Chris Minns backs decision to label church stabbing 'terrorism'

Well, NSW Premier Chris Mins is calling for calm this morning after declaring A stabbing at a church in southwest Sydney a terror attack. The shocking events at Wakeley rocking a city already gripped by grief and anger following the deadly attack at Bondi Junction. And the premier, Chris Mins joins us live now from Kogra in Sydney’s South. Premier, thanks for your time. The community in southwest Sydney is on edge. It could be felt out there yesterday but I think it’s being felt by many, including you. Would that be fair to say? Sure. I mean, I think it’s a combustible situation. It’s been a really difficult week for the city. Over the last three or four days. There’s been families that have lives that have been turned upside down. We’ve got young police officers that are in hospital and we’ve got serious crimes that are being investigated. But, but it’s really important to say that this is a great city. There’s wonderful people that live in it and we will get through this, notwithstanding the serious challenges and the despair and grief that people are going through at the moment, that that is one thing for certain, which we can we can all relate to in some way, shape or form. But you also yesterday looked pretty ticked off that press conference in relation to those police officers. Yeah, I spoke to five of them yesterday afternoon. All had been admitted to hospital. And I’ve got to tell you and your viewers that two of them, at least two of them, were back out on shift that afternoon. I mean, just living up to the best traditions of the NSW police force. No one should have to go through that to do your job. And when you consider that those officers were there to investigate a terrorism offence and keep the public safe, to be met with violence is shocking and deplorable. And the NSW Police Commissioner has said she’s going to throw the book at those who committed those offences. It’s absolutely terrible and it’s not going to be tolerated at all. No. And it has been condemned far and wide. No one needs to see that horrible violence that we saw completely unwarranted. Premier, when you mentioned there the, the commissioner yesterday was very strong about these people being held accountable. Detectives were on the scene yesterday going door to door. Has anyone been arrested yet? I can’t report on that right now Sarah, but I know there’s a a large task force that has been set up. There’s been 2 task force overnight that have been set up, one to look at the rioters behavior, the other to look at a very serious terrorism event in NSW. Fortunately we’ve got a large police force that’s professional and dedicated and experienced in these matters, but obviously they’ve got a massive task ahead of them. Yeah, absolutely, Premier. I was with independent MP Dai Lee yesterday. We see this is her electorate. She was very concerned about labelling this stabbing A terror event, worried that it’ll only inflamed tensions in the community. Is that something that you’re concerned about, that risk? No, it’s necessary. And here’s why. It’s not a performative gesture. We’re not interested in labelling one crime higher than another crime in New South Wales. That designation needed to happen to unlock powers for NSW police to investigate this crime. We need to look at radicalization, We need to look at this young man’s history prior to these offences and then and the police Commissioner deemed it necessary to have access to those powers and that was supported by the Australian Federal Police. It was Co signed off by the Minister for police. I was told about it at 2:00 in the morning. It’s my judgement that the absolute right decision was made and I just hope people don’t second guess the police at the moment. They’ve got a big job ahead of them. I think we should let them get on with it, OK? The 16 year old boy at the center of this investigation was released on a good behaviour bond after being caught with a knife at a train station last November. The question being asked this morning by the Fairfield Mayor is were there any red flags? Also in addition to that, the Telegraph has a story this morning about him being mentally poisoned. This according to a man who used used to pray with him. Where where does that all sit? Yeah, they’re very good questions and I can understand completely the reason you’ve asked them and the community anxiety about both of those incidents. I can’t offer a long commentary about it because that person of interest is facing very serious charges that are likely to be before the courts. But what I can say is that the AFP, the AZO, the National Intelligence Agency as well as NSW Police are looking at all of those matters to see where the red flags should have been obvious to enforcement agencies prior to those events. I don’t wanna speculate about it now, but I think it’s important the public have confidence that they’re being fully investigated. We wanna be in a position and a situation where we can prevent future terrible acts and potential terrorist activities in the state. As you did say yesterday that this is my question was saying that this is the kind of, I guess, terrorist act that they have been concerned about this sort of lone attack, as Carl was pointing to there. If there are concerns within the community and they’ve perhaps been overlooked, that is worrying. Well, yeah, I mean, again, I’m not trying to sweep it under the carpet. They’re legitimate questions. Certainly it needs to be part of the inquiry. I can’t speculate on it because I need to let the law enforcement agencies look at it. And they’d need to do that concurrently with their investigation about the crime. I can assure you that we’ve got the resources in place to do that investigation and report to the public as soon as possible. I understand there’s real community concern about this event and it’s a combustible situation in Sydney at the moment, but we’ve got very senior people, experienced people looking at it right now. How do you take the energy out of that combustible situation when it’s running hot? Well, the thing I would say, and this is really clear, is certainly there’s bad people in our community, but they are way outweighed by the amount of good people in New South Wales. And that extends all the way from dedicated police officers that go on the frontline all the way to our religious leaders. Muslim Christian Orthodox, who issued A unanimous condemnation of violence, called for calm, deplored the violence against NSW Police and asked everybody in our community to let them get on with the investigation. I think that sends an important and powerful signal that we are united in the face of what’s been a terrible week and there will be no tolerance for anybody that commits a violent act, whether it’s a retaliatory act or it’s an act of terrorism. It’s a difficult situation, but if we hang together, we can get through the next few weeks. Very good, Premier. Thank you.