JENI O’DOWD: Pauline Hanson’s immigration comments after Bondi terror attack missed the point

Don’t mess with our country.

That is the message ordinary Australians sent from Bondi Beach on Sunday night, not through slogans or speeches, but through action that was bloody, brave and instinctive.

The gunmen arrived expecting victims. Instead, they met Australians who fought back.

There were so many.

Boris and Sofia Gurman, who tried to wrestle a gun from one of the attackers before the shooting even started. Reuven Morrison, who hurled a brick at a terrorist.

The much-praised Ahmed al Ahmed, the Syrian Muslim tobacco shop owner, who tackled Sajid Akram from behind and disarmed him while bullets were still flying.

His GoFundMe page now has more than $2.3 million in donations from people around the world.

Jacob Barnfield, who joined others kicking a gunman on the ground who was being held by police.

Residents flung open their doors to shelter strangers. A woman lay over a little girl she did not know, shielding her from gunfire.

Others helped ambulance officers treat the wounded amid chaos, while police and lifeguards ran towards danger, saving lives as shots still rang out around them.

Fifteen innocent people were killed. Many more were injured. But the story of Sunday night is not only about loss. It is about who we are when tested.

We need to understand what Australian values actually look like

Barnfield, from Bonnyrigg, later told Sunrise that his actions were fuelled by pure rage. “It was a bit of a dog shot, but I don’t regret it at all,” he said. “There were children on the floor screaming and crying.”

Who can blame him?

In moments of horror, Australians do what Australians have always done. They stand their ground. They protect each other. They act.

Pauline Hanson wasted no time weighing in after the attack. While I fundamentally reject her anti-Muslim rhetoric and her obsession with “Islamisation”, she did touch on a question that makes many Australians uneasy: whether we are doing enough to ensure those who enter this country share the values that hold it together.

“It is about mass immigration that is happening here,” Hanson said. “It’s destroying our way of life and the services that every Australian has a right to.”

But here is where Hanson gets it badly wrong.

What we witnessed on Bondi Beach was not a failure of Australian values among migrants. It was a powerful affirmation of them.

Ahmed al Ahmed did not hesitate because of where he was born or what faith he follows. He saw danger and acted.

Footage shows him wrestling the rifle away and pointing it at the disarmed attacker without firing. NSW Premier Chris Minns said there was no doubt lives were saved because of his incredible bravery which stunned the world.

This is what blanket condemnations miss. Values are not inherited through passports or religion. They are revealed in moments like this.

Being Australian is not about skin colour, birthplace or belief. It is about standing up for others and not letting hatred win. Ahmed al Ahmed embodied that more clearly than any politician’s talking points ever could.

But there is still a difficult conversation the Albanese Government has avoided for too long.

This is not a debate about who people are, but a debate about what institutions are doing, or failing to do, to keep Australians safe and to stop hatred spilling into extreme violence.

It has failed to identify and disrupt violent extremists before they act. It has failed to properly monitor individuals who show signs of radicalisation. Most importantly, it has failed to confront the rise in anti-Semitism with any sense of urgency.

Since October 7, 2023, rallies on the Israel–Gaza conflict have repeatedly crossed the line into open hostility towards Jewish Australians, often with little consequence. Warnings have been minimised. Leadership has been non-existent.

The younger alleged gunman, Naveed, reportedly came to the attention of authorities as far back as 2019 but was not deemed a threat.

That should concern every Australian. Not because of where he came from, but because of what was missed.

Anthony Albanese’s decision to tighten gun laws in the immediate aftermath of the massacre was a cheap diversion which missed the core issue.

The problem is not only access to weapons. It is allowing the insidious rise of antisemitism and whether we are doing enough to identify dangerous ideology early.

As former Prime Minister John Howard said: “I do not want this debate post this horrible event…(for) the focus on guns be used as a pretext to avoid the broader debate about the spread of hatred of Jewish people and antisemitism.”

Screening, monitoring and countering extremism matter. Pretending these conversations are off limits because someone might cry racism helps no one, least of all the communities most often targeted by hate.

But we need to understand what Australian values actually look like.

They look like an elderly couple refusing to freeze. Like a Muslim man tackling a terrorist to protect strangers. Like people opening their homes without asking names or backgrounds. Like police officers running towards danger.

That is the standard in Australia.

The message from Bondi Beach should be unmistakable to anyone who brings violence and hatred here.

Australians will stand together. Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Jew. Immigrant and native-born. Young and old. We will protect each other, even when it costs us dearly.

That is the Australian spirit. That is what deserves defending.