The shooting has renewed scrutiny of firearms laws, intelligence failures and how both Australia and NZ protect their crowded public spaces, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Younger gunman had been investigated in 2019

A day and a half on from the mass shooting at Bondi Beach, Australian authorities are piecing together a clearer picture of what police have declared a terrorist attack driven by antisemitism. Fifteen people were killed when a father and son opened fire on an event celebrating the first night of Chanukah, with dozens more injured. The older gunman, Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police; his son Naveed Akram, 24, remains in hospital under armed guard.

Investigators now believe the pair had pledged allegiance to the jihadist organisation Islamic State, the ABC reports. Prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that Naveed Akram had been investigated in 2019 for close ties to a Sydney-based IS cell, after police foiled a separate terror plot. He was evaluated at the time as posing no ongoing threat, an assessment now likely to be scrutinised as investigators examine how the attack was planned and carried out.

Gun laws no longer fit for purpose, say critics

The revelation that Sajid Akram was a licensed firearms holder has reignited debate in Australia over whether gun control has become too permissive nearly three decades after the Port Arthur massacre, which prompted an urgent weapons crackdown. Police say Akram had held a firearms licence for around 10 years and legally owned six weapons, 1News reports.

Albanese has moved quickly, convening a National Cabinet meeting in which state leaders agreed to strengthen gun laws across the country. The potential changes will include limits on the number of firearms an individual can own and periodic licence reviews. “People’s circumstances can change, people can be radicalised over a period of time, licences should not be in perpetuity,” Albanese said.

Gun control advocates told the ABC the attack exposed weaknesses in the enforcement of the National Firearms Agreement introduced after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. Roland Browne of Gun Control Australia said the original intent was to make it progressively harder to acquire additional weapons, and for any prospective purchaser to have a good reason for buying a gun. But that was no longer the case, Browne said. “Why somebody needs six firearms in suburban Sydney is a complete mystery,” he said, referring to Akram.

‘We are family’

Here at home, prime minister Christopher Luxon said he had contacted Albanese to offer condolences. “Australia and New Zealand are closer than friends, we are family – and when something like this happens to our family we feel it all deeply,” he said.

Luxon said the government “stand[s] in solidarity” with the people of the Jewish faith in Australia, New Zealand and around the world, and confirmed police have stepped up visible patrols around synagogues and other sites of Jewish worship, RNZ reports.

The terrorism threat level in New Zealand is unchanged at low. Luxon noted the assessment means a terrorist attack remains a realistic possibility, but stressed there is no specific intelligence indicating an imminent threat. Jewish community leaders have welcomed the increased presence while warning of a global normalisation of antisemitism that has left many feeling vulnerable. “To have such violence inflicted on Jews [during Chanukah] is a devastating reminder that antisemitism continues to manifest in the most brutal ways,” said Deborah Hart of the Holocaust Centre of NZ.

Crowded places, lone actors

The attack has also refocused attention on potential threats to other NZ communities. In September, police and intelligence agencies launched Protecting Our Crowded Places from Attack, New Zealand’s first national strategy aimed at preventing and managing mass-casualty events. Experts told the NZ Herald (paywalled) the most plausible domestic threat remains a lone actor radicalised online, often using easily accessible weapons in crowded public spaces.

The strategy urges venues, schools and event organisers to think proactively about security measures such as lighting, barriers, surveillance and emergency planning. For the public, police stress that awareness and simple actions matter. As assistant commissioner Mike Johnson said: “Remember three simple words: Escape. Hide. Tell. That means moving quickly and quietly away from danger, staying out of sight, silencing your phone and – when it is safe to do so – calling police on 111.”