They lost $2750 in bond and rent after a scammer piggybacked off a real house viewing.

Westfield has strengthened security in its centres across Australia and New Zealand days after the mass stabbing spree at one of its locations in Sydney.

Joel Cauchi, 40, killed six and injured a dozen more inside the Bondi Junction shopping centre on Saturday afternoon before he was shot dead by a police officer.

Bondi Junction Westfield has been shut since Saturday as police worked the active crime scene but it has now been handed back, Scentre Group chief executive Elliot Rusanow said.

READ MORE: Police close crime scene at Bondi shopping centre

He said Westfield has increased its security across all 42 locations as it undertakes a review into security measures and responses at Bondi Junction on Saturday.

"Security has been increased throughout the entire portfolio in Australia and New Zealand," he said outside the centre today.

Rusanow confirmed the centre is set to reopen later this week.

"We are devastated along with the entire community and nation (at) the loss of life, the serious injuries sustained," he said at a press conference today. 

"As you can imagine, the process of reopening is one that is a challenging one … it was the centre of very tragic circumstances and we have to respect the loss of life, the victims, the victims' families." 

One of the victims, Faraz Tahir, 30, was working his first shift as a security guard at the centre when he died protecting a member of the public.

Another security guard was also injured and rushed to hospital.

Rusanow said the company is facilitating Tahir's family overseas to come to Australia.

"We as an organisation will acknowledge and remember our colleague who lost his life protecting others," he said.

READ MORE: Hero shopper helped police officer track and confront rampaging stabber

The NSW government has green-lit $18 million to fund an independent coronial inquest into the stabbing but ruled out allowing security guards to carry stun guns or other firearms.

"We don't believe that more firearms in the community is a good decision, but we're looking at the current restrictions that are in place for equipment, for security guards, and the resulting training that would be required if there was to be a policy change," Premier Chris Minns said.

"We are ensuring they have what they need. I'm not announcing an immediate policy change but we're reviewing the restrictions in place. Except in relation to firearms."

If you're struggling, know that help is available 24/7.

Lifeline: Call 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14 or chat online.

Kids Helpline: Call 1800 55 1800 or chat online.

Beyond Blue: Call 1300 22 4636 or chat online.

1800RESPECT: Call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or chat online.

13 Yarn: Call 13 92 76.

MensLine Australia: Call 1300 78 99 78.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000).

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The controversial Tairua skatepark opened today, following 30 years of discussion.

The heartbroken parents of Joel Cauchi, the 40-year-old who killed six and injured a dozen in a stabbing spree in eastern Sydney, have spoken about their son from their family home in Toowoomba.

Cauchi, armed with a knife, was shot dead by a police officer after he carried out the mass attack at a Westfield shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Saturday afternoon.

His parents Andrew and Michele Cauchi, who have expressed their sorrow for the victims and their devastation at their son's actions, said Joel had been off medication for his mental illness.

READ MORE: $18 million inquest into Bondi stabbings announced

Talking to reporters from outside their home in Toowoomba, Michele said the attack was out of character.

"He was brought up in love, he was a loved child," she said.

"This is a parent's absolute nightmare when they have a child with mental illness, that something like this will happen.

"My heart goes out to the people our son has hurt.

"If he was in his right mind he would be absolutely devastated." 

READ MORE: Police close crime scene at Bondi shopping centre

Andrew said he has been watching through vision from inside the shopping centre trying to understand what happened.

"This is so horrendous that I can't even explain it," he said.

"I don't know why he would do this, I've done everything I can to help him.

"He's my son and I'm loving a monster. For you, he's a monster. To me, he was a very sick boy."

READ MORE: Hero shopper helped police officer track and confront rampaging stabber

Police have confirmed Cauchi was known to authorities due to his history with mental health-related issues.

He had recently moved to Sydney from Brisbane and NSW Police is working with Queensland Police in its investigations into the stabbing. 

While the motive for the attack is still unknown, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb yesterday confirmed whether Cauchi targeted women was an "obvious line of inquiry".

"He wanted a girlfriend and he's got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain," Andrew Cauci said of the theory.

The six people killed in the attack – five women and one man – have since been identified.

A dozen, including a nine-month-old baby girl, were seriously or critically injured and rushed to different hospitals around the city.

READ MORE: Condition of nine-month-old stabbing victim improves

If you're struggling, know that help is available 24/7.

Lifeline: Call 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14 or chat online.

Kids Helpline: Call 1800 55 1800 or chat online.

Beyond Blue: Call 1300 22 4636 or chat online.

1800RESPECT: Call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or chat online.

