Albanese and Ley clash over bipartisan response to shooting tragedy
NSW Premier Chris Minns usually takes every opportunity to get Vaucluse’s Kellie Sloane on the parliamentary floor. But on Monday, Minns paid tribute to his rival after he called on MPs to introduce new terrorism laws in the wake of the Bondi attack.
“[The opposition] “I’ve worked hard to make these changes in as bipartisan a way as possible, so I’m not going to criticize anyone,” he said.
It’s the kind of bipartisan spirit that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke of wistfully at Monday’s press conference when he talked about how Liberal, National and Labor leaders united on gun reform after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996 and secured opposition support for former prime minister Scott Morrison during the pandemic.
“This is not a time for partisanship. This is a time for national unity. This is a time for the country to come together,” Albanese said. “This is what it is.”
But it didn’t happen this time. As NSW politics moved beyond partisanship last week – Minns and Sloane laid flowers together in Bondi last Monday – the federal debate has devolved into the kind of politics many voters condemn..
In a sign of the pain, in the fiery timeline of the past eight days, there is even disagreement about when exactly the possibility of bipartisanship disappeared and who is to blame.
Albanese said he spoke to Ley on December 14 after the terrorist attack and made a statement in support of Ley’s government. “I spoke to him again on Monday morning. We gave briefings. He received all the briefings,” Albanese said last Friday. “People can make their own assessment of what has happened since then.”
Ley’s office disputes this narrative. They say the Prime Minister went to Bondi last Monday morning to lay flowers without telling them and missed the opportunity to share a moment of unity like the one displayed by NSW leaders. They say they received an ASIO security briefing last Monday afternoon and have heard nothing from the prime minister since.
“Bipartisanship does not mean that the opposition serves as a rubber stamp,” Ley said in a statement Monday afternoon. “At no point did the prime minister really try to engage the opposition in his approach. He did not share plans, invite cooperation or build consensus. Instead, he announced measures late and demanded agreement.”
Whenever the splinter point occurred, it simply expanded.
The coalition seized on the situation and launched a fierce political attack on the government’s personal record. Ley took things a step further on Monday by delivering an extraordinary blow to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, whom she accused of not shedding a single tear for Bondi.
Albanese hasn’t said much about the opposition, so he can’t stand being accused of fueling the fire with his words. (He stated on Monday that he was deliberately discouraging partisan comments.)
But for Albanese, the problem is what is left unsaid. His early reaction to the massacre did not work. This, combined with the Prime Minister’s unpopularity in the Jewish community, created an authority vacuum at a critical moment.
This was highlighted at the Bondi vigil on Sunday night when Minns was applauded while Albanese was booed. This, while at times unwelcome, paved the way for Ley to intervene in remarkable federal failures.
Its most recent manifestation is the debate about the federal royal commission. The opposition wants to investigate both antisemitism and the circumstances that led to two gunmen targeting Jews and opening fire on innocent people during the Hanukkah celebration.
The issue is not partisan in nature: Minns will hold a state-level inquiry, and on Monday federal Labor MPs Mike Freelander and Ed Husic broke ranks to say they also support a national inquiry.
Ley presented this as an opportunity for unity. “I invite the Prime Minister to sit down with me immediately to refine and finalize the terms of this mandate so that we can set up a royal commission,” he said on Monday. “This is a good faith offer to work together on a bipartisan basis.”
The Prime Minister refused. Not without reason: royal commissions have dragged on for years, he says, and more urgent action is needed. But for the third time in eight days, he was holding a press conference in the prime minister’s courtyard to regain control of the narrative.
This time he did it with greater regret. “A lot of people in the community are hurting and angry, and some of that anger was directed at me, and I understand that,” he said of the Sunday night vigil. “I feel the weight of responsibility for the atrocities that occurred during my time as Prime Minister. I am sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole have experienced.”
Albanese will hope it will be enough to finally close the chapter on this political debate over Christmas. But it won’t be in the bipartisan spirit he talks about.
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: excitement or email.
