A footbridge two gunmen used in the Bondi Beach terror attack serves as a “ghoulish reminder” of the mass shooting, with calls for it to be torn down.

Waverley councillors are set to determine the immediate future of the north pedestrian footbridge where the gunmen killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration on December 14, as well as its sister bridge at the south end of the beach.

Some residents want the bridge to stay, but a local council report has found the hundred-year-old structure is coming to the end of its life.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said victims and families should have the final say on the bridge, but believed it would be better if it was knocked down.

“I’d just hate it to be a ghoulish reminder or even exploited by reprehensible people in the future,” he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday, exactly one month after the attack.

“We can’t allow one of the most beautiful places on earth to be remembered forever only as a place of horrible terrorism, because it’s so much more than that.

“Australians have been able to reclaim Bondi Beach as a place of hope and light in what was an absolutely horrible crime, and they’ve been able to do it in a short space of time.”

Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh will take the first step to replace the footbridges at an extraordinary general council meeting on Thursday night.

His motion calls for a report to be prepared outlining the cost, timetable and approvals required to replace or restore the ageing structures.

Any changes will only occur after consultation with the Jewish community and other local residents, Waverley Council says.

 

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Nemesh’s motion highlights a 2024 report that found the bridges were reaching the end of their useful life.

Minns welcomed the work Australia’s governments had achieved in the month since the attack.

He pointed to news Australia’s neo-Nazi groups had disbanded following planned changes to hate speech laws, and noted the Bankstown Al Madina Dawah centre – previously run by extremist Islamist preacher Wissam Haddad – announced its closure on Wednesday.

“I know that there’s cynicism in relation to the changes that we’re making, but we believe they’re working,” Minns said.

The NSW government on Wednesday also announced Multicultural NSW CEO Joseph La Posta and NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Michele Goldman will help the government with service provision and community engagement in the wake of the attack.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a national day of mourning on January 22 to commemorate victims of the attack.

–AAP