The Australian federal police is investigating why the prime minister was briefed that the gunman involved in the Sydney siege of a cafe had a gun licence in New South Wales when NSW police have no record of it.

Tony Abbott announced the information at a press conference, causing NSW police to issue a contradictory statement saying Man Haron Monis did not and had never held a gun licence in the state.

Three-and-a-half hours after the press conference the prime minister’s office issued a statement saying Abbott had been told during a national security briefing that the National Police Reference System, which holds all state and territory police records, said Monis was a recorded firearms licence holder in NSW.

“The AFP commissioner is investigating the origins of the entry on the National Police Reference System,” the statement said.



Abbott had earlier announced that a review into the siege would examine how the gunman “obtained a gun licence”, fell off the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) watchlist and why he was allowed to stay in Australia, among other issues.

“Plainly there are questions to be asked when someone with such a history of infatuation with extremism, violent crime and mental instability should be in possession of a gun licence,” he told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

“I mean, plainly, there are questions to be asked here. Plainly there are questions to be asked and I want answers to these questions when someone who has been involved in a horrific murder is out on bail, plainly these are things, these are questions that are begging to be asked and which are requiring answers as swiftly as possible.

“We have very tough gun laws and I guess we can be pleased that he didn’t have a more potent weapon at his disposal, but why did he have a gun licence in the first place? That’s the relevant question here.”

NSW police issued a statement saying Monis did not, and never has, held a gun licence in the state.

Abbott and the New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, have launched an urgent review into the lessons state and federal agencies could learn from the lengthy Martin Place siege, which ended with the death of two hostages and Monis on Tuesday morning.

The review, to be completed by the end of January, will be headed by the secretary of the federal Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the secretary of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Abbott said he had “great confidence in our police and security agencies” but wanted “answers to some obvious questions that have been raised in the wake of this terrorist incident”.

“We do need to reflect on what’s happened and to ponder what might have been done better,” he said.

“We do need to know why the perpetrator of this horrible outrage got permanent residency.

“We do need to know how he could’ve been on welfare for so many years,” he said, adding that Monis appeared to have been “having a lend of us”.

The review of Monis’s refugee and citizenship applications could have broader ramifications.

“It is very important we carefully consider the security status of people coming to us from different backgrounds,” Abbott said.

He also revealed his own response when Monis demanded to speak to him during Monday’s siege. “I said to my office I would do whatever the police thought best,” he said. The advice had been not to speak to the hostage taker.

According to the terms of reference, the review asks for the examination of “information held by commonwealth and NSW agencies about Man Haron Monis for the period prior to and following his arrival in Australia up until the siege including how any information relevant to public safety was shared between, and used by, agencies”.

Abbott and Baird have also asked the reviewers to check whether powers such as control orders could have been used in relation to Monis’s activities of security concern.

The terms of reference also include any lessons learned by the NSW and Australian federal police about the handling of the siege, including coordination between agencies and effectiveness of public communication.

Abbott promised the Australian people “I will not rest until I am confident you are as safe as you can be.” He also revealed he had spoken to US president Barack Obama after the siege, with the US promising to assist the Australian investigation.

There will be parallel investigations into the incident by the NSW state coroner, NSW police and the Australian federal police.