I'll make some comments and then be followed by the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, Commissioner Krissy Barrett, Minister Tony Burke, and then Minister Jason Clare. And then we'll be happy to take questions. There is no place in Australia for antisemitism. It is an evil that tears at the fabric of our country. It puts the peaceful, free and equal society that we cherish at risk. Sadly, since the terrible events of October 2023, we have witnessed an increase in antisemitism, which is of course an ancient hatred. We have seen a series of appalling attacks targeting Australia's Jewish community. That culminated on Sunday in one of the worst acts of mass murder that this country has ever seen. The terrorist atrocity that killed 15 innocent people, including 10-year-old Matilda, who will be buried later today, was an attack on our Jewish community. But it was also an attack on the Australian way of life. Australians are shocked and angry. I am angry. It is clear we need to do more to combat this evil scourge, much more.
Our Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, has delivered a report that sets out further steps we can take. The Australian Government adopts and fully supports the plan to combat antisemitism. We have already legislated for hate speech, hate crimes, hate symbols, outlawing doxing. We've already undertaken education action, including appointing the first ever Student Ombudsman and the development of the Envoy's report card on universities. We'll continue to work through the implementation of the thirteen recommendations in consultation with the Jewish community and the Envoy, and of course the first recommendation was the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism that the Government adopted.
Today, I'm announcing a significant number of additional actions to build on the plan. Firstly, the Attorney-General and Minister for Home Affairs will develop a package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalisation. The National Security Committee has agreed that changes will include the following five points. Agreed changes will include: one, an aggravated hate speech offence for preachers and leaders who promote violence. Secondly, increased penalties for hate speech promoting violence. Thirdly, making hate an aggravating factor in sentencing crimes for online threats and harassment. Fourthly, developing a regime for listing organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech promoting violence or racial hatred. And fifthly, developing a narrow federal offence for serious vilification based on race and or advocating racial supremacy. The Minister for Home Affairs will also have new powers to cancel or reject visas for those who spread hate and division in this country or would do so if they were allowed to come here.
David Gonski has agreed to lead a 12-month taskforce which will include the Envoy to ensure the Australian education system prevents, tackles and properly responds to antisemitism. The eSafety Commissioner, the Special Envoy and the Department of Communications will work together to provide online safety advice to address antisemitism. This builds on the extension in MYEFO as well. All of these measures, funding to provide overall security support to the Jewish community including at places of worship. I can also announce today the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements will be triggered in response to the attack. So, the Commonwealth and New South Wales will share the financial burden of the recovery. This is the first time that the DRFA has been used for a terrorist attack. This will provide support to victims, their families and small business impacted in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack. Over the coming days, I'll have more to say about the Government's response to Sunday's atrocity, including on gun control. And I note that New South Wales is moving on that next week.
Every Jewish Australian has the right to be proud of who they are and what they believe. And every Jewish Australian has the right to feel safe, valued and respected for the contribution that they make to our great nation. The terrorists, inspired by ISIS at Bondi Beach, sought to turn Australians against each other. Australians have responded to that act of hatred with love and sympathy for those in mourning. Australians responded to that act of cowardice and violence with bravery and with kindness. And we saw a coming together last night at St Mary's Cathedral of interfaith communities that was really uplifting. It is now up to all of us to honour the courage of those Australians, the heroes of Bondi, in the most meaningful way possible - by eliminating the evil of antisemitism from our society. I'll ask the Envoy to make some comments and then Commissioner Barrett.
JILLIAN SEGAL, SPECIAL ENVOY TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM: Thank you, Prime Minister. Obviously, we gather to consider my report and the implementation of it, adoption and implementation of it, in the shadow of the Bondi massacre, which has been an unbelievable tragedy for the community. I have been overwhelmed by support from members of the community, both here and from overseas and from all other Envoys around the world. So, we stand, I think, at a very important moment, not only for our community but for fighting antisemitism around the world. This more formal response has been a long time coming, but of course it does build on a range of activities and work that started as soon as the report was delivered. It is an important next step. There are a number of urgent initiatives the Prime Minister has announced relating of course to law reform and visa and immigration work. I'm encouraged by some of the medium-term actions that will take place over this next year relating to education. I think they are incredibly important. We have to lay foundations for the future of the nation. And there will be ongoing work across all the sectors in the report, longer term. And my office will be engaged in many of them. For example, the work that will take place in relation to online hate. That is an issue all over the world, and we will need to consult more broadly. We have done a lot of work already in that space, but there is a lot to do to bring it to some conclusion. But I am looking forward and I expect the full cooperation of the Government, as the Prime Minister has announced, with this ongoing implementation. And it was always envisaged - as you know, the report is quite a high-level report. It always envisaged that there would be more detailed implementation plans, and so I'm very grateful for the support that we will have ongoing to implement it.
