{"id":207463,"date":"2025-12-28T07:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T07:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/207463\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T07:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T07:57:07","slug":"minns-government-actively-considering-if-jewish-security-group-should-be-armed-after-bondi-attack-chris-minns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/207463\/","title":{"rendered":"Minns government \u2018actively\u2019 considering if Jewish security group should be armed after Bondi attack | Chris Minns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Minns has said his government is \u201cactively\u201d considering whether a Jewish security group should be armed in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, as he confirms police will carry long-arm rifles for the first time at Sydney\u2019s major New Year\u2019s Eve event.<\/p>\n

The New South Wales<\/a> premier said he was considering the extraordinary step of arming the Community Security Group (CSG) after fielding questions about reports police had failed to heed a warning from the group about the event posing a high security risk, and the need for a greater police presence.<\/p>\n

The CSG \u2013 led by a team of security professionals and supported by trained volunteers \u2013 monitors threats to the community and provides security for Jewish events, according to its website.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there were police on site, [it was] clearly, clearly not enough to deal with the threat, as history has tragically shown,\u201d Minns said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the reasons why we need a royal commission, to get the information [and] to provide it to government, so that we can make the changes to keep the community safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that means a root-and-branch change to security protocols and provisions in place. It also means we need to have a longer, deeper look at arming CSG.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a step that we haven\u2019t taken in the past, but the truth of the matter is, when it comes to ensuring that the community, the Jewish community, in this case, feels safe within their own community when they have community events, we need to be able to show and demonstrate that there is going to be security in place to deal with the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minns has committed to a NSW royal commission into the Bondi terror attack. Police allege father-son duo, Sajid and Naveed Akram, killed 15 people and injured 40 others in an attack on a Jewish festival in religiously motivated extremism \u201caligned with Islamic State\u201d. Sajid was shot dead at the scene by police, and Naveed has been remanded in custody on 59 charges, including one count of committing a terrorist act.<\/p>\n

Minns said police would be carrying long-arm rifles at New Year\u2019s Eve celebrations in Sydney<\/a>, adding: \u201cThat will be confronting for some people, but the truth is, we want to make sure that they\u2019re in a position to send a message that security is the number one obligation of any government, and that\u2019s what you\u2019re going to see in the weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

During last Sunday\u2019s vigil marking a week since the attack \u2013 which fell on the last night of Hanukah \u2013 police carried long-arm guns and snipers were positioned on top of buildings overlooking Bondi.<\/p>\n

A NSW police sniper in position on the roof of an apartment building on Campbell Parade, Bondi, last Sunday. Photograph: Andrew Quilty<\/p>\n

Minns indicated on Sunday he would not rule out requesting army troops be deployed to protect Jewish sites in the wake of the attack, after he was asked by a reporter if he would take this step.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in discussions about it. I\u2019m not prepared to front-run it, because obviously that\u2019s a change for us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m just flagging with everyone. I\u2019m not going to rule anything out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia understands there are no current discussions with the government on whether troops should, or could, be deployed. The premier\u2019s comments were referring to the fact that it is among a number of security options being considered.<\/p>\n

The prime minister\u2019s office was contacted to seek a response to the premier\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n

Asked during the press conference what his message would be to Sydneysiders who might feel \u201cdisturbed\u201d by seeing police walking around with long-arm rifles, he said: \u201cLook, my sense is, and I haven\u2019t spoken to everybody in Sydney \u2026 but I have spoken to a lot of parents, and they would feel far more comfortable if there was a major police presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat includes with the firepower that\u2019s required to confront some evil terrorists on a bridge in Bondi if those circumstances were to repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Minns has said his government is \u201cactively\u201d considering whether a Jewish security group should be armed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-207463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}