day and says between tears that for a second after the horrific events of Sunday, she found herself questioning: “Do I feel safe wearing this?”
“I think when Josie wears her flag, when I see the Israeli flag with the Australian flag, it’s a symbol that I’m not scared to be who I am, and to show that proudly even when there are people who want to kill us for who we are. It’s a feeling of strength to wear it proudly in the face of something like this.
“I’ve received so many messages from people who aren’t in the [Jewish community], that’s a comfort, because I think we’ve been feeling the tension for awhile. But what does going to Jewish events look like now? I want to feel safe doing the things I used to do, but what does that look like now?”
For Josie, “we all knew this was coming, and it’s happened now”.
“Seeing all these people here is a comfort for us … but how many people here understand exactly what’s going on? For two years, the fear and worry that we’ve been going through.”
Krishani Dhanji
Intelligence agencies aren’t ‘all-knowing’ says Burke
Tony Burke says the 24-year-old alleged shooter, Naveed Akram, is still in a coma, but couldn’t provide any more details on the man or the status of the investigation. His father – the 50-year-old alleged shooter – was shot dead by police.
The government is facing questions over why Asio, Australia’s spy agency, stopped monitoring Akram. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, the home affairs minister says some of the criticism of the intelligence agencies “isn’t right”:
Our intelligence agencies can only work with what they have and work with what they know. They will never be all-seeing and all-knowing … now in hindsight, people look back, and obviously Asio always reviews its processes and always looks back to make sure that things are getting stronger and stronger …
There was none of the evidence more than half a decade ago that this person was going to turn out the way that they did.
Caitlin Cassidy
Sombre scenes at Bondi
The crowd of mourners at Bondi Pavilion continues to be quiet and sombre. There is a diverse array of people here, from dog walkers to babies in strollers and elderly couples in running gear.
A Jewish group is handing out free sufganiyot – a traditional Jewish doughnut popular during Hanukkah – and leading prayers. There are many tears and many hugs.
Every major news station is broadcasting from the grassy hill this morning, and has been visited by the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, and the NSW Liberal leader, Kelly Sloane. The CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Rivkin, is also here.
NSW Health says 25 patients still in hospital
We have an update from NSW Health, who say there are currently twenty-five patients receiving care in several Sydney hospitals for their injuries.
Six are classified as being in a critical condition, four critical but stable. And an additional 15 have classified as stable.
More to come.
PM says one alleged gunman was interviewed by Asio in 2019 but was not at that time a ‘person of interest’
Albanese said Naveed Akram – one of two alleged gunmen – and his family and acquaintances were interviewed by Asio while under investigation in 2019, but he was “not seen at that time to be a person of interest”.
“He was drawn to their attention because of his association with others. Two of the people he was associated with were charged and went to jail,” Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney.
“Now, whether he was radicalised further after that, what the circumstances are, that’s the subject of further investigation.”
National cabinet agrees gun licences will not be issued in perpetuity
Krishani Dhanji
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says the government has already acted on a series of recommendations to combat antisemitism by the government’s special envoy, Jillian Segal, including to make doxxing illegal, and banning Nazi symbols.
Things like making doxing illegal, which we’ve done, you’ll see in the report wanting to strengthen our laws on hate crimes. We’ve now got the toughest laws at we’ve ever had in fuelling violence.
Speaking to the Today show this morning, Burke is facing questions on how the 50-year-old father was able to keep a gun license when his 24-year-old son had been monitored by spy agency Asio.
Burke says he acknowledges security checks can’t be “one and done”. Last night’s national cabinet meeting agreed gun licenses would no longer be issued in perpetuity. Burke says:
There’s a separate issue as to whether or not within family groups how how this is looked at. There is another issue which national cabinet dealt with yesterday about once a gun license is issued, how regularly it needs to be renewed. These licences should not be something where security checks are done at the start and then not revisited it.
Australia must combat extremism while ‘learning how to disagree well’, Spender says
People are wrapping their arms around each other, Spender says, but at the same time, the broader response needs to go beyond care and sympathy.
How do we as a country do whatever we can to prevent this happening again? And that is combating antisemitism and combating extremism.
I don’t think this reflects Australia – these were Islamic extremists, and the person who did most to save people was a Muslim man. He is a better reflection of our country, but we do have extreme elements here, and that creates fear. That said, there is more prevalent antisemitism now than I’ve ever seen it. Most of it is nowhere near the extremism we saw on the weekend but it does mean the Jewish community feels very isolated.
You have to combat the extremism which I think led to the physical attack but we also have the question of how to make sure we as a country can disagree well, but we still belong.
Caitlin Cassidy
The local member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender, pays her respects
Among those paying their respects at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday morning is the local member for Wentworth, Allegra Spender.
Spender was seen wrapping her arms around a Rabbi and hugging community members who have come down to lay flowers.
Like “so many people”, Spender was at Bondi on Sunday afternoon until about 5pm with her children in the waves. She was celebrating a family Christmas dinner in Bronte when news of the attack broke.
She tells Guardian Australia, “everybody is really struggling”.
The community is completely devastated and it’s still incredibly hard to comprehend. People coming like they are today to show their respect is really, really important … those shows of support. Many people I know lit candles for Hanukah tonight … those are the things that really matter.
