 "'Clear lack of leadership': Bondi beach shooting arms Australia's Opposition to target PM Albanese")
Australia’s Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, called out the Albanese government over its failure to prevent the devastating Bondi Beach attack from happening. Ley on Sunday called out Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for “failing” to protect the jews in Australia.
She emphasised that there has been a “palpable anger” in the community and a sense of “bewilderment”. The remarks from the Australian politician came after 16 people, plus one of the two gunmen, were killed in the Bondi Beach attack. 38 others were also left injured after two gunmen opened fire at a park near Bondi Beach, where people were gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah.
“Antisemitism in Australia has been left to fester. We have seen a clear failure to keep Jewish Australians safe. We have seen a clear lack of leadership in keeping Jewish Australians safe. We have a government that sees antisemitism as a problem to be managed, not evil that needs to be eradicated,” Ley said in her statement condemning the attack.
“We’ve seen synagogues fire-bombed, orchestrated by foreign terrorist states. Every single day for the last two years, the lives of Jewish Australians have been made harder by this rising tide of antisemitism,” she added. The Australian leader of the opposition urged PM Albanese to do whatever it takes to protect the jews of the country.
“The prime minister has told Jewish Australians that he will do whatever it takes to deal with antisemitism. He must start today by committing to implementing all of the recommendations in his antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s report,” she said.
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While speaking at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday, Ley said that the day will be “burnt in the nation’s soul”. “It was the darkest day since the Port Arthur massacre in April 1996. Australians will remember where they were on the day of the Bondi massacre, and they will remember the feelings of overwhelming disbelief and shock that they felt. Those who saw the murderous massacre firsthand and lost loved ones will be changed forever,” she said.
“I sought an assurance from the prime minister that I would receive the necessary security briefings from our agencies and police, and I was told that would happen today,” she added, paying tribute to the first responders and bystanders who stepped into danger and saved the lives of the people.
Meanwhile, Shadow Minister Julian Leeser and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonathon Duniam both noted in the same press conference that the “attack shouldn’t have happened” in the first place. Leeser, who is a Jewish MP, tells the public to imagine Hanukkah by the Sea is like “carols by candlelight”. “[There are] children on rides and people eating sugary food, dancing, music and prayers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Duniam says this attack “should never have happened” and that it could have been avoided. “We didn’t have to come to this. Over the last two years, there have been countless warning signs to our country, to our leaders, about things that need to be addressed. Reports have been compiled, recommendations provided by the special envoy to antisemitism, and those things haven’t been acted upon,” he averred.
“As an opposition, we will work with the government to provide whatever support is necessary to put in place measures that prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again … It is unacceptable that it has come to this, and leadership needs to be shown now. We can’t wait another day,” he added. It is pertinent to note that the Australian government has already declared the attack as “an act of terror”. The incident is still under investigation.
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