Bondi Terror Attack Spurs One Migrant to March for Australia on National Day

SYDNEY—For Nash Lacsina, Australia Day is normally about barbecues and relaxing at home, but this year, the Bondi terror attacks have compelled him to do much more.

On Jan. 26, the drawing technician in Sydney took part in the nationwide March for Australia rallies, which calls for major changes to governance amid concerns about migration volumes and assimilation.

“Ordinarily [on] Australia Day, I would just spend it at home, barbecues, watching TV, but now it’s like we need to change course,” Lacsina told The Epoch Times, who migrated to Australia in 1999 [from the Philippines].

He said Australia was once “a land of abundance and opportunity,” but things have are now different.

“There was too much enablement of hate speech, especially against the Jews,” he said, noting that the Bondi Beach terror attack that claimed 15 lives and injured 40 others, was a motivating factor for his attendance.

“The major parties have let us down,” Lacsina added. “So I think this is why people are coming here [to the rallies] themselves to voice out their frustrations.”

The March for Australia has been held around the country since last year and describes itself as a “stand for the people, culture, and nation that shaped Australia.”

While it has courted controversy with links to Australian neo-Nazi figures, it has attracted broader community involvement from those concerned with the state of the nation.

Lacsina’s experience aligns with the views of Michelle Di Matteo, a sixth-generation Australian grandmother who believes that the Bondi Beach terror attack will mobilise more Australians to become politically active.

“We knew that the Bondi massacre was a turning point,” she said. “It would shake those people that usually sit at home and perhaps don’t become active in politics, and perhaps don’t worry too much about politics.”

On Dec. 14, 2025, Islamic State‑inspired terrorists fired multiple rounds at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.

In response, the Labor government moved to implement new gun control and anti‑hate speech laws.

However, Di Matteo, accused the current government of being “very aligned with pro Palestinian causes,” which would have amplified anti-Semitic feeling in the country.

‘Invasion Day’ March Continues

Earlier in the day, the annual “Invasion Day” rally began at 10 a.m. at Sydney’s Hyde Park, with Indigenous speakers calling for land repatriation, criticising the number of Aboriginal deaths in police custody, and the need for unity against rising “nationalism” exemplified by One Nation’s recent rise in the polls.

“We need a coalition of all new Australians because if it wasn’t for immigrants, Australia would have perished,” Aboriginal woman Gwenda Stanley told the rally.

“So don’t just stand with us today. Stand with us every day.”

PM: Bondi Incident Tests the Nation

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for Australians to unite and have faith in each other, after grappling with the fallout from the Bondi Beach massacre.

“On Australia Day, we come together to celebrate everything that unites us as a nation and makes us the best country on Earth,” he said in a video speech on Jan. 26.

“We look back on the fullness and richness of our history, recognising what an extraordinary privilege it is to share this continent with the oldest, continuous culture, in all its wisdom and its resilience, and we look forward to the future we want for the next generation of Australians.”

Albanese specifically noted the Bondi Beach incident.

“And whilst this summer has tested our nation once again, as ever in the worst of times, we have seen the very best of the Australian character, as we draw inspiration from that truth,” he said.

“Let us look to the year ahead, united by pride in our country and faith in each other.”

Reuters contributed to this report.