Scentre Group chief executive Elliott Rusanow shut down claims that it took up to 25 minutes after the initial attack for alarms to sound inside the Bondi Junction Westfield.
When the suggestion was put to Rusanow,who leads the group that owns and operates the shopping centre,he replied,“I don’t believe that is accurate”.
“My understanding is that the alarms,and what they call the centre management communication system,did go off within a couple of minutes of the first attack,” he said.
“Police were on site within a very short space of time,given the events,I think,took place within a matter of less than five minutes.”
Rusanow said that he thought the “response system worked well”:
The process for the alarm system notifies all members of the team and our business partners to either evacuate or shelter in place. They occurred very,very quickly.
Members of the public,also including our security team members,stepped in very quickly to try and assist in stopping the offender. We had various degrees of success. Obviously,there was a tragedy that occurred with the loss of life. But the security alert system did go into effect very,very quickly,which allowed,I think,for a quick response by the members of our team and also by the customers at the centre at the time.”