ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much for joining us. I'm joined by Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, and Nigel Ryan, the AFP Acting Police, Acting Deputy Commissioner. This morning I convened a meeting of the Cabinet where we were briefed on the latest intelligence on yesterday's attack in Bondi. And I've just come from a meeting of the National Security Committee where I also invited Premier Chris Minns to join us along with the NSW Police Commissioner. At 4 o'clock today, the NSW Police Commissioner and AFP Commissioner will be briefing the National Cabinet and I'm continually receiving updates from our national security agencies. We'll work hard over the days ahead to keep Australians updated on all of the developments. And on that note, I want to provide people with a few updates on work we have been doing. We are extending the funding for the National Council for Jewish Community Security and its state based community security groups to provide overall security cover to the Jewish community as part of that. That is included in MYEFO, but we're pre-empting that announcement today. That's also for capital works and can be utilised for guarding costs incurred by individual Jewish organisations across Australia. We're also working with Jewish community organisations to see how we can best support charity efforts, including through tax deductible status for donations - and we're doing work on that. The Government will also quickly work through the process of a declaration under the Terrorism and Cyclone Insurance Act that would ensure that insurance companies are able to pay it to local businesses for eligible losses. We're also working on support for funerals that will be held, but also visitor visas for people who are relatives wishing to visit Australia for the funerals, and I'll ask the Minister to comment on that.
I do want to make a couple of more points as well. This morning I met with police who were on the scene last night, some of whom had been up all night. These are brave people. Many people who were off duty police headed towards Bondi last night from as far away as Newcastle and the Central Coast. They did so because of their commitment to their fellow Australians and the diligence that they show. And I think we need to recognise their incredible work at a time as well when two police officers have been seriously injured as a result of the efforts and bravery that they have shown. What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of terror, an act of antisemitism, an attack on the first day of Chanukah targeted at the Jewish community. A dark day in Australia's history on what should have been a day of light. And visiting the scene there at Bondi this morning, it was a very physical reminder of the iconic status of Bondi Beach and the Bondi Pavilion. I opened that pavilion after the refurbishment just a couple of years ago. It is a historic place and the fact that this was a venue for this act of evil, that was clearly calculated by these perpetrators, is just an outrage and a shock to the community. One of the things that is coming through, though, is that the community want to be able to express their support and solidarity. And I would urge and join with others who have urged Australians across the country to light a candle, put it in their front window tonight at 6:47pm to show that light will indeed defeat darkness - part of what Hanukkah celebrates, of course. We are stronger than the cowards who did this. And I want to conclude finally by saying that the Government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws. And this afternoon at 4 o’clock I will put on the agenda of the National Cabinet tougher gun laws, including limits on the number of guns that can be used or licensed by individuals, and a review of licences over a period of time. People's circumstances change, people can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity. And checks, of course, making sure that those checks and balances are in place as well. We will task, I'll take to National Cabinet this afternoon, a proposal to empower agencies to examine what can be done in this area. Quite clearly, the Howard Government's gun laws have made an enormous difference in Australia and a proud moment of reform, quite rightly, achieved across the Parliament with bipartisan support. If we need to toughen these up, if there's anything we can do, I'm certainly up for it and I hope to get National Cabinet on board for that this afternoon as well. I'll ask the Minister to make some comments and then the Acting Deputy Commissioner Ryan, Nigel Ryan, to make some comments as well.
TONY BURKE, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thanks, Prime Minister. Yesterday was an attack on Jewish Australians, it was an attack on modern Australia, it was an attack on Australia itself - and all Australians stand together against that attack. The police who were there standing together against the attackers, first responders standing together against the attackers, and even a bystander like Ahmed el Ahmed, standing there putting their own lives at risk against those attackers. The joint counterterrorism team involving ASIO and the Australian Federal Police, with the investigation being led by NSW Police, needs to be allowed to do its work. While that work is happening, though, there are needs for the community right now. One of the additional things that the community have raised directly with me is because of the number of people who will have family members overseas, not only in Israel but in other parts of the world, who will want to be able to get them here rapidly for funerals. We have set up a specific section of the Department, rapidly dealing with visa processing at a pace that would not ordinarily be there, to make sure that, given the often speedy nature of funerals in terms of the timeline in the Jewish tradition, to make sure that we maximise the chance for family members to be able to be reunited here at the worst of times. The Department of Home Affairs is also doing other work, as the Prime Minister referred to, with respect to working through a way to assist with the cost of those funerals. And finally, my department will stand ready for any of the outcomes that come out of the meeting of National Cabinet today with respect to the work that needs to be done on gun laws.
