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The heroines of Bondi’s massacre · The Front

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Friday, January tenth. Anthony Albernezi says he'll serve a
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  Speaker 1: full term as PM if he is re elected this year,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and he insists his government has kept the cost of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: living and inflation as low as possible. Those are just
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: some of the stories in an exclusive interview by our
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Greg Brown live now at The Australian dot com dot AU.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: A new video episode of our blockbuster cold case investigation
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Bromwyn will be published this weekend with new insights from
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: National Chief correspondent Headley Thomas and Bromwin Winfield's family members,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: as well as cops, lawyers and listeners. Bromwin Winfield went
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  Speaker 1: missing in nineteen ninety three, and despite a coroner recommending
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  Speaker 1: charges against her husband John, nobody has been brought before
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  Speaker 1: the courts. John Winfield has always denied any wrongdoing. We've
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  Speaker 1: created three video only episodes beginning on Friday night for
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  Speaker 1: the Australian subscribers. You can join us and find the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: video exclusive at Bromwyn podcast dot com. It seems like
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  Speaker 1: a lifetime ago now, but in April, Australia held its
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  Speaker 1: breath as a terrifying siege unfolded one of the country's
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  Speaker 1: busiest shopping centers, bond DII Junction Westfield, perched high above Sydney,
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  Speaker 1: just a few minutes from the world's most famous beach.
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  Speaker 1: Today we bring you an episode first aired in April.
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  Speaker 1: We'll be back with all new episodes of The Front tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: January eleven. Before we start, this episode contains graphic descriptions
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  Speaker 1: of violent crime. Sun On the morning of her last
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  Speaker 1: day of life, doctor Ashley Good, a thirty eight year
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  Speaker 1: old first time mum, turns around from the front seat
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  Speaker 1: of her car and shoots a video of her baby daughter,
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  Speaker 1: nine months old, strapped into her baby seat. The little
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  Speaker 1: girl is all cheeks and eyelashes, concentrating hard on a
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  Speaker 1: snack she's clutching in one hand. Ash sets the video
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  Speaker 1: to My Girl, the nineteen sixty three hit by the Temptations,
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  Speaker 1: the barbershop harmony That's sweet and sad all at once,
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  Speaker 1: finger clicks and a swinging bassline, and posts it on Instagram.
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  Speaker 1: And then Mum and her girl head where mums and
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  Speaker 1: their girls go on a long, slow Saturday afternoon the
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  Speaker 1: mall for a stroll in the pram and some shopping.
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  Speaker 1: Ashley Goods a seriously impressive woman trained as an osteopath
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  Speaker 1: now working as an account executive. Here she is in
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  Speaker 1: a podcast episode with her former employer, Health Space Clinics,
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  Speaker 1: talking about the things that make her happy.
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  Speaker 2: There's so many things, but probably the main thing that
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  Speaker 2: I do on the daily that keeps me inspired is meditation.
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  Speaker 1: So I meditate every single morning without.
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  Speaker 2: Fail, and it definitely keeps me in the best place.
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  Speaker 2: And it's something it took me a long time to
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  Speaker 2: sort of get into the habit of doing and committing
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  Speaker 2: to because I for so long thought, no, I can't
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  Speaker 2: sit still or I can't be quiet, but it's so powerful.
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  Speaker 1: It's early afternoon on a stunning mid autumn Saturday, cloudless
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  Speaker 1: blue skies and the slightest chill on the very edge
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  Speaker 1: of a gentle southeasterly Just a few kilometers away from
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  Speaker 1: ash and her baby, another seriously impressive woman is working.
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  Speaker 1: New South Wales. Police Inspector Amy Scott is on duty
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  Speaker 1: overseeing operations for Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command. She's alone
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  Speaker 1: in her police car driving the hills that slope up
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  Speaker 1: to Westfield Bondi Junction, a huge mall that sits atop
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  Speaker 1: a ridge line. It's the highest point south of the harbor,
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  Speaker 1: visible from everywhere. As a senior officer, Amy Scott is
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  Speaker 1: working alone, listening for calls, talking to her team of
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  Speaker 1: officers out and about Inside the mall, Ashley Good is
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  Speaker 1: living her last tranquil moments, unaware of what's looming. As
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  Speaker 1: the afternoon stretches on, a Queensland man walks into the mall.
