Sydney is reeling from two high-profile stabbing attacks – why was only one deemed a terror incident?

A knife attack at the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd church in Sydney was quickly designated as a terror incident, while a similar attack at Bondi Junction two days earlier was not. Photograph: Jaimi Joy/Reuters

Two high-profile knife attacks in three days have left many in Sydney and across the country in a state of shock and alarm. The two separate incidents, at a shopping centre in Bondi Junction and a church in Wakeley, have seen different responses from police and politicians.

So why are police treating the Wakeley incident as a terror attack, while the Bondi Junction attack – which killed six people – was quickly ruled out as such?