Police will carry long-arm rifles at the final Ashes Test in Sydney as police presence continues to be heightened after the Bondi terror attack.
New South Wales police said public order and riot squad officers would carry the weapons at the fifth and final Ashes Test, which starts on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), after similar measures were implemented at the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and New Year’s Eve events in Sydney.
Police said the decision was not due to any active or imminent threat. “Many people may not be used to seeing police carrying rifles at sporting events but our objective here is to help the public feel safe,” the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said.
Policing at public events has come under the spotlight after 15 people were killed in a shooting at a Hanukah event, Chanukah by the Sea, on 14 December at Bondi beach.
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Israel has offered to train Australian police after the attack. In a letter to the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, and shared online by the Australian Jewish Association on Friday, the Israeli minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, said an earlier letter he received from Burke “stops short of directly identifying radical Islam as the driving ideology behind [the Bondi] attack”.
“We would welcome the opportunity to host and train senior Australian police and security personnel in Israel, sharing our expertise and best practices in countering terrorism and antisemitism,” the letter ends.
The home affairs minister’s office confirmed to Guardian Australia he had received the letter, but declined to share Burke’s original correspondence to Chikli and did not comment on whether the government was considering Israel’s offer.
“The government has taken action on hate speech, hate crimes and hate symbols and is continuing to act through the legislation announced in recent weeks,” a spokesperson said. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been contacted for comment.
After the attack the NSW premier, Chris Minns, has said the state government is considering requesting Australian defence force (ADF) troops be deployed to guard Jewish sites.
Minns has said he is also considering expanding weapons access to Jewish security organisation the Community Security Group (CSG), to allow them to carry firearms at public events like Chanukah by the Sea.
A capacity crowd of about 48,000 people is expected to attend the SCG in the final Test of the series, which Australia has won, leading England 3-1.
First responders and those who have provided subsequent support to those impacted by the Bondi attack will be recognised in an on-field tribute before the start of play on Sunday, Cricket Australia has announced.
In Melbourne, officers carrying semi-automatic rifles were deployed to the Boxing Day Test as an additional security measure after the Bondi attack, alongside 120 additional officers.
The Victoria police commissioner, Mike Bush, said similar deployments would be considered on a case-by-case basis at other major events over summer, including the Australian Open tennis tournament.
NSW police said uniformed and mounted police would “be out in force” at the Sydney Test, “performing high-visibility patrols to ensure safety and reassure the public”.
In Sydney, more than 2,500 police were deployed throughout the Sydney metropolitan area for New Year’s Eve celebrations, including some carrying long-arm weapons. NSW police described it as a “largely incident-free night”.
