Sydney has recently seen an increase in local tragedies, often grouped together in the media. Clara Kristanda reflects on this problematic narrative, and how it influences the thinking of the general public.
Content Warning: Mentions of Violence and Fatalities
By the time you read this, you’ll have read countless articles, watched countless videos, and have had many conversations about the two Sydney stabbing attacks that occurred 13 April in Bondi Junction and 15 April in a Wakeley church.
Both attacks have since been endlessly interpreted, scrutinised, made political and nonpolitical, by all parties involved. Rarely do we have nationally significant stabbing attacks, especially those happening within such close proximity – so it comes as expected for them to have created uproar for the following weeks and months within politics, the media and the public eye. These conversations, as any regarding such high-profile, publicly followed stories, have lasting effects for how people remember those involved, and by implication how they think about future security in Australia.
What Happened – A Recap
Though these two events were two distinct events, they both headlined bulletins for days, and the media, law enforcement and government were quick to bombard the public with endless information and interpretation. Stripping back to the bare timelines, as of 2 May when this article was written, the publicly known incidents unfolded as such:
April 13, Bondi Junction Westfield [1]:
Joel Cauchi, 40, enters a mall with a backpack containing a 30cm hunting knife at 3:20pm. Cauchi travels to Level 4, then draws the knife without warning, stabbing numerous people. Cauchi moves around the mall. When attempting to travel up an escalator, he is temporarily confronted by a bollard-wielding French national, Damien Guerot. The first officer on the scene, NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott, follows Cauchi to Level 5. CCTV footage captures Cauchi running past a boba tea store, and ten seconds later Scott sprinting past. Scott yells at Cauchi to “drop the knife!” Instead of complying, Cauchi approaches Scott, and Scott shoots him. The knifeman dies on the scene as Scott attempts CPR.
Cauchi’s victims are five women: Jade Young, Pikria Darchia, Ashlee Good, Dawn Singleton, and Yixuan Cheng, and one man: Faraz Tahir, a security staff member who tried to intervene.
April 15, Christ the Good Shepherd [2]:
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel delivers a live streamed Monday mass at 7pm. A 16-year-old male, whose identity is known to police but has not been made public, approaches the bishop front-on and stabs him with a flick knife, as seen on the livestreamed service. The congregation rushes towards the pair. Mari Emmanuel is stabbed an additional five times. Father Isaac Royel, also performing the mass, is injured by the knifeman. The assailant is held down, as seen in a phone-captured video taken by a witness. The boy exclaims in Arabic “Why was he insulting my prophet and my religion?” [3]
A concerned crowd gathers outside the church, and over 100 police personnel are called to contain it. At one point, it turns into a riot, where some officers are assaulted, and multiple vehicles damaged. The attacker is escorted out by police. At 1:35am, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb declares the event “a terrorist incident”.
There is no death, but both clergymen are hospitalised.
Terrorism?
Though these two stabbing events headlined bulletins for days, the media, law enforcement and government were quick to treat them differently. Numerous debates have been sparked over broader societal politics surrounding identities, and how mis(information) is spread and quickly picked up by the public.
The most dominant conversations are those around the word “terrorism”. Webb was quick to officially declare that the Bondi stabbing was not a terrorist attack, stating the evening of 13 April that “we [the police] don’t have fears for that person holding an ideation” [4], despite also declaring on 15 April that “the offender had focused on women and avoided the men” [5]. Just as quickly, she categorised the church stabbing as a terror attack, stating her reasons on the morning of 16 April: “religious motivated extremism, and of course the intimidation of the public” [6].
According to Parliament, the definition of terrorism is “an act or threat that is intended to: advance a political, ideological, or religious cause; and coerce or intimidate an Australian or foreign government or the public” [7]. But in practice, the only difference here between a terrorist and non-terrorist attack is whether the event was based on religion or misogyny.
Subsequent protests on both violence against women and Islamophobia have sprung up across Australia. In a joint press release representing some of Australia’s largest Islamic organisations, spokeswoman Ramia Abdo Sultan placed pressure on the government’s semantics, asserting that “the presumption that terrorism is inherently tied to religion is not only inaccurate but harmful” [8].
In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deferred responsibility: “what shouldn’t happen [is] politicians define these things rather than security and police agencies” [9].
Protests organised by the anti-violence organisation What Were You Wearing? (WWYW) have been held in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Canberra, as well as smaller regional areas. These protests were attended by state and federal politicians, including Albanese himself, who spoke out again to alleviate some responsibility from his government. “It’s not just governments’ problem […] I want us to work together as a society to build a better Australia,” he said [10].
The Narrative: An Intersectional Commentary
Well, he was right – it isn’t just the governments’ problem. But protestors know that, which is why the demonstrations were planned by a nongovernmental organisation that exists to support those surviving violence. Those organisations aren’t the ones who allocate the federal budgets, Albanese. And what doesn’t help with bettering gender equity, that all-encompassing politician’s word, is the fact that gender-based violence is not considered terrorism. Where is Albanese’s recognition of those women terrorised in Bondi?
The women of Australia have been told that a public stabbing attack, targeted due to their gender (which resulted in five deaths), is not ideologically motivated enough to be considered on-par with that committed against male clergymen. On the other hand, due to the crime of one person (a teenager), the Muslim community in Australia have again been generalised as terrorists.
By relegating the word “terrorism” to religiously-based hate crimes, the government not only remains complicit to the normalisation of gender-based ones, but they also continue to perpetuate the narrative that extremism can only come from religion, specifically Islam. The double-edged knife twists.
So, what happens next? Just that women, especially hijabi women, whose gender and religion are clearly identifiable to the public, must simply trust that things will get better.