13 Yarn: Call 13 92 76.

MensLine Australia: Call 1300 78 99 78.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call Triple Zero (000).

The 28-year-old man appeared in the Hamilton District Court today.

It is the biggest breakthrough in the search for Ahuriri since he went missing.

Six people were killed and an attacker shot dead by police, after multiple people were stabbed at the popular shopping centre.

Surging, record-high rental prices coupled with record-low vacancy rates.

It's a tale renters around the country are all too familiar with, and one that was reinforced once again by this week's Domain rental report.

But there was one notable outlier in the data.

READ MORE: Rental market to cool as household budgets hit limit

While advertised rental prices for units rose 12.9 per cent in Sydney, 14.6 per cent in Melbourne, 18 per cent in Brisbane and a whopping 22.2 per cent in Perth over the last year, in Canberra they were only up 3.6 per cent.

The difference was even starker when it came to house rentals.

All the mainland state capitals saw double-digit price rises, but they actually fell 0.7 per cent in Canberra.

So why, when rents are skyrocketing across the country, are the increases far more moderate in the nation's capital?

The ACT is the only state or territory in Australia that limits how much landlords can increase rent.

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, a hike can't be more than 110 per cent of rental inflation in the territory – so if the average rental increase in the ACT is 3 per cent, landlords are allowed to impose an increase of 3.3 per cent.

So is that why Canberra prices haven't been rising as high as other capitals?

"It's hard to know, would be my initial reaction," Associate Professor Ben Phillips, principal research fellow at ANU's Centre for Social Research and Methods, told 9news.com.au.

"My sense would be that the rent caps in the ACT probably remove the most egregious forms of record increases.

"Some landlords try really crazy rent increases. And that will still go on to some extent, but it probably gets a little bit limited.

"It has probably assisted in that regard but it probably doesn't explain much as to why the current rental market is not ballooning like some other parts of Australia."

What Phillips says is a more significant factor is something governments around the country are trying desperately to address: supply.

While vacancy rates in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide are all under 1 per cent – they're sitting at 0.3 per cent in the latter two – Canberra's is 1.4 per cent.

EXPLAINED: Will Australia get anywhere near hitting its housing targets?

That's still in landlord-friendly territory, but far closer to the 2-3 per cent that Domain considers a balanced market than the other capitals.

"Unlike many other jurisdictions around the country, (the ACT) still has a pretty good supply of housing going in," Phillips says.

"We've got a lot of units. We've also got we've also got some growth in detached housing.

"So our market at the moment in Canberra is reasonably well supplied, we've got a higher vacancy rate than many other jurisdictions.

"So that probably is the main explanation. I don't think it has too much to do with the rent caps."

All of this isn't to say rent in Canberra is cheap. 

According to Domain, houses are more expensive to let there than any capital outside Sydney, while only the NSW capital and Brisbane have pricier rental units.

READ MORE: How much house prices have risen already in 2024

That could point to the ACT reaching a point where the market is unable to afford rent increases anymore – something Oxford Economics Australia said will contribute to a rental price slowdown in the next three years.

"There's probably an element of that," Phillips said.

However, he said while the situation is bad now, it's actually slightly better than what it was a decade ago.

"All rents have increased sharply in the last 18 months, but also it was very flat for about 10 years before that," he said.

"So sometimes it helps to think about these things in a longer term in terms of affordability.

"Affordability has deteriorated, but overall rental affordability is probably slightly better now than it was 10 years ago.

"That probably seems hard to believe, but if you look at the ABS CPI, that's what's happening for the whole market.

"But yes, for advertised rents at the moment, they are ballooning, there's no doubt about it."

A group of squatters has taken over a $25 million pub owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in the UK.

An Instagram account called the Camden Art Cafe has posted an "official statement" online explaining why they squatted the York and Albany near Regent's Park, London.

"We are occupying the York and Albany Hotel in Camden as the collective Camden Art Cafe," the statement read.

READ MORE: Police on standby for pro-Palestinian protests

"We aim to open our doors regularly to anyone and everyone, particularly the people of Camden who have been victims of gentrification and parasitic projects like HS2.

"We provide free food, drinks, and a space to display their art without the ridiculous red-tape that galleries require people to jump over. We believe all of us and our art deserve dignity."

HS2 is a high-speed rail project under construction in England.

READ MORE: Judgment day for Lehrmann over Higgins rape report

The BBC reported that the pub, which is up for sale with a price tag of £13 million ($25.01 million), is believed to be occupied by at least six people.

Under UK law, it is not a crime to occupy a person's non-residential property, and squatting is a civil matter.

Police can only intervene if crimes are committed on the premises, such as vandalism.

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