Bondi Pavilion floral tributes to be removed on Monday
A floral memorial left by community members to honour the memory of those killed during the Bondi attacks will be removed on Monday for historical preservation.
Notices announcing the decision were posted to lamp-posts around the Bondi Pavilion on Sunday.
A notice from NSW government noting the floral memorial will be removed on Monday 22 December. Photograph: Caitlin Cassidy/The Guardian
The Sydney Jewish Museum and the Australian Jewish Historical Society will collect the materials to preserve them.
In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and Griefline on 1300 845 745. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Updated at 18.37 EST
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With Sunday morning’s events now concluded, authorities have closed access to the Bondi memorial site for the public.
It will reopen from 4pm for a community memorial event and at 6.47pm, a minute of silence will be held.
ShareArmed police presence at Bondi this evening doesn’t indicate security risk: NSW police
Police – including officers holding “long-arm firearms” – will be posted to Bondi and the surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon, NSW police say.
In a statement released on Sunday afternoon, police said they wanted “to reassure the community that this does not reflect a heightened security alert.”
We know how deeply this tragedy has impacted Jewish families, friends, and the wider community who stand with them. Our priority is ensuring that everyone can come together to honour the victims and support one another without fear.
You will see more officers than usual, including some carrying long-arm firearms. While our priority is keeping the community safe, it is equally about helping people feel safe as they come together to grieve.
Tonight is about standing with the community, safeguarding the space for a respectful vigil, and ensuring everyone feels supported during this incredibly difficult time.
Updated at 22.05 EST
Former senator defends PM from media ‘pile-on’
Former leftwing Labor senator Doug Cameron has defended prime minister Anthony Albanese against what he has described as a “pile on by the RW [rightwing] media” in the after the Bondi attacks.
In a series of posts to social media, Cameron said he has “policy differences” with the prime minister but described the PM as “smart, hardworking and successful” saying the attacks on his character are unfair.
Blaming him personally for an act of terrorism is grubby, partisan, opportunist politics.
In another post regarding the calls for a royal commission into the attacks, Cameron said the key issue will be the terms of reference, asking whether it will “examine the role of religious extremism in a secular society”, the influence events in Gaza have had on domestic Australian politics and the “influence of Israel on MPs?”.
Updated at 21.51 EST
Caitlin Cassidy
Seaplane circles Bondi beach
As organisers continue to set up for a memorial at Bondi’s promenade later today, a seaplane is circling over the beach.
Seaplane circling above Bondi. Photograph: Caitlin Cassidy/The Guardian
It is carrying a banner, displayed to the hundreds of people packed on the sand, which reads:
Love from Aus[tralia] to our Jewish community.
A memorial service is scheduled for later today. Photograph: Caitlin Cassidy/The GuardianShare
Updated at 21.23 EST
Anti-immigration rallies have ‘no place in Australia’, Albanese says
Anthony Albanese has called on demonstrators planning to rally in Sydney and Melbourne today to cancel their activities.
Anti-immigration rallies have been planned for the country’s two largest cities, in defiance of the NSW government’s warnings that gatherings on Sunday would be unhelpful so soon after the Bondi terror attacks.
Nationals defector and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce is headlined to speak at an anti-immigration event in Sydney.
The prime minister said Sunday should be about remembering the victims of the Bondi shooting.
Terrorists have sought to divide this country but this is a time to stand united – particularly on this national day of reflection.
There are organised rallies seeking to sow division in the aftermath of last Sunday’s antisemitic terrorist attack, and they have no place in Australia.
They should not go ahead and people should not attend them.
Updated at 20.59 EST
Littleproud says PM avoiding royal commission into Bondi attack
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, says Anthony Albanese hasn’t yet called a royal commission into the Bondi attacks because he’s afraid of political embarrassment.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, Littleproud said an independent inquiry should be held.
And there has been a litany of failures here for two and a half years.
The warning signs were there … but we should look ourselves in the eye.
We should look at the failings of decisions made at a political level, at intelligence levels. And many of these agencies are at a federal level.
The Nationals leader acknowledged that any inquiry may identify failures made by former Coalition governments, saying he would welcome the scrutiny.
– with AAP
Updated at 20.54 EST
The number of flowers left at a memorial to those killed and injured during the Bondi attack have grown in an outpouring of grief and support on Sunday.