The Power of Words in the Public Eye
These categorisations matter, not just for their legal use, but also for how the public collectively remembers tragedies like these. Words come loaded, and the recollection of events through the medium of words reveal public attitudes towards them. While the government, media and law enforcement agencies cannot dictate the words we associate with events, they are large influencers on this, as they decide the subconscious association for many. This power was perfectly exemplified with the early misinformation regarding Bondi, where for over 10 hours after the attack, false information was spread, and gained traction.
On X, previously known as Twitter, multiple accounts blatantly accused that the knifeman was an Islamist extremist, including those belonging to conservative radio presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer and far-right British politician Paul Golding [11]. Islamophobia and hate speech rampantly spread, when in reality the only Muslim involved was Faraz Tahir, who was murdered actively trying to stop Cauchi. At the same time, fake accounts on Instagram were claiming the innocent student Benjamin Cohen to be the knifeman. This happened to the point where Channel Seven reported he was the attacker, in stories now deleted [12].
But it’s not only the idea of misinformation and inaccuracy that affects the collective conscious. The very semantics used around these events have consequences for the public attitude too. For example, in the same Bondi press release, Webb emphasised that Scott “neutralised the threat”, avoiding the use of ‘murder’ and thus discouraging people from comparing the actions of Scott and Cauchi. Cauchi’s parents have also stated that “he was a very sick boy,” which, intentionally or not, places emphasis on the knifeman’s own anguish, over the anguish he inflicted onto the relatives of those he killed [13].
The message is how impressionable the masses are – all it takes is a label, a narrative, a slight skew, a comparison. However far into the future you’re reading this, for example, as you recall these incidents you’re likely recalling them as a pair, due to how often they have been discussed as a pair, the way this article does. There may be other subconscious narratives constructed too, and they all have consequences, neutral or otherwise.
But you are further along the timeline than this article is. So please: what has the narrative become? Is it better over there?
ENDNOTES
[1] Cubby, Ben, et al. “Eighteen Minutes of Terror: Tracking the Erratic Movements of the Bondi Junction Killer.” Sydney Morning Herald, 22 Apr. 2024, www.smh.com.au/interactive/2024/bondi-junction-timeline/. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[2] Muscat, Makayla. “How the Bondi Junction Attack Unfolded.” Daily Mail, 15 Apr. 2024, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13308193/How-Westfield-Bondi-Junction-attack-unfolded-Terrifying-timeline-Joel-Cauchis-sickening-attack-left-six-innocent-shoppers-dead.html. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[3] Noble, Freya, and Miria Davis. “Teen Who Allegedly Carried out Sydney Church Stabbings Had Fingers Cut Off.” 9 News, 16 Apr. 2024, www.9news.com.au/national/stabbing-church-wakeley-western-sydney/95b2c20f-07a3-4849-8781-e2b72a1d99a0. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[4] Special Broadcasting Service. “NSW Police Declares Alleged Sydney Church Attack “a Terrorist Incident.”” Facebook, 16 Apr. 2024, www.facebook.com/sbsnews/videos/nsw-police-declares-alleged-sydney-church-attack-a-terrorist-incident/966222904938876/. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[5] Sky News. “NSW Police Commissioner Provides Update on Attacker from Bondi Junction Stabbing.” Youtube, 13 Apr. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YoUe_eFS0I&t=94s. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[6] Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Was the Bondi Junction Attacker Specifically Targeting Women?” ABC, 14 Apr. 2024, www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-15/was-the-bondi-junction-attacker-targeting-women/103707752. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[7] Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “IN FULL: NSW Premier, Police Announce Terror Investigation into Wakeley Church Stabbing.” Youtube, 16 Apr. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs0xQ_X1-i8. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[8] Parliament of Australia. “Chapter 5 International Terrorism.” Australian Parliament House, 2019, www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Completed_Inquiries/pjcis/securityleg/report/chapter5#def. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[9] Kidd, Jessica. “Sixth Teenager Charged with Terror-Related Offence as Islamic Groups Call for Review of Sydney Raids.” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 Apr. 2024, www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-26/peak-australian-islamic-groups-revision-terrorism-laws-stabbing/103771484. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[10] Tomevska, Sara. “Anthony Albanese Rejects “Selective Terrorism” Criticism after Sydney Stabbings.” Special Broadcasting Service, 18 Apr. 2024, www.sbs.com.au/news/article/anthony-albanese-rejects-selective-terrorism-criticism-after-sydney-stabbings/2e8vrt4uj. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[11] Albanese, Anthony. “TRANSCRIPT of No More: National Rally against Gender Based Violence March.” Prime Minister of Australia, 2024, www.pm.gov.au/media/no-more-national-rally-against-gender-based-violence-march. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[12] Sadler, Denham. “X Fails to Combat Bondi Junction Attack Misinformation.” Information Age, 16 Apr. 2024, ia.acs.org.au/article/2024/x-fails-to-combat-bondi-junction-attack-misinformation.html.
[13] Tayara, Dr. Rana. “Hartley-Brewer and Golding Screenshots.” Instagram, 14 Apr. 2024, www.instagram.com/p/C5uL1_SSvkT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[14] Nguyen, Kevin, and Michael Workman. “Ben Was Falsely Accused of Stabbing Six People to Death. Here’s How This Falsehood Spread.” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 15 Apr. 2024, www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-15/how-misinformation-spread-after-bondi-junction-stabbing/103708210?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[15] Forbes Breaking News. ““He Was a Very Sick Boy”: Sydney Mall Attack Suspect’s Father Speaks Out.” Youtube, 15 Apr. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xa8NByTwqU. Accessed 3 May 2024.
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