Australia’s prime minister has announced a review of the country’s police and intelligence agencies a week after the deadly Bondi Beach gun attack.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the review, led by a former chief of Australia’s spy agency, would probe whether federal police and intelligence agencies have the “right powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe”.
The review comes as Australia marks a day of reflection to honour those killed and injured by two gunmen at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Authorities invited Australians to light a candle on Sunday evening, the start of the eighth and final day of the Jewish festival of lights, “as a quiet act of remembrance with family, friends or loved ones” of the victims.
An evening memorial event at Bondi Beach will take place under a heavy police presence, including officers carrying long-arm firearms, police said in a statement.
A minute’s silence was also held at 6.47pm (7.47am UK time).
Earlier this week, around 700 people on paddle boards and surfboards took to the sea at Bondi Beach, forming a huge circle in a show of solidarity.
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Gaps in the system
The attack exposed gaps in gun-license assessments and information-sharing between agencies that politicians have said they want to plug.
Albanese has announced a nationwide gun buyback, while gun safety experts say the nation’s gun laws, among the world’s toughest, are full of loopholes.
Authorities believe the gunmen were inspired by Islamic State.
“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation.
“Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond,” Albanese said in a statement, adding that the review would conclude by the end of April.
Albanese has been under pressure from critics who say his centre-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism since the start of the war in Gaza.
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The prime minister has since vowed to strengthen hate laws in the wake of the attack.
On Saturday, the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, committed to introducing a bill to ban the display of symbols and flags of “terrorist organisations”, including those of Islamic State, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Authorities say Islamic State flags were found in the car the attackers took to Bondi.
One of the alleged gunmen, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene.
His 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who was also shot by police and emerged from a coma on Tuesday, has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, according to police.
He remains in custody in hospital.
