John Battersby: Massey University Defence Studies Professor on the Bondi beach terror attack

A deadly terror attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach is feeding speculation of potential intelligence errors. 

Two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday evening, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more. 

A 24-year-old suspect remains in hospital under police guard, while his 50-year-old father, the other alleged offender, was shot dead. 

The younger man, who's suspected of orchestrating the attack, had previously been investigated by the country's security agency and hadn't been considered a threat. 

But Massey University Defence Studies Professor John Battersby says we shouldn't jump to conclusions until more details emerge. 

He told Andrew Dickens intelligence capabilities are always limited by the resources put into them. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Killed a Holocaust survivor.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
To rabbis at in the aftermath of what happened, there
were one hundred and twenty three paramedics out there trying
to help the hurt.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Of course, questions are being asked about intelligence failures. After
the Bondei Beach attack, police confirmed that the government with
the father and the son, Sahid and Navid Akram Sahib,
the dad dead, Navid's in hospital underguard. The younger man
had been on the radar for years with extremist links
and red flags, yet no charges. Meanwhile, Benjamin Ettanyahu has

(00:31):
been quick to point the finger.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I sent Prime Minister Albanese of Australia a letter in
which I gave him warning who did nothing to curb
the cancer cells that were growing inside your country.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
This is a moment for national unity, this is a
moment for Australians to come together.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
That's precisely what we will be doing.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
And as Anthony Albanize and now joining me now is
John Battersby. He's from Massi University Center for Defense and
Security Studies. John, good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
And that was an intelligence failure, wouldn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I tend to not judge things on intelligence. We'll call
them intelligence failures until we know exactly what's gone on.
The law enforcement and intelligence capablities in any country are
limited by the resources you put into them, and they
are successful a lot of the time in terms of
detecting things like this, but they just cannot be successful

(01:29):
all of the time. And there have been some very
well resourced intelligence agencies in Europe and the US which
these types of things have got past. So look, let's
just pull back from intelligence failure right now and each
wait and see what the facts revealed.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Is it difficulty that you can't actually detain a bad
guy until a bad guy does something bad.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, in most democratic countries, somebody has to commit an
offense before you can arrest them. So different countries have
different setups in terms of the section of people who
they suspect of plotting terrorist attacks. So if evidence can
be obtained that someone is planning one of these things,
a number of countries can arrest and detain. I think

(02:10):
Australia does have some pretty strong laws with that, and
they have detained people before on suspicion.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
How does Australia security level compare.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
To hours, Oh, significantly greater I've always thought, but it
also seems to have a significantly bigger problem. I can't say.
I think, going back for several decades now, Australia seems
to have always had a slightly well a significantly elevated
risk of various types of terrorist attacks. You're going back

(02:41):
to before nineteen seventy eight with a Hilton bombing, So yeah, look,
there are levels of concern there. They have a much
stronger security of Croatis than us. They have the most
some of the most significantly strong gun laws in the world,
so yeah, yeah, look they are set up I think.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Appropriately, all right, John Benesby, I thank you so much
for Messi University and for more.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
From early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News
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