“JUMPED THE GUN”
But the police chief said she could understand people’s concerns.
“We have got just as many questions about what was on the mind of the young person and that’s why an investigation is now important,” she told public broadcaster ABC.
A “terrorist” declaration does not mean the teenager will be charged with terrorism, she said.
As a result of the designation, a joint counterterrorism task force opened a probe, combining state and federal police forces and the intelligence service ASIO.
The bishop, who has a large online following, has galvanised many with his criticism of COVID-19 vaccines and lockdowns as well as Islam.
A Muslim community leader in Sydney said police may have “jumped the gun” with the terrorism designation.
“I just don’t think it helps the situation,” Gamel Kheir, secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, told AFP.
“Why are we so quick to jump to a definition of terrorism when religion is involved?” he asked.
Kheir said there was a gap between the community’s perception of a terrorist act and the police use of terrorism legislation.
For many people, the term terrorism would apply more to Saturday’s knife rampage in a Sydney shopping mall, in which six people were killed, he said.
Sydney’s main Lakemba Mosque, of which the association is caretaker, had increased security since Monday’s attack, Kheir said.
The measures followed threats carried on social media against the Lakemba Mosque and other mosques closer to the site of the church attack, he said.
Dai Le, the member of parliament for the Fowler electorate that includes the church, said she was “shocked” by the terrorism declaration.
“I think it is such a quick announcement. I don’t know if they had time to really assess the situation,” she said in a television interview on Tuesday.
Le said she was concerned the declaration would “heighten the tension” already existing in the area’s multi-faith community.
“This is just going to add to it,” she said.
