Lindt Cafe siege inquest: why we deserve answers

The inquest into the 2014 siege won’t reverse the awful events of that day. But it’s not a blame game to ask if the police response was good enough – it’s a moral imperative.

So long as there is a risk of another delusional gunman taking hostages in a siege, then we deserve to know the police response will be the best it can be. (Pic: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

There are two tragic and irreversible facts that we already know to be true without awaiting the findings of the inquest into the Lindt Cafe siege.

One is that we will never know for sure how things might have unfolded had police decided to intervene earlier, and the other is that only one person is ultimately culpable for the lives lost that fateful day: Man Haron Monis.

In light of this, it is perhaps unsurprising many have been quick to dismiss the inquest as a “blame game” and spring to the defence of the police, arguing it is easy to reflect on what could have been done better in hindsight.

“Who among you could be courageous enough to face the decision of when to act and who to save?” asked a reader in yesterday’s letters page in what was an eloquent challenge to those critiquing the actions of those charged with attempting to bring the 2014 terrorist siege to a peaceful end.

And yet asking those often difficult questions is essential. And if the subsequent answers result in some being shouldered with blame for how the siege was handled then the inquest will have done its job.

Tori Johnson was killed by gunman Man Haron Monis during the 2014 siege. (Pic: Channel 7)

This is not to downplay the impossible decisions faced by those in command during the early hours of December 16, which culminated in the tragic deaths of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson.

Nor is it to deny the understandable fear and trepidation felt by police who believed Monis was likely armed with a bomb powerful enough to kill everyone trapped inside the cafe.

But the families of the victims, and the survivors, deserve to know if the police response was as good as it could have been.

Will it reverse the awful events of that day? Of course not. But criminal trials, royal commissions and inquests can never undo what has happened — and yet they play a critical role in making sure those who need to are brought to account and highlighting what can be done to prevent further loss of life in future.

Who’s to blame for the Lindt Cafe siege? We all know the answer to that: Man Haron Monis. Nothing revealed during the inquest will change that.

But so long as there is a risk of another delusional gunman taking hostages in a siege, then we deserve to know the police response will be the best it can be. That’s not a blame game — it’s a moral imperative.