Assistant minister flags review of migration settings after Bondi attack
Assistant minister for immigration, Matt Thistlethwaite, says the federal government’s response to the Bondi attack will include a review of the country’s migration laws to ensure those with antisemitic views cannot move to Australia.
Speaking to the ABC a short time ago, Thistlethwaite said the government’s package will be released “over the coming days and weeks”:
We’ll have a look at our migration settings to make sure that they’re appropriate and that they can weed out and stop people who have antisemitic or racist views, that may incite violence into Australia, and ensure that people like that can’t migrate to our country.
Key events
Nick Visser
The floral memorial grows at Bondi beach
There is a steady stream of people stopping by to reflect, hug and mourn today at Bondi Pavilion.
The beach is muted on a sunny Thursday, with another floral memorial growing just above the promenade, with the waves in the distance. The scent of the blooms carries over the air as a surfer sits in his wetsuit looking at the tributes.
Frydenberg denies his criticism of the PM is politically motivated
Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has denied his fierce criticism of Anthony Albanese over the Bondi attack is politically motivated.
Speaking to Channel Nine’s Today show, he was asked about a clash with the ABC’s 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson last night. In the interview, Ferguson asked Frydenberg if there were political motivations behind his rebuke of Albanese over the Bondi attack, ahead of his “inevitable” return to politics.
He said he was “deeply offended” by the question.
Speaking to the Today show, Frydenberg, who is Jewish, said his criticism of Albanese was “not about politics”:
This is about leadership or the lack leadership that we have seen in Australia. The Jewish community has always enjoyed support from Bob Hawke … to Julia Gillard to Bill Shorten and many, many others. But that bipartisanship has been broken.
Now, when I take my kids to school, there are armed (guards) because it’s a Jewish school. If you take them to Jewish sport, there are armed guards outside the sporting field. Why should we live like this?
Asked about a return to politics, Frydenberg said he “hasn’t made any decisions” about his future but said Australia needed people “who are going to have the courage of their convictions”.
NSW man charged after allegedly making antisemitic threats towards Jewish person on Bali to Sydney flight
The AFP has charged a NSW man with allegedly threatening violence towards a member of the Jewish community on a flight from Bali to Sydney.
Police allege the man made antisemitic threats and hand gestures, indicating violence towards the alleged victim, who the man knew to be part of the Jewish community.
The 19-year-old Condell Park man is scheduled to appear before a NSW court today.
He faces one count of threatening force or violence against members of groups or close associates. The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
The federal police received a request for assistance from an airline on the flight from Bali to Sydney on Wednesday, the AFP said in a statement.
Police charged the man on his arrival in Sydney.
Caitlin Cassidy
Relative of Alex Kleytman says Bondi attack shows why it’s necessary to speak out about the Holocaust and antisemitism
Following on from the previous post, Abendlich had prepared a video interview with Kleytman to record his own Holocaust story, which will now never be conducted, “not because time ran out, but because history has repeated itself”.
The German resident said Kleytman wrote to him that he wanted to “pass the baton to the next generation”.
He encouraged me to preserve family history, to collect stories and memories, and to make sure people know. He did not want his work, or the lives behind it, locked away. He wanted them carried forward … He understood something many people only learn too late: if you do not record testimony and memory, time will take it from you. People will not remember, and people will start to forget.
This attack shows once again why it is necessary to speak about the Shoah and to speak clearly about what antisemitism is. It is not only about remembering what happened once. It is about ensuring these stories are not forgotten, and about refusing to let hatred be normalised or repeated.”
Caitlin Cassidy
Holocaust survivor and Bondi attack victim Alex Kleytman described himself as a ‘humble Jewish man’, relative says
Tributes are continuing to flow for Alex Kleytman, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who was killed in the Bondi terror attack while protecting his wife, Larisa.
Georg Abendlich, who lives in Osnabrück, Germany, got to know Kleytman through his wife, who is Abendlich’s cousin. He said through their conversations, “he became much more than a family connection”:
He was someone who cared deeply about Jewish memory and about telling the truth of Jewish lives, especially where history has tried to reduce Jews to silence or to numbers. He described himself as a humble Jewish man, and that description felt accurate. He had a quiet strength and a sincerity that came through even in simple exchanges.
Abendlich said Kleytman didn’t like to call himself old, but was “very aware that time passes”:
He saw enormous value in preserving history and in learning from the past. He told me that he had not asked his parents enough about the important details of their lives, and that he regretted how much had gone unspoken. That reflection was not just personal. It was a warning about how easily stories disappear if we do not take responsibility for them.
Chief of NSW Jewish Board of Deputies calls for ‘action’ after ‘unacceptable’ terrorist attack
Michele Goldman, the chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, spoke to the ABC a short time ago.
Goldman says the Jewish community’s souls are “crushed” after funerals began for the attack’s 15 victims yesterday.
