IT’S almost two and a half years since a lone wolf terrorist with hate in his heart and not much at all in his head held Australia’s largest city – indeed, most of the country – in his evil thrall for 17 hours.
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When Man Haron Monis pulled a sawn-off shotgun out of his bag inside the Lindt Cafe in Sydney and announced he was taking everyone inside hostage in the name of Islamic State, he brought to life some of the worst fears of our society.
Here we had terrorism on our doorstep, in broad daylight, in Australia’s oldest city. And all this was unfolding little more than a week out from Christmas.
For the rest of the day and much of the night Australians held out desperately for news, praying there would be no innocent victims but preparing for the worst.
A police tactical assault team finally stormed the cafe 17 hours later – moments after Monis had executed cafe manager Tori Johnson – and the siege ended in a barrage of gunfire and stun grenades.
When the shooting stopped, Monis was dead and so, too, was another of the innocents – lawyer and mother Katrina Dawson.
The siege cast a pall over the centre of Sydney that deflated festive celebrations and saw a sea of flowers left at Martin Place in memory of the victims.
It left us all questioning our safety and the safety of our families
It left us asking if a single, “low-level capability” terrorist such as Monis could wreak such havoc, what could a well organised terror group achieve?
And the siege led to a million “what ifs” regarding the decisions made outside the cafe that day, and questions over whether the siege could have – or should have – been handled differently.
But as NSW coroner Michael Barnes prepares to hand down his findings from the Lindt Cafe siege inquest on Wednesday, we must remind ourselves who the real criminal was in all of this.
By making us question our safety and by shattering our peace, Monis has, sadly, achieved his goal.
Terror is not just about the dead and injured, it is also about the scar it leaves on the psyche of a community.
It is about making us second guess the way we live our lives and is an attempt to turn us against each other.
We must learn the lessons from the Lindt Cafe, but we must stand as one in rejecting terror.
We must not let Monis win.
