The Prime Minister of Australia pledges to eradicate hatred as the nation mourns the youngest victim at Bondi Beach

• The Prime Minister targeted extremist preachers and visas linked to hatred.
• Plan to list organisations associated with hate speech.
• Race-based serious insults would become a federal crime.

Sydney: Australia’s prime minister vowed to end extremism on Thursday, as the country mourned the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach shooting, a 10-year-old girl who was remembered as “our little ray of sunshine.”

Father-son gunmen are accused of opening fire into a crowd at a beachside Jewish festival on Sunday evening, killing 15 people in an attack by officers linked to “Daesh ideology.”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised sweeping action to root out “the scourge of anti-Semitism from our society”.

“Australians are shocked and frustrated. I’m angry. It’s clear we need to do more to deal with this wicked crisis,” he told reporters.

This included new powers to target extremist propagandists and refuse or cancel visas for those spreading “hatred and division.”

Australia will develop a system for listing organisations.

Australia will develop a system to list organisations whose leaders engage in hate speech, he said.

“Serious insult” based on race would become a federal crime.

As the Prime Minister spoke, mourners gathered for the funeral of 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest victim killed in the attack.

“Matilda is our little ray of sunshine,” the rabbi leading the service said, reading a message from her school.

“She is truly the most kind, caring and compassionate young girl who brightens everyone’s day with her bright smile and infectious laugh.”

Mourners dressed in black hold bouquets of lilies as they walk to a funeral at Chevra Kadisha in Sydney, a Jewish society responsible for customary burial rites.

Others held balloons decorated with pictures of bumblebees—a reference to the young girl’s nickname, “Matilda Bee.”

Hours before the first shots fired, photos captured a young girl petting animals at the zoo and smiling after having her face painted.

Before the Russian invasion, Matilda’s family left Ukraine to settle in Australia.

“I couldn’t imagine that I would lose my daughter here. It’s a nightmare,” Mother Valentina told reporters before the funeral.

“It just lives here and here, and I can’t get it out,” she said, pointing to her head and heart.

Her father, Michael, said he chose her name as a nod to Australia, where the beloved folk song “Waltzing Matilda” is sung as an unofficial national anthem.

“We came here from Ukraine and Matilda was our first child in Australia,” he said earlier this week.

“And I thought Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist.

“So just remember. Remember his name.”

extremist ideology

Sajid Akram and his son Navid have been accused of carrying out the firing on the Jewish Hanukkah festival in an anti-Semitic attack.

 

Father Sajid, 50, died in an encounter with police, but Naved, 24, survived.

Naveed, reportedly an unemployed mason, was charged on Wednesday with 15 murders, terrorist acts and dozens of other serious crimes.

Authorities believe the pair was radicalised by “Daesh ideology.”

Australian police are investigating whether the pair met with extremists during a trip to the Philippines weeks before the shootings.

On Wednesday, the Philippines stated that they found no evidence of using the country for “terrorist training”.

Questions are being raised over whether authorities could have acted earlier to thwart the gunmen.

Naved came to the attention of Australia’s intelligence agency in 2019.

But at that time he was not considered an imminent threat.

The attack has also reignited accusations that Australia is neglecting its efforts to combat anti-Semitism.

“We stand at a very critical moment,” government envoy Jillian Segal said Thursday on anti-Semitism.

“This moment is crucial not only for our community but also for the global fight against anti-Semitism.”

Australia’s leaders have agreed to tighten the laws that allow Sajid Akram to own six guns.

The Bondi Beach attack is the deadliest mass shooting since 35 people were killed in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

Australia’s gun laws underwent sweeping reforms as a result of that shooting.

However, there has been a steady increase in privately owned firearms in recent years.