Bondi shooting as it happened: Albanese jeered at Bondi vigil; day of reflection ends with emotional service; PM’s intelligence review lashed by critics

This is where we’ll leave tonight’s live coverage.

Here is a recap of today’s events:

• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was repeatedly jeered as he attended a vigil held by the Jewish community at Bondi Beach to mark a week since the terror attack that left 15 people. While NSW Premier Chris Minns was given a standing ovation, Albanese was booed upon arrival, when he was introduced to the thousands-strong crowd, and as he left on Sunday night. Several speakers also called for a royal commission following the mass shooting.
• Minns issued an apology for the government nor protecting the Jewish community during an address to the crowd gathered at Bondi, saying the events of seven days ago weighed heavily on him. He told those assembled: “You have reclaimed Bondi Beach for us”. Under heavy security including snipers on buildings, the emotional evening also featured speeches from Governor-General Sam Mostyn, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane and Jewish community leaders but not Albanese. Olympian Jessica Fox and surf lifesaver Anthony “Harries” Carroll also joined the stage to invite family members of victims and others including NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon to light candles marking the final night of the Hanukkah festival.
• Former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson will lead a review of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to examine their performance in the lead-up to last Sunday’s Bondi Beach terrorist attack. Albanese announced the review on Sunday, and said its findings would be made publicly available in April 2026. The review was slammed by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg as “bullshit”.
• A small group of protesters calling for the Albanese government to be sacked rallied against immigration on Australia’s day of reflection. One Nation’s new recruit Barnaby Joyce addressed the crowd of about 200 in Sydney despite calls from police and Premier Chris Minns for the rally not to go ahead.

• Pictures of the Bondi gunmen will be plastered on at least 70 mosques in the Philippine city of Davao as local Muslim leaders seek to flush out information about what the father and son got up to in a month-long visit before killing 15 people in Australia. Brandishing an A4 printout of Sajid and Naveed Akram’s images and their basic details on Sunday, the Davao region’s most senior Islamic cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Yusop Pasigan, told this masthead the men were “no good – not good people” and that his community members needed to call police with any information.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been met with more booing from those nearby while leaving the Bondi Beach vigil after the event came to a close.

The Australian leader had been jeered upon arrival, with television footage showing police apprehending a man who had made his way towards him.

His name was also met with booing when he was introduced to the crowd, and several speakers called for a royal commission following the terror attack.

While Governor-General Sam Mostyn, NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane delivered addresses, Albanese did not have a formal role at the commemoration.

A government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister and his office respect the organisers of the solemn, nationally important event.“

The spokesperson said Albanese was honoured to attend the vigil and was happy to participate in whichever way the organisers wished him to.

Olympic gold medallist Jessica Fox and Bondi surf lifesaver Anthony “Harries” Carroll have the job of inviting family members of victims and first responders to light the candles of the menorah, a Jewish tradition during the festival of Hanukkah.

Those who lit candles included the father of the youngest killed in last Sunday’s attack, 10-year-old Matilda, and the father of Ahmed al Ahmed, the heroic bystander who wrestled one of the terrorists before being shot and seriously injured himself.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon and NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan also lit candles.

There was then a rousing rendition of I Am Australian.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, the head of Chabad Bondi, has declared that “Sydney can and must become a beacon of goodness”.

Ulman, whose son-in-law Rabbi Eli Schlanger was slain in last Sunday’s terror attack, read out the names of all 15 victims of the mass shooting, accompanied by a lesson that could be learnt from each of them.

“Each one of the 15 previous souls ... has left us with lessons,” he said.

He said the Jewish community was not retreating – “we are not hiding and we are not shrinking” – because they owed it to those killed to live a life inspired by their memory.

But he said Sydney had to become a city “where people look out for one another” and “where kindness is stronger than hate”.

“Tonight I ask every person here, and everyone watching, to take personal responsibility to continue the light that those souls brought into the world.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece joined members of the Jewish community at the Pillars of Light festival at Federation Square in the CBD on Sunday night.

