Sydney stabbings live updates: Wakeley church attack declared terrorist event just days after Bondi Junction tragedy; PM, AFP call for calm

The stabbing of a bishop and parish priest at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church was a terrorist attack, police say.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she determined the stabbing was a terrorist incident after “consideration of all the material”.

Webb also warned those angry community members who turned on police after the stabbings that they can “expect a knock on the door”.

“It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow, but we will find you and we will come and arrest you,” Webb said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that after separate stabbing attacks in Sydney in recent days. it was understandable that people may be feeling worried.

“I understand that people are feeling uneasy, and that’s understandable given the atrocity that occurred on Saturday and then this incident last night,” he said.

“I discussed this with [NSW] Premier Minns this morning as well, and part of us standing up here is to reassure the public that the authorities are doing their work.

“I have every faith in the New South Wales Police and the Australian Federal Police and our security agencies to do their work, we’ll provide them with every support.”

Albanese said Australia was “overwhelmingly a harmonious society”.

“In my local community people of different faith live side by side. And that is overwhelmingly the experience of Australians,” he said.

“It is vital in my view that we continue to stress what unites us, and that respect for each other be maintained at all times.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was “no place” for extremism in Australia.

“Last night, a 16-year-old who has been apprehended was accused of stabbing a bishop at Christ The Good Shepherd church in Wakeley. This is a disturbing incident,” he said.

“There is no place for violence in our community. There’s no place for violent extremism. We’re a peace-loving nation. This is a time to unite, not divide, as a community, and as a
country.”

Albanese, flanked by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess and AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw, said there had been a national security committee meeting this morning to discuss the attack, which has been declared a terror incident.

“Can I say that we understand the distress and concerns that are there in the community,
particularly after the tragic event at Bondi Junction on Saturday. But it’s not acceptable to impede and injure police doing their duty, or to damage police vehicles in a way that we saw last night,” Albanese said.

“People should not take the law into their own hands. But should allow our police, and our security agencies, to do their job. My job as prime minister is to give them that support.”

Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw said Monday night’s attack in western Sydney was being investigated by the NSW joint counterterrorism team, which includes AFP.

“The AFP, together with ASIO and New South Wales police, will continue to investigate how this incident occurred, and the individual involved,” he said.

“This attack will have a significant impact on the Australian community, and I would like to reassure the Australian community that the AFP, together with its law enforcement partners, particularly under the joint counterterrorism team, is working to investigate this incident from all angles.”

Kershaw said it was an ongoing investigation and he would not discuss further detail and urged anyone with information to contact NSW police.

“All Australians should remain vigilant and I urge people who see or hear something that they feel is not right to contact the national security hotline immediately on 1800 123 400,” he said.

Independent MP Dai Le, whose federal electorate of Fowler includes Wakeley, said she feared the declaration of terrorism would fuel fear in the community.

“I’m not exaggerating, I feel sick in the stomach that the Premier has done that. But I hope he has a good reason to do this,” she said on ABC News Breakfast.

Earlier she said the church is one of seven Assyrian churches that are much loved in the community.

“We all know what happens when it gets live-streamed on social media. I have no doubt that it really spread like wildfire,” she said on ABC RN Breakfast.

“I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard the news. So you know, the video was sent to me. It was horrific.”

“[They have] participated in activities in terms of handing out food and presents to the community and over the years.”

Asked whether the bishop’s sometimes controversial statements could have played a role in the attack, Le said people should not jump to conclusions.“I would caution people [not] to jump to …. any kind of interpretation conclusion about what the motivation behind it [is] before the police run their work,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Director General of Security of ASIO, Mike Burgess, and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Reece Kershaw will provide an update this morning following the Wakeley attack.

You can watch the press conference live here at 9.35am.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the riot in response to the stabbing attack at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley in Sydney’s west was unacceptable.

“It was quite unacceptable when police are attending an event like that in order to protect the community, and the fact that the community, some people there turned on the police is completely unacceptable,” Albanese said on ABC Radio Melbourne.

“Police were injured last night including one police officer [who] had his jaw broken. And that is completely unacceptable. There was damage done to too many police vehicles as well.”

Albanese said police would be investigating all those incidents as well as the stabbing itself, which has now been declared a terror incident.

“It’s really important at a time like this that we don’t speculate all the way make sure that all information is confirmed before it’s released by the police and authorities,” he said.

“This is a time where we need to respect those processes and that is precisely what we will be doing.“

Asked repeatedly if he knew the religion of the alleged teenage assailant, Albanese said politicians should not be the ones leading this sort of information disclosure.

“We are ensuring that everything is confirmed before any information is released that you are satisfied,” he said.“There’s been a declaration of a terror incident which means that it is ideologically motivated.”

Premier Chris Minns has some strong words for those involved in the riot after the alleged terrorist attack.

As social media swirls with speculation regarding the alleged attacker’s motivation, Minns implored the community to stay united.

“There is no such thing in Australia in taking the law into your own hands. It doesn’t exist,” he said.

“You will be met by the full force of the law if there’s any attempt of tit-for-tat violence in Sydney over the coming days.”

Minns said those who engage in tit-for-tat violence would only take away resources from the terror investigation.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said those who turned against police officers after the attack can expect to be found and prosecuted.

“Police officers were doing their job and they were attacked. That’s the simplest I can put it,” she said.

NSW Ambulance treated 30 patients over the course of the more than three hours after the attack, including 20 who were impacted by capsicum spray during the riot, Commissioner Dr Dominic Morgan said.

“Our paramedics became directly under threat and were supported by police, and had to retreat into the church … this is outrageous,” he said.

The teenager who allegedly stabbed two church leaders in what police say is a terrorist attack had his own fingers severed in the chaos.

An image captured in the wake of the incident shows four fingers on the attacker’s left hands have been cut off.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb said it is still unclear whether the fingers were cut off by the crowd after the attack, or whether they were accidently severed during the melee that followed.

Police, however, have confirmed the alleged attacker did undergo surgery in the hours after he was apprehended.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the teenager alleged to have stabbed two church leaders in a “terrorist incident” was known to police but was not on any terrorist watch lists.

Webb said the male likely acted alone.

“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious-motivated extremism. And of course, the intimidation of the public through that person’s act by attending that church whilst it was being livestreamed intimidating not only the parishioners in attendance, but those parishioners who are watching online and subsequently, those people that turned up to the church on the outside and the subsequent riots that happened,” Webb said.

“We will allege that there is a degree of premeditation, on the basis that this person has travelled to that location which is not near his residential address, travelled with a knife and subsequently the bishops and the priests have been stabbed who are currently in surgery. As I understand it, they are lucky to be alive.”

The stabbing of a bishop and parish priest at the Christ The Good Shepherd Church was a terrorist attack, police say.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she determined the stabbing was a terrorist incident after “consideration of all the material”.

Webb also warned those angry community members who turned on police after the stabbings that they can “expect a knock on the door”.

“It might not be today. It might not be tomorrow, but we will find you and we will come and arrest you,” Webb said.

Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb gave an update on the stabbing at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church at 8am.

You can watch the press conference below.