This time last week, it seemed safe to assume the final issue of this newsletter for 2025 would focus on the Albanese government’s difficult end to the year — struggling to contain a spiralling expenses scandal — or perhaps the market jitters over the AI boom/bubble.
Then, an unthinkable tragedy occurred.
The Bondi massacre is the single worst act of terror in this country’s history. The kind of thing that just doesn’t happen on Australian shores, let alone at one of our most iconic places.
But as shocking as it was, it would be wrong to say no one saw it coming. For two years, the Jewish community has been warning — loudly, relentlessly — that antisemitism in Australia was reaching dangerously high levels.
Tragically, those warnings went unheeded.
That’s a huge problem for Anthony Albanese heading into summer break. As our chief political correspondent Matthew Franklin has chronicled this week, the Bondi attacks have put Albanese under pressure like never before, pressure he hasn’t faced since taking the top job three and a half years ago.