KRISSY BARRETT, AFP COMMISSIONER: Good morning. This morning I'll provide a brief update on Operation Arques and then provide some broader commentary. Yesterday, a Bonnyrigg man was charged with allegedly committing a terrorist attack at Bondi beach, where 15 people were lethally shot and 49 were injured on 14 December 2025. He has been charged with 59 offences, including one count of committing a terrorist act; 15 counts of murder; 40 counts of causing wounding grievous bodily harm to person with intent to murder. In the coming days, the New South Wales Joint Counterterrorism Team will execute further search warrants to support our investigation. There is a lot of material to be examined, and the AFP continues to work with both domestic and international partners to build a more-complete picture of the movements and who the alleged offenders had contact with, both in Australia and offshore. I can also reveal the AFP has ongoing investigations into people who have been described as hate preachers. These individuals who spew hatred and cause fear are on my radar, and I have had the Counterterrorism and Special Investigations Command reviewing information and other material in relation to these individuals since I became the Commissioner.
I would now like to make some broader comments. I've just returned from Sydney, where the weight of grief hangs heavy, because hatred and violence struck a peaceful and loving Jewish community. Every day, we see the beautiful and joyful faces now lost, and in them we see our own loved ones. Today is the funeral of little Matilda. She was so young. She was so innocent. And my heart is so heavy for her family. I offer my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families who are mourning and who continue to bury loved ones. One funeral is one too many, but the reality of this cruel attack is that some families will attend more than one. I want to reiterate this today - as AFP Commissioner I say to Jewish Australians, you do not share this grief alone. I will share the weight of this unfortunate grief with you, not just as a police officer who is dedicated to protecting and serving our country, but also as a wife, as a mother, a sister and a daughter. The AFP is resolutely determined to protect Australians. We will be visible and we will use all of our resources and capabilities to identify and target those who want to do us harm.
TONY BURKE, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thanks, Prime Minister and thanks to Jillian Segal, who I've been working closely with throughout her appointment, and to Commissioner Barrett for the extraordinary work that she is doing. In addition to the work that we have already been doing, the Prime Minister's announcements today take Australia into new legal territory, creating new offences that have never before existed in Australia. The areas that we have already legislated on - hate crimes, hate speech, hate symbols - the Prime Minister has made references to where penalties would be increased and aggravated offences would be involved. But for too long, there have been two sorts of occasions where people have gone right to the limits of the law but have managed to stay on the legal side of it. There have been organisations which any Australian would look at and say their behaviour, their philosophy and what they are trying to do is about division and has no place in Australia. And yet, for a generation, no government has been able to successfully take action against them because they have fallen just below the legal threshold. Today, we're announcing that we're shifting the threshold. We have no time for organisations where their mission is to hate Australia and to hate fellow Australians.
Secondly, there have been individuals who have managed to exploit a nation that had different principles of freedom of speech and have gone right to the limits of language that is clearly dehumanising, unacceptable, having no place in Australia, but have not quite crossed the threshold to violence. We all know the gateway to violence that sort of language provides. They haven't met the legal threshold to date on many occasions, notwithstanding the work that the Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police continue to do. So, we're announcing that we're working on the legislation now to lower those thresholds. Australia is a good country. People have a right to be safe and to feel safe. And those who hate Australia will have new legal consequences that will change the sense of what it is to be safe in this country.
