Coalition attacks Penny Wong for not shedding ‘a single tear’ after Bondi shooting, says ‘multicultural nirvana’ has failed | Bondi beach terror attack
Sussan Ley and other senior Coalition politicians linked the Labor government’s recognition of Palestine to the anti-Semitic Bondi terror attack and attacked Penny Wong for not shedding tears in public at an extraordinary press conference on Monday.
The spray from coalition MPs comes amid growing demands for prime minister Anthony Albanese to call a royal commission into the Bondi attack; It came amid criticism from coalition, Jewish groups and even some Labor MPs that the government’s review of the intelligence community was too narrow.
Opposition leader Sussan Ley was visibly angry at a press conference on Monday morning, lashing out at foreign minister Penny Wong for not visiting the site of last Sunday’s attack.
“I didn’t even see Penny Wong shed a single tear,” he said.
Shadow minister Bridget McKenzie went further and made the connection without evidence. Wong’s failure to visit certain sites of Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel and other policies of the government towards the Bondi massacre.
“Penny Wong, your answers about why you didn’t go to Kibbutz Be’eri, why you didn’t apply to the Nova music site when you went to Israel, all of this, the recognition of Palestine, all these decisions of your government brought this to us,” McKenzie said.
“So we need a royal commission to uncover this and give our Jewish community and all Australians a chance to get answers.”
Criticizing Labour’s plans for firearms reform, Nationals Senator McKenzie claimed the problem was “not with guns, but with Islamic extremism and our suburbs”.
“For too long we have glossed over this truth, hoping for this multicultural nirvana. But it has failed.”
Wong’s trip also included meetings with Israeli government officials and families of hostages held by Hamas.
Speaking to the ABC on Monday, Wong strongly condemned antisemitism and the Bondi attack and once again called for “lowering the tone” in the national debate in Australia.
Shadow education minister Julian Leeser, who is Jewish, criticized Labor for being “late to act” on the disclosure of personal information and banning Nazi symbols, saying Australia’s Jewish community “cannot survive on the scraps of this government and the terrible Prime Minister who is always late to the party”.
Government sources said the Coalition voted against Labor’s anti-disclosure legislation in November 2024 and did not take stronger action on banning Nazi symbols during their time in government.
Standing next to Ley, a former meeting of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group, McKenzie claimed Labor’s recognition of Palestine in August was among the decisions that “brought this to us”.
Nearly 150 countries around the world have recognized Palestine. The government’s announcement of its intention to recognize Palestine in August came as France, Canada and the United Kingdom made their own commitments to recognize Palestine. There is no evidence that the August announcement was related to the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack by grocery store owner and bricklayer Sajid and Naveen Akram.
Albanese announced his government’s intention to recognize Palestine amid global condemnation of Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza following Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and dozens taken hostage. More than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in Gaza at the time, according to local health officials.
While the New South Wales government announced its own state-based royal commission, the Albanese government dismissed questions about such a federal inquiry. Finance Minister Jim Chalmers said last week that the government wanted federal agencies to be “100% focused” on investigating the shooting that left 15 Jewish victims dead, rather than being “delayed or deterred by the Royal Commission.”
On Saturday, Albanese said federal agencies would co-operate with NSW’s royal commission and instead instructed his department to launch a review of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies; it was a response that was immediately branded inadequate by the Coalition.
Federal Labor MPs Mike Freelander and Ed Husic have backed calls for a federal royal commission. Freelander, who is Jewish, said: Australian Financial Review the federal government had “national matters” to attend to; Freelander confirmed his position but declined to comment further, Guardian Australia reported.
Husic, who was also contacted for comment, was quoted. AFR “I worry that federal agencies may not feel they have the ability to fully participate in a state-based investigation.”
NSW premier Chris Minns said on Monday his state expected cooperation from federal authorities on the royal commission and promised it would be “as comprehensive as possible”.
Ley’s federal Coalition has called for a broader royal commission into antisemitism, including “attitudes towards the state of Israel,” behavior in universities and the arts sector, how state and federal institutions respond to counter-terrorism and extremism, and visa policies.
Ley, who spoke out by directly attacking Wong, described the foreign minister’s statement as “ridiculous words”.
“I didn’t see Penny Wong on the streets of Bondi. I didn’t see Penny Wong at the memorial service for the 15 innocent Australians who were murdered. I didn’t see Penny Wong at Bondi last night on the eighth night of Hanukkah. I didn’t even see Penny Wong attend a single funeral,” Ley said.
