Minns responds to Royal Commission interim report

NSW Premier Chris Minns has said the state government failed in its highest responsibility to protect its people, pledging to implement in full all recommendations from the Royal Commission’s interim report into the Bondi Beach massacre.

“The reality for a state government is that its highest responsibility is to protect its people. And on December 14 last year, we didn’t do that,” Minns said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

“We take responsibility for that today, and as I said, do everything we can to change and ensure we confront evil and terrorism wherever it is in New South Wales and wherever it rears its head.”

The interim report revealed NSW Police allocated three general duties officers and one supervisor to the Chanukah by the Sea event, with the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command Commander attending at “various times”.

Community Security Group NSW had assessed the threat level as “high” on December 8 and requested police deployment “for the entirety of the event”, noting that “a terrorist attack against the NSW Jewish community is likely and there is a high level of antisemitic vilification”.