Episode 56 – The Lindt Café Hostage Siege
Description
On the 15th of December 2014, a terrorist took over the Lindt Chocolate café in Martin Place, in the heart of Sydney, Australia, holding 18 customers and staff hostage, creating a siege that would last for over 16 hours. Although numerous hostages escaped, by the time the event concluded, two innocent people were dead, and four others were injured.
For ten years, this incident was suppressed under a government-mandated gag order. This prevented members of the New South Wales Police Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) from even publicly revealing their names. As a result, despite a detailed and scathing coroner’s inquest report—the largest and most expensive in Australian history—there has been very little discussion about what actually happened that night, particularly from a tactical perspective.
In keeping with the standard policy of The Debrief, we will not be discussing the name, objectives, or affiliations of the terrorist in the hope that time will erase his memory. We will, of course, be discussing the names of the team, and in this case, hostages, because they are heroes and need to be remembered. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Ben Besant.
Guests
Ben Besant, identified as ‘Officer A’ in the coroner’s report, was the lead member of the Alpha Team during the intervention and the officer who engaged and killed the terrorist. He is the author of Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!, a book that details not only what happened that night but also chronicles his personal battle to recover his mental health following the Lindt Café siege.
Resources
Ben Besant – https://tigertigertigerbook.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086482286065#
Resolute Ready – https://resoluteready.com/
Official Report – https://coroners.nsw.gov.au/documents/findings/2017/lindt_cafe_findings-and-recommendations.pdf
