Interview with Trudy McIntosh on Sky News

SENATOR ANDREW BRAGG

Shadow Minister for Productivity and Deregulation

Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness

Liberal Senator for New South Wales

TRANSCRIPT

Interview with Trudy McIntosh on Sky News

09 January 2026

Subjects: Commonwealth Royal Commission into the Bondi Attack

E&OE………

Trudy McIntosh
I'm joined now by the Shadow Minister for Housing and Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg. Thanks for your time today. You were one of many calling for this Royal Commission. You would have seen the Prime Minister today though, he says that the Royal Commission was called in record time under him. Your reaction?

Senator Bragg
Well Trudy, we think it's good that the Royal Commission has finally been called, but we regret that it took so long for it to be established. This was the worst terrorist attack in the nation's history, a massacre on religious grounds. And it was truly shocking that the Prime Minister's instinct was to work against having this type of Inquiry. So we're very pleased that it's been put in place, and we're currently reviewing the detail including the Terms of Reference and we'll have more to say about that in future.

Trudy McIntosh
What do you think about the 12-month timeframe? Will that be long enough to get to the bottom of this? And the other thing that stuck out to me was in one of his arguments against the Royal Commission, the Prime Minister said that basically every Royal Commission up until now has asked for an extension of time. So, there is the potential that this is going to go longer than 12 months.

Senator Bragg
Well Royal Commissions usually go for longer than that 12-month duration. I think the key test here is, is it going to be able to also look at the issues of how the Government Ministers conducted themselves in office? Did they respond in an adequate way to warnings? Did they do the work that was recommended to them by the agencies, for example, if it was recommended? It needs to demonstrate that it can do all these things. It needs to ensure that it can present a body of work which is beyond reproach.

Trudy McIntosh
We've seen in previous Royal Commissions; I'm thinking of the Robodebt Royal Commission, former Prime Ministers, former Ministers appearing on the stand. Would you like to see that happen this time around? If anything, in order to ensure people that there is an accountability, that the Royal Commission is looking through the response of governments prior to this attack.

Senator Bragg
I think it's very important for the community's confidence that it is beyond reproach. That it is able to look at the conduct of Ministers in office, and particularly over these last two years since antisemitism has exploded in Australia. That the Commission can go through and examine and do whatever it needs to do. And I think that's going to be one of the key tests of its capacity to instil confidence in the community, particularly the Jewish community, that it will leave no stone unturned.

Trudy McIntosh
Do you think that the Prime Minister now, in having said he's listened to the community—he pointed to a series of private meetings he's had in recent weeks with the Jewish members, victims' families. Do you believe he's adequately heard the anger and feeling that was there in the community in the wake of the attack?

Senator Bragg
Look, I hope so. And the nation has been wounded very grievously by this attack. And we want to work together to ensure that this Royal Commission gets to the bottom of what happened here. And for it to do that, it needs to be able to investigate the conduct of Ministers including the Prime Minister. And I'm sure that the Royal Commission will do that. And that's why we're supporting the process that was announced, because it's bigger than any person. This is about the nation's cohesion and the safety of minority groups in Australia.

Trudy McIntosh
I wanted to ask you about that. And a separate, but related plank of this is the hate speech laws which are currently being drafted. We haven't seen them yet. Labor's being lobbied to include broader protections beyond just antisemitic hate, but also protections for disabled Australians, LGBTQ Australians as well. Would you support a more broader package or do you believe it should be more targeted in this initial tranche that comes to parliament?

Senator Bragg
Well I think all Australians deserve to have equal protection against criminal speech, if I can use that particular ugly term of phrase. But the priority right now must be in protecting the Jewish community. There is no equivalence. The only people who are living in cages in Australia are Australian Jews. And one of the problems we've seen over the last two years is every time there's been an issue raised of antisemitism, the Prime Minister and other Ministers in his Government have talked about Islamophobia or other issues. There has been so much fudging. And I fear that the fudging was partly responsible for the lack of focus on antisemitism which has been demonstrated now as having been a national disaster. So, yes, all protections should apply equally, and if there are proposals from the LGBT lobby, I'm open to looking at them. But we've got to focus on protecting Australian Jews right now because they are the only people who are being forced to live in cages.

Trudy McIntosh
Yeah. And final one here. What about the gun changes that are going to be proposed at a federal level? We've seen New South Wales already take action here. The Nationals seem vehemently opposed to any sort of action when it comes to guns. Where do you stand? I think on a federal level you're going to need legislation for the National Buyback. Would you support that?

Senator Bragg
We'll look at whatever the government proposes here. But I think trying to initially blame the whole thing on guns was pretty shortsighted and that didn't really work out for the Prime Minister. I mean there are other issues here around: why were the preachers et cetera allowed to have access to bank accounts? What is the role of financial sanctions here in ensuring that we don't see more homegrown terrorism financed domestically or by foreign actors? I think there are a lot of complicated components here that should be looked at as part of our overall response to Bondi.

Trudy McIntosh
Yeah, we'll wait and see when this legislation is released and when parliament comes back. Shadow Minister Andrew Bragg, appreciate your time as always. Thank you.

Senator Bragg
Thanks Trudy.

[Ends]

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