Here are some images of the scene:
The size of the memorial at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, 21 December 2025. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPAA portion of the crowd that gathered at Bondi Beach on Sunday afternoon. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPASize of the flower memorial from another angle. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPAShareCaitlin Cassidy
Bondi reopens but remains a site of mourning
There is a strange duality at Bondi a week after the terror event. The life-savers have returned to the beach and the police scene has been lifted, but Bondi’s promenade is still filled with bouquets and tributes to the 15 victims.
Signs with QR codes to donation links hang from telephone poles and fencing. At the footbridge where one of the alleged shooters stood, firing on the Hanukah event, crowds of people continue to stand and mourn.
A sign has been hung there by Waverley council which reads:
This is the site of a terrible tragedy for the local community. Please be respectful and consider others when moving through.
Chalk has been provided at the bottom of the footbridge and people have written tributes and drawn pictures on the cement. “To Matilda bee,” one reads. “Love peace,” says another.
A memorial on the footbridge at Bondi beach, from where gunmen opened fire, killing 15 people. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPShare
Updated at 20.32 EST
Police warn of ‘significant’ response to unauthorised Sydney anti-immigration rally
New South Wales police are urging members of the public not to attend an unauthorised anti-immigration rally planned for Sunday afternoon.
In a statement, police said a Form 1 was submitted by the protest organiser on Wednesday but it was not supported by police and “subsequent negotiations were unsuccessful”.
As a result, the organiser has not obtained authorisation for the assembly under Part 4 of the Summary Offences Act 1988.
Without this authorisation, the event is not legally protected as an authorised assembly and individuals who choose to attend may be liable for obstruction and unlawful assembly offences.
The statement added that “this is not a time for public gatherings that may heighten tension or create additional risks to community safety” and that participants in Sunday’s protests can expect “significant policing response to any large-scale public gatherings at time this”.
Former Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, who quit to join One Nation, has been advertised as a speaker at the gathering.
Updated at 20.51 EST
Albanese orders review into AFP and Asio after Bondi attack
Tom McIlroy
Anthony Albanese says he has asked former Asio boss Dennis Richardson and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to lead a review into Australia’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
He announced the move amid growing calls for a royal commission into last week’s Bondi shootings.
In a statement, Albanese said:
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet will examine whether federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the right powers, structures, processes and sharing arrangements in place to keep Australians safe in the wake of the horrific antisemitic Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation. Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond.
The review will be led by Dennis Richardson – a former Secretary of the Department of Defence, former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and former Intelligence Chief.
The review will build on the work of the Independent Intelligence Review, conducted by Richard Maude and Heather Smith.
The review will be provided to the government by the end of April 2026 and will be made publicly available.
Former Asio chief Dennis Richardson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 19.55 EST
Caitlin Cassidy
The National Council for Jewish Women Australia vigil at Bondi Pavilion has concluded with a rendition of the national anthem.
As music played, attenders with flowers were asked to add them to an ever-growing pile of bouquets at the foot of the pavilion, which have started to yellow and wilt with age. Many laid them down with tears, hugging their friends and family members.
The crowd have started to disperse, but some mourners continue to stand in reflection. Balloons in the shape of a bee, hung up to pay tribute to 10-year-old Matilda, whose middle name was Bee, are flying at the memorial’s gates.
Floral tributes at the Bondi Pavilion memorial. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPAShare
Updated at 19.45 EST
Caitlin Cassidy
Mostyn said she attended the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park on Saturday to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the withdrawal of soldiers from Anzac Cove.
They had done their work in Gallipoli in order to provide peace for the world. They were led by a masterful general, John Monash, another Jewish man who led our country with military distinction.
When we think about the unspeakable, ghastly acts of terror perpetrated here, I think what it was like to stand in the shores on Anzac Day, and how unspeakable it would’ve been to consider at the shores of Bondi Beach, we would have 1000 surf Life Savers [on Saturday] in an act of commemoration.”
Mostyn said Australia had powerfully remembered the Anzac story but “we have to learn other history”, including those of Australia’s Holocaust survivors.
Yesterday I was shocked to learn a 94-year-old Jewish woman who’s been coming to the Anzac commemoration every year rang the organisers to know whether she would still be welcome as a Jewish woman … Of course she was welcome, every Jew in this country … you are part of the belonging story and the success of this country … This is now a national project. Mitzvahs, good deeds, care, kindness to each other.