• Attack described as inspired by “Daesh ideology”.
• Review to examine powers, structures and information-sharing.
• ASIO investigated the son in 2019, no threat found.

SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he has ordered a review into the police and intelligence services after two gunmen shot and killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach.

A father and his son are accused of spraying bullets into the family-thronged Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s most famous beach on December 14, allegedly inspired by “Daesh ideology”.

Albanese said his government will examine whether police and spy services have the powers, structures, and sharing arrangements “to keep Australians safe”.

“The [Daesh]-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” he said.

“Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond.”

Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.

His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen, remains in hospital under police guard and faces multiple charges, including terrorism and 15 murders.

‘Shocking event’

The son was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 2019 for possible radicalisation but was found at the time not to pose a threat, according to Australian authorities.

His father was also questioned by the intelligence service as part of that review, but he managed to obtain a gun licence that allowed him to own six firearms.

A few weeks before the Bondi Beach attack, the pair returned to Sydney from a four-week trip to the southern Philippines that is now under investigation by detectives there and in Australia.

Albanese said there were “real issues” with Australia’s intelligence service in light of the attack.

“We need to examine exactly the way that systems work. We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

Asked in a separate interview about the alleged gunmen’s stay at a hotel in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, Albanese said their radicalisation was under investigation.

“But it is also the case that they were not seen to be persons of interest, and that is why this is such a shocking event,” he said.

‘Very, very unusual’

There is a long history of insurgencies in the Mindanao region but authorities there say there is no evidence to suggest the Philippines is being used to coach extremists.

The staff of Davao City’s GV Hotel have told AFP that the two men stayed holed up in their small room for most of their 28-day stay.

They would usually leave their rooms only for two or three hours, with the longest excursion lasting eight hours, the Philippine national security service said.

Regional police, who have trawled through CCTV images to retrace the pair’s steps and discover who they met, said the father had visited a gun shop.

Clarke Jones, an Australian National University criminologist, said it was “very, very unusual” to have a father and son as suspected perpetrators.

Once in the Philippines, the pair could have easily travelled to Mindanao without raising any flags, he told AFP.

Jones, who has worked with violent offenders in the Philippines, said the alleged gunmen’s radicalisation had apparently gone “under the radar” for years after the Australian intelligence probe.

“I think we would really need to look at what happened, and whether that kid, when he was first detected, should have been put through some sort of support programme to prevent this potential thing happening,” he said.

Dave Chappelle surprised fans Friday night with a new Netflix stand-up special, Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable…, filmed in Washington, D.C., and released without warning following the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight.

Taking the stage in a camo jacket featuring Colin Kaepernick’s name and number, Chappelle told the crowd, “We’ve got a lot to talk about,” explaining he returned home after Trump deployed the National Guard to the city.

“They’re trying to take the chocolate out of Chocolate City… I’ve got to go home while it’s still a city I remember,” he said.

Chappelle also addressed backlash over his appearance at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, saying, “I’ve been getting a lot of grief,” before singling out Bill Maher: “I’ve never said this publicly but fuck that guy. I’m so fucking tired of his little smug, cracker-ass commentary.”

“I don’t feel guilty at all,” Chappelle said, adding that critics accused him of betraying his principles. He reiterated, “it’s easier to talk in Saudi Arabia for me than it is in America,” and joked, “transgender jokes went over very well in Saudi Arabia.”

The comedian later discussed reports surrounding Charlie Kirk, saying, “if you talk for a living and see Charlie Kirk get murdered that way, I’m gonna be honest, I was shook,” adding, “I was at home like, ‘Oh no! I’m dead as fried chicken.’”

Chappelle also reflected on Sean Combs’ sentencing, noting, “He saved my life,” and said of Cassie, “God bless her… what she went through was terrible.”

He closed by telling the crowd, “we are a community and we will stay sane together.”

David and Victoria Beckham are no longer following their estranged son, Brooklyn, on Instagram after he decided to spend Christmas with his wife, Nicola Peltz.

The heartbroken parents, who are said to feeling their eldest son’s absence more than as ever as Christmas approaches, have removed him from their following list. 

Brooklyn, 26, is also no longer following his mother and father on the picture-based sharing platform.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s wife Nicola, 30, does not follow David and Victoria either and they no longer follow her.

The move comes after Brooklyn’s friends told DailyMail in July that his brothers Cruz and Romeo had blocked both him and his wife Nicola on the social media platform.

Despite several reconciliation attempts from Sir David and his brother Cruz, the aspiring chef will celebrate the festive period with actress Nicola’s billionaire parents Nelson and Claudia, who are said to be ‘excited’ to have him.

A source said: ‘Brooklyn and Nicola decided they would be spending this Christmas with her family. Her parents are really excited to have them.’

Brooklyn, 26, and Nicola, 30, arrived in Miami, Florida, earlier this week.