Broadcaster Ray Hadley is leading calls for security guards to be armed in Australia, as questions grow over how a man could stab six people to death.
Six people were seriously injured before police shot dead Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, during the terrifying rampage at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
Among those stabbed to death was Faraz Tahir, a security guard at Westfield Bondi Junction, while another guard was injured during the attack.
Tahir was a refugee from Pakistan and WhatsNew2Day Australia understands it was his first week working as a security guard at the centre.
CCTV footage shows Joel Cauchi walking through the shopping center while holding a 30cm hunting knife. Cauchi stabbed random shoppers and killed six people, including two security guards.
Most retail security staff in New South Wales are unarmed, baton-wielding and classified as prohibited weapons requiring special licensing and training.
Following the horrific attacks, Hadley demanded that security guards be armed throughout the state.
‘For years I have argued that all state security guards in hospitals and shopping centers should be better equipped.
‘Especially in hospitals, in the madness of the weekend, where drug addicts want to attack doctors and nurses.
‘And these poor security guards, unarmed, unable to do what they should do: protect the people they are supposed to protect.
‘At a minimum, they need capsicum spray and even Tasers after they have been fully trained in their use.
He demanded NSW Premier Chris Minns take urgent action now after the premier announced an independent coronial inquiry into the Bondi Junction stabbings.
“I heard Minns say we’ll wait until the coroner’s inquest.”
‘Minns, you don’t need a new consultation. “You need to make sure that security guards can keep people safe in some way,” Hadley told listeners.
‘They must act immediately against unarmed security guards in areas such as shopping malls and hospitals. We don’t need an investigation.
A hair salon owner, who has five shops in Westfield centers in New South Wales, including Bondi Junction, said there is “not enough security” at the centre.
“I work at a Westfield shopping center and no, there is not enough security,” he commented in a Facebook post.
‘There needs to be security at every entry point. Thursday nights are getting scarier and scarier. Young people collecting garbage, stealing bags, knives, etc.
Two Westfield security guards were fatally stabbed in the attack, including Pakistani refugee Faraz Tahir, 30 (pictured).
He added that security “walks the center” and believes that if there were more guards at all entrances and some patrolling the levels, the attack could have been prevented.
‘The only thing security does is walk through the center. “That’s no use if they’re not in the right section at the right time,” she wrote.
‘Put a security guard at each entrance and have some patrol the center. If that was the case, [Saturday] It may not have happened.
A major coronial inquiry, bolstered by up to $18 million in additional funding, will examine Cauchi’s “horrific and vile act” as well as his previous interactions with authorities, Premier Chris Minns said Monday.
These include an incident in which he was asked by police to move away from where he was believed to be sleeping rough in Sydney’s city center and when he sought medical attention for an ear ailment.
Cauchi’s estranged family said he had struggled with mental health issues for decades and responded with devastation at his actions and the pain they had caused.
“Joel’s actions were truly horrible and we are still trying to understand what happened,” they said.
Health Minister Ryan Park said the killer had not gone unnoticed in a New South Wales mental health system he did not appear to have interacted with since moving to the state from Queensland.
Five women and one man died, while 12 other people, including a baby, were seriously injured before Cauchi was shot.
Eight people remained hospitalized Monday, including a nine-month-old girl who had undergone surgery and was in serious but stable condition.
The baby’s mother, osteopath Ashlee Good, 38, was among those killed in the attack.
Dawn Singleton, the 25-year-old daughter of billionaire businessman John Singleton, was one of the women killed, as was architect Jade Young, 47, the artist and d