The events that occurred at Bondi have awoken Australia from a complacency about the risk and threat of extremism. This, tragically, was our 9/11 moment.

I make that connection because for me, 9/11 was the moment that changed my life. It prompted me to reassess my life’s trajectory and seek greater fulfilment. I went back to university, studied international relations, security and counterterrorism and joined the Australian Federal Police.

Police in Bondi on the night of the attack.Credit: Kate Geraghty/The Sydney Morning Herald

I was driven by the desire to help those in our society in need and to take up the fight against those who would perpetrate such heinous acts of violence as 9/11, the Bali bombings and, now, Bondi.

Images and footage of the Bondi attacks were beamed around the country and the world in near real time. We saw heroism in its purest form as Ahmed al Ahmed thrust himself upon one of the perpetrators, disarming him in an act of astonishing bravery.

This act, and others, of everyday people performing heroic and life-threatening deeds must remain alive in our collective consciousness as we move as a nation to respond to the outrageous scourge of antisemitic behaviour and violence that has pervaded our country in recent times.

But what of the heroism of those in society who have the task of protecting us, and who willingly confront danger and risk their lives as part of their duties every day? Where are the stories about our first responders, our police, our paramedics, our firefighters, and at Bondi, our surf lifesavers?

In the days after the Bondi attack, stories began to circulate on social media about the alleged inaction of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald