Hotel in home straight Monis to blame for deaths but police ‘failed hostages’
IMPERIAL SQUARE A multimillion-dollar supertower city which would feature a 108-storey building at its centre. Put forward by developer Azzura. AQUIS PACIFIC POINT A $440 million, 48-storey tower proposed by Aquis. Construction could begin later this year. SPIRIT The 89-level tower will be the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest tower upon its completion. The beachside project is being built by Chinese developer Forise. THE MARINER A $600 million, two tower development proposed by Sunland, it faced opposition from locals and city leaders but is expected to resurface later this year. ORION A 103-story supertower and 76-storey tower, both earmarked for a site in central Surfers Paradise. The tallest will sit just metres below the maximum allowable height under the flight path. STAR OF THE SEA A massive multi-tower development complex proposed for a Marine Parade site in Southport. It is expected to have at least three towers and its developers are searching for a project partner. MIDWATER A 47-storey project put forward by York Property Holdings for Main Beach. The ultra-thin tower features plans for a car-stacker. UNNAMED MAIN BEACH TOWER A 50-storey project planned by developer Hapsburg for a site on the corner of Main Beach Pde and Woodroffe Ave. It was A CRUCIAL 10-minute delay by police in shooting gunman Man Monis dead was one of a series of catastrophic bungles in their handling of the Lindt cafe siege, a coroner has found.
NSW’s State Coroner yesterday slammed almost every aspect of the police response in his inquest findings on the 17hour siege in Sydney’s Martin Place in December 2014.
Coroner Michael Barnes laid bare critical mistakes, from failed negotiations to “erroneous” advice from a consulting psychiatrist. But none was as tragic as the failure to storm the cafe before manager Tori Johnson was executed by
— PENDING APPROVAL — UNDER CONSTRUCTION — UNDER CONSTRUCTION
ASF INTEGRATED RESORT A $3 billion, five-tower project put forward by ASF. It will go before the State Government later this year. Approved in 2016, one tower is already under construction and due to open by Christmas. Construction of the second, Monis. Mr Barnes said that once Monis had fired his sawnoff shotgun, at 2.03am on December 16, it should have been clear to police that emergency action was the only option: “The 10 minutes that elapsed without decisive action by police was too long.”
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller conceded yesterday that police “should have gone in earlier”.
Mr Barnes said he could not “stress too heavily” that Monis was responsible for Mr Johnson and fellow hostage Katrina Dawson’s deaths, but “mistakes can’t be papered over if outcomes are to be improved”.
He found that the police strategy of “contain and nego-
— COMMITTEE APPROVAL
ONE MARINE PARADE A $136 million, 35-storey residential tower planned by developer Sunland for the Labrador KFC site on Marine Parade. Going to market before Christmas. AN eight-tower residential and retail precinct to be built on the old Gold Coast Hospital site in the heart of Southport. tiate” had failed. He said commanders had relied on “flawed advice” that hampered decisions about when to storm the cafe.
Assurances given to them by negotiators and a consulting psychiatrist that Monis was merely “grandstanding”, and that negotiations were progressing, had been “wrong”.
Mr Barnes said another distressing mistake, which had the potential to change the siege’s fatal outcome, was the missing of eight calls from hostages because all negotiators were in a briefing – “a significant failure in a basic component of siege management”.
A consulting psychologist gave “erroneous,” “unrealistic” and “suboptimal” advice, and had played down fears of hostages who felt abandoned.
Despite facing charges of being an accessory to murder and 40 sex offences, Monis had been out on bail, and Mr Barnes found a rookie Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor had made “inadequate” submissions at the bail hearing.
But Mr Barnes found police snipers could not be criticised for failing to fire in the only 10minute window they had. And he praised police on the ground who risked their lives, saying: “Commanders must live with outcomes of their decisions, the likes of which their critics will never have to meet.”
Among his 45 recommendations was that police develop better policies to support families: the Johnsons and Dawsons were “treated insensitively”, and given infrequent and inadequate information.