We can’t have the fox in charge of the henhouse: a Bondi Royal Commission is essential

First published in the Financial Review

What happened at Bondi was an unprecedented act of terrorism and murder driven by radical Islam. It was a religious massacre. It was the culmination of  weakness and political expediency over morality and principle by many Australian leaders and institutions. 

It is time for accountability.

Mr Albanese is right to say more could have been done. 

He has acknowledged his own role in what is a significant failure of leadership in Australia. 

And he’s right. He’s not an observer. He’s our nation’s leader. A role which he has abrogated when it comes to antisemitism. 

A failure of leadership and of public administration must invite a political response. That’s what happens in a democracy - that’s why there must be a Commonwealth Royal Commission. 

The fact that the Prime Minister of the country now wants to put the fox in charge of the henhouse by getting his own department to run the inquiry shows he hasn’t learned anything. 

Mr Albanese needs to forget political management and do the right thing.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet running the Bondi inquiry is an unmanageable conflict of interest. It is insulting to the memory of those who were slain. 

Only a federal Royal Commission will be able to ask all the awkward but necessary questions. What actions were taken or not taken by federal Ministers and their agencies such as ASIO and the federal police? 

This is a basic question that only a federal Royal Commission will resolve. 

It is my contention and that of many Jewish leaders that the warning signs were ignored and the Bondi event is a progression of rank antisemitism which has spread like an insidious virus. 

Accordingly, we should now consider the records and statements of our leaders. Some of this is work for the Royal Commission but some of it is up to the community to consider. 

Firstly, despite our many recent failures on policy and presentation, the Liberal Party took the issue of antisemitism seriously. 

Most Liberals saw the attack on Israel as a civilisational attack on the West. The subsequent explosion of antisemitism in Australia was a genuine concern. It was perhaps the one thing that everyone agreed on. 

As a resident of Sydney’s eastern suburbs in regular contact with Jewish communities, I was worried. 

I worried about the opera house hijacking, the constant spew of hate and of course the ridiculous march over the bridge. 

The Opposition asked the Government for briefings from the security agencies in June 2024 and again in December 2024 about risks to the Jewish community in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. These briefings can only be granted by the Government and they were never provided. This is another question for the Royal Commission.

The Jewish community knew there was trouble. We tried to get the information on their security. We tried to push the government but there was a limit to what we could achieve in opposition. 

The bridge march was worrying. I know there were people who crossed the bridge with good intentions but there were chants “from the river to the sea”, “globalise the intifada" and pictures of the Ayatollah. All of these things send a strong and violent message of antisemitism. 

The Government’s already soft position was weakened by its own members crossing the bridge. It was clear they would never course correct and fix it. 

Secondly, representatives who sought to fudge the issue should be held to account. 

Many representatives of large Jewish communities promoted a false equivalence between antisemitism and Islamophobia. 

Monique Ryan the member for Kooyong used an 7 October Parliamentary motion on 18 October 2023 to say “Muslim children in Australia must not be subjected to Islamophobia.”

As if that sentiment had anything to do with the attacks on Israel 11 days earlier. It didn’t.

Similarly the member for Wentworth Allegra Spender said in November 2023 in a debate moved by the Coalition on antisemitism: “All the MPs I speak to are genuinely concerned about antisemitism, Islamophobia…”

When asking about antisemitism at Senate Estimates, I have been given answers about Islamophobia and Aboriginal people. There was no equivalence and there is no equivalence.

How many of these groups are living in cages? Only Jewish Australians are living like caged animals. 

This moral fog and deliberate fudging has taken away the laser-like focus needed to fight antisemitism.

It also created a lack of urgency to ensure law enforcement, craft better laws on anti incitement, reform migration rules and to rid universities and public institutions of antisemitism. The hate speech and the threats led to violence. That’s what happened. 

The Government’s weakness on antisemitism was aided and abetted by other leaders who have not done what was necessary to advocate for their communities. 

A Commonwealth Royal Commission will get to the bottom of things but we must also hold our representatives accountable for their words and actions if we want our nation to recover.