‘Dangerous' detail in triple-0 call from Westfield Bondi Junction control room revealed after fatal attack
A counter-terrorism expert has revealed a 'dangerous' detail in a triple-0 call made by a control room operator who had been flagged for 'ongoing issues' and was on the verge of being replaced before the fatal Westfield Bondi Junction attack.
Dawn Singleton, Yixuan Cheng, Faraz Ahmed Tahir, Ashlee Good, Jade Young and Pikria Darchia were all killed by Joel Cauchi at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13, 2024, before he was then shot dead by police.
A coronial inquest into the attack heard from Scott Wilson, a crisis management solutions expert who was called in for expertise in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing inquiry and 2019 Christchurch attack inquiry, on Monday.
The court was previously told concerns had been raised in the months before the attack about the competency of the sole control room operator (CRO), who can only be known as CR1, rostered to the CCTV control room on the day of the attack.
This included how she failed to answer questions on a competency checklist related to an active armed offender (AAO) weeks before her training was signed off in January 2024.
There was no active CCTV monitoring as the attack unfolded, as CR1 went to the bathroom 40 seconds before Cauchi stabbed his first victim.
By the time she re-entered the room, Cauchi had attacked eight people, with all 16 people stabbed by the time another security employee (known as CR2) entered the room.
Cauchi was shot dead by Inspector Amy Scott at 3.38pm.
The court was played the call made by CR1 to police about 3.36pm, though it appeared she didn't get through to police until about 3.42pm due to being on hold.
CR1 told the police operator that there was an armed offender in the centre and that 'we've been informed that there's been shots fired'.
When asked if she knew if anyone was injured, she said: 'Um we're not aware, we're evacuating the centre as quickly as we can.'
She later told the operator that she'd 'just (been) informed we've got three to four injuries, two stabbings', she didn't have a description of the offender, and police were on site.
Mr Wilson said the information relayed in the call by CR1 was inadequate, noting that if the call had been made in the first minute after she was aware of the attack he 'could probably accept it, but 10 minutes in, it's just not good enough'.
He said the operator taking the call could've been led to believe there was an armed offender with a gun shooting people in the centre, which could be 'really dangerous'.
The operator could've misinterpreted CR1's call as meaning three or four people had been shot and two stabbed, Mr Wilson told the court.
'Why would you not say multiple stabbings … and police have shot a suspect?' Mr Wilson said.
In an alternative world, CR1 should've told police that there were multiple stabbings and police had shot the suspect so as not to mix up who had the gun at that stage.
He also 'cannot believe' that CR1 wouldn't have known a single offender had been shot by the time of the call.
Police were aware Cauchi had been shot by Inspector Scott by that stage; however, Mr Wilson said CR1's call may have confused officers in the police control room.
He also said police should've been called about a minute earlier, as it would've taken CR1 about 30 seconds to work out what was happening once she returned to the room.
CR1 wasn't 'picking up anything' on CCTV
Upon viewing CCTV footage of CR1's actions on the day, Mr Wilson said CR1 'wasn't obviously up to speed with competence' and her statement from the day was 'very poor quality'.
Mr Wilson said had it been someone working at a cafe in the centre it would be expected that their statement might not be great because it's not part of their job; however, he'd expect the statement of someone working in security to be better quality.
While she might have been able to do 90 per cent of her job, Mr Wilson said he didn't feel CR1 performed her job adequately on the day.
'Is she able to step up when it all goes wrong? And my answer would be no,' he said
The court was told CR1 'suffers adversely' from the impacts of that day, with counsel assisting the coroner Chris Murphy telling the court that she was in a 'very difficult situation' on the day.
Mr Murphy also reiterated that issues had been raised with CR1's record and report writing in the months before the attack.
Mr Wilson said CR2 should've taken over from CR1 once he returned to the control room, as he was able to quickly identify what was going on once he returned to the room.
'If you've not got faith in (CR1), why leave her in that room?' Mr Wilson asked.
He said CR2 had picked up the suspect within 30 seconds of looking at CCTV.
'(You) watch CR1 and she doesn't seem to be picking anything up on those screens,' Mr Wilson said.
'I think if (CR2) had been in there from the start … you might've found the response was much better.'
The court was told Mr Wilson's role in the inquest was to identify potential lessons and not to place blame on individuals.
Mr Wilson also said the responsibilities of a CRO appeared to be 'too large for one person', with Mr Murphy noting a pilot program requiring two security guards to rostered to the control room at any given time, among other policies, has been implemented by Scentre, which operates a string of Westfields across Australia, including Bondi Junction.
The nature, timing, and adequacy of the response by Scentre Group and its subcontractors Glad Group and Falkon Security is being probed in the inquest.
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