Third Labor MP breaks ranks to urge Albanese to call royal commission into Bondi attack | Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese faces mounting pressure from within his own ranks to approve a royal commission following the alleged Bondi terror attack; Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah is the latest government MP to break the cover and support a robust investigation into antisemitism.
Victorian senator Ananda-Rajah said a royal commission was needed to “remove the flaws” that have caused antisemitism to grow in Australia. This comes as expectations are growing that the Albanian government will reverse its previous stance and convene a royal commission to conduct a joint investigation with the New South Wales state government, possibly on Thursday or Friday.
Guardian Australia understands Albanese has long consulted with Jewish community groups over the details of a federal investigation. Sources at leading Jewish community organizations, who requested anonymity to discuss their relations with the government, confirmed they are in talks about next steps and expect to hear in the coming days. Terms of office are still being debated.
Some sources expected the government could confirm many parts of its response to the Bondi attack alongside the royal commission announcement, including changes to hate speech legislation and details of parliament’s early return. It is understood the Executive Council of Australian Jews and other Jewish groups have been consulted on the hate speech changes.
The prime minister’s office declined to comment.
Ananda-Rajah was the member for Higgins in the City of Melbourne before moving to the Senate. He “wholeheartedly” backed calling a royal commission, becoming the third Labor MP to publicly support such an inquiry, following earlier support from backbenchers Ed Husic and Mike Freelander.
“The royal commission will allow us to eliminate the flaws that have led to this permissive environment for antisemitism, to do so in full public view to rebuild trust and ensure justice for the testimony of the Jewish community, otherwise they risk feeling permanently ostracized in their own country,” Ananda-Rajah told Guardian Australia.
“I hope the royal commission will focus not only on how we ban bad things, but also on how we strengthen the ties between us and between different communities; social engineering measures are just as important as criminal justice measures.”
No verdict has been finalized, but the government has named former Supreme Court Justice Virginia Bell as a potential commissioner in the federal investigation. A respected barrister and judge, Bell was appointed to the police force in 1994 as counsel at the NSW Wood royal commission, then was appointed as a judge to NSW’s supreme court and court of appeal in 1999. He was appointed to the high court in 2009 and served there until his retirement in 2021. Bell was appointed by Albanese’s Labor government in 2022 to investigate former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret decisions to appoint him to multiple ministerial posts without the knowledge of ministers in those roles.
However, reports in multiple media outlets claimed that some Jewish community groups had raised concerns about Bell’s political leanings regarding the investigation into multiple Morrison ministerial scandals.
Government sources strongly disputed such criticism, pointing to Bell’s extensive legal experience at both the NSW and supreme court levels, particularly in criminal law; This is an important factor given that further investigations are expected to take place alongside the criminal case against alleged Bondi hitman Naveed Akram, who faces dozens of serious charges including murder and terrorism.
Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is Jewish and has been a harsh critic of Labour’s response to the Bondi attack, claimed on social media that Jewish community leaders “have serious concerns about this”. [Bell’s] appointment,” but did not elaborate on what those concerns were.
Frydenberg has been contacted for comment. In his post about
Liberal leader Sussan Ley refused to repeat or confirm Frydenberg’s claims or comment directly on Bell at a news conference on Thursday. But he called for three commissioners to be appointed to any inquiry, including someone with a senior judicial background, a national security expert and someone with expertise on antisemitism.
