Australia’s prime minister was met with boos and insults when he arrived at a Bondi Beach vigil for victims of last week’s gun attack.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed when his name was announced on the stage set up in front of the crowd – amid anger that the premier hasn’t done more to tackle rising antisemitism in Australia.
In contrast, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns’s name was greeted with cheers and a standing ovation.
The premier was thanked for his leadership and for not missing “a funeral, synagogue service, or an opportunity to be with the Jewish community this week”.
Before going to the vigil, Albanese had announced a review of the country’s police and intelligence agencies a week after the deadly Bondi Beach gun attack.
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.
News correspondent
As the heat of Sydney’s summer started to drop away, thousands of people came out to Bondi to support the Jewish community in a day of National Reflection.
They covered the hillside above Bondi. A sea of people standing in solidarity.
There was a minute of silence, though it felt much longer as the usual din of Bondi faded away to stillness.
People hugged each other, sat quietly and there were also tears.
It has been a confronting and deeply emotional week for the Jewish community in Bondi, as they struggle to comprehend the scale of the tragedy that has struck them.
The rest of Australia has struggled too. People are shocked that a mass shooting could happen in this normally peaceful country.
People are angry that the strict gun laws failed to keep firearms out of people with extremist ideology.
Jewish people are angry at the government for failing to curb a rise of antisemitic attacks since the Israel-Gaza war started.
After the memorial I spoke with three of Sydney’s Jewish rabbis from the Emmanuel Synagogue. They said that when it comes to hate speech and antisemitism “words matter”.
But there are few words of comfort to offer a community still so shaken and raw from the massacre of one week ago.
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.
