Television interview - ABC 7.30

SARAH FERGUSON, HOST: Prime Minister, welcome to 7:30.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good evening.

SARAH FERGUSON: Had you imagined an event like this taking place in Australia?

PRIME MINISTER: I certainly had not. This is a horrific act of antisemitism, a terrorist action designed to harm the Jewish community on what should be, of course, as the first day of Chanukah, a day of celebration. Chanukah, in part, is about the victory of light over dark. Well, this was a very dark day in Australian history, but together we will emerge into the light.

SARAH FERGUSON: You say you hadn't imagined it, but amongst others, ASIO boss Mike Burgess earlier this year talked about antisemitism as the number one priority in terms of threat to life. Shouldn't you then have contemplated, not in detail, this event, but something like this?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, we remained ever vigilant. But this was an event, of course, of a father and son engaged - they weren't part of a wider cell - is the advice that we have up to this point, and therefore the detection wasn't there. We have given every resource to our police agencies, to our intelligence agencies. We provide support to them because we have confidence in their ability to do the best that they can. But tragically, in 2025, we live in a dangerous time, and these two evil people have engaged in this act of antisemitism, driven by ideology. It's extreme perversion of Islam that has resulted in these catastrophic consequences. And my heart goes out to the grieving families tonight.

SARAH FERGUSON: Are you absolutely sure that it was these two individuals acting alone? Have you learnt anything from your briefings in National Cabinet this afternoon, from police or from ASIO, to leave any doubt about that question?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the clear advice that we have at this point is there's no evidence of collusion, there's no evidence that these people were part of a cell. Clearly, they were motivated by this extremist ideology. And further detail, of course, will be released when the police go through their work. It's an ongoing investigation, an active investigation.

SARAH FERGUSON: There are obviously so many questions about this father and son. We understand from reporting that the surviving gunman, the son, is in a coma. Is that correct? So, he's not yet able to be questioned.

PRIME MINISTER: We understand that. That is the advice that I've received. But these are people - the father came to Australia on a student visa in 1998. He then applied for a spouse visa, met someone here, in 2000. That was approved in 2001. The son was born here. And so, this is a circumstance where originally the reports last night indicated that there was someone else had dropped them off. That wasn't the case. The car was there. In addition to that, there were a range of IEDs there, explosive devices, that were intended to cause further damage to the event there in Bondi.

SARAH FERGUSON: Given that the surviving gunman is still in a coma, how can you feel confident to say that they acted alone?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the police were very diligent in, first of all, going to the home in Bonnyrigg, but also to the premises that were rented out in Campsie. They have gone through the range of material which is there. They'll release further information about their investigations, but at this point in time, it is ongoing. There may well be further information coming to light, but it would appear that these two have acted alone, driven though by this evil ideology.

SARAH FERGUSON: Let me just ask you a couple of questions about the information that we have already, some of which will be part of our program. Now, the younger of the two gunmen was known to ASIO in 2019, we understand because of associations with a man later convicted of planning terrorist attacks. He also had associations subsequently with an ISIS so-called spiritual leader in Australia. But in relation to his associations with that first person, have you asked why a person with associations like that, with connections to ideology, to the planning of attacks, was not considered someone who would pose a threat to Australians?

PRIME MINISTER: We certainly have. And the advice from the Director-General of ASIO is that this person was not on a watch list. He was investigated because of his connections with two people who subsequently - both of whom went to jail. What ASIO do is they go through and interview anyone who is connected in any way, and they go through, including family members and others. They determined that there was no evidence of this person planning or considering or indeed promoting any act of violence, or any act which could be deemed to be antisemitic, targeting the Jewish community, which is what occurred. So, that investigation went for six months and that is a determination that they made.

SARAH FERGUSON: You say no evidence of planning acts, but have you asked ASIO, or the terrorism section of the New South Wales Police or the AFP, whether there was clear evidence of radicalisation?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes, we certainly have. And that was not there. So, their advice to us back in 2019 was that this person, this man was associated, had - I'm not sure the detail of what the association was - but they go through when they find someone who has been radicalised to go through all of the connections that they have in a diligent way, and that is a determination that they made.

SARAH FERGUSON: Isn't being associated with those people a form of radicalisation itself?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it might be that they attended a similar event or the circumstances which are there, but they went through, there was no evidence that they found at that time. That is the advice that we have been given.

SARAH FERGUSON. So, was the younger of the two gunmen, that is the surviving gunman - but I guess the question goes to both father and son - were neither of them on ASIO's radar in the period, this highly charged period we've been living through since 7 October?

PRIME MINISTER: In the recent period, that is the advice that we've been given.

