Albanese rejects royal commission call amid pressure from victim’s families

Australia formally recognised Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, drawing trenchant criticism from Israel for joining French President Emmanuel Macron’s push for global recognition. In August, Hamas officials welcomed Australia’s plans to join the global push, but said it did not go far enough.

Albanese has repeatedly argued a federal royal commission would be too slow, with similar commissions taking years to hand down findings.

The government has, after a six-month delay, adopted several of the recommendations made by antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal, announced new hate speech laws to be introduced early next year, a review of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and reforms to gun laws including a national buyback program.

A state-based royal commission has been established by NSW Premier Chris Minns, which will be able to work with federal agencies. But demands continue to ramp up from the Jewish community, legal experts and the federal opposition for a Commonwealth royal commission capable of compelling the federal government and its agencies to testify.

Gutnick lambasted the government’s perceived reliance on the NSW commission, saying “this is not a state issue. It happened to occur on Sydney soil, but this can occur anywhere.

“If [antisemitism is] not put a stop to, other states will be in the same situation,” she said.

Asked which government policies had “added fuel to the fire” of antisemitism, Gutnick said recognising “Palestine as an official state has been a massive gasoline [fuel] to the fire while Hamas is in power. And I think the biggest proof is a thank-you letter from Hamas to the Albanese government for the recognition of the state tells you all it needs to say, yeah.”

A week after her father’s funeral, a neighbour of Gutnick in Melbourne, whose car bore the words “Happy Chanukah” was set alight. Gutnick also alluded to the arrest of a West Australian man over alleged antisemitic social media posts as further need for the royal commission’s establishment.

“There we are in Sydney, and a couple days later I’m back in my home in Melbourne, and around the corner there’s a firebombing,” Gutnick said. “We have to live in constant fear when we are out in public with our children being wary of where the exits are in the case something like this could occur … and now the rest of the world can see the repercussions of that.”

The letter from the families demanded answers and solution. “We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward,” the signatories said.

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Speaking on Monday, Albanese said: “my heart breaks for the families of the victims of the Bondi terrorist atrocity, and my heart … goes out to them at what is an incredibly traumatic time”.

Albanese said the Richardson review would investigate the effectiveness of commonwealth agencies, what agencies knew about the attackers before the shooting, and whether anything could have been done to prevent it. It will also review whether further powers need to be granted to agencies.

Richardson is set to hand down his report in April.

Former Labor MP Mike Kelly on Monday joined the voices calling for a federal royal commission, telling Radio National they were “a time-honoured measure for when you need to do that deeper dive, contextual and systemic analysis”.

Speaking after Albanese’s press conference, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the government’s claim a royal commission would platform antisemitism was an “insult” to the families of victims, arguing it was “not protective, it is patronising”.

“The families of victims want this Commonwealth royal commission. The Jewish community wants it. Eminent Australians want it. And I suspect millions of ordinary Australians want it too,” Ley said.

“Today, the prime minister thumbed his nose at these families and told them, in effect, that he knows better.”

Ley said the Richardson review was “insufficient” and “inadequate” and did not reflect what the Australian public believed was an appropriate response to the Bondi attack.

Ley told journalists in Albury on Saturday that the Jewish community was hearing “excuses” not action, from Albanese. She said the Coalition was willing to negotiate their proposed terms of reference for a royal commission in a bid for bipartisanship.

Nationals leader David Littleproud told Nine’s Today on Monday morning that Albanese was “tone-deaf to a grieving nation”, accusing him of being “contemptuous” of the families of victims of the attack.

“Unless you have a Commonwealth royal commission, you’re not compelling the federal agencies to work with state agencies and to give all the evidence. And this is the frightening thing that the prime minister won’t face up to, that there were 15 Australians slaughtered on Bondi Beach,” Littleproud said.