Aussies rush to give blood after Bondi horror
Australians have responded in huge numbers after the Australian Red Cross and NSW Premier Chris Minns issued an urgent plea for more blood donations following Sunday’s Bondi terror attack.
Source: Nine Network
The toll from the shooting rose to 16, including a 10-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man, who both died in hospital on Monday.
One of the shooters, 50-year-old Sajid Akram was also killed. The other, his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, is among the injured in hospital.
There are another 41 people in hospitals across Sydney, including eight in critical conditions.
On Monday – after it was revealed hospitals were operating at a trauma level – Minns urged people across NSW to give blood if they could.
“If you’re looking for something practical to do, you could give blood,” he said.
“We saw extraordinary scenes from NSW hospitals last night, emergency departments at the drop of a hat were in the process of saving scores of lives.
“They did an incredible job but they need your help. They need blood and if you’re thinking about doing an act of public service in the coming 24 hours, I urge you to contact the Red Cross and do that piece of public-mindedness, that piece of public spiritedness.”
Sydneysiders rushed to respond, with the wait to donate at Red Cross Lifeblood’s Town Hall centre leaping to two hours before lunchtime on Monday.
You might like
“We are taking as much as we can,” centre manager Edgar Parica told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Lifeblood’s website had also crashed.
Those outside NSW can also help. Lifeblood executive director of donor experience Cath Stone said it had issued “several life-threatening orders” after the shootings.
“Due to the additional blood needs in Sydney, Lifeblood is transferring blood products from multiple states to support the need in NSW,” she said.
“The need for more blood donors is ongoing. In the event of a serious trauma event or emergency, up to 100 blood donations may be needed to save just one life.”
Donors with type O blood are specifically needed.
- Find out how to donate blood here
Elsewhere, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was to host an emergency meeting of national cabinet following the terror attacks.
It will follow a meeting of the national security committee, made up of Albanese, senior ministers and representatives from AFP and ASIO, on Monday afternoon.
Stay informed, daily
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” he said on Monday.
Albanese did not directly respond to criticisms from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who accused the government of “doing nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia”.
Special envoy against antisemitism Jillian Segal said the messaging and education about Jewish hatred and how it harmed the community has not been sufficient.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that I’ve been holding my breath, fearing that something like this would happen, because it hasn’t come without warning,” she told ABC radio.
Albanese said Monday was a moment for national unity, and vowed to stamp out antisemitism.
Labor MP Josh Burns, who is Jewish, said legislative responses were not the only means way to do that, and that there had been a legitimisation of targeting institutions and the community.
“This is something that, especially on the progressive side of politics, we need to confront head on,” he told the ABC.
Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the terror attack was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions and criticised Albanese’s “hollow words”.
“Who is going to be accountable for this? Who is going to take personal responsibility for this,” he told Sky News.
“It starts with our Prime Minister, and it goes down through his ministers and everybody of responsibility, who has failed in their public duty to protect our citizens.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong spoke to her Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar, who told her of Israel’s “pain and sorrow over the deadly anti-Semitic terrorist attack”.
Lifeline 131 114
beyondblue 1300 224 636
-with AAP
