The family of slain Sydney siege hostage Katrina Dawson have made an emotional visit to Martin Place.
Dawson, 38, a barrister and mother-of-three, along with Lindt cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, were pronounced dead after the dramatic 16-hour stand-off which came to an end in the early hours on Tuesday.
Four family members slowly made their way around the enormous floral tribute, which has been building in the CBD as members of the public continue lay bunches of flowers and leave messages of remembrance.
The two men and two woman were visibly upset as they read cards and embraced each other at the shrine on Thursday.
The mourning continued today as Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the siege could have been a “preventable atrocity”.
The start of school holidays has led many families to come and pay their respects.
For Sydney mother Jacqui Sherlock, the visit had special significance.
She and her three daughters Scarlett, seven, Annabelle, 10, and Victoria, 12, were planning to visit the Lindt cafe in Martin Place on Monday, when the deadly siege began.
“It’s our tradition to go see Santa and get a hot chocolate at the Lindt shop before or after,” Sherlock said.
“We were actually on our way in and we got the call from my husband who works in the city not to come.”
Sherlock said her girls had been shaken by the experience and wanted to visit the shrine as a way of healing.
“Victoria’s nickname is Tori,” she said.
“She says she feels sick and she wants to cry but she’s in too much shock. It’s just a process … you come here and it’s really moving.”
NSW Premier Mike Baird says a permanent memorial will be erected in Martin Place when the time is right.
“This is something that will be with us forever. We need to recognise that and pay tribute to the inspiring Australians that we have lost, and what they have given us,” he told Macquarie Radio.
“They’ve given us something so special which is this unprecedented bond of togetherness and strength in the face of adversity.”
Standing in front of the sea of flowers, Baird said the city and state was coming together like never before.
“My heart is beating louder and prouder because of what we are seeing,” he told Sky News.
Baird says the outpouring of emotion is remarkable.
“I’ve seen a four-year-old through to a 75-year-old, people from different faiths and backgrounds … putting flowers down, all united. It’s an outpouring of grief, but at the same time it’s almost this unprecedented unity,” he told the Seven Network.
“It is a healing process, but it shows this city is back.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the siege “may well have been a preventable atrocity” amid growing public outcry over why the gunman was out on bail and not on terror watchlists.
“This has been a horrific wake-up call,” the Prime Minister told Macquarie Radio on Thursday.
“And, yes, the tragedy is that this has happened.
“This was an atrocity – it may well have been a preventable atrocity, and that’s why this swift and thorough review is so important.”
On Wednesday Abbott said an urgent and wide-ranging review would examine how Man Haron Monis – the self-described cleric who was facing charges of being an accessory to the murder of his former wife – was granted asylum, citizenship and welfare benefits.
Monis was on bail over a raft of violent charges, including being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, when he took 17 people hostage inside a popular CBD cafe on Monday morning.
The siege ended 16 hours later with the death of barrister Katrina Dawson, shop manager Tori Johnson and Monis.
Monis, 50, had been on an ASIO watch list in 2008 when he sent offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers, but dropped off the list.
“Just like about everyone else from the premier down, I was incredulous and exasperated at this,” Abbott said.
“This guy has a long history of violence, a long history of mental instability, he has a long criminal record and obvious infatuation with extremism.
“It was extraordinary he was on our streets.”
NSW premier Baird has also expressed concern as to why Monis was walking the streets of Sydney.
“I’m as outraged as everyone else,” Baird told the Seven Network on Thursday.
NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard said earlier this week that Monis had slipped through the cracks of security and policing agencies.
However, he didn’t believe Monis would have been out on bail had the revamped bail act, due to start next month, been in place.
Under the new legislation, a person charged with being an accessory to murder would be forced to show cause as to why they should be granted bail.
“It is just unspeakably awful that these changes occurred too late for the victims of this monster,” Abbott said.
On Thursday, Mr Hazzard expressed concern that a court has also given bail to Monis’s wife, Amirah Droudis.
He has also asked the DPP to review any cases where bail has been granted and where there may be any similarity to the circumstances of the Monis matter.