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Children aren't born antisemitic. Children aren't born racist. Children aren't born with hate in their hearts. This is something that's taught, this is something that's learned. There's lots of things that we need to do to tackle and weed out antisemitism, but what we do in education is an important part of that. In preventing it, in tackling it, in responding to it. That includes work that we do right across the system, from early education, to our schools, right through to universities. In our schools, it includes teacher training and the work that is being led by the Special Envoy with the support of UNESCO but also with the support of my department and the support of the states and territories rolling out teacher training from the start of next year. But in addition to that, extra resources for teachers, more investment in the sort of programs that we know that work in schools, like Together for Humanity - it's run by Rabbi Zalman Kastel, a dear friend of mine, and, I know, Tony's and all of us - but also the work we can do on the National Curriculum. The Curriculum already has in it holocaust education, but there is more that we can do here to make sure that we embed in it an understanding the evils of antisemitism, of the horrors of the Holocaust, and the importance of Australian values.
In addition to that, there's more work we can do in universities as well. The fact is, Jewish students have been made to feel unwelcome on campus. And there are important things that we have already done, like for the first time ever, establishing a National Student Ombudsman. And from next year, the Special Envoy report card work will commence. And as I announced back in September, next year, we'll introduce legislation to increase the powers and the penalties available to the tertiary education regulator to enable them to act where universities don't. But in addition to that, we're announcing today the establishment of an antisemitism education taskforce to be chaired by David Gonski. And that will also include the Special Envoy, Jillian Segal, it'll include the states and the territories as well as the key regulators in education, in early education, in school education and in higher education that report to me. David Gonski is a towering Australian. He understands the education system inside and out, and I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart for agreeing to chair this taskforce, and it will meet for the first time tomorrow morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: The warnings around hate speech and hate preachers long predate this horrific terror attack on Sunday. People grieving right now might reasonably ask why these changes to the threshold around these laws have taken so long. And do you take some responsibility for that delay?
PRIME MINISTER: We are the first government to legislate on hate speech. We did that. We've outlawed Nazi symbols. What we know is that there's more that we can do. So for example, the discussion we're announcing today to develop a regime for listing organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech, promoting violence or racial hatred. The idea there is that you will have a different threshold from declaration about terrorist organisations, and we've worked through that. This will require complex legal work as well from the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of the Attorney-General as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask in the context too of Matilda's funeral being held in just a few minutes, on top of the action you've announced there, is there a part of you that regrets not acting earlier with more strength and conviction to try and do more earlier? And for the pain that Jewish Australians and all Australians are feeling right now - do you apologies for that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, my heart goes out to Jewish Australians. Is there more that can be done? There is always more that can be done. Always. And quite clearly there's more to do. And on top of these announcements, there'll be more to do as well. What we have been doing is working through the report of the Special Envoy, implementing a range of measures, but always indicating there will be more to do. And I indicate here as well, there will be more to do to stamp this out.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the hate speech point - your government, when it was looking at hate speech laws last year, was initially looking at a vilification element which you've just announced today. And the government decided against that at the time. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry did say that the laws didn't go far enough. So, I guess, should you have put these in place a year ago when it was on the table? And is this the main that's changed to get you to take that action today?
MINISTER BURKE: Let's start with the context that for about a decade, the main argument that was happening in Australia was about weakening hate speech laws. And that's, that was the debate that was happening in this building. This government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been strengthening hate speech laws. Going the next step in the reference, you're referring to was effectively a proposal of mimicking the WA legislation. We need to remember the heads of power here are complex. This is not simple drafting. And when that amendment was proposed directly on the floor, I was the person who responded to it and referred to the willingness for the government to look at it. But the fact that the drafting, as it was put, was not something that we were going to be able to accept and we certainly were not going to do anything to delay the legislation that was in front of us right then, which was to have the toughest laws on hate speech Australia had ever had. The direction now is very much to continue on that pathway, and I think all Australians, when they look at some of these comments they've seen online, no one sees that and sees freedom of speech. They think it's unacceptable and the people who are arguing about freedom of speech and the need to weaken our laws ten years ago have gone very silent on that point now. And I'm glad that Australia is at a point that yes, it would have been great to be here 20 years ago. The decision now has been made, and Australia will be better for it.
JOURNALIST: When the terrorist threat level was raised in August last year, Mike Burgess said the threats are becoming harder to predict and identify the drivers of radicalisation and extremism are growing, interacting in ways we've not seen before. If that's the case, should ASIO and the AFP have received more resourcing at that time? And if I could ask Commissioner Barrett, do you need more resourcing to adequately staff up your CT operations?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll make this point. ASIO has never had more funding than they have today under my government. And we have provided for each of the security agencies, including the ones that you mentioned, the AFP, ASIO, but also the Australian Signals Directorate that deal with some this online and cyber issues as well, have never had more funding than they have today. And every single request from a security agency has been granted by my government.
