Australians want tougher visa screening, half in favour of royal commission after Bondi attack

A majority of Australians want the government to take a tougher approach to screening people for extremist views when issuing visas, while almost half say they would back a royal commission into antisemitism in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.

In a sign of broad public support for the Albanese government to take action on antisemitism after 15 innocent people were killed in a targeted attack on Jews celebrating Hanukkah, the latest Resolve poll for this masthead shows about seven in 10 people agree there should be tougher penalties for hate speech and extremist groups.

There is weaker support for a royal commission and a crackdown on protests – which have been hotly debated at the federal and state levels in the days since the attack – but the polling still shows more people are in favour of those measures than not.

As the Coalition continues to push for a royal commission into the Bondi attack and antisemitism, and prominent former judges and barristers add their voices to the campaign for an inquiry into hatred against Jewish people, 48 per cent of those surveyed said they supported a royal commission on antisemitism. About a third, 34 per cent, were unsure or neutral, while 17 per cent opposed one.

The Albanese government has resisted calls for a federal royal commission, saying it would take too long and urgent measures can be adopted straight away. The federal government says it will comply as required by a NSW inquiry that Premier Chris Minns will establish.

Resolve polled 1010 Australians between last Wednesday and Saturday, producing results with a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, as the federal government stepped up its response to last Sunday’s terror attack.

Out of the seven policy responses surveyed, tougher immigration screening to identify antisemitic or extremist views, was the most popular, with 76 per cent in support and 7 per cent against. This was followed by banning extremist organisations, which had 72 per cent support compared with 6 per cent opposition.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has said he will do both. Earlier this month he cancelled the Australian visa of a British national charged with displaying Nazi symbols but said the department would soon be given greater powers to cancel or refuse visas on the basis of hate speech or vilification.

He will also introduce a new regime to list extremist organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, which have to date evaded government action because they do not meet the threshold to be considered proscribed terrorist groups.

Other popular measures in the Resolve poll included tougher hate speech laws (70 per cent support, 8 per cent oppose) and heavier penalties for those who incite violence against Jewish people (67 per cent support, 8 per cent oppose).

Federal government departments are working over the new year to draft laws that will create new offences for hate preaching, vilification based on race and adults who radicalise children.

While legislating tougher guardrails around free speech has spawned extensive debate in the past – Coalition MPs spent much of the last decade campaigning to water down elements of Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act that protect people from offence or insult – the opposition is now backing tougher hate laws.

The polling suggests the voting public is also prepared to restrict free speech after the Bondi attack.

The Resolve poll shows that 56 per cent of people surveyed backed stronger hate speech laws based on faith or religion in March last year, dipping to 49 per cent in May 2024. But support rose to 66 per cent – or two-thirds in favour – this month for tougher hate speech laws.

This is strongest among Coalition voters (74 per cent support), followed by Labor voters (70 per cent), One Nation voters (69 per cent) and the Greens (65 per cent).

Opposition to these laws has also declined: while 19 per cent disagreed with changing the law to ban hate speech based on religion or faith last March, and this rose to 28 per cent last May, only 9 per cent of voters now oppose tougher laws.

“Australians regard freedom of speech and action as core individual rights, but recent events have reinforced that they come with a reciprocal responsibility to society at large,” said Resolve director Jim Reed.

“The challenge is to strike the right balance so that the settings maximise legitimate expression and fair behaviours on the one hand, while ensuring public safety on the other. “So close to an event that is still raw in people’s minds, it would be all too easy to cut too deeply in an attempt to remove the cancer of extremism.”

This fear has been raised by a chorus of Greens, activist groups and civil liberties advocates in a debate over protests since the Bondi attack – the most controversial element of the way governments are cracking down on freedom of expression.

The NSW government’s Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 was passed on Wednesday, outlawing phrases such as “Globalise the intifada” being chanted during pro-Palestine protests, and limiting protest rights after terrorism incidents. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is also proposing laws that will grant police new powers to shut down protests after terrorist attacks.

Minns has defended the action, saying: “I don’t apologise for the fact that we don’t have the same free speech laws that they have in the United States … I would argue that, in 2025, within our community, with people from different races and religions from all over the world, we need a set of rules that’s good for us.”

Critics argue the restriction goes too far.

“The Minns government is trying to strip away the right to peacefully protest for everyone … potentially for up to three months at a time,” Palestine Action Group convener Josh Lees said.

“No one denies the fact that the Palestine movement, for the last two years and for many years before that, has been a peaceful protest movement protesting against the horrific violence and genocide playing out in Gaza. Those are the rights we’re fighting to defend.”

The Resolve poll shows a narrow majority (53 per cent) would support banning the pro-Palestine marches, while 16 per cent oppose that measure and 31 per cent are unsure or neutral.

There is also mixed support for compulsory Holocaust education in schools: 46 per cent in favour, 21 per cent opposed, and 32 per cent neutral or undecided. The Albanese government has established an antisemitism taskforce to probe the education system over the next 12 months.

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