Australian PM orders police, intelligence review after Bondi attack

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.

A father and his son are accused of spraying bullets into the family-thronged Hanukkah celebration on December 14, allegedly inspired by "Islamic State ideology".

Albanese said his government will examine whether police and spy services have the powers, structures, and sharing arrangements "to keep Australians safe".

"The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation," he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

"Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond."

Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.

His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who survived and remains in hospital under police guard, is facing multiple charges including terrorism and 15 murders.

The son was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2019 for possible radicalisation but was found at the time not to pose a threat, according to Australian authorities.

His father was also questioned by the intelligence service as part of that review, but he managed to obtain a gun licence that allowed him to own six rifles.

A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting, Albanese said there were "real issues" with the country's intelligence service.

"We need to examine exactly the way that systems work. We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made," he told national broadcaster ABC.

Asked in a separate interview about the alleged gunmen's trip to the Philippines, Albanese said their radicalization was under investigation.

"But it is also the case that they were not seen to be persons of interest, and that is why this is such a shocking event," he said.

Australians will observe a minute's silence at 6:47 pm (0747 GMT) on Sunday, exactly one week after the first reports of gunfire, lighting candles in a silent tribute to victims. 

Many people have already marked the attack with unofficial acts of remembrance.

Hundreds of swimmers and surfers bobbed in a floating circle off Bondi Beach on Friday, splashing the water and roaring with emotion.

On Saturday, surf lifesavers lined the shore and fell silent in memory of the dead.

Surfers and swimmers congregate in the surf at Bondi Beach on Saturday as a tribute. Photo: AFP

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said he would open an independent Royal Commission investigation into the shooting.

Asked on Sunday if the attack could have been avoided, he said: "I don't know. I mean, it's something that I stay up at night wondering about and worrying about."

The Australian government has announced a suite of national measures to crack down on gun ownership and hate speech, promising stricter federal laws and harsher penalties.

The state of New South Wales says it plans to ban "hateful" slogans including "Globalise the Intifada" and symbols such as Islamic State group flags.

'Ray of sunshine' 

Many Jewish Australians have criticised the authorities for not doing more to protect them before the attack.

"Do we feel safe? You know, the answer is 'not really', to be honest," rabbi Yossi Friedman told AFP at a floral memorial for the victims.

Families have been holding funerals for their loved ones. One was for 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest of those killed, who was described at the service as "our little ray of sunshine".

Alongside the killing, stories have emerged of courage and selflessness: unarmed beachgoers grappling with the heavily-armed assailants, shielding relatives, friends and total strangers, or braving the bullets to treat the wounded.

Shopkeeper Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two who moved to Australia from Syria almost a decade ago, has been praised after a video shared online showed him ducking between cars and then wresting a gun from one of the attackers.

He was shot several times in the shoulder.

A counter-terrorism task force of police and intelligence services is now poring over the suspects' movements and contacts, including a four-week trip they made to the southern Philippines weeks before the Bondi attack.