COMMISSIONER BARRETT: Thank you. As you've said, the Director-General and I, both of us have been on the record many times, particularly over the last two years in relation to the operating environment, how quickly it has changed and how complex it is for us. That means we are constantly assessing, reassessing and prioritising where were put our resources and what we put our resources to. That is very similar to all of my colleagues around the world in law enforcement at the moment. We are all faced with increasingly complex environments where that constant reprioritisation and where I do need more resources, I do and will have those conversations with government.
JOURNALIST: Will the CT be downgraded? Was it adequately funded given the espionage workload?
COMMISSIONER BARRETT: We would never downgrade CT. It is far too important and far higher priority for the AFP.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's the timeline around this new legislation? Will you recall Parliament over summer to get these laws passed?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, these are quite complex. To make sure as well that they stack up in any legal challenge to them. So, we are open to that. But we want to make sure that we get it right. We want to also consult to make sure that there is broad support across the Parliament for this. One of the tenants of antisemitism, the Envoy has said, across the board needs to be, to put it above politics as well. And we're hoping that's achieved.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is the Special Envoy's report, the recommendations being adopted in full by the government? Including the things like funding for cultural organisations, media monitoring, and will the definition of antisemitism be legislated here?
PRIME MINISTER: Here is the report. We are fully supporting and adopting the report. Included in that, cultural institutions were funded, $18 million for the Jewish arts sector in Victoria in Melbourne. We have increased funding for the Sydney Jewish Museum. That construction is underway now. New funding in Perth. Here in Canberra, importantly, having a National Centre of Holocaust Education will be really important. And as you be aware, everyone in this building knows that every primary school in the country comes here at some stage. And having that centre so that people will visit Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial, Questacon and that Centre will be a really important step forward.
JOURNALIST: The definition of antisemitism though, are you going to legislate it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have adopted it, as a government.
JOURNALIST: Thank you, Prime Minister. You said more can be done. You didn't say more could have been done. Putting aside partisan voices, I think the Jewish community feels that they did make these threats, they warned people of them. They've talked about them for a long time. Do you think part of the healing is offering a statement of contrition? Whether it's a broader one from society or your own, would move some of those people, you know, help some of those people?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, more could have always been done. Governments aren't perfect. I'm not perfect. We have engaged in a constructive way. We've done - including, there wasn't a Special Envoy on Antisemitism before this government came to office. There wasn't hate speech legislation. I've been in this place long enough to have been a part of a debate, including with leaders of the Jewish community, about anti-discrimination legislation and making sure the 18C and these provisions be maintained. I've been a part of working with people like Peter Wertheim to overturn BDS when it was implemented by my local council. I've been a part of campaigning with Jewish students, when I was a student myself, establishing, one of the people who established Students Against Racism. Could we have done more? Of course you could always do more. And you know, my heart goes out to what is a community that are suffering, that have been targeted. This is very different from Port Arthur or other atrocities, the murder of the police officers by so called sovereign citizens in Queensland and Melbourne. Because this was targeting based upon hate, based upon, what is clear, is based upon ISIS ideology, a terrorist ideology of hate that has been around for some time. For some time. So, I of course acknowledge that more could have been done and I accept my responsibility for the part in that as Prime Minister of Australia. But what I also do is accept my responsibility to lead the nation and unite the nation. Because what people are looking for at this time isn't more division. They are looking to come together. I've sat in homes in Sydney, as well as having formal meetings with members of the Jewish community. They're hurting and I think all Australians hearts goes out to them at this time.
JOURNALIST: There are changes to education, to litigation standards and to punishments. Was any consideration given to changes to migration in particular to thresholds for deportation and for character tests?
