Former Labor politicians plead with PM to back down on an antisemitism royal commission

Former Labor politicians plead with PM to back down on an antisemitism royal commission

A group of former Labor MPs, senators and party officials have broken ranks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging him to establish a Commonwealth royal commission into the Bondi Beach terror attack and what they describe as the escalating threat of antisemitism in Australia.

In an open letter, the group of 21 figures with deep connections to the party’s organisational wing, unions and parliamentary factions argues that only a federal inquiry has the reach and authority to examine the “broader ecosystem of terror and hate” that culminated in the Islamic State-inspired attack on a Jewish festival event at Bondi on December 14, which left 15 people dead and more than 40 injured.

The signatories include former federal frontbenchers Mike Kelly, Michael Danby, Bernie Ripoll and Peter Baldwin; former Labor MP and trade union boss Jennie George, Mary Easson, Kim Wilkie and Mike Symon, senators Mark Bishop, Michael Forshaw and Nova Peris; former NSW and Victorian figures Michael Costa, Eric Roozendaal, Tony Lupton and Danielle Green; and a number of senior former party office-holders, including from the Labor Israel Action Committee.

“This was the worst terrorist attack in Australia’s history on our soil,” the letter states. “Australians who are Jewish were the main target of this attack, but all Australians are made less safe by the extremism that has inexorably escalated into lethal actions.”

The intervention sharpens internal pressure on Albanese, who has so far rejected calls for a federal royal commission, arguing it would be lengthy, divisive and risk duplicating work already under way. The government has warned that a federal inquiry could take years, risk politicising national security and retraumatise victims and their families. That notion has been rejected by the Jewish community.

While just two current federal MPs Ed Husic and Mike Freelander have spoken out in favour, party sources told this masthead that several Labor luminaries were planning to warn Albanese privately he risked being viewed as “tin-eared” for resisting the growing public calls.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday that calls for a royal commission – from the victims’ families, Jewish groups, legal and business figures and sporting stars – came “overwhelmingly from a good place” but the government was focused on “the urgent and the immediate”.

“A lot of the voices that I’ve heard are voices that I respect a great deal, including in the business community,” Chalmers said. “I think our message to the world is that this Albanese government is taking a number of very decisive steps to make sure that we learn from what happened, but also that we act on what happened.”

Albanese has backed a NSW royal commission announced by Premier Chris Minns, alongside a sweeping package of federal measures including the largest firearms buyback since 1996, tougher gun laws, new hate crime provisions and a review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies led by former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson.

But the letter’s authors say the NSW inquiry, while welcome, is inherently limited.

“We commend NSW Premier Chris Minns for calling a NSW Royal Commission but such a commission cannot compel institutions and individuals beyond its jurisdiction to give evidence,” they write, arguing only a Commonwealth inquiry could force federal agencies and social media companies to provide evidence and offer legal protections for whistleblowers.

The signatories call for terms of reference broad enough to examine “systemic, legal, institutional, inter-jurisdictional and educational issues”, including the role of online radicalisation, hate speech and incitement, and the effectiveness of intelligence-sharing between state and federal agencies.

Former Victorian Labor deputy premier James Merