ASIO has questions to answer on Bondi attack
In the fraught days after the Bondi Beach shootings came promises of gun law reform, a gun buyback, legislation to crack down on antisemitism and the application of the blowtorch to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, but somehow the role of Australia’s security authority largely slipped below the radar.
On Monday, we learnt that the man subsequently charged with 15 counts of murder, Naveed Akram, had been investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation six years ago, but no action was taken. His dead accomplice, his father, Sajid Akram, had applied to own guns years before and was issued a category AB firearm licence in 2023. He went on to amass six guns.
Ensuing information revealed that Akram as a teenage street proselytiser followed a notorious Sydney jihadist, preacher Wissam Haddad, with connections to self-declared Islamic State group commander Isaac El Matari and convicted IS youth recruiter Youssef Uweinat. Haddad has denied any knowledge of Sunday’s attack. Not only that, Akram and his father flew to the Philippines and back last month........





















Toi Staff
Sabine Sterk
Penny S. Tee
Gideon Levy
Waka Ikeda
Grant Arthur Gochin
Daniel Orenstein
Beth Kuhel