MALCOLM TURNBULL: It’s hard to believe, it really is surreal to imagine that this could happen in Bondi…this is part of our lives, this is part of our community. It's a community that is very diverse, very multicultural. I've spent my whole life in and out of Bondi. Literally. I’m still struggling to believe this happened, but it did. And so, what we have to do is respond with love, and with strength and with solidarity. We put our arms around the Jewish community. We have to show them that we love them, and that we will support them and we will stand by them no matter what happens. And this is literally the worst that you could imagine.
JOURNALIST: Jewish leaders have spoken about a lack of action from the government and authorities to tackle anti-Semitism. Would you agree with that?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: I don't want to get into a political debate, I’m out of politics but….I used to be Prime Minister, so I'm very familiar with dealing with terrorism, the challenge of terrorism. We put enormous resources into it, and governments will continue to do that. The threat is always evolving, unfortunately. And it is very difficult to prevent single acts of terror, particularly when people are acting by themselves or, as it appears this time, with a father and son. Where there are elaborate conspiracies, often intelligence can identify it in advance. I don't know, perhaps none of us know, I certainly don't know but if this was just two people who came together, then it is very, very, very hard to predict that or preempt it.
And so security is critically important. The perimeter security for events like this is very important. You may remember some years ago there was an issue with vehicles being used to mow down passers by in terrorist acts. We took a number of measures to improve that perimeter security of places with bollards and so forth, and that was one response. Here, this is so unlike what we have experienced and expect in Australia. I think a legitimate question has been raised about how the father, the 50 year old, had so many guns. They were all licensed, but I think a very fair question has been asked: “why somebody living in suburban Sydney was licensed to have so many long arms”?
JOURNALIST: With such a significant response after Port Arthur, do you think laws now need to be reviewed or changed in the wake of this attack?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: They should be reviewed all the time, but yes, of course they should be. There is always a tendency to get complacent, and so we've got to be constantly reviewing laws like this. I read a report that there was a pump action shotgun involved, now I thought pump action shot guns were not available. I was very much of the impression that they were not available. Again, a lot of questions have got to be asked, and answered.
JOURNALIST: Given what we’ve seen over the years, is this rock bottom for our social fabric?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Let's be very clear eyed about this. This is an act of terrorism. Terrorism is a political act. It is an act of violence, and it's designed to divide us, to shake our will, to frighten us, to intimidate us. These two terrorists, they do not represent Australia. Mr. Ahmed who tackled one of the terrorists… 42 year old greengrocer from Sutherland, who tackled one of the terrorists and brought him to the ground, he represents Australia far more, vastly more than anyone who is filled with hatred. We are the most successful multicultural society in the world. We really are…an extraordinary society and those small number of people who are trying to divide us with violent acts of terrorism like this, you must not let them win. So don't let our resolve be shaken. That’s my message.
Sorry comments are closed.