Former royal commissioner says federal inquiry must be held into Bondi shooting

Alongside hate speech reforms and changes to gun laws, the federal government announced a review of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson and proposed that both the government and federal agencies co-operate with the NSW commission.

“The Richardson review will enable action to be taken. As I have said before, it will report back before April. This review could contribute to any royal commission established in NSW,” Albanese said.

Ley said Albanese’s reasons for resisting the commission “do not stand”.

“To draw comparisons to Port Arthur or the Lindt Cafe is to fundamentally misunderstand what happened. This was not an isolated act of violence. It was the culmination of years of unchecked antisemitism and extremist warnings that were ignored on his watch,” Ley said.

“This lack of understanding explains the failure of leadership. The Prime Minister still cannot grasp the extent, cause or national consequence of this attack.”

Despite his support for a federal commission, Wood said a NSW royal commission would be effective if additional commitments were offered from the Albanian government.

“If they flatly refuse to do that, then a state-level agency would certainly be better than nothing. But a state-level agency would have to get assurances from the federal government that the relevant agencies, ministries, immigration, etc., would cooperate,” Wood said.

Wood’s calls to the government were echoed in an open letter signed by 139 former judges and senior lawyers saying a federal commission should be established; In this letter, the powers of this commission were described as “uniquely placed” within the context of Australian investigations into tackling antisemitism.

“Any investigation without federal authority runs the risk of producing findings that are necessarily partial and do not fully reflect the scale, complexity, or interconnected nature of the problem,” the letter said.

There have been 15 federal royal commissions in the last 25 years, lasting an average of 652 days. The longest study was examining institutional responses to child sexual abuse, and it took almost five years (1799 days) to deliver the final report.

Commissions focusing on social issues such as violence and neglect suffered by people with disabilities or on advocacy and institutional responses to veteran suicides were the longest running, lasting 1639 and 1159 days respectively.

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While Wood acknowledged that commissions can take time, especially during the setup phase, he said there was no reason why governments and institutions should not respond before the commission’s work is completed.

“A royal commission into this area could issue provisional reports if it turns out there is an issue that needs to be addressed but has not yet been addressed,” Wood said.

Jewish Labor MPs were divided over their responses to a possible commission. Former attorney general Mark Dreyfus, after serving on 10 committees, said it was “not what’s needed right now.” But backbencher Mike Freelander said earlier this week there should be a federal investigation.

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