‘Surplus to requirements’: former spy chief quits royal commission into antisemitism and Bondi attack | Bondi beach terror attack

Former spy chief Dennis Richardson has said he resigned from the royal commission into antisemitism because he felt “redundant” and claimed changes made to the investigation into the Bondi terror attack were different from the job he signed up for and that he was “overpaid”.

Richardson said a royal commission led by judge and barrister Virginia Bell would still be valuable, and he strongly praised Bell. But in his first comments since Wednesday’s surprise announcement that he was abruptly leaving the inquiry, Richardson appeared to imply that he did not have much work to do, despite being tasked with delivering an interim report by the end of next month.

“There wasn’t enough discussion in the beginning about exactly how things were going to work. And eventually I came to the conclusion that I was surplus to requirements,” he told the ABC’s Radio National on Thursday.

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In a separate interview on ABC Sydney radio, Richardson added: “When you boil it all down, I was actually working as a research assistant and leading a team of researchers.”

He said his decision “had nothing to do with the government, the government is not responsible in any way.”

Richardson, who previously served as director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Agency, Australia’s ambassador to the United States and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was initially chosen to lead an investigation into intelligence and police failures that contributed to the terror massacre at the Bondi Chanukah festival last December, when 15 people were shot dead.

Later, after the government abandoned calls for a royal commission into the attack and wider issues surrounding antisemitism in Australia, Richardson’s review was incorporated into Bell’s wider inquiry, and Bell was appointed as special counsel to the inquiry. Questions were raised at the time and since about how the two processes would interact and whether Richardson could investigate sensitive intelligence matters as part of a royal commission holding public hearings.

Late on Wednesday, the royal commission announced that Richardson had resigned from the inquiry and thanked him for his service but did not provide any explanation for its decision. This occurred two weeks after the opening hearing and six weeks before Richardson was scheduled to file an interim report (by April 30).

In his statement, Bell said that work on the interim report was “at a good level” and that he was confident that the report would be delivered on time. He expressed his “gratitude” for Richardson’s work.

“As I noted at the commission’s first hearing, Mr. Richardson was in a unique position to advise on materials to be requested from our intelligence and security agencies to assess their effectiveness in preparing for and responding to a terrorist attack.”

Bell said two other senior staff who worked with Richardson – Tony Sheehan, the Commonwealth’s former counter-terrorism co-ordinator and deputy director-general of Asio, and Peter Baxter, the former assistant secretary of the Ministry of Defense – remained on the commission and were working on the interim report.

When asked why he felt “redundant”, Richardson told the ABC his job was different from what he was initially asked to do. He added that “the pay I was being paid was not consistent with the work I was doing” and claimed in subsequent interviews on Thursday: “I was being grossly overpaid for the work I was doing.”

“I was not preparing an interim report independent of the royal commission. The report I was making before the royal commission was established was included within the scope of the royal commission. [it]”Certain legal frameworks have been created around this,” he said.

“So the interim report that will now be produced by the royal commission will be a very different document to the report that I would make when I conducted the review before the royal commission was announced.”

Richardson said the report “will still be a valuable document” and expressed confidence that the royal commission “will do a highly professional job”.

The royal commission has been contacted for comment.

Attorney General Michelle Rowland thanked Richardson for his work and said the government expects the interim report to be delivered on time.

“The royal commission, which is independent of the government, will provide further updates in due course,” he said.

The royal commission’s final report is expected to be published by December 14.