Miranda Devine: We can’t be soft on those at fault in the Lindt siege

CORONER Michael Barnes is to be congratulated for his unequivocal declaration the Lindt siege was a terrorist attack, says Miranda Devine.

• LINDT STORY — Chapter 1: How a devil played us for fools
• Chapter 2: ‘The country is under attack’
• Chapter 3: The race to name a terrorist madman
• Chapter 4: The gunman and his hostages
• Chapter 5: Dead calm and then a storm
• Chapter 6: Staring death in the eyes

CORONER Michael Barnes is to be congratulated for his unequivocal declaration the Lindt siege was a terrorist attack. From the minute Man Monis pulled out a black Islamic flag and declared he had taken 18 hostages in the name of Islamic State, there was no question he was a terrorist.

Barnes also was right when he said the sole person to blame for the deaths of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson was Monis, and that the 14 police tactical officers who stormed the cafe were heroes.

They “knew Monis was armed with a gun that he would almost certainly use against them. They suspected he was carrying a bomb that could kill everyone inside the cafe unless they could kill him before he could detonate it. The bravery of these officers inspires awe.”

NSW Coroner Michael Barnes delivering his findings into the Lindt Cafe siege yesterday.

The report was pronounced “fair” yesterday by one Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) officer involved, and by the family of one of the dead hostages, with certain caveats.

Barnes has managed to distil the voluminous evidence before the inquest into rational recommendations that should ensure the cascading errors that marked the Lindt siege are not repeated.

However, if there is a criticism it is that the Coroner was too soft in attributing responsibility for errors.

He said the “contain and negotiate” strategy of dealing with Monis was a failure and that a Direct Action (DA) plan should have been formulated to storm the cafe and give police the tactical advantage.

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Yet he made no direct criticism of commanders whose decision it was to wait until Johnson was executed before giving the order to enter. And discounted conflicting evidence suggesting then police commissioner Andrew Scipione had advised underlings that “DA plan to occur as last resort”. It was not “unreasonable for police commanders to refuse to authorise and initiate a DA”, the Coroner (pictured) said.

It is incredible that former deputy commissioner Cath Burn has escaped criticism for deleting all her text messages relating to the siege.

Coroner Michael Barnes is to be congratulated for his unequivocal declaration the Lindt siege was a terrorist attack, says Miranda Devine. Picture: Toby Zerna

“I accept DC Burn’s evidence that the deleted texts contained nothing of significance.” What a bad example that sets for junior officers.

The heaviest criticism in the report is reserved for the consultant psychiatrist who advised the negotiators and commanders, and underplayed how dangerous Monis was, saying his behaviour was “not consistent with Islamic State”. But his name is suppressed. He shouldn’t be afforded that courtesy. If he took on such an important role in the decisions not to enter the cafe, and his advice took on more weight than the expert advice of the commander of the TOU, then he should be named. The families found his evidence to the inquest was “arrogant and aggressive”.

Why should he have the luxury of anonymity when the overworked DPP solicitor who contributed to the failure to deny bail to Monis is named and criticised, as he should be?

The Coroner also exonerates Burn for going home to rest, on the orders of Scipione, who also clocked off early. Inspirational leaders stay until the bitter end. It is telling that the new Commissioner Mick Fuller said yesterday he never would have left while the siege was ongoing.

It is a symbolic action of solidarity with the hostages and those officers who stayed all night. If anyone needed sleep, it was the TOU officers waiting around Martin Place in full kit with heavy ballistic shields for up to 16 hours, adrenaline pumping.

In the words of one yesterday, they were “filthy a direct action was not considered because it poses a calculated risk for us but the best option for success”. This is what the heroes who had to go in the door were calling for all night. Thankfully the Coroner and Fuller agree that the mistake won’t happen again.