Wong ‘desperately sorry’ over Bondi massacre
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong expressed regret over the Bondi terror attack and acknowledged more could have been done before Australia’s worst mass shooting in 30 years.
When asked if he would apologize to the Jewish community, Senator Wong said he was “extremely sorry for what happened in our country and what the Jewish community has gone through.”
“Sadness is not political; the pain is felt when we go to our places of worship, when we light a candle for the lost and the mourners, when we hold our children close,” he told The Advertiser newspaper in his native Adelaide.
“These are the moments when I think we all suffer.”
He visited Bondi “when appropriate” and had not attended any victim funerals “as funerals are highly personal and often conducted by the family”.
“I respect the families’ wishes and I respect their pain, which is huge,” he said.
Ten people injured in the 14 December attack remain in Sydney hospitals.
NSW Health said on Saturday that four were in a critical condition while the other six were stable.
The firebombing of a rabbi’s car in Melbourne on Christmas Day was an “unspeakable attack” and Senator Wong said he condemned it, “especially as Australia’s Jewish community grieves after the horrific events in Bondi”.
Melbourne police continue to search for a suspect in an attack on a vehicle carrying a Hanukkah sign.
On Friday, they posted a photo of 47-year-old John Argento, who also goes by the name John Seckold.
Senator Wong said antisemitism was “unacceptable and the government is taking action”.
“Of course, in politics and in life, you always regret what more could have been done. I think we’ve made that clear. We’ve taken action, but we must do more, and we are doing it.”
Asked whether Australia should tighten immigration, Senator Wong said Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had announced the strengthening of visa cancellation and visa refusal powers.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
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