Guidelines are helping the media cover attacks like Bondi Junction the right way

Just after 3 pm on Saturday 13 April 2024, a man dressed in an Australian rugby league football jersey carried a long-bladed knife into the Bondi Junction shop­ping centre in Sydney’s eastern suburbs

He stabbed eighteen people, killing six, before being shot dead by a police officer.

The perpetrator was confirmed to have a history of complex mental illness. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17, an illness that is often – and often wrongly – associated with violent behaviour.

The recently completed coronial inquest into these tragic attacks examined a range of issues related to the incident.

These included gaps in the mental health system, security at the shopping centre and the police response.

It also looked at the quality of news reporting, focusing on the balance between privacy and the public benefit of broadcasting material from an...