A funeral for the attack’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda, will be held today.
Goldman said:
Today to bury Matilda, a 10-year-old whose life was taken away too soon, and in the most evil of circumstances, we’re crushed.
We greatly appreciate the overwhelming support of all Australians, but … kind words are not going to change things, and we need to see some action … this is just unacceptable.
Goldman said the Jewish community had seen the warning signs for over two years and had called out antisemitic hate “playing out in all parts of our society”.
She called for the recommendations in the wide-ranging plan by Australia’s antisemitism envoy to be endorsed and enacted as soon as possible.
Injured NSW police officers remain in ‘serious”’ conditions, health minister says
NSW health minister, Ryan Park, says two police injured in the Bondi attack remain in “serious” conditions.
Const Jack Hibbert, a a probationary constable who was shot in Sunday’s attack, has lost the sight of an eye. Const Scott Dyson, another officer injured in the attack, had been attached to the eastern suburbs police area command for 18 months.
Speaking to 2GB radio, Park said:
They’ve had very extensive injuries and having an opportunity to speak to their family members of Const Dyson the other day at St Vincent’s just hit home just how dangerous policing is and how dedicated that individual was.
We’re hoping they make a full recovery. It will be a long and difficult road ahead.
Assistant minister flags review of migration settings after Bondi attack
Assistant minister for immigration, Matt Thistlethwaite, says the federal government’s response to the Bondi attack will include a review of the country’s migration laws to ensure those with antisemitic views cannot move to Australia.
Speaking to the ABC a short time ago, Thistlethwaite said the government’s package will be released “over the coming days and weeks”:
We’ll have a look at our migration settings to make sure that they’re appropriate and that they can weed out and stop people who have antisemitic or racist views, that may incite violence into Australia, and ensure that people like that can’t migrate to our country.
Seventeen patients injured in Bondi attack remain in Sydney hospitals
NSW Health has released the latest patient numbers from the Bondi terror attack.
There’s been no change from the patient figures released last night.
As of 8am, 17 patients injured in the attack remain in hospitals across Sydney.
Pakistan’s information minister calls for apologies from media outlets over claims one of the Bondi attackers was linked to Pakistan
Following on from the previous post, the minister said the misinformation appeared to stem from a case of mistaken identity, as a Pakistani man living in Sydney shared the same name as one of the two suspects.
“How do we restore the situation to where it was before the Bondi Beach attack?” Tarar asked, adding that the Pakistani man – also named Naveed Akram – had released a video denying any involvement and urging the public not to associate him with the attack.
Tarar said the Pakistani man was “a victim of a malicious and organized campaign” and that the disinformation effort originated in India.
“As Pakistan has suffered from terrorism for a long time, we fully understand the grief of the Australian people and express complete solidarity with them,” Tarar wrote on X Wednesday evening.
He said some media outlets hastily claimed that one of the attackers was linked to Pakistan, even though there was neither evidence nor verification to support this claim. “This assertion was later proven to be completely false,” Tarar said.
Tarar called on media outlets that published the false reports to issue apologies and said Pakistan had not yet decided whether to pursue legal action.
Pakistan has been the target of online disinformation campaign over Bondi attack, government minister says
Pakistan’s information minister says his country has been the victim of a coordinated online disinformation campaign after the mass shooting at Bondi beach, Associated Press reports.
Attaullah Tarar accused “hostile countries”, including India, of spreading false claims that one of the two attackers was a Pakistani national.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, Tarar said Pakistan’s leadership strongly condemned Sunday’s attack.
The minister said misleading information began circulating almost immediately after the attack, with social media posts falsely identifying one of the suspects as a Pakistani national. He said the claims spread rapidly across digital platforms and were repeated by some media outlets without verification.
Tarar said subsequent findings, including confirmation by Indian police, established that one of the alleged attackers, Sajid Akram, was from India, while his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram was born in Australia.
Jim Chalmers says he doesn’t want agencies investigating Bondi attack ‘deterred’ by antisemitism royal commission
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he doesn’t federal agencies investigating the Bondi attack “delayed or deterred” by a royal commission into antisemitism.
The former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Wednesday called for a royal commission during an emotional speech at the site of the Bondi terror attack
Chalmers says he backs his colleague Tony Burke’s sentiment on ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday who rejected calls for a royal commission. He says “we want our agencies 100% focused on the investigations”:
We don’t want them delayed or deterred by a royal commission.
Everyone’s focus, including the agencies involved here, needs to be on the investigation, needs to be on getting to the bottom of what happened here … primarily because that will help us, help inform us, as we take additional necessary steps
Pressed on if a royal commission would delay or deter action, Chalmers says:
The point I’m trying to convey to your listeners, and I think the point that Tony (Burke) was making last night, is we want our agencies 100% focused on the investigation.
