Police block the main roads leading to the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping mall after a stabbings in Sydney on 13 April, 2024. Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP
A shopping centre security guard who confronted Bondi mass murderer Joel Cauchi has been granted a permanent resident visa.
Muhammad Taha, from Pakistan, is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed by Cauchi during his attack at Westfield Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.
Taha was wounded while trying to help his colleague, Faraz Tahir, who was killed in the attack.
Five women also died, and 12 people including Taha were injured.
Cauchi was later shot dead by NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.
Taha has now been granted permanent residency by the federal government.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Taha had showed "extraordinary courage" and put the safety of others before his own.
"This is person of clearly good character," he said.
"This is someone who put his own safety at risk, working as a security officer, in order to provide safety for people who were there at Westfield."
French 'Bollard Man' also granted permanent residency
It comes after French national Damien Guerot was also granted permanent residency, according to his lawyer.
Guerot has widely become known as "Bollard Man" after he faced off against Cauchi on an escalator while holding up a bollard.
Albanese has repeatedly thanked both men for their heroic acts.
"These are people who were putting … themselves in danger in order to protect Australians who they didn't know," he said yesterday.
"And that's the sort of courage that we want to say 'thank you' to, frankly."
French President Emmanuel Macron praised Guerot and his friend Silas Despreaux, who also confronted Cauchi, in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Two of our compatriots behaved like true heroes. Very great pride and recognition," he wrote.
- This story was first published by the ABC