MINISTER BURKE: That's one of the things the Prime Minister announced. I didn't refer it in my remarks, but it was in the Prime Minister's announcement that we will be changing the law to make visa cancellation and visa refusal easier. One of the things - I have refused and cancelled visas on the grounds of antisemitism in a way that very few predecessors have. I don't resile from that. And I've made clear on the balance of bigotry versus freedom of speech. I think Australians share my view that people who come here to hate, we just don't need them. The process within the department of making up one of those cases and getting through them, it is a hard threshold. I've been reaching it, I've been doing it, and we've been winning in the High Court when we've been challenged. We want to make that easier, to make a very clear message of our expectations. If someone's on a visa, they're a guest in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you say you could have done more. Can you explain why you haven't done more until now?
PRIME MINISTER: We could always have done more.
JOURNALIST: But why haven't you done more?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have done my best to respond. Do I regret? Anyone in this position would regret not doing more and any inadequacies which are there. But what we need to do is to move forward. We are taking action. We have taken action. Previously, since I've been Prime Minister, we have taken action. We'll continue to do more and today as well won't be the end. This is an evolving process. I want the Antisemitism Envoy to be a permanent feature of our landscape in this country. And we'll continue to engage in these issues. Antisemitism has been around, it's an ancient hatred. It's been around for a very long period of time. We need to make sure that we continue to engage in those issues, just as right across the board.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, after the Port Arthur massacre, John Howard went to rallies. He engaged face to face in the community. Even after the bushfires, Scott Morrison, you know, went down to the south coast and got some tough feedback. My question is why haven't you attended any of the funerals? Why have you been saying that you weren't invited? Generally, the process is that the Prime Minister's Office reaches out to the families and asks permission respectfully to attend. And will you be returning to Bondi to meet with the victims face to face, even if that means receiving some really tough criticism?
PRIME MINISTER: I have done that. I was in - I haven't just been down in Bondi on Monday morning, when at what is now the large memorial, very early on, I met with police, I've met with members of the community. I've been to homes in Bondi. Just on Tuesday I visited the home of Rabbi Mendel Kastel, met with families grieving, going through complete trauma and I understand that.
JOURNALIST: Have you asked to attend?
PRIME MINISTER: I met with the families there and have spoken to them. I certainly, you know, I respect the wishes of families. I respect the wishes of families and I will continue, continue to engage with community. I met with the community leaders and members last night. On the night before I was with grieving families as well and community leaders at Admiralty House. Each and every day I've met face to face with people who are going through the worst of grieving processes as well. And I'll continue to engage with them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, these hate speech changes, will they capture slogans like, 'from the river to the sea' and 'globalise the Intifada'?
MINISTER BURKE: The hate speech laws, obviously will set a test, and I'm not going to be in the business of that. But if I put it in these terms, we have all seen vision of hate preachers where we are shocked that that is happening in Australia. It is not representative of what people expect in Australia and they're certainly not representative of the Muslim community in Australia either. There have been repeated checks as to whether they have crossed legal thresholds. They haven't. The thresholds are changing.
JOURNALIST: A question to Commissioner. Thanks, Commissioner. Just a two-part question. Would your job and that of your organisation have been made easier had these changes announced today been implemented earlier, like two years ago? And secondly, do you have any indication whether the Akrams undertook military training in the Philippines? The Filipino Government says they didn't.
COMMISSIONER BARRETT: So, to answer the first part of your question first, which is in relation to the legislation, we have had a significant number of investigations since the legislation came into force, both through Operation Avalite, which was stood up 12 months ago, specifically to target antisemitic alleged offences, and also through our National Security Investigations teams, which I set up when I started as the Commissioner. And unfortunately, those teams have been extremely busy. There's a lot of work for them to do. So, we have had time to work with the legislation and some of the prosecutions. That's how we find out where the deficiencies or the vulnerabilities are in the legislation. So, we've now had some time to work through that and of course, we then provide advice back to government in relation to how the legislation is working. As the Minister has commented on quite strongly, for us, the challenge has been around some of the thresholds and we certainly welcome the reform around the thresholds, which will allow us to apply the legislation. To your second part of the question, I'm not in a position, unfortunately, to answer that. We now have a matter before court. Last I checked, there was still a suppression order in place as well. So, I unfortunately can't answer that question.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, some commentary of your observation that these attacks were not about religion. Do you care to expand on that or what exactly you were trying to say?
COMMISSIONER BARRETT: So, what we know, and I'll be careful again, because we've got matters before court and I don't want to go into detail, this was about extremism, this was ISIS inspired. We know ISIS distorts and corrupts Islam, which leads to radicalisation. The point I was making is that these two we know were inspired by ISIS.