They attended for the lightning of the menorah and for the moment of silence at 6.47pm. Allan and Reece also joined in prayers and dancing following the menorah lighting.

Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, the director of the festival, said Allan was attending for the second time and he welcomed her presence along with that of Reece.

“The premier called me up and said: ‘Rabbi Gabi, I’m coming but I don’t need to talk, I don’t need the pulpit; I just want to be there and be with your community’,” Kaltmann said.

“We are heartened to have that support [from political leaders] and from everyday Australians – I’ve had so many come up to me in person, at the shops or have reached out via email or text. We are thankful for that support.”

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has recalled rushing to Bondi Beach last Sunday from a Hanukkah event at nearby Dover Heights after the crowd there began to run.

She said she jumped into an ambulance which parked under the footbridge on which the shooters were gunning down attendees of the Jewish festival there.

“What I saw will haunt me forever,” Sloane told the Jewish community commemoration event at Bondi.

“But I saw police run to the scene fast and unhesitatingly, with guns drawn heading to danger.”

Surveying the carnage and desperate to help, she asked a surf lifesaver how she could help, and he told her to grab a bandage.

“I said ‘What do I do?’ and he said ‘Plug the holes’,” Sloane said.

The crowd is now standing and waving candles and phone lights as they join in singing Waltzing Matilda, performed by David Campbell.

Premier Chris Minns said the government had failed in its responsibility to protect the Jewish community, after receiving another rapturous reception at Bondi.

“I acknowledge that the government’s highest duty is to protect its citizens, and we did not do that one week ago,” he said in an address to Sunday night’s event.

Minns told those gathered that weighed heavily on him but he was determined to do everything possible to stop anything like last week’s terror attack happening again.

“We cannot let the Jewish people carry this burden by themselves. It is Australia’s responsibility,” he said.

“This crime was an attempt to marginalise and scatter, to intimidate and cause fear, but Jews have stood up to this intimidation for thousands of years, and so tonight, thanks to the Jewish community of Australia on this last night of Hanukkah, you have reclaimed Bondi Beach for us.”

Alex Ryvchin, co-chief of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told the crowd the terrorists “chose to give up their own lives and liberty just so that others would die”.

“The killers, may their names be blotted out, made their choice,” he said.

“They chose to destroy worlds, to leave parents without a child, wives without husbands, a community without its rabbi. Why? To what end? For what gain?

“There is no why. It is of no consequence. What matters now is the choice we make. How we choose to live. How we together replace the light and decency and love that the murdered cumulatively brought to this world.”

Ryvchin said the Jewish community had suffered a permanent loss of their way of life but must carry on.

“I am willing to accept that we will now live with uncertainty, even fear. This is a price I will pay.

“But I will not hide who I am, an Australian and a Jew, for that would be a price too great.”

Governor-General Sam Mostyn told the crowd at Bondi Beach she joined all Australians in rejecting antisemitism and the “unspeakable barbarism” that took place there last Sunday, paying tribute also to the heroism of those on the scene, including first responders and police.

She read out a letter from King Charles, who wrote that he was appalled at the terror attack and his heart went out to the victims and others affected.

“I know the spirit of community and love that shines through brightly in Australia and the light at the heart of the Hanukkah festival will always triumph over such evil,” the King wrote.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been roundly booed after being introduced by David Ossip, the president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.

Premier Chris Minns, by comparison, received a standing ovation.

Ossip told the crowd Minns “has not missed a funeral, a synagogue service or the opportunity to be with the Jewish community this week”.

“Thank you, Chris for your leadership,” he said.

Ossip also acknowledged NSW Opposition Leader Kelly Sloane as “a hero”.

“Last week Kellie made the choice, in the midst of the attack, to go down to Bondi Beach ... to provide assistance and shelter to those who needed it. That is bravery, that is courage.”

Ossip called for a royal commission following last Sunday’s mass shooting, but said the Jewish community was incredibly resilient.

“The terrorists have picked the wrong community to mess with because we, the Jewish people, are unbreakable,” he said.

People also lit candles and paused for a minute’s silence at other locations around Sydney and Australia.