In September 2023, NSW Ambulance directed the ballistic gear was to be taken out of local stations and put into an undisclosed central location somewhere in Sydney. SOT1 called one of his officers in Penrith to collect the ballistic gear from storage and then drive it to Bondi Junction.
SOT1 told the inquest that forgetting to alert the duty officer, and the centralised PPE, both delayed the SOT paramedics.
“There was a delay for the paramedics … being able to directly participate in any of the specialist police groups’ activity until that ballistic PPE arrived on scene,” SOT1 said.
“We need the equipment to be available at a location that is convenient and or located in the vehicles that we operate from, to allow us to be able to respond directly to scene – without having to divert to retrieve that equipment.”
At one point, a SOT at Bondi called the duty officer and asked if he could use ballistic gear provided by tactical police.
The duty officer said he had to go up to his boss, who had to go up to her boss, to get approval as precious minutes ticked by.
Muzafar Ahmad Tahir the brother of murdered security guard Faraz Tahir arrives at the NSW Coroners Court for the Bondi Inquest.Credit: Kate Geraghty
The inquest has heard the delay did not have any impact on any of the people attacked by Cauchi because some paramedic crews had got inside the centre before police locked it down.
Faraz Tahir, a security guard stabbed by Cauchi, was being treated by paramedics inside the centre.
Faraz Tahir, 30, died a hero confronting Joel Cauchi on his first shift as a security guard at Bondi.
Tahir was stretchered out just after 4pm and critical care paramedic Chris Wilkinson desperately attempted to save his life with surgery on the roadside. But Tahir did not survive.
Wilkinson told the inquest on Wednesday that he was “frustrated” at being forced to wait outside while fearing others like Tahir might have been dying untreated inside.
Police ultimately realised Cauchi had acted alone after viewing CCTV and broadcast a message at 4.27pm confirming there was no active threat, but that communication was not shared with NSW Ambulance.
That meant an ambulance assistant commissioner declared the Westfield a “hot zone” at 4.28pm – one minute after it had been cleared by police.
SOT1 told the inquest his officers were not part of a standalone unit, but rather were only “activated” when a major incident required them.
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The inquest heard it’s common for 35 SOTs to be rostered on for a 10-week bloc, despite an expected minimum of 45.
The duty officer told the inquest he had repeatedly called for more paramedics to be trained and added to the SOT roster, and for it to become a standalone unit.
“The decisions, that I had to ultimately make with my resourcing could have been mediated if our rosters had a full complement, [and if we had] multiple different staff from multiple locations much closer to activate to the scene in a more timely manner,” SOT1 said.
SOT1 reiterated that he believed there was “no clinical impact” on the victims of the Bondi Junction massacre, but hoped the lessons learnt would translate to a change for his unit.
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