‘Greatest concern’: Ex-cop says his determined gun plea was ignored earlier than the Bondi Beach terrorist assault
A retired police officer has claimed the Bondi terrorist attack was a tragedy waiting to happen after his pleas for stricter gun ownership fell on deaf ears years earlier.
Former senior constable Wayne Jackson spent the last nine years of his 30-year career at the NSW Firearms Registry, where he served as an active duty officer.
During his time in the role, he expressed concerns about the thousands of guns being approved for civilian ownership by registry staff.
NSW Premier Chris Minns urgently recalled parliament just before Christmas to pass stricter gun laws in the wake of the massacre on December 14.
Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, allegedly opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, killing 15 innocent people.
Sajid held a valid firearm licence and owned six guns.
As mourners returned to Bondi on Tuesday to mark the one-month anniversary, Mr Jackson lifted the lid on internal failings at the NSW Firearms Registry.
He fought back tears while recalling his fears that a tragedy like the Bondi massacre was inevitable after authorities ignored his calls for reform.
Retired senior constable Wayne Jackson spent almost a decade at the NSW Firearms Registry
The retired cop believes that the Bondi terror attack was an avoidable tragedy
‘It broke my heart. Very heartbreaking and frustrating,’ he told A Current Affair.
‘My greatest fear, which was clearly what occurred with Bondi… We talked about it a lot… when, where, how it was going to happen. What’s the effect going to be?
‘It was always going to happen and the writing has been on the wall for years.’
Mr Jackson claimed that many gun licences were effectively rubber stamped.
One in every 30 Australians has a gun licence, with four million registered firearms between them.
One quarter of those guns are in New South Wales.
Mr Jackson said too much of the process of procuring a firearm was being done by automated systems rather than a human, creating gaps.
‘The people casting eyes over these applications – and in turn, issuing the licences – is not there,’ he explained.
Naveed Akram, 24, (pictured) and his father Sajid allegedly opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 innocent lives
Mr Jackson said the Firearms Registry is the only body that can actually do the revocation of licences. The police in the field can’t do it.’
‘When the police go out, they find that the house could be next to an OMCG (outlaw motorcycle gang) chapter headquarters, it could be next to a primary school, it could be next to a street where there’s lots of break-ins and domestic violence,’ he said.
‘It’s then that they (police) actually see these things and they become alert of what’s going on but it’s too late. They’ve already got their licence and they’ve already got their gun.
The internal processes at the registry also impacted Mr Jackson’s role in investigating firearms dealers and collectors.
‘In nearly nine years, (I) never went to a firearms dealer without an issue. And that’s including missing firearms,’ he said.
‘I feel that not one of my reports in nine years ever left that office ever.’
In one investigation of a gun museum in the Blue Mountains, Mr Jackson noted in his report that the safe storage of firearms was deemed inadequate and posed a significant risk to the state government.
Years later, the museum was allegedly broken into and had more than $200,000 worth of antique firearms stolen in ‘exactly’ the way Mr Jackson had predicted.
The Bondi terrorist attack sparked stricter gun reforms in NSW
NSW now has the toughest firearm ownership laws in the country in the wake of recently passed reforms, according to Acting NSW Police Minister Paul Scully.
Mr Scully admitted that licence processing delays were not uncommon prior to the current Minns government being elected in 2023.
‘With new legislation introduced following the Bondi terror attack, we have made it clear we will significantly uplift the Firearms Registry so it can do the critical work required to keep the community safe, including ongoing reviews of licence holders,’ the police minister said.
‘Under our reforms, firearms licences will be renewed every two years instead of every five, requiring licensees to reprove their genuine reason for holding a firearm.’
