16/12/2025
What happened at Bondi Beach this week was utterly devastating.
Innocent people lost their lives while attending a cultural and religious gathering, families devastated, countless people traumatised.
My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families, the Jewish community, first responders and all those who witnessed this atrocious act.
No Australian should feel unsafe gathering in public or celebrating their faith.
As someone who works professionally with fi****ms and operates under some of the strictest laws and licensing requirements in the country, I want to speak carefully — but honestly.
This was a terrorist act, not a failure of everyday Australians who lawfully own fi****ms. Australia already has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, and licensed shooters are among the most heavily vetted people in the country. We undergo background checks, fit-and-proper assessments, ongoing compliance, and strict storage requirements.
What concerns me is the immediate knee-jerk reaction we’re now seeing — where attention is being diverted straight to fi****ms legislation, rather than to the real and uncomfortable questions around radicalisation, intelligence failures, and enforcement of existing powers.
Senator Pauline Hanson’s media release raises points that deserve to be discussed, whether people like them or not — particularly around why individuals already on watch lists, or connected to known extremists, were able to slip through the cracks of agencies specifically funded to prevent this exact outcome.
Blaming lawful firearm owners, farmers, or sporting shooters for an act of terrorism does nothing to honour the victims — and it does nothing to prevent the next attack.
We can condemn violence, support affected communities, and demand accountability from leadership at the same time. These things are not mutually exclusive.
This is not about politics.
It’s about public safety, responsibility, and telling the truth — even when it’s uncomfortable.
Australia deserves calm leadership, not rushed symbolism.
“Out of respect for those affected, I won’t be engaging in any heated debate in the comments.”
Therefore comments have been switched off
RJM
