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Follow the latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastResidents of Davao City in the Philippines, which has become the centre of the investigation into the Bondi terror attack after it was revealed that shooters Sajid Akram and his son Naveed travelled there last month.Reporter Carmela Fonbuena has been speaking to the city’s predominantly Catholic residents, who are preparing for Christmas.The Philippine government has pushed back against claims that it was a terrorist training ground for the accused Bondi shooters. The country has a long history of unrest and marginalisation that has seen some Muslim separatist groups forge ties with international jihadist groups. But while IS-linked groups remain present, security officials say they are small and weakened.What is clear, said Eduardo Año, the Philippines’ national security adviser, is the two never left the city nor received military-style training in the country, as was earlier claimed.In my involvement in gun law reform in over 40 years, after these terrible events – and I’m talking about what happened at Bondi, what happened at Port Arthur and indeed from my own experience what happened in Dunblane in Scotland in 1996 – people looked to political leadership for a ray of hope, and gun law reform is what they look for.It gives people a sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that is the best thing for the grief and anguish and loss that people experience. So it’s very important that these reforms move rapidly and all the states and territories and political parties get behind them.Those states that aren’t recalling their parliaments now need to do so in February and get a move on and get these laws introduced. Continue reading…
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