Anthony Albanese has paid tribute to the victims of the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbings one year on from the tragedy.
Forty-year-old Joel Cauchi killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahrir, 30, and injured a further 10 people at Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April 2024 before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.
“One year on from the horrific attack at Westfield Bondi Junction, we pause to remember those whose lives were stolen on what should have been just another Saturday. Hold on to all they were and all they had ahead of them,” the prime minister said.
“This should not be an anniversary. They should still be here – with their families, their friends and in their communities – with all their hopes and dreams and joys that are the very essence of life.”
Albanese also paid tribute to the courage of first responders, including shop staff and shoppers, some of whom ran towards danger.
“Amid the terror, people were tested in ways they had never imagined, yet their first instinct was to help each other. To offer comfort, compassion and protection to friend and stranger alike,” he said.
“In the hours and days that followed, we saw a community united in grief, reaffirming for all of us a core truth: that love is greater than hate.”
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, told Seven’s Sunrise the families and friends of the six victims would “no doubt [be] thinking about what their loved ones would have achieved over the last 12 months and what they had in front of them”.
“The one commonality amongst all six of the people who were killed is that they were ambitious, bright, optimistic people that seemed to have the world at their feet – which means this tragedy is just all the more harrowing for Sydney and for those people.”
Minns said there would be a “full inquiry and investigation”.
A five-week inquest at the New South Wales state coroner’s court will begin on 28 April.
“I know that people want answers, and we need to do everything we possibly can to ensure that it doesn’t happen again and that the state and the authorities learn the lessons,” Minns said.
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The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, said in a statement, “the memory and the trauma of this day will never be forgotten”.
“Today, we remember the victims of one of the most horrific events in Australian history. Our hearts are with their families who continue to endure unimaginable grief and do their best to carry on,” she said.
She said hundreds of people, including police, paramedics, and civilians, “were all first responders on this horrific day”.
“They are heroes, risking their own lives in an effort to save victims and nurse the wounded during what can only be described as a senseless tragedy,” she said.
The community’s response in the days after the attack and photos from a candlelight vigil have been included on commemorative display boards temporarily installed in nearby Oxford Street Mall.
The shopping centre’s owners will place a floral tribute inside the centre.
Minns and the NSW governor, Margaret Beazley, will lay flowers at the scene on Sunday, along with the local mayor, William Nemesh, and other officials.
Welfare support officers will be available as the community is invited to reflect on the tragedy.