‘Lack of resourcing’ in place to prevent the Bondi massacre

Ajouté : 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Well, let's return to the revelation from the Royal Commission that the police task force set up after October 7 to fight hatred had been effectively disbanded before Bondi, operating in name only. To discuss joining me now is Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin. Alex, good to see you as always.

[00:00:19]>> Thank you, Sharon.

[00:00:20]>> Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon got it back up and running right after the Bondi attack. But do you think it's worrying that it seems like some complacency had set in, which is why it had been scaled back in the first place?

[00:00:35]>> Look, it's a very worrying thing that we've learned, and I think foremost it shows why this Royal Commission process is so critical and why the families and the community were so correct and have been vindicated in calling for this.

[00:00:48]It's only through this sort of process that we would learn all these things.

[00:00:51]And I have to also mention the leadership of Josh Frydenberg, of course. But we've seen over the weeks of the hearings, and now they've gone into close session for a considerable period of time as well, but we've learned about, you know, warnings that were missed, intel that dropped off, a lack of cooperation between agencies, pretty open acrimony between certain agencies, a lack of intelligence sharing. And all these things contribute to a situation in which these killers were able to operate, acquire weapons, train, and so forth, carry out their reconnaissance, and carry out this bloody slaughter. So we need to get to the end of this process and understand the failings, but certainly it seems from what we've learned in the last week or so that there was a lack of resourcing and a lack of forward planning and a lack of awareness that this was a vulnerability, that this sort of an event, despite warnings by ASIO and others in a general security environment. So we need to get to the end of the process, and no doubt the police will have their reasons, and they need to be able to put those forward. It all needs to be balanced and understood, but it shows the importance of this whole process, and this is a battle ultimately for justice, for truth, and to protect society from any further harm.

[00:02:00]>> Yeah, well said and absolutely correct.

[00:02:03]Speaking of the elevated terror threat level, we heard from the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess on Monday.

[00:02:10]He told the Royal Commission that the terror threat level was now at the upper end of probable. Have a look at his comments.

[00:02:17]>> We believe we have a concerning trajectory as in it's getting hotter in terms of there is more permission for violence and we're on the upper end of probable. The next level up is expected, but in the current system that requires us to have specific intelligence that there is a plan and a location for an act of terror.

[00:02:40]>> So, I thought that was extraordinary, Alex. It seems we are in the most elevated threat environment since October 7th and he can't actually raise it higher unless he knows of a specific threat.

[00:02:52]>> Yeah, look and there's no surprises there. We know from recent history that when you have a devastating terrorist attack, that's not the end of a cycle.

[00:02:59]Usually, it's the beginning of a process. You have, you know, copycats that are inspired by the attack. It shows the prevalence of an ideology more than one person or small cell. And in the intervening months, of course, you've had the destabilization in Iran, further war in the Middle East.

[00:03:16]We know that Iran when it's struck, it tends to lash out either directly or through proxies or even through organized crime as we've seen in this country.

[00:03:24]So, we remain in an extremely perilous time as the Director-General there confirmed.

[00:03:30]And it shows that we can never take our eye off the ball again. We have to ensure that the police recognize day upon day the threats that are out there for the community, the vulnerabilities. We look to them to protect us. It's the role of government to ensure that this is properly resourced as well. And as we've said all along, this requires a whole-of-society approach to root this out. Everything from engagement and education to border security and all of these things go into determining whether there's an attack or whether it's prevented, but we remain in in a state of great peril. There's no question about that.

[00:04:04]>> Mhm.