SARAH FERGUSON: I want to move to the matter of the father, the older of the two shooters, in relation to the weapons that we know he held in his home. We understand six long arm weapons. As a matter of common sense, when someone becomes the subject of an ASIO investigation for their potential connections to Islamic State, shouldn't there be an immediate audit of all the weapons, not just that they own, but the people living with them own?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, there was investigation. The father was interviewed at the time as well, shown no indication of any radicalisation. But that is one of the things that we've done today at the National Cabinet, is to determine that we need to examine the gun laws that were carried in the wake of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. This is different from Port Arthur, though. Port Arthur was someone engaged in random violence against people. This is targeted, this is ideologically driven and therefore is a different form of hatred and atrocity. Port Arthur, of course, was a stain on us that's still being affected. But this is very different. We are looking at the gun laws, and all state leaders have agreed today to do that. We're also looking at issues such as customs that the Commonwealth can control over what can come in. But the state gun laws - we've got our National Firearms Register as well, that we are providing over $100 million to the states and territories to bring that up to speed.

SARAH FERGUSON: If I may, Prime Minister, I just want to take you back to your previous answer. You say the father, that is the older of the two gunmen, but the father of the younger man who had these associations with people connected to ISIS and ISIS ideology. He was interviewed at the time that he came on ASIO's radar. But was the question asked of the father whether or not he held weapons?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, I obviously was not a party to that interview.

SARAH FERGUSON: Did that come up in National Cabinet?

PRIME MINISTER: What has come up in National Cabinet is the clear advice from the ASIO Director-General that they examined this person in 2019. They interviewed his family members as well, and others. That is how this works. If someone is found to be an issue. They go through everyone who's associated, then go through the relatives of the people who are associated and try to spread the net out to identify risks which are there. ASIO did that at the time and found that there wasn't evidence of radicalisation. Now, quite clearly when that occurred - it is not clear and obviously not known to us, and it's important we deal with facts during this difficult and traumatic period for the entire nation. That is what I am trying to do and that is what our agencies, including our intelligence agencies, do.

SARAH FERGUSON: And just briefly, to be clear, your priority from National Cabinet in relation to the gun laws, what is the number one priority for you?

PRIME MINISTER: I would put them all together, making sure that they operate effectively and that they're kept up to date and that they're updated for the changing threat. We live in a more dangerous world in 2025. The threat of antisemitism, as we have seen, is very real. Threats of other occurrences, such as the rise in the far right - which has also been identified, of course, by Mike Burgess - is also a threat as well.

SARAH FERGUSON: Let me just talk to you about antisemitism. I want to bring up what Prime Minister Netanyahu said today. He singled you out personally, he said, for 'pouring fuel on the antisemitism fire by recognising a Palestinian State'. Do you accept any link between that recognition and the massacre in Bondi?

PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't. And overwhelmingly, most of the world recognises a two-state solution as being the way forward in the Middle East.

SARAH FERGUSON: This is what Netanyahu also said. 'Prime Minister, you replaced weakness with weakness and appeasement with more appeasement.' It's an extremely damaging statement. Do those words require an answer from you?

PRIME MINISTER: What they require of me as Australia's Prime Minister at this time, is to bring the nation together, is to promote unity, is to make sure that what the terrorists seek, which is to divide us as a nation, to pit Australian against Australian - to say, this is a moment of national unity where we need to come together. And in particular at this time, we need to wrap our arms around members of the Jewish community who are going through an extraordinarily difficult period. Not just those who are grieving loved ones and friends, but every member of the Jewish community in Australia. This has been an extraordinarily traumatic 24 hours. My job is to provide support for the Jewish community, is to make it clear that Australians overwhelmingly stand with the Jewish community at this difficult time.

SARAH FERGUSON: When the inevitable calls come, arise, from some parts of our society linking the Bondi massacre to Muslim immigration to Australia, how will you respond?

PRIME MINISTER: What we've seen in the last 24 hours ago was the worst of humanity in a terrorist act. But we also saw an example of the best of humanity in Ahmed al Ahmed running towards danger, putting his own life at risk, being shot twice by the second perpetrator as he took the gun bravely off this terrorist. And that saved lives. We in Australia, regardless of who people believe in, what their faith is or whether they have no faith at all, overwhelmingly we are a great nation and we are not going to allow anyone, let alone these terrorists, to divide us. What we will do is we will unite, we will work together, we will continue to overcome antisemitism and we will continue to oppose terrorism. And we will work to show the country just the bravery to honour those people who bravely stood up, including the two police officers who've been injured because they also ran towards danger.

SARAH FERGUSON: Prime Minister, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Sarah.