Unsung Bondi stabbing hero Muhammad Taha thanks Anthony Albanese for residency vow
The Pakistani security guard who rushed to stop Joel Cauchi’s rampage is grateful to the PM for the chance to stay in Australia, happy his ‘voice is being raised’.
The Pakistani security guard who rushed to stop Joel Cauchi’s rampage of terror in Bondi Junction, and was struck by the killer’s knife while trying to protect his friend, is getting a chance to stay in the country he has come to love.
And he is grateful to Anthony Albanese and the Australian people for that opportunity.
As he lay recovering from his wounds on Thursday, Muhammad Taha told friends that he was happy “his voice was being raised” after he was belatedly being hailed as a hero. “Yeah, (the government) got in touch with me, so maybe they will soon start the process, hopefully,” he told The Australian over the phone on Thursday evening.
His words came out slowly. He said a social worker had visited him in hospital to deliver the news.
“They said they would do that [permanent residency],” he said.
“I’m very honoured. It’s a great gesture from the government.
“I’ve been in Australia around 1½ years. It’s home to me. I love being here. I’m very thankful for this thing.”
He said he was recovering slowly from his injuries but he hoped to be discharged soon.
Mr Taha was still recuperating on Thursday, as he received a greeting fit for a hero from Pakistan’s high commissioner to Australia, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, and his friends in Sydney gathered to support him.
After Mr Taha pleaded with the government via Thursday’s edition of The Australian to offer him the same chance as the “bollard man” – Frenchman Damien Guerot – to stay permanently, the Prime Minister on Thursday said he “certainly will” move to help.
“Muhammad Taha, he confronted this guy, the perpetrator, Joel Cauchi, on Saturday.
“And it just shows extraordinary courage. I mean, these are people who were not thinking of themselves, putting themselves in danger in order to protect Australians who they didn’t know, just people going about doing their shopping,” Mr Albanese told The Australian’s South Australian correspondent and radio host David Penberthy.
“And that’s the sort of courage that we want to say thank you to, frankly … It’s a bit of light in among the darkness.
“The fact that you saw these extraordinary acts, whether it’s from the amazing policewoman Amy Scott who went in there not knowing what she was going to confront by herself, and took out this guy and therefore saved people, whether it be the security guards or the bollard man, as he will forever be known, I think, in Australian culture.”
Mr Taha is also hopeful that the other security guards who rushed towards danger last Saturday will be rewarded with the same chance he now has to live in Australia permanently.
That opportunity for the security guard was a spot of light on a day of mourning for the Bondi community in Sydney’s east as the Westfield mall that stands at the heart of their lives opened its doors again.
Survivors of the attack are now slowly getting out of hospital.
Mr Taha, who suffered stab wounds to the stomach, will be discharged from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Saturday.
“He is very happy (with the Prime Minister’s offer),” said Shajar Ahmad, a close friend and colleague of Mr Taha, who spoke with the hero security guard from his hospital bed on Thursday afternoon.
“He passes on his thanks and he’s happy his voice has been raised.”
“He is feeling positive, happy,” Mr Ahmed said.
Mr Taha was also hoping to get his mother a visa so she could be with him as he recovered.
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