LIKE most people in Australia Labor candidate for Dubbo and solicitor Stephen Lawrence was shocked when he woke yesterday morning to hear the siege at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney had ended with three dead.
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"I was horrified, and my thoughts turned to the horror those (hostages) must have gone through and the bravery of the police who stormed the cafe," he said.
The incident hit home for Mr Lawrence as he was no stranger to the Lindt Cafe.
"When I've appeared in court in Sydney and to brief barristers I've visited the Lindt Cafe," he said.
"It's very popular with solicitors, there are three barristers' chambers in the same building.
"As soon as I heard about the situation I started making calls to solicitor friends in Sydney."
Yesterday it was revealed the two hostages who died were 38-year-old Sydney barrister and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson and 34-year-old cafe manager Tori Johnson.
Mr Lawrence said community members were entitled to ask questions as to why the gunman was in Australia and why he was on bail.
But he also said members of the public needed to avoid making rash comments until a thorough investigation and review of arrangements into counter-terrorism took place.
"It's unfortunate if people have knee-jerk reactions," he said.
"We need to take a deep breath and have confidence in our authorities."
Mr Lawrence, who earlier this year completed nine months' worked at a national security court at a US Army base in Afghanistan, said he was disturbed at comments on social media that had intensified in the wake of the siege that stereotyped Muslims as terrorists.
During his time with the Australian Civilian Corps, Mr Lawrence said, he helped Afghan lawyers and court personnel in the trials of people captured by coalition forces during the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
"On the very personal side of things I never worked with a group of more hospitable or friendly people," he said.
"The Afghans came to work every day under the threat of being killed by the Taliban, but the Taliban is a minority group, as are radical fundamentalists."
Mr Lawrence described #illridewithyou, a social media campaign aimed at staving off anti-Islamic backlash by offering to support Muslims travelling alone on public transport, as "an encouraging community response".
"This guy (the gunman) has got a track record in terms of divisive, extremist behaviour, he's the sort of guy who wants to create division and hatred and it would be unfortunate if that was the by-product of his actions."