‘Cannot wait until December’: Dennis Richardson calls for urgency over Bondi attack failures after quitting inquiry | Royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion
Ex-spy chief Dennis Richardson said improvements to public safety and intelligence following the Bondi terror attack “cannot wait until December”, just days after he sensationally resigned from the royal commission into antisemitism.
“You can’t leave public safety issues to the end of the year, especially when a small segment of society is living in such fear,” Richardson said. told an ABC podcast.
Richardson, a former chief executive of Asio and ambassador to the US, resigned from the royal commission chaired by former high court judge Virginia Bell into antisemitism and social cohesion. This reportedly follows disagreement over when to make recommendations on potential failures in security arrangements and the work of intelligence agencies.
The investigation was launched following the Bondi massacre in December, when two gunmen shot and killed 15 people attending a beachside Hanukkah event for the Jewish community.
Bell said last month that delays in obtaining and assessing material made it unlikely the inquiry would be able to obtain evidence about the adequacy of the incident’s security arrangements and the work of intelligence and law enforcement agencies before an interim report is prepared sometime next month.
But Richardson said it was too late.
“The government’s first responsibility is the safety of society,” he told the Insiders’ Background podcast.
“Anything that emerges from the royal commission regarding intelligence and law enforcement will by definition have consequences for public security.
“There is a responsibility to convey any advice regarding law enforcement and intelligence to the government at the earliest opportunity.
“Can’t wait until December.”
Richardson said the investigation’s intelligence and law enforcement hearings will only begin on April 30, when the commission’s interim report will be prepared.
He disagreed with Bell on the timeline and whether a second interim report should be released.
“The important thing is that you cannot leave issues of public safety until the end of the year, especially when a small segment of society is living in such fear,” he said.
Richardson was initially tasked with conducting an independent review into potential intelligence failures, before political and social pressures prompted the Albanian government to establish a royal commission. The Richardson review was included in the royal commission.
Richardson said he left the royal commission because he decided he was “surplus” and that the work he was able to contribute could not justify the $5,500 a day he was paid.
“There wasn’t enough discussion in the beginning about exactly how things were going to work. And in the end… I was surplus to requirements,” he told the ABC’s Radio National.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Richardson was anxious to praise the work of Bell, with whom he said he had a strong working relationship.
“I’ve reached a point now where I think my added value is pretty limited,” he said.
“I have no problem with the royal commission continuing to do the job it does, but to put it this way: I don’t think my last job of this kind was more as a highly paid investigator.
Some families of those killed at Bondi have said they fear the royal commission could turn into a farce after Richardson’s resignation.
Jenny Rotyur, the niece of Boris Tetleroyd who was fatally shot, said families were worried “everything will fall apart”.
“We wanted to take a really close look at intelligence agencies and their failures,” he said.
“We need the truth to be found, and I find it hard to believe that they can do that without being an expert on the security agencies.”
– with AAP