JOURNALIST: In terms of radicalisation. We've heard from the ASIO Director-General that the speed is increasing a lot. Are you able to speak to how fast some of these people were radicalised? Whether we're talking months or years, given that property was transferred, there's reports that property was transferred. And also, do you suspect any third nation involvements like Iran?
COMMISSIONER BARRETT: To answer the first part of your question, our investigation is still in its very early stages, so there is a lot to work through and that will form part of it. I will just make a general comment about radicalisation in general. Again, Director-General and I have both been on the record talking about the pace with which we are seeing particularly young people be radicalised in the current environment. And that is a challenge shared again by our overseas partners as well. The legislation in relation to violent extremist material has been an extremely useful piece of legislation for us since it came into effect, because what that has allowed us to do is to get in early on the radicalisation pathway and put people either before court or disrupt their behaviour at a very early stage.
JOURNALIST: There's been discussion about protests. Josh Frydenberg and others have said that some of these demonstrations that have happened over the last couple of years shouldn't have occurred. They shouldn't occur in future. Obviously, Chris Minns, on a state issue, announced plans for legislation upcoming to curtail demonstrations, large public gatherings after a terror designation. Could I ask you, do you believe the tenor of any of these procedures, protests, demonstrations, contributed to what we saw on the weekend? And do you personally have any concerns about demonstrations occurring in the near future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, hatred starts with language and then moves to action and vilification and then can lead to an escalation of it. I certainly have been concerned and have expressed continually my concern about some of the language that is used during this, some of the misinformation as well, which is there. Australians want overwhelmingly - one of the things about this country is what they want is when people come to Australia, you leave old divisions and hatreds at the door. At the door. When you come to Australia, you are here to support our society, which is diverse, but that diversity is a strength. And that is what overwhelmingly Australians want to see. And certainly, some of them, the rhetoric - you know, I have an office that is closed on Marrickville Road, where people were attacked, vilified, people just trying to get help with Medicare or social security. Now, that's been very difficult, but nothing like the difficulty of families who - on Tuesday I was at a home in Bondi Junction where a woman spoke about to me, about going shopping with her son on a Sunday into Sydney and being attacked and harassed. That's not the Australian way. That's not the Australian way. And Premier Minns, I know has tried to - I called for on the day of the Opera House demonstration, I thought was completely reprehensible. I called for it not to go ahead on the Monday and condemned it on the day after. That does nothing to advance any cause. We need to be able to have political discourse in this country which is respectful and to respectfully disagree. But a line has been crossed over and over again in the way that some of this debate has been conducted.
JOURNALIST: Off the back of Sam's question, as you mentioned before, today is the funeral of Matilda, the 10-year-old shooting victim. Sussan Ley and the Shadow Attorney-General are currently there right now. Can I confirm once again, did either you or yourself, your office, request to attend her service or the service of any of the other shooting victims?
PRIME MINISTER: We have, I've reached out to families. I've made it clear, today I've chaired the National Security Committee here. We are acting, but I have met with families, I've spoken on the phone with families, and I will continue to engage.
JOURNALIST: You said at the very top that you were angry and you understood people's anger, and you said just previously that you have a responsibility to lead and unite. How difficult has it been to fulfil that responsibility given the anger in the community? You've said, you've outlined a number of private meetings and conversations you've had with families and the Jewish community. But there hasn't been, you know, publicly, you know, talking, staying at the Bondi thing, talking with lots of people there. People haven't seen, seen you doing, fulfilling that responsibility to stand and unite. Has that been made quite difficult this week?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think last night my understanding is that the St. Mary's Cathedral event was broadcast. I engaged with people there for some time, at Admiralty House the night before, the other meetings that I've had. I understand that people are grieving and I respect that. I respect that. And I've had some difficult conversations. But my job isn't difficult here. The difficulty is with the families who are grieving, of these victims. That's who my sympathy is for, because it is them who are going through an incredibly traumatic experience. People who were attending Chanukah on the first evening, which is a festival of light. And what we saw was an attempt to extinguish light and promote darkness. That is what terrorism does. My job is to continue to reach for light. That is what I'll continue to do. Thanks very much.
