Royal Commission needs to deliver on security as soon as possible

The Bondi Beach terror attack on the Jewish community exposed two separate but related failures in Australian society.

The immediate failure was on the part of intelligence and law enforcement agencies, which did not identify or contain the terrorist threat. That dereliction is directly responsible for the deaths of 15 Australians, and the injury and trauma experienced by many others.

The second failure is less direct but no less important: the failure of governments, universities, arts organisations, state police forces and others to stem the growing tide of hatred towards Jews over the past two and a half years. Not only those who participated in hate speech but all those who stood by as hostility to Jewish Australians increased and antisemitic incidents soared fertilised the ground for violent attack.

Examining this failure requires a clear-eyed assessment of the impact of extreme and persistent hostility to Israel and Zionism in parts of Australian society including the lack of compassion after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the way legitimate concerns over Israel’s campaign to root out Hamas in Gaza transmuted into prejudice towards Israelis and Jews.

In the immediate aftermath of Bondi, the Federal Government quickly recognised the need to address the issue of security failures. It appointed former Director-General of Security of Australia Dennis Richardson to conduct an independent review into Australia’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, to be completed by the end of April 2026.

It took a couple of weeks longer – and extensive high-profile lobbying – for the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to recognise the need for a Royal Commission to address the broader context, but on January 8 Justice Virginia Bell was appointed to conduct a full Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.