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  Speaker 1: This is Joel Gouchi, a forty year old from Toowoomba
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  Speaker 1: who's been in Sydney for a short period of time.
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  Speaker 1: He's been sleeping rough, sometimes in a car, maybe at
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  Speaker 1: a backpacker's joint. He lives with schizophrenia and has been
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: struggle with his mental health since the age of seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: He's estranged from his family. Days earlier, he was learning
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  Speaker 1: to surf at Bondi, posting pictures of himself beaming standing
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  Speaker 1: in front of a surfboard on the sand. Hours ago,
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  Speaker 1: he was sitting at Saigone Noodle downstairs eating a curry.
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  Speaker 1: He's been around the area since ten am. He's edging
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  Speaker 1: forwards and back, contemplating what's about to come at about
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  Speaker 1: three ten pm. He comes into the mall, abruptly leaves
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  Speaker 1: and then returns at about three twenty and that is
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  Speaker 1: when it begins. Gauchi, holding a thirty centimeter knife, begins
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  Speaker 1: a murderous rampage that turns this peaceful day into one
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  Speaker 1: of Australia's worst ever mass killings. He stabs eighteen people,
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  Speaker 1: two security guards in Pakistani refugee for rahs to hear
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  Speaker 1: an architect from nearby Double Bay, Jade Young, a twenty
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  Speaker 1: five year old Dawn Singleton who's preparing for her wedding.
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  Speaker 1: She's the daughter of famous adman John Singleton. Gauchi stabs
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  Speaker 1: two women in the Chanelle store. He approaches Ashgood and
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  Speaker 1: the baby, attacking the child first, then her mother, plunging
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  Speaker 1: his knife into their bodies. As blood pours out of her,
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  Speaker 1: Ash turns to two men standing nearby, strangers, a pair
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  Speaker 1: of middle aged brothers she doesn't know, and thrusts the
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  Speaker 1: baby at them, begging for help. They grab clothes from
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  Speaker 1: nearby racks, using the fabric to try and stop the
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  Speaker 1: baby's bleeding. As others rush to help Ash she will
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  Speaker 1: never hold the baby again. Someone calls Triple o. But
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  Speaker 1: before the paramedics and the helicopters and the tactical cops
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  Speaker 1: comes Amy Scott roaring up to them, all leaping out,
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  Speaker 1: racing past shops as fleeing shoppers tell her where to
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  Speaker 1: find the knifeman. She's running at top speed, sprinting past
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  Speaker 1: boost juice, past cotton on kids, followed by a small
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  Speaker 1: group of men, one carrying a white metal chair. Amy
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  Speaker 1: Scott is wearing her uniform pants, boots and a short
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  Speaker 1: sleeve shirt, no stab proof vest, nobody armor. She has
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  Speaker 1: handcuffs and capsicum spray and a taser on her belt,
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  Speaker 1: but she unclips her glock. Scott sees Gouci and orders
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  Speaker 1: him to drop the knife. He doesn't, she shoots him
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  Speaker 1: three times in the chest.
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  Speaker 3: What we know is that she arrived at the center
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  Speaker 3: on the back of an ambulance report.
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  Speaker 1: Joanni Bishan is a journalist with The Australian.
