Sydney mall attack: The horror, humanity and heroism at Bondi Junction - editorial

A heroic police officer ended a knifeman’s reign of terror inside a packed Westfield at Sydney’s Bondi Junction as she bravely took him on alone and shot him dead with a single bullet. Photo / News.com.au

EDITORIAL

The horrific mass stabbing in Sydney on Saturday will rattle Aussies and Kiwis alike.

That shoppers out during a weekend visit to a mall didn’t make it home to their loved ones makes us wonder what sort of society we live in.

Witnesses’ accounts of the href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-sydney-mall-attack/5JSSZKNUIBHV7ENVY5ZP4NALIE/" target="_blank">attack at Westfield Bondi Junction are harrowing.

The lone assailant, a 40-year-old man, was seen running up escalators with a knife and charging at people. Shoppers fled in terror during the attack into stores, with mall staff helping some escape to safety. During the rampage, a heroic member of the public took on the knifeman at the top of an escalator with a bollard, preventing him from going to the next level.

Later, the offender was shot dead by police when refusing to drop his weapon.

We should have nothing but praise for the officers and bystanders who did what they could to stop the attacker and rush to the aid of the victims.

Our hearts also go out to the families of the dead and the survivors, who will bear the physical and mental scars of the tragedy. Messages of support from around the world have poured in for them - including from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon who said that “Australia was family”.

“All New Zealanders are thinking of those affected by the tragic events in Bondi, especially the family and friends of those killed,” Luxon posted on the social media site X.

As well as feelings of sorrow and sympathy for the victims, some will feel anger at the perpetrator.

Others may feel afraid to go about their day-to-day lives after an attack at a place where people expect to be safe.

New Zealanders, unfortunately, have known this feeling before.

They were rife after a gunman murdered 51 worshippers and injured 40 others at two Christchurch mosques in 2019. They rippled through the community when seven people were stabbed at an Auckland supermarket in 2021.

Unlike those two attacks, New South Wales police do not believe the Bondi Junction incident to be terror-related.

Emergency officers stand by with stretchers outside Westfield Shopping Centre where multiple people were stabbed in Sydney. Photo / AP

As the investigation begins into what was behind Sydney’s frenzied stabbing, New Zealand authorities should pay close attention to see what lessons can be gleaned from across the Tasman.

Ahead of that, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s address to the nation bears repeating.

Bondi Junction was a scene of shocking violence, he said, but was also witness to the “humanity and heroism” of those who intervened.

“Staff for whom this should have been a normal shift, shoppers peacefully going about their lives, and yet for these Australians, their first instinct in the face of danger was to help someone else.”

“That is what we hold on to… confirmation of who we are, brave, strong, together,” Albanese said.