Albanese stares down backbencher, opposition demands for royal commission

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stared down demands from the opposition and his own backbenchers that he call a royal commission into the Bondi terror attack, attempting to seize control of the political debate with calls for unity and urgent action on hate speech and radical groups.

After being jeered by mourners at the vigil in Bondi on Sunday night, Albanese said he understood the anger being hurled his way. “A lot of people in the community are hurting and angry, and some of that anger was directed towards me, and I understand that,” he said.

“I feel the weight of responsibility for an atrocity that happened whilst I’m prime minister, and I’m sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole has experienced.”

Monday’s press conference was Albanese’s latest attempt to recover his authority as he faces a backlash from the Jewish community, and fierce criticism from the Coalition about his approach to antisemitism. This masthead’s Resolve poll found nearly half of Australians think the government’s response to the Bondi attack has been weak.

As he insisted his government is taking both action and responsibility, Albanese outlined further details about his plans for law reform in the new year, which include a crackdown on hate preachers and racial vilification.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said there would be a new aggravated offence for adults who radicalise children, while Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said he would create a way to categorise groups such as Hizb-ut Tahrir and the National Socialist Network, which do not meet the existing threshold to be declared terrorist organisations.

“Their behaviour needs to be unacceptable, their behaviour needs to be unlawful. Their behaviour needs to be enough that we can proscribe the organisation and prohibit their activity in Australia,” Burke said.

But the prime minister rejected mounting calls for the federal government to launch a royal commission into the terror attack, backing the departmental review that former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson will lead into the processes and information-sharing capabilities of security agencies, including the Australian Federal Police and ASIO.

“The Richardson review will enable action to take place. It will report, as I have said, before April. That review can feed into any royal commission that is established in NSW,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Labor backbenchers Mike Freelander and Ed Husic broke ranks earlier on Monday and added to demands for a more comprehensive investigation, as the Coalition drafted its own terms for a federal royal commission that it intends to push for when parliament returns.

“It seems to me that there are national issues, so the national government needs to be the one dealing with it. Sure, there are state and local government issues as well, so all levels of government need to work together,” Freelander, who is Jewish, told The Australian Financial Review.

Husic, who was Australia’s first Muslim cabinet member before being dumped from the ministry after the election, agreed that a state-based royal commission could lack scope. “I’ve previously said I don’t care if it’s Islamist or far-right extremism, anything that presents a threat to Australians must be confronted,” Husic said.

“I’d be concerned that federal agencies might feel that they wouldn’t have the ability to participate fully in a state-based inquiry. Let’s remove the uncertainty and have a proper and thorough look at this.”

But Albanese argued that holding multiple royal commissions alongside the Richardson review would delay action, and said the terms of the Coalition’s draft inquiry were unrealistic.

The opposition wants it to probe education, the arts, immigration and security agencies as part of its 25 terms of reference.

“If anyone suggests that it is possible that that will report any time this term [of government], let alone years and years to come – every royal commission has asked for an extension of time,” Albanese said.

Asked about the dissent from his backbenchers, Albanese said the NSW royal commission would draft its own terms of reference, or scope, and his government would co-operate.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley criticised the government’s logic, calling it a cop out. “It also underlines why the antisemitism crisis has been mishandled from the very beginning,” she said.

“There is a great deal of work to do precisely because this threat spans governments, institutions and communities, and because warnings have gone unheeded for far too long.

“Labor cannot credibly claim to be acting in the name of unity while refusing to heed the clear call from the community that was targeted in the worst terrorist attack our country has ever seen.”

She suggested the government was afraid of what a royal commission would uncover.

Independent MP Allegra Spender, whose Wentworth electorate takes in Bondi, also said the prime minister’s departmental review was inadequate.

“We have 15 Australians who have died. We owe it to them and to the Jewish community, who were targeted simply because of their religion, to leave no stone unturned,” she told ABC Radio National.

“We must look at the past honestly. If we look at the past honestly, then we have a chance of moving forward. Looking at the intelligence, it’s not good enough. We need a national royal commission that looks at all levels of government.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns did not weigh into the federal debate on Monday, saying the state-based inquiry would include federal agencies.

“We need a comprehensive investigation, we need to understand the relationship between our agencies and the Commonwealth, what these individuals were doing overseas, what information was collected prior to these terrible crimes,” he told reporters in Sydney.

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