2024年4月13日，持刀人Joel Cauchi在邦迪枢纽Westfield购物中心造成6人死亡、16人受伤[1]。患有精神分裂症的Cauchi在袭击当时处于精神病态[1]。受害者Jade Young的母亲Elizabeth Young近日警告，澳大利亚仅凭运气才避免再次发生类似大规模袭击事件[1]。
Elizabeth Young呼吁新南威尔士州政府加强对精神卫生危机的应对，特别是为精神病患者提供更多专门的住宿设施[1]。验尸官提出13项建议，NSW政府已接受其中11项，但仅原则上支持第7项建议[1]。为应对日益增加的需求，NSW精神卫生紧急部门就诊人数增加了44%[1]。政府已承诺在10年内投入超过2.7亿美元用于新的精神卫生应急响应模式[1]。此外，精神卫生部长Rose Jackson宣布了1.11亿美元的社区精神卫生支持方案[1]。根据统计，澳大利亚约45,900名专业无家可归服务使用者存在当前精神卫生问题[1]。
Elizabeth Young, whose daughter Jade Young was killed in the Bondi Junction mass stabbing attack, has cautioned that New South Wales has avoided repeat incidents only through luck rather than systemic safeguards [1]. On April 13, 2024, Joel Cauchi carried out a knife attack at Bondi Junction Westfield that claimed six lives and injured sixteen people [1]. Cauchi, who suffered from schizophrenia and was experiencing psychosis at the time of the attack, has prompted renewed scrutiny of the state's mental health response infrastructure [1].
In response to the tragedy, a coronial inquest made thirteen recommendations to strengthen mental health services and emergency protocols [1]. The NSW government has accepted eleven of these recommendations, though it has only committed in principle to the seventh [1]. The government has pledged to invest over 270 million dollars over ten years toward a new mental health emergency response model [1]. Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson has separately announced a 111 million dollar community mental health support initiative [1]. Young's calls for reform reflect broader challenges within the system: emergency department presentations at NSW mental health facilities have surged by 44 percent, and approximately 45,900 people who use specialist homelessness services—representing one-third of that population—currently face mental health issues [1].