Tributes continue to lay for victims of the 2014 Lindt Café siege at Sydney’s Martin Place. The tragedy not only shook up the city but on how the police force deals with operation PTSD.
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00:00Today marks 10 years since what became known as the Lint Cafe siege concluded in the early
00:08hours of December 16th.
00:09Here in Martin Place today it is clear that that day still casts a shadow over the city
00:15of Sydney.
00:16During the almost 17 hours that hostages were held inside the Lint Cafe by a lone gunman,
00:22Tori Johnson, the cafe manager, and Katrina Dawson, a barrister, lost their lives.
00:28Ms Dawson's family were here this morning to remember their loved one and were accompanied
00:33by the New South Wales Premier, Chris Minns, the New South Wales Governor, Margaret Beasley,
00:37along with the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, and Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
00:43The Prime Minister spoke not long after he paid his tributes and here is what he had
00:47to say.
00:48To those who were injured and all those who were traumatised by this catastrophic event,
00:56it is a time to remember them and to pay our respects.
01:02It's also a time to pay our respects to the first responders who responded so quickly
01:09and so bravely.
01:13And Elinia, the Police Commissioner has also been there today.
01:17How have the commemorations been received?
01:21Yes, that's correct, Mel.
01:24Not long after Anthony Albanese spoke of the bravery of first responders as the events
01:28unfolded, we saw Police Commissioner Karen Webb come and lay a wreath of her own and
01:33pay respects to the victims before she spoke of how this event changed the way the police
01:37force as a whole deals with PTSD.
01:41I'm pleased to say that I think we've made a lot of progress in the last 10 years and
01:49I can't turn back the clock, of course, but I do think we've made some improvements.
01:55Of course, PTSD affects not only first responders, but obviously those people who were hostages
02:00and others involved in that terrible incident 10 years ago.
02:04And so how we respond and help our officers has greatly improved since that time.
02:11Not just treatment and recognition of PTSD, but also our operational response has improved
02:17since then.
02:20It is expected the tributes here at Martin Place will continue to grow.
02:26Throughout the course of the day, we've seen hundreds of passerbys stop and take note of
02:31the tributes, read the notes attached to the floral bouquets and just take a moment to
02:35themselves to remember those whose lives were permanently altered and lost in the siege
02:42a decade ago.