Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. A fired up New South Wales
Speaker 1: Premier Chris Mins has defended the state's police officers against
Speaker 1: suggestions they did not act fast enough to stop the
Speaker 1: Bondai Beach massacre. At a tense press conference in Sydney,
Speaker 1: the Premier was joined by Prime Minister Anthony Alberanezi, AFP
Speaker 1: Commissioner Chrissy Barrett and New South Wales Police Boss Malanion.
Speaker 1: After a series of questions focusing on how many cops
Speaker 1: were protecting worshipers at a huneker event at Bondi Beach
Speaker 1: before two gunmen began shooting men, women and children, the
Speaker 1: Premier said, in hindsight, more officers could have been deployed,
Speaker 1: but he spoke passionately about the response from officers who
Speaker 1: rushed to the scene.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I feel it's incredibly important to me, as the
Speaker 2: Premier of New Southwest to respond to some of these questions.
Speaker 2: Wales police acted with bravery and integrity. They didn't take
Speaker 2: a backward step. They engaged the gunmen on the footbridge
Speaker 2: with handguns. The offenders had long range rifles and New
Speaker 2: South Wales police officers were responsible for killing one of
Speaker 2: them and shooting the other one and as a result,
Speaker 2: saving many many people's lives. Now there are two officers
Speaker 2: in critical care in New South Wales hospitals at the moment.
Speaker 2: They weren't shot in the back as they were running away,
Speaker 2: they were shot in the front. I'm sorry to be
Speaker 2: graphic about it, but if there's any suggestion that New
Speaker 2: South Wales Police didn't live up to their responsibilities to
Speaker 2: the people of this state, it should be rejected because
Speaker 2: it's not consistent with the facts. New South Wales police officers,
Speaker 2: some of whom had been in the job for a
Speaker 2: number of months, put their lives on the line to
Speaker 2: save people in this state and I think this rushed
Speaker 2: to conclusions before all the facts are known, in my view,
Speaker 2: is disrespectful to their actions.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, twenty four year old Bondai terror suspect Navid
Speaker 1: Akram was on Tuesday revealed as a follower of the
Speaker 1: radical Muslim cleric Wissam Hadad. Akram was allegedly connected to
Speaker 1: Islamic State through the Almadina Dhawa Center in Western Sydney,
Speaker 1: where had Ad preachers. Akram who has worked as a
Speaker 1: bricklayer and reportedly has been out of work for a
Speaker 1: couple of months before the Bondi shooting, was just seventeen
Speaker 1: years old when he was filmed handing out pamphlets for
Speaker 1: Hardad's ministry. This is the voice of Navid Akram.
Speaker 3: My bluble cred for your brother, repread to Abi Alat and.
Speaker 2: The first color.
Speaker 1: Akram's links to Islamic State adherents put him on Asio's
Speaker 1: radar in twenty nineteen when the videos were filmed. Akram
Speaker 1: was shot by police after he and his father, fifty
Speaker 1: year old Sajid Akram, allegedly opened fire on a Jewish
Speaker 1: high on a celebration at Bondeai Beach on Sunday. Sajid
Speaker 1: was killed by police at the scene and his son
Speaker 1: Navide is under police guard in hospital. Fifteen people, including
Speaker 1: a ten year old girl, a Holocaust survivor, and two
Speaker 1: rabbis were killed in the attack, designated a terrorist act
Speaker 1: by New Southwell's Police Commissioner Mallanyon revealed authorities are investigating
Speaker 1: a trip made by the father and son to the
Speaker 1: Philippines last month, the.
Speaker 2: Reasons why they went to the Philippines and the purpose
Speaker 2: of that and where they went when they were there
Speaker 2: is under investigation of the moment.
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi followed through on his promise to
Speaker 1: raise gun reforms in a specially convened National Cabinet meeting
Speaker 1: on Monday, but a six month old plan to combat
Speaker 1: rising anti semitism wasn't on the agenda, The Australian revealed
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. State and territory leaders had to push the
Speaker 1: PM on what can be done to quell the hate.
Speaker 1: A draft document seen by The Australian contained just one
Speaker 1: paragraph about the plan to a rat ded antisemitism. The
Speaker 1: Australians Joanni Bishan asked Albanesi about that draft, but a.
Speaker 3: Draft document that was presented to state premiers containment one
Speaker 3: paragraph about the issue of anti semitism, and this was
Speaker 3: later caged out a second paragraph that included existing policies
Speaker 3: that you're already working on. Why are you not announcing
Speaker 3: sweet of antisemitism measures right now instead of talking about
Speaker 3: gun control. That's not true.
Speaker 1: The report is not accurate, Albanzi said. The government's already
Speaker 1: outlawing Nazi symbols and doxing. We have taken the report
Speaker 1: from the Anti Semitism on board and what we are
Speaker 1: doing is busy implementing it, and we talked about that yesterday.
Speaker 1: A clearer sense is emerging of what gun law reform
Speaker 1: might look like, with Chris Minn saying he wants to
Speaker 1: recall the Southwell's Parliament before Christmas to pass laws giving
Speaker 1: police the power to use criminal intelligence, not just a
Speaker 1: criminal record, when determining whether a gun license could be
Speaker 1: issued or renewed.
Speaker 2: If we can craft a law that the police commissioner
Speaker 2: can say, I've got concerns about this person. I don't
Speaker 2: want them having access to a gun, notwithstanding the fact
Speaker 2: that they don't have a criminal record. That's the kind
Speaker 2: of legislation that we want to see in.
Speaker 1: Numerous questions remain about the alleged actions of Navid and
Speaker 1: Sajid Akram. New video emerged on Tuesday of a police
Speaker 1: detective shooting Sajid Akram dead, and of two members of
Speaker 1: the public who tackled the men as they got out
Speaker 1: of their car on Bondais Campbell Parade before beginning the massacre.
Speaker 1: The bodies of those civilians were later seen on drone
Speaker 1: footage lying motionless next to the men's car. They haven't
Speaker 1: been identified. That car was allegedly packed with explosives and
Speaker 1: had what police say was a homemade ISIS flag draped
Speaker 1: over the windscreen. You can check out all those angles
Speaker 1: live right now at Beaustralian dot com dot au