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Australia woke up this week to a horror no free society should ever tolerate: a mass shooting at Bondi Beach that cut short lives celebrating the first night of Hanukkah and left scores wounded. Two men, later reported to be a father and son, opened fire on a crowded public event, turning seaside joy into a scene of carnage and grief. The scale of the attack — the deadliest mass shooting in Australia in decades — is a national trauma that demands straight answers.
Authorities have described the incident as an explicitly antisemitic terrorist act, with investigators reportedly finding extremist paraphernalia and improvised devices connected to the suspects. One attacker was killed at the scene and the other was taken into custody, but the damage was already done: families shattered, children wounded, and a community left scarred. We should call it what it is — targeted, ideological violence against Jews — and refuse to let the language be softened for political convenience.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his cabinet scrambled into crisis mode, promising changes to gun licensing and a national firearms register as part of the response. Politicians across the spectrum offered condolences and talked unity, but their first instinct to reach for new gun bans misses the point that law-abiding Australians were the victims, while violent extremists exploited failures elsewhere. Australians deserve security measures that actually prevent terror, not reflexive policy gestures that punish responsible citizens.
Already there are troubling reports that the younger suspect had been on the radar of security services years ago yet was not deemed an imminent threat. If intelligence agencies knew of radicalisation and still failed to stop an attack of this scale, those failures fall squarely on the institutions and the leaders who oversee them. We cannot accept a system that only files paperwork while communities become targets; accountability must follow, not platitudes.
Conservatives rightly demand a different set of priorities: stronger, better-funded intelligence and law enforcement, tighter scrutiny of radical networks, and commonsense immigration and visa vetting that prevents dangerous ideologies from taking root. Community policing, empowering bystanders-turned-heroes, and securing places of worship should be front and center — not knee-jerk restrictions on licensed firearm owners who are not the ones pulling triggers. This is about protecting innocent lives, not scoring political points.
Among the darkest moments were acts of brave humanity — bystanders and lifeguards who rushed toward danger and saved lives, and a civilian who wrestled a weapon away from a shooter at great personal risk. Those examples of courage remind us what ordinary Australians are capable of when the state falters. They also underscore the moral duty of government to do its job: keep citizens safe so heroes are not the first line of defense against terror.
In the aftermath, political leaders will be tested: will they offer real reform that targets radicalisation and strengthens security, or will they simply grandstand with policies that make voters feel like something is being done while leaving the root causes untouched? Hardworking Australians — Jewish families mourning loved ones, first responders, and every taxpayer — deserve concrete action, transparency, and consequences for failures. If Canberra wants unity, start by protecting the vulnerable and restoring the public’s faith that their leaders prioritize safety over ideology.