NIGEL RYAN, ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE: Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Prime Minister. Again, our thoughts are with all of those that have been affected by this senseless act of terrorism. The AFP continues to work seamlessly with our partners in the joint counterterrorism team being NSW Police and ASIO. In relation to Operation Arques, there has been significant police operational activity in the past 12 hours and this will continue into the days and weeks ahead. I must stress that this is an active and ongoing investigation and I'm very limited in what I can say, but we do commit to providing timely updates to the community when appropriate. The AFP will use all of its specialist capabilities and resources to thoroughly investigate this matter in conjunction with NSW Police. The AFP will also continue to engage with affected communities that have been affected by this tragic event. The AFP stands firm in condemning any form of violence in our communities or any form of extremist behaviour. And we will work tirelessly to stamp it out. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER Questions?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Mike Burgess warned you in February that antisemitism was the number one threat to life. Is that still the case and have you taken these threats seriously enough? And Acting Deputy Commissioner, if I may, it's my understanding that Sajid Akram moved to Australia in the late 90s, I believe from Pakistan. Is that correct?
PRIME MINISTER: On the latter the Minister will respond. We take ASIO's advice very seriously. We work closely with them. We receive regular updates as well. The Director-General of ASIO has warned about a range of threats, be it antisemitism, the rise of right wing extremist groups as well. And we continue to work closely with our security agencies.
MINISTER BURKE: In terms of the father and the son - the son is an Australian-born citizen. The father arrived in 1998 on a student visa, transferred in 2001 to a partner visa and after each trip overseas since then has been on resident return visas which has occurred three times.
JOURNALIST: From Pakistan?
MINISTER BURKE: At this stage given NSW Police are leading the investigation I have cleared to be able to talk about the visa history which I've done.
JOURNALIST: When did the son first come onto the radar of ASIO? Why? And was he part of any terror group or linked to any terror group?
PRIME MINISTER The son first came to attention in October 2019. He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe that to be a failing?
PRIME MINISTER I've reported factually on what ASIO have found.
JOURNALIST: Your hand-picked Antisemitism Envoy has demanded you accelerate your antisemitism plan you haven’t acted on for six months. Do you plan to accelerate this in any way following this horrific event?
PRIME MINISTER Well, we have acted and will continue to act on the implementation of the plan. The plan was announced right here in this room with the Envoy and I thank her for the ongoing work. A range of the recommendations that she made have been acted on. She recommended that legislation be strengthened to appropriately address antisemitism and hateful conduct vilification, Action 3.2. We've done the following - We've criminalised hate speech advocating violence. We've criminalised doxing under Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill and we have a landmark ban on the Nazi salute and hate symbols with penalties of imprisonment and or a fine of up to $16,500. She recommended the strengthening of institutional accountability and university reform. We created the National Student Ombudsman, was established this year, with strong investigative powers same as those of a Royal Commission. We conducted the review of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency has commenced and that review consultation power was released by the Minister in September with responses due in October. Special Envoy is also progressing with the administrative support from the Department of Home Affairs, a university report card evaluating university measures to promote inclusivity for Jewish students and staff. Recommendation 3.3 was on educational awareness and public discourse. We've allocated $4 million to expand the social cohesion work of Together for Humanity in schools. Recommendation 3.5 was the enhanced protection of Jewish communities through physical security measures and I've commented on the further extension of of that that we are putting in place. Recommendation 3.9 was reviewing and strengthening migration and citizenship matters, and the Department of Home Affairs is undertaking a review of relevant training packages to strengthen modules on assessing whether an applicant's conduct involves inciting or promoting hatred and ensuring coverage of vilifying behaviour directed at any group. Recommendation 3.12 was support for Jewish communities cultural, social and religious life while ensuring safety and security. We've committed grant funding, which we announced in January, including $8.5 million to upgrade the Sydney Jewish Museum, $4.4 million for the National Holocaust Education Centre in Canberra, an additional $2 million to the Holocaust Institute of Western Australia and we committed $18 million to the Jewish Arts Quarter in Melbourne. We'll continue to work at the levels with the Envoy, including a number of the recommendations, of course, for state governments to implement as well.
