A conservative commentator has been branded “despicable” after mocking the Bondi Junction Westfield massacre memorial day as “virtue signalling”.
The normally bustling eastern suburbs shopping centre reopened its doors at 11am on Thursday for a “community reflection day”, five days after the mass stabbing that left six dead and a dozen wounded.
Queensland man Joel Cauchi, 40, stabbed 18 people — including 15 women and a nine-month-old baby girl — during a violent rampage at the shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.
He was shot dead by hero NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott.
Retail stores remained closed on Thursday but members of the public were invited inside to pay their respects, ahead of normal trading hours resuming on Friday.
“Virtue Signalling Day at Bondi Junction,” Kobie Thatcher wrote on X, sharing images from the sombre memorial. “Oh, I mean ‘Community Reflection Day’.”
The controversial post has been viewed nearly 600,000 times, with responses overwhelmingly slamming Thatcher.
“Sickening, beyond sickening post. Shame,” one user said.
“What a hateful, despicable thing to post. Have you no shame?” another said.
“It’s virtue signalling to honour the memory of those who were brutally stabbed to death a few days ago? Delete your account,” a third...
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