Australia’s largest shopping center chain is deploying more security guards and introducing vests for staff amid “increased levels of security” across the country following the October 7 Hamas attack and Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing .
Cheng Yixuan, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, Jade Young, 47, Faraz Ahmed Tahir, 30, and Ashlee Good, 38, died during Joel Cauchi’s shocking, frenzied two-minute attack at Westfield Bondi Junction the afternoon. on April 13.
A forensic inquest into the attack will next year examine the tragic events and whether it could have been prevented after the 40-year-old man pulled a hunting knife from his backpack and indiscriminately stabbed 16 people.
Westfield is assisting the NSW coroner with the investigation and a spokesperson said it would explore “potential learnings to improve security arrangements at mass gathering venues” as it faces a changing security landscape.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Scentre Group, which operates Westfield Australia, said the company took its duty of care to staff and customers seriously and was “continuously striving to improve our safety practices”.
‘This includes our capacity, processes and people to prepare for and respond to critical incidents. “This is done in partnership with law enforcement, including police and government agencies,” the spokesperson said.
‘Following the horrific attack at Westfield Bondi, we have further stepped up our security presence across all of our Westfield destinations. “We have introduced additional personal protective equipment, including vests, for all members of the security team, which has improved the prominence and visibility of our security team.”
Westfield’s security team is led by a former chief of London’s Metropolitan Police, or Scotland Yard, and the country’s counter-terrorism police, and also includes former members of government security agencies.
Australia’s largest shopping center chain is deploying more security guards and introduced vests for staff amid “increased levels of security” across the country following the October 7 Hamas attack and Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing .
Westfield deployed more guards on duty after the October 7 attacks in Israel and subsequent protests, with a dedicated security team at each of the centers regularly conducting security drills.
“Our security depends on the commitment, collaboration and cooperation of government law enforcement agencies to provide security for our customers, particularly in incidents requiring the use of physical force,” the spokesperson said.
‘We constantly assess risk… We also continue to examine, globally, possible improvements, including the use of emerging technologies, to further improve our safety and security procedures.
“Recent examples of armed offender drills at our Westfield destinations include New South Wales Police, Queensland Police, Australian Defense Force, South Australian Police and Australian Federal Police.”
While security teams at Westfield and shopping centers across the state are often the first to respond to incidents of armed criminals, they are not law enforcement officers and report suspected criminals to police.
In recent months, NSW Police have responded to multiple alleged shopping center crimes, including a teenager accused of stealing a knife and threatening staff at an Armidale shopping center on November 6.
In September, a man was charged for allegedly pulling out a hammer during a fight at a shopping center on the New South Wales Central Coast; In July, a man was arrested after allegedly wielding a sword in a Parramatta shopping centre.
More than 1,150 knife-related incidents were reported in public places in New South Wales, including commercial premises and outdoor spaces, between July 2023 and June 2024, according to data from the New Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research south.
Bondi stabbing victims (top left to right) Jade Young, Ashlee Good, Dawn Singleton, (bottom left to right) Cheng Yixuan, Faraz Ahmed Tahir and Pikria Darchia
That figure includes 577 non-domestic violence assaults involving knives and 581 robberies, including knives, scissors, swords and screwdrivers, and police reported another 140 firearms-related incidents during the same period.
The data reveals a gradual decline in incidents involving knives and firearms in public spaces over the decade.
Between July 2014 and June 2015, New South Wales Police reported a staggering 1,511 knife-related robberies and non-domestic violence-related assaults in public spaces and 389 firearms-related incidents. Between July 2018 and June 2019, those numbers were 1,352 and 235 respectively.
In the year to June 2024, the spaces most affected by knife-related incidents were “all other types of premises”, with 582, according to BOSCAR data. Outdoor and public spaces reported 426 and commercial spaces reported 150.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley was contacted for comment but did not respond before publication.
Last week, at a preliminary hearing into the horrific Westfield Bondi Junction incident, Cauchi was told he had stopped taking antipsychotic medication just under five years before the attack, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia in his teenage years.
Cauchi previously lived in Toowoomba, southeast Queensland, where he ran the public health system until 2012; then until 2020 he was seen by a private psychiatrist while still in Queensland.
The hearing was told that Cauchi had been on medication since late 2011, but his medication was gradually reduced over time until it was stopped completely in 2019. From 2020 until the Westfield Bondi Junction attack, “there was no particular treatment” .
A “be alert” flag was introduced into the Queensland police system in 2023 after Cauchi twice complained that knives had been taken from him by his father, who told officers his son was a schizophrenic who was already He was not medicated.
In the time before the attack, Cauchi was homeless in Sydney, and was living under the Maroubra Beach pavilion, with the investigation examining his exact movements on the day of the attack, including access to a Waterloo storage locker.
The incident made a heroine of New South Wales Police Inspector Amy Scott, who ran towards Cauchi before ordering him to put down the knife. When he did not do so and advanced towards her, Inspector Scott shot Cauchi in the chest.
In the aftermath of the attack, Inspector Scott received the Commissioner’s Bravery Award from NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb and was named a nominee for the 2025 NSW Australian of the Year award in November.
The upcoming inquest will also give victims’ families and survivors the opportunity to share their trauma over an incident that shattered the lives of many people and shocked a country unaccustomed to mass killings.
Before she died, Good fought Cauchi when he began attacking her nine-month-old daughter who was sitting in her stroller. Miraculously, the baby was stabbed but survived the horrific attack.
Another victim, Mr Tahir, was a security guard.
His brother, Sheraz Tahir, told media outside Lidcombe Coroner’s Court last week that his brother was a “brave man” who was “on duty at the time and he was just trying to stop the attacker and he gave his life.” .
He added that he “just wanted to know what happened that day” and hoped the investigation would lead to changes, including “better protections for security guards.”
The investigation will examine Cauchi’s contact with police in Queensland and New South Wales and whether there may have been early intervention.
The court was told that the alarm inside the center did not sound until a minute after Cauchi was shot.
The matter will return to court for a five-week hearing in April.