Police presence at Jewish events must be boosted, antisemitism royal commission warns
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The news: Police presence at high-risk Jewish events must be expanded after the Bondi terror attack, an interim report from the royal commission into antisemitism has warned.
The context: The interim report, handed to Governor-General Sam Mostyn by commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday, included 14 recommendations spanning security at Jewish events, a review of Australia’s counter-terrorism infrastructure and the national gun buyback scheme.
Speaking after the report’s release, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Bell had found Australia’s existing laws did not hinder agencies from preventing or responding to the attack.
“No urgent changes are required to keep Australians safe,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Albanese said the National Security Committee had met on Thursday morning and agreed to adopt all recommendations relevant to the Commonwealth.
Five recommendations remain confidential because they “could compromise sensitive national security information”, Albanese said.
After initially resisting calls for a royal commission in the wake of the December attack, Albanese reversed course in January, saying Australia “needs to heal, to learn, to come together” after the tragedy.
Albanese commissioned an urgent interim report into potential intelligence failings by the end of April.
Bell, a former High Court judge who oversaw an inquiry into Scott Morrison’s ‘secret ministries’ scandal, was appointed to head the commission.
Her first recommendation is for strengthened police presence at “high risk Jewish festivals and events, particularly those that have a public facing element”.
Two Islamic State-inspired terrorists allegedly opened fire at a publicly-accessible Hanukkah event, killing 15 people. One of the alleged attackers, Sajid Akram, was killed by police during the attack.
His son, Naveed, survived and has been charged with 15 murders and 44 other offences.
Bell’s report also recommends that the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC) review Australia’s Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams.
Bell said that should “place particular focus on the Joint Counter Terrorism Team-NSW, elements of which should be for reporting specifically to the NSW Police Commissioner”.
“Obviously, what we want to see is the best cooperation possible,” Albanese said.
The ANZCTC would deliver a report to Australian police commissioners and Director-General of Security Mike Burgess within three months.
Bell recommended the government to “consider” whether all members of the National Security committee, along with state and territory leaders, run counter-terror drills within nine months of winning every federal election.
Bell urges states and territories to accelerate a push, currently being coordinated by the Commonwealth, to standardise gun laws. That includes states and territories prioritising the implementation of a national gun buyback, announced by Albanese in the wake of the Bondi attack.
The royal commission faced headwinds in March, when former spy boss Dennis Richardson quit his $5,500-a-day role on the commission, saying he was “surplus to requirements”.
Richardson had been commissioned to investigate potential intelligence failures in the lead-up to the attack, work which was ultimately folded into the royal commission.
“Dennis Richardson contributed a great deal to this report ... [and] the team that he put together continued to contribute to the report,” Albanese said.
The report was handed down the day after two Jewish men were stabbed in London, in what British police have declared an antisemitic terror incident. A 45-year-old man has been arrested and is awaiting charges.
What they said: “Five months on from the attack, Australia’s Jewish community is still grieving, still hurting, still craving answers,” Albanese said.
“That’s why my government set up the royal commission … to help us understand what happened that day, to help us stamp out the hatred that drove the attackers and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.”
