‘I haven’t seen Penny Wong shed a single tear’: Ley takes fierce personal swipe

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has taken a fierce swipe at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for not attending the Bondi memorial site or funerals of shooting victims, suggesting the senior Labor minister had not “shed a single tear” over the terror attack.

In a personal rebuke of Wong that underscores the hostile turn of political debate, Ley raised her voice and smacked the lectern during a press conference on Monday morning, while she criticised the minister’s behaviour and absence in Sydney since last Sunday.

“I haven’t seen Penny Wong on the streets of Bondi. I haven’t seen Penny Wong at the vigil for 15 innocent murdered Australians,” she said.

“I didn’t see Penny Wong at Bondi last night at the eighth night of Hanukkah. I didn’t see Penny Wong attend a single funeral. I haven’t seen Penny Wong shed a single tear.

“So maybe if more government members … actually came to the streets of Bondi and listened, and not just listened, but heard, heard the pain, heard the anguish, heard the call to action, we wouldn’t have the ridiculous remarks that she has made recently.”

Ley made the comments after a reporter asked whether she agreed with Wong’s comments from earlier in the morning, in which the foreign minister said there was a need to “turn the temperature down” on political debate.

“I have over and over again, as foreign minister, said that we all needed to turn the temperature down over the last two years,” Wong said on ABC radio.

“I have argued that we must not bring the conflict to Australia. You have heard me say that, and that has always been my position.”

Former prime minister John Howard last week singled out Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Wong for particular blame, and criticised Wong’s decision not to visit the Israeli communities targeted by the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, during her trip to Israel last year.

Since then, the Coalition has been increasingly critical of Labor’s response to the Bondi terror attack, pursuing the prime minister for acting too slowly on antisemitism. A Resolve poll for this masthead found nearly half of voters think the government’s response to the Bondi attack has been weak.

Labor Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said she was shocked by the tenor of the political debate.

“I’m surprised that the opposition have taken the view and the approach that they have. I can’t think of another time in this country’s history where there has been a terrorist event like this ... where the opposition has chosen to take the path that they have this week,” she said.

“I think in almost every other example you would have seen the opposition … try to work with the government. That has not been the approach, and I think that’s incredibly unfortunate.”

Ley has made repeated visits to the Bondi memorial site over the past week, where she has spent time speaking to grief-stricken and furious community members.

She has also made a point of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s absence at Bondi. The prime minister was jeered by the crowd on Sunday night, when he attended the vigil marking one week since two gunmen killed 15 innocent people at an event celebrating Hanukkah.

Albanese on Monday said he understood why people were angry, and offered an apology for the experience of Jewish Australians.

Gallagher defended Albanese’s leadership on Monday. “I have spent every day with the prime minister. I think in the last week, I have seen him not only lead the nation but lead the National Security Committee and lead the response,” she said.

“And I think he has done an incredible job in very, very difficult circumstances.”

Before Ley’s spray, Wong had outlined actions the government had taken to deal with antisemitism – such as cracking down on hate speech, criminalising doxxing and banning the Nazi salute – while conceding it needed to do more.

“I said last week that we needed to do more and we are, which is why we have announced a stronger package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalisation,” she said on ABC Radio National.

Asked about criticism of her trip to Israel, which has been repeated by Coalition MPs as well as Howard, Wong said: “I regret that, the way in which people have experienced that.

“What I would say to you is I met instead with hostage families. I met instead with people who had either lost their children or father, or who were waiting for news of them.

“I’m very aware of the thousands of years of persecution that the Jewish people have experienced. And I am so deeply pained, as someone who has argued all my life for an inclusive Australia, to see the sort of prejudice, the hate that this act demonstrates.”

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