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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived with his wife Jodie Haydon to pay respects at the memorial for victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 21, 2025. — AFP
– The attack was reportedly motivated by “Daesh ideology.”
– An official review will scrutinize the authorities’ powers, organizational structure, and communication systems.
– Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) looked into the suspect’s son in 2019 but found no threat.
SYDNEY: On Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a review of Australia’s police and intelligence agencies following a tragic shooting at Bondi Beach that left 15 people dead. The gunmen responsible for the December 14 attack, a father and son, allegedly targeted a Hanukkah celebration inspired by “Daesh ideology.”
Albanese emphasized the need to assess whether law enforcement and intelligence agencies have adequate authority, organizational frameworks, and information-sharing mechanisms to ensure national safety. “The recent attack inspired by Daesh underscores how much the security landscape in our country is evolving,” he said. “Our security agencies must be prepared to respond effectively.”
The suspect, Sajid Akram, 50, was fatally shot by police during the attack. An Indian citizen who arrived in Australia on a visa in 1998, he was killed at the scene. His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian citizen born in the country, remains hospitalized under police custody, facing multiple charges including terrorism and the murders of 15 individuals.
The son was previously investigated by ASIO in 2019 for potential radicalization but was deemed no threat at that time. His father was also questioned during this review but was able to secure a license to own six firearms.
In the weeks prior to the attack, the father and son returned to Sydney from a month-long trip to southern Philippines, now under investigation by authorities in both countries. Albanese pointed out serious concerns about the effectiveness of Australia’s intelligence system, especially considering the history of the suspect’s prior assessment.
Regarding their stay on Mindanao, the Prime Minister noted, “While radicalization is being explored, there’s no evidence the Philippines is being used as a training site.”
Authorities in Mindanao indicated the pair mostly stayed confined to their hotel room at Davao City’s GV Hotel, venturing out only briefly. Regional police, after reviewing CCTV footage, confirmed the father visited a gun shop during their stay.
Criminologist Clarke Jones from Australian National University described it as “very, very unusual” for a father and son to be suspected perpetrators in such cases. Once in the Philippines, the suspects could have easily traveled to Mindanao without raising suspicion. Jones noted that their radicalization seemed to have developed unnoticed over the years since the initial 2019 Australian security review, suggesting that support measures for at-risk individuals might have been insufficient.
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