CHRIS MINNS – QUESTION TIME – WESTFIELD BONDI JUNCTION STABBING CORONIAL INQUEST – THURSDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2026
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION TIME – THURSDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2026
MEMBER FOR COOGEE, MARJORIE O’NEILL:
My question is to the Premier, can the Premier please update the House on the coronial inquest into the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing that took six innocent lives.
CHRIS MINNS, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES:
I thank the Member for Coogee for her question and I just note that I’ve just been handed the list of recommendations from the coroner Teresa O’Sullivan who is indeed delivering the report as we speak, as Parliament sits right this minute.
I want to make it clear from the beginning, I think I speak for all members of this house when I say our thoughts are with the victims’ families, those injured, first responders, members of the public, the retailers, who carry the memory and the burden of that terrible day and whose lives were changed forever as a result.
I also want to make it clear that the Government will of course consider all of the findings handed down by the coroner very carefully and assess how they’ll be implemented to further strengthen our mental health system in the days, months and years ahead, certainly to improve community safety.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge the extraordinary bravery of Inspector Amy Scott, who acted courageously in bringing this terrible crime to an end, putting herself in danger, living up to the highest traditions of the New South Wales Police Force. She did our state enormous pride, and we’re very proud of her.
Also the first responders, and it’s my sad duty to report to the House that many of the first responders, particularly the paramedics and the police officers who were deployed to Bondi Junction shopping centre on that terrible day, on the 13th of April 2024 were also deployed on the 14th of December of last year, after the horrible terrorism event.
I mean, I think in some cases, paramedics, police officers may be anonymous, unless you’ve got a family member or a loved one who works in those professions. But we owe all of them a huge debt of gratitude, and we’re very thankful for their service to this state.
It’s well known, Mr. Speaker, that on the 13th of April 2024, Joel Cauchi attacked 17 people at Bondi Junction Westfield with a knife. Six innocent people were killed as a result of his actions.
Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to some of the incredible acts of bravery on that day.
Obviously, Inspector Amy Scott, but also a young refugee from Pakistan, fresh to this country on his first day on the job, gave his life in defence of a complete stranger. Someone he didn’t know, someone he’d never met before, and we should remember his service and sacrifice today as well.
Also, a nurse who found safety within a shop asked to leave that place of refuge. She left that place of refuge because there were people outside that needed a hand.
There was a French tradie known as ‘bollard man’, many of us who met him. He faced down the attacker so that other people could get out of the way and undoubtedly saved scores of lives.
Request for extension of time
Mr. Speaker, many other bystanders who ran to help arming themselves with chairs or whatever they could find – the shopkeepers, the retail workers, the owners of businesses, those who were in danger, particularly two brothers who helped save the life of a nine-month-old baby.
Victims were taken to six separate hospitals across Sydney. They were met by doctors and nurses who were on site immediately and worked diligently to save many, many people’s lives.
Mr. Speaker, the Government had provided $18 million of additional funding to the Coroner’s Court to undertake this extensive but hugely important inquest into the incident.
We know that there’s a long way to go.
We’ll consider the report’s findings and recommendations very carefully and report back to the House soon.
