Bondi Beach shooting sparks 'lone wolf' fears in Australia

SYDNEY Even as the authorities probe possible foreign terror links in the Dec 14 Bondi Beach mass shooting, they say the father-and-son duo appear to have acted alone - a scenario that analysts say is hardest to prevent.

- Jonathan Pearlman For The Straits Times

As the nation reels from the shooting that left at least 16 people dead, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that the son 24-year-old Naveed Akram had come to the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in October 2019.

Naveed, who was injured in the attack on Australia’s most popular beach, was investigated by ASIO for six months, reportedly due to his links to an ISIS cell in Australia, but was not believed to pose an ongoing threat.

National security expert Greg Barton from Deakin University noted that the father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, appears to have been radicalised by his son.

If this was indeed a lone-actor attack, Professor Barton told The Straits Times, “the good news is that it suggests there are no further threats, and we haven’t missed networks that have gone under the radar”.

“The bad news is that the authorities have told us for some time that what keeps them awake at night is lone actors,” he added.

Indeed, the head of ASIO, Mr Mike Burgess, said in the agency’s latest annual threat assessment in February 2025 that the country’s greatest threat “remains a lone actor using an easily obtained weapon”.