THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SUNRISE WITH NATALIE BARR
MONDAY, 15 APRIL 2024
SUBJECTS: BONDI JUNCTION INCIDENT; HEIGHTENING SECURITY AT SHOPPING CENTRES.
NATALIE BARR: Well, there are now calls for security guards at all shopping centres to be armed following the Bondi tragedy. Let's bring in Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Good morning to both of you.
BARNABY JOYCE: Good morning.
BARR: Tanya, we've just heard Faraz Tahir, his week on the job, I think his first day‑time shift. What do you think about sending these people out with basically a water bottle to protect everyone?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, I think at the moment, Nat, we're all just reeling in shock and grieving, and I think there will be plenty of time to methodically go through what happened on the weekend, and see if there are things that we can learn about how to make sure that people feel safe and are safe in places where they should be safe.
At the moment our focus is on the victims, their families, their friends, and all of the people who were there on the weekend, who I'm sure will be impacted, probably for the rest of their lives by what's happened.
The focus on what we can learn from this, absolutely, we should do that in the future; there will be plenty of time for that.
BARR: Yeah, you're right. And there's the police investigation; there will be many investigations into how on earth this happened. Right now, people are going to shopping centres, and a lot of people feel unsafe, that's why I guess these questions are starting to be asked. Barnaby, pepper spray, batons, handcuffs, tasers; should they be carried by security guards? What's your opinion?
JOYCE: Well, I'm with Tanya on this one. We've got a lot of time to analyse exactly what we need to do, and if proper further actions need to be taken so that security guards are more secure, and more importantly, that the people they protect are more secure, then I'm sure that will be a recommendation.
But it's such a tragedy, isn't it? I mean there's just no reason there. If there was an actual reason, I suppose, we'd have something to dislike, to hate, to be honest. But we have a person who's a diagnosed schizophrenic, estranged from their family, and even the family are apologising to others saying, "Look, we are so sorry for what happened here." And those families, the grief that we're going through, and stabbing a child, stabbing women, I mean it's just the whole thing's horrific, and that's why I think the nation as one is overwhelmingly shocked, and we even hear from Faraz Tahir's colleagues, friends that, you know, whichever way you look at it, it's a disgusting event, which showed the noblest intents of some people, the absolute tragedy of so many families, and the circumstances of mental illness, and the dark, dark side of it.
BARR: Yeah, you're right. Tanya, there are so many tragic sides to this, and as Barnaby said, that statement from the attacker's parents too, at first feeling for Amy Scott who had to pull that trigger. There are just so many sides to this, aren't there?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I mean it would be horrifying to think of ‑ it's just awful; for everybody involved, for the victims, for their families, for everybody who was there at Bondi Junction, all the people who think, "I could have been there", you know, "I would have normally been there on a Saturday", and then for the family of the attacker to come out in this way. I just think it shows, they've probably had a lifetime of pain and worry for their son, and to see something like this, and to be saying to Amy Scott, "We don't blame you." It's incredibly sad.
BARR: Yeah, you're right. We'll leave it there. We thank you. We'll see you next week.
END
