Statsminister Tony Abbott har for første gang innrømmet at mandagens terroraksjon kunne og burde vært avverget.  Han sier hendelsen har vært en forferdelig vekker.

Men ble ikke Australia «vekket» 18. september da hele 800 politimenn deltok i pågripelse av flere jihadister som hadde planlagt å halshugge en tilfeldig sivilist på akkurat samme sted som Lindt-cafeen ligger, Martin Place.

Hvor mange wake up calls trenger en statsminister?

Som statsminister påtar Abbott seg et stort ansvar ved å antyde at terroraksjonen aldri burde skjedd; to flotte mennesker villle vært i live. 15 andre ville vært spart traumatiske opplevelser.

«This has been a horrific wake-up call,» Abbott told Macquarie Radio when asked if this was an incident waiting to happen, amid criticism that various authorities failed to act to take Monis off the streets.

«The tragedy is that this has happened. I mean, this was an atrocity, it may well have been a preventable atrocity, and that’s why this swift and thorough review is so important,» he said.

Monis, who was well known to authorities but was not on any counter-terror watchlists, took 17 people hostage at a cafe in the heart of Sydney on Monday, unfurling an Islamic flag during a 16-hour siege.

Abbott erkjent tirsdag at Monis skulle vært overvåket.

«If I can be candid with you the question we (are) asking (is), ‘How can someone who has had such a long and checkered history not be on the appropriate watch lists, and how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community’,» Abbott said at a news conference in Sydney.

«Now that this incident has taken place, not withstanding the fact that the New South Wales Police and other agencies responded so well, we do have to ask ourselves the question: ‘Could it have been prevented?’ » Abbott said.

Hvis man ser uttalelsene i sammenheng har de bare en logisk konklusjon: Abbott bør ta sin hatt og gå. Det er sin egen utilstrekkelighet han påpeker.

Som ikke det var nok: Abbott benyttet gisselkrisen til å offentliggjøre at Australia går på en skikkelig smell i neste budsjett. Underskuddet blir mye større enn forventet. Slik smartness midt i en krise har ikke akkurat fått Abbotts anseelse til å stige.

Influential broadcaster Ray Hadley, who has long backed Abbott and his conservative Liberal Party, told him during a face-to-face interview he rated his performance as «D-«, saying going ahead with the budget outlook was «a really poor call».

Fryktet de ikke ville overleve

Det har nå kommet frem at skytingen i cafeen ikke begynte fordi Man Monis sovnet og Tori Johnson forsøkte å ta våpenet fra ham. Ifølge nye opplysninger var det fordi Man Monis begynte å dele gislene i grupper. De fikk følelsen av at de ikke kom til å overleve natten, og bestemte seg for å handle.

Details of why police moved in when they did are sketchy but the father of a hostage who escaped said it was triggered by a group of them deciding they would «not survive until the morning if they did not do something».

Bruce Herat, the lawyer father of hostage Joel Herat, 21, said Monis was awake and agitated and had begun herding the frightened hostages into separate groups.

«And at that point in time, Joel and five others came to the conclusion that they were not going to survive until the morning if they did not do something,» he told Fairfax Media, adding that they decided to kick down an internal door.

«And I know that Joel made sure that Harriette (Denny) … got behind him and he said, ‘You’re coming with me’, and basically made sure that all that group were ready to go when Joel and Jarrod (Hoffman) broke down the door.»

Australierne sier terroraksjonen har gjort noe med deres innstilling. Den vante laid-back-stilen er borte.

«I’ll never forget this day as long as I live,» said Jenny Borovina, who was in tears with two friends while carrying white flowers to the site. She predicted that the effect of the standoff would leave a permanent scar on Australia’s psyche. «Our laid-back nature has just changed,» she said.

—

The siege has touched a nerve among Australians, who began laying flowers at a makeshift memorial in the heart of Sydney’s financial quarter on Tuesday.

The floral tribute continues to grow and New South Wales state Premier Mike Baird said a permanent memorial would likely be erected near the cafe.

«This is something that will be with us forever. We need to recognise that and pay tribute to the inspiring Australians that we have lost, and what they have given us,» he said.

 

Så spørs det om borgerne er like «forgiving» overfor politikerne som lot dette skje. De har visst om folk som Man Monis, som åpent har stått frem som hatefull, anti-australsk og islamist, og i privat sammenheng vist at han er i stand til å være fysisk voldelig. Likevel har de ikke foretatt seg noe. Historien om Lindt-café er ikke over.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/abbott-says-sydney-siege-horrific-wake-up-call/article1-1297792.aspx#sthash.bzJCzwba.dpuf

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/16/sydney-hostage-gunman/20469501/