JOURNALIST: Why did ASIO's interest in Naveed Akram not raise red flags that would prompt a reevaluation of the father's licence to have six guns? And when you talk about introducing more checks and balances, clearly in that situation, would you say that the gun licence should be revoked?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what's important is that the authorities be enabled to do their work. That's what we have done. I've reported to you accurately ASIO's advice, including the timelines which were done in 2019. The assessment was made because of the son’s associations that he had at that time and the investigation went for a period of six months.
JOURNALIST: Can I just say, what are the associations of concern? Who is the association?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a question, with respect, for the ASIO Director-General, but it was people he was associated with rather than things that he himself had done.
JOURNALIST: Can we hear from the Home Affairs Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: If you were able to expand on those associations?
MINISTER BURKE: Well, no, it's - it's the exact same answer that the Prime Minister just gave, that the assessment of ASIO was with respect to his associations, rather than at that point there being a personal motivation from him.
JOURNALIST: And ASIO closed the file and didn’t tell –
MINISTER BURKE: No, no, no. You're making a whole lot of extra assumptions. We've given you the information and that's what we've given you. Any, you know, ASIO makes decisions as to what could be provided. We provided that with you.
JOURNALIST: But should they have told police so that someone could investigate whether a close relative of his was licensed to have firearms? Did they tell anyone else?
MINISTER BURKE: I've got full support, full support, for our security agencies. And part of making sure that they can do their job is making sure that information is brought out in the way in which we are doing it right now.
JOURNALIST: Are there other family members being investigated? Do you have any concerns about the other family members?
MINISTER BURKE: I have full support for our security agencies and I'm authorised to give you the information which I have given you.
PRIME MINISTER: And you would understand this is an ongoing investigation and therefore we are not in a position to compromise that ongoing investigation. We have gone through, through the committees, what we are able to tell you. We're providing as much information as possible.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, has Australia gotten complacent on gun control since Port Arthur? And in terms of the gun control ideas that you'll be bringing to National Cabinet, what is within your power to do and what do you need from states?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, some laws are Commonwealth and some are implemented by the states. What we want to do is to make sure that we're all completely on the same page. That is one of the reasons why I'm convening the National Cabinet today as a matter of urgency. We will then task work to be done, as Premier Minns said he will task work in NSW. We want to make sure, though, that there's greater uniformity in these issues. One of the things that we have done, for example, is to provide substantial amount of funding support so that the issues that arose out of the Queensland incident, where you had a terrorist incident that resulted in the death of Queensland police officers, that that information wasn't transferred across state boundaries. Now, that's something that we addressed at that time. We've provided funding for that, but we'll continue to work through those issues.
JOURNALIST: Can the National Firearms Register move faster? And does Australia need a new firearms [inaudible] by that program?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are. That's precisely what we're doing. Before us, there wasn't a National Firearms Register. That's the point. That's one of the major reforms that we're doing and we will do it as soon as we can. In some cases, some state jurisdictions still had paper identification. That was what we were dealing with. Now we are responding in a really practical way. If there's more that can be done, we will do it. We will do whatever is necessary.
JOURNALIST: You’ve detailed a bunch of progress there on antisemitism, but speaking to members of the community last night, today, there's a sense of extreme bitterness that this was inevitable and that they weren't listened to. I'd like you to respond to that and this idea that has been led to fester. What can we do now that this has happened, to stamp that out and make sure that our community feels safe?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the community are going through a terrible time. This is an incident that is aimed at, by definition, terrorism is aimed at creating fear in the community. You have these two individuals who have engaged in a horrific act, one that is completely out of place with the way that Australia functions as a society. And it contrasts with the actions of police who rushed towards Bondi, the actions of Ahmed el Ahmed, who took the gun off that perpetrator at great risk to himself and suffered serious injury as a result of that, and is currently going through operations today in hospital. At the best of times, what we see is Australians coming together. And what I want is for Australians to come together, for this to be reinforcing the need for us to promote national unity. And that is critical. There is no place in Australia for antisemitism. There is no place for hatred. And people who were exercising their right to express their faith through Chanukah had every right to expect that they could do that in peace and with a joyful celebration, which is what it's aimed at. Thank you very much.