Frydenberg accuses Albanese government of failing on antisemitic extremism

SPECIAL: A combination of Islamic extremism, government inaction and lax security screening measures on migrants arriving from Middle East hotspots were factors that led to the country’s worst-ever terror attack, a former Australian government minister has said.

“While the guns may have stolen the lives of the 15 innocent souls killed at Bondi Beach, it was radical Islam that actually pulled the trigger,” former Australian Treasurer and Member of Parliament Josh Frydenberg told Fox News Digital from Sydney. He said the government’s response to the deadly attack focused on the weapon rather than the ideology behind the violence.

FORMER HAMAS POSTAGE WARNED AUSTRALIAN LEADERS MONTHS AGO ABOUT THE DANGERS OF ANTISEMISM AHEAD OF BONDI BEACH ATTACK

“We took thousands of people from the hotspot of terrorism in the Middle East, which is Gaza,” Frydenberg said in a Zoom interview with Fox News Digital. “We have also taken people from many other countries without adequate security checks, and we are paying a price in Australia for having people in our country who do not share my and others’ commitment to democratic ideals.”

Frydenberg’s remarks come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese moves to tighten Australia’s already strict gun laws in the wake of the massacre, announcing plans for a new national gun buyback scheme and additional firearms restrictions. But in an interview with Fox News Digital, Frydenberg said these measures risked avoiding a harsher reckoning with what he called extremism that has been ignored for years, rising antisemitism and security failures that have left Jewish Australians increasingly vulnerable.

Rabbi Yossi Friedman speaks to people gathered at the floral memorial next to the Bondi Pavilion in Bondi Beach on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, following Sunday’s shooting in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)

“The government needs to do much more to combat preachers of hate, organizations that spread that hate, and to ensure that people who incite violence are prosecuted.”

Frydenberg said Australia had failed to take steps adopted by other Western democracies, including banning extremist groups that remain legal within the country.

“Hizbat al-Tahrir, which is banned in England, banned in Germany, banned in moderate Islamic countries, is not banned in Australia, and it should be.”

Asked whether Australian Jews felt safe, Frydenberg said the situation had reached breaking point.

OFFICIALS WERE WARNING AUSTRALIA MONTHS AGO ABOUT IRAN-LINKED TERRORIST ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE BONDI ATTACK.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett, NSW Premier Chris Minns, Australian Premier Anthony Albanese, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Police and Counter-Terrorism Minister Yasmin Catley attend a press conference during a visit to NSW Police headquarters following the fatal shooting incident during a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on 16 December 2025. (Hollie Adams/Reuters)

“Australia is unsafe for Jewish people right now,” he said, referring to what he described as an unprecedented increase in harassment, intimidation and violence since October 7, 2023.

“We have seen personal information of Jewish artists deleted, Jewish businesses boycotted, places of worship, synagogues bombed, and child care centers,” he said. “Our universities are no longer homes of education. They have become hotbeds of hatred because of people’s harassment and intimidation and acts of violence against Jewish students and staff.”

His warnings gained renewed traction this week after a separate television interview he gave to Australia’s ABC channel went viral following a tense exchange with host Sarah Ferguson, who questioned whether his criticism of the government should be viewed through a political lens.

FAMILIES MOURN THEIR LOVED ONES LOST IN THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN BONDI BAHIL: ‘NO WORDS CAN EXPLAIN THE PAIN’

A member of the Jewish community seized an item from the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on December 6, 2024. An arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in the early hours of Friday morning forced the congregation to flee as flames engulfed the building. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the incident as an anti-Semitic act and stressed that such violence at a place of worship was unacceptable in Australia. (Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images))

Frydenberg responded: “I am deeply disturbed by what you have just said.” “This is an insult. To say there was any political motivation in this is an insult.”

“My kids go to a school with armed guards outside,” he continued. “When I visit the Jewish Elderly Care Center, there are armed guards outside. When I send my children to Jewish sports clubs, there are police cars and police tape outside. How can we live with that? Why should we live with that?”

Frydenberg rejected the suggestion that his warnings were partisan, arguing that the issue involved politics.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is a leadership issue. This is about the safety, security and soul of Australia,” he said.

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People walk past a memorial painted on the wall of a memorial bridge following Sunday’s shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Steve Markham/AP Photo)

He told Fox News Digital that the Albanian government’s response will ultimately be judged not by public statements but by what it does next.

“They will not be judged by their words,” Frydenberg said. “They will be judged only by their actions and will need to do much more than they announced today to turn the situation around.”