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  Speaker 3: And that ambulance report was confusing at the time. It
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  Speaker 3: was a pretty chaotic moment and it was suggesting that
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  Speaker 3: while there were people injured, there was also the possibility
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  Speaker 3: of two assailants inside the shopping center, and she wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: have known if they were armed. With knives with guns,
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  Speaker 3: whether there were two people or one person or more people,
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  Speaker 3: and so without waiting for any sort of backup, we
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  Speaker 3: know that Inspector Scott has driven straight to the venue
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  Speaker 3: and entered the shopping center against a throng of people
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  Speaker 3: essentially trying to escape. And we know that while she
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  Speaker 3: was trying to get inside, some of those people have
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  Speaker 3: started directing her to Cauchi's location using their best recollections
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  Speaker 3: of where they last saw him. And it should also
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  Speaker 3: be remembered that this is a vast shopping complex and
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  Speaker 3: it's very easy to get lost inside, and I think
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  Speaker 3: it was somewhere within ten or fifteen minutes of entering
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  Speaker 3: she was able to track down Cauchi on level five
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  Speaker 3: of the center, exchange very brief words with him, and
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  Speaker 3: then neutralize the threat. But to do all that without
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  Speaker 3: a full picture of what she was confronting, and to
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  Speaker 3: do so by herself, is just an incredible act of bravery.
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  Speaker 1: After shooting Gauci, Scott drops to her knees and performs
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  Speaker 1: cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him, trying to revive the man she's
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  Speaker 1: just killed.
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  Speaker 3: There's other images that emerged from people who are at
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  Speaker 3: the center of Amy Scott performing similar CPR on people
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  Speaker 3: inside the Chanelle store and elsewhere. I mean, this is
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  Speaker 3: the kind of professionalism that we expect of police officers,
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  Speaker 3: and so no, it's not a great, great surprise to
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  Speaker 3: see her attempting to revive the person who had just
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  Speaker 3: been shot, if nothing else than to attempt the resuscitation
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  Speaker 3: so he can be brought to a hospital, charged with
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  Speaker 3: an offense, and then put before a court and put
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  Speaker 3: through the process of justice.
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  Speaker 1: Paramedics rush Ash Good and her baby out of the
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  Speaker 1: center and to two separate hospitals, both going to surgery.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Good cannot be saved. At the time we were
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  Speaker 1: producing this episode, her baby was still in hospital. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Inspector Scott will go through a critical incident investigation. Here's
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Johnny again.
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  Speaker 3: Critical incident investigations are they're a particularly lonely place to
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  Speaker 3: be if you're a police officer, and they usually run
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  Speaker 3: in parallel to numerous other investigations. So obviously in this case,
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  Speaker 3: there will be a homicide investigation into the murder and
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  Speaker 3: attempted murder and grievous bodily harm incidents which have been
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  Speaker 3: caused to nearly twenty people and then overlaying that there
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  Speaker 3: will be this critical incident investigation, which is always triggered
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  Speaker 3: whenever a member of the public has an interaction with
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  Speaker 3: the police and dies in that confrontation. So firstly, everyone
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  Speaker 3: involved has to be isolated from their colleagues. So in
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  Speaker 3: this instance that's likely to include Amy Scott, but potentially
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  Speaker 3: some of the other first responders at the scene. They're
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  Speaker 3: not allowed to speak about what happened. They're essentially the
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  Speaker 3: most important witness to the investigation, so their ability to
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  Speaker 3: discuss the events with other people is extremely narrow and
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  Speaker 3: that probably includes their loved ones. And that's also pretty
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  Speaker 3: challenging when the events that they've been involved with are
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  Speaker 3: so traumatic, as they often are. So they're treated by
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  Speaker 3: other police officers fairly clinically, almost like a suspect would
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  Speaker 3: be treated. And I know in the past that's been
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  Speaker 3: the criticism of some police officers that I've spoken to
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  Speaker 3: who've been involved in critical incidents with any like. The
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  Speaker 3: police forces have updated their standard operating procedures, but for
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  Speaker 3: all intents and purposes, they need to be treated fairly
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  Speaker 3: clinically for the purpose of the coronial investigation. To say,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: the least.
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  Speaker 1: Six people died at Bondi Junction. Shoppers Ashley Good, Dawn, Singleton, Piccrea, Dacia,
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  Speaker 1: Jade Young and Yishuan Cheng and security guard for us
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  Speaker 1: to hear. Inspector Scott was hailed with a Bravery Award
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  Speaker 1: from Commissioner Karen Webb. Joel Couchi's family also thanked Inspector
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  Speaker 1: Scott for her service and apologized for the heartbreak caused
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  Speaker 1: by their late son.