“The bollard was there, Silas was like, ‘We need to do something, we need to catch him,’” Guerot said. “We were in open space, there was nowhere to hide, nothing to protect ourselves … if we miss him, we don’t have a chance.”
Albanese said Guerot was “welcome to stay for as long as you like”.
Bondi stabbing fatalities: (top row from left) Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton. Bottom row from left: Pikria Darchia, Faraz Tahir and Yixuan Cheng.
“This is someone who we would welcome becoming an Australian citizen, although that would, of course, be a loss for France,” he said.
“It says a lot about the nature of humanity, at a time when we are facing difficult issues, that someone who is not a citizen of this country stood bravely at the top of those escalators and stopped this perpetrator from getting onto another floor and potentially inflicting further carnage on citizens.
“I think that on Saturday, we saw some of the best of human character at the same time as we saw such devastating tragedy.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also remarked on their bravery, while offering condolences to grieving relatives and survivors. “Two of our compatriots behaved like true heroes,” he wrote on X. “Very great pride and recognition.”
However, the attention the Frenchmen received prompted Pakistani security guard Muhammad Taha to publicly raise that his temporary skilled graduate visa was ending within a month. Taha told The Australian he confronted the stabber alongside Faraz Tahir, who was on his first day working at the centre.
“Faraz confronted him and was stabbed. After that, he jumped on me. I tried to defend but got stabbed,” Taha said. “I informed [other security staff] on radio regarding the situation.”
He told the newspaper that, “As a direct victim of the incident, I believe I deserve recognition and consideration for citizenship. As well, the guards working alongside came running towards the point of incident and risking their lives … [they] should be offered citizenship as well.”
When asked if he would consider granting Taha a permanent visa or citizenship, Albanese said on radio station FiveAA, “Yes, we certainly will.”
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“These are people who were … putting themselves in danger in order to protect Australians who they didn’t know,” he said.
“This is the sort of courage we want so say thank you to. It’s a bit of light in amongst the darkness.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton deferred to Albanese when asked the question. “Well, that’s obviously an issue for the prime minister,” he said. “I think at the moment the focus really is on those who have lost their lives, those who are recovering, and I think any other matter can be dealt with in due course.”
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles would not comment on details of Guerot’s visa arrangements on Tuesday, but said he was aware of the case and had asked the Department of Home Affairs to look at options. “Mr Guerot’s extraordinary bravery is an example of the character we all want to see in our society,” Giles said.
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With Paul Sakkal, Michael Koziol, Anthony Segaert, Jessica McSweeney and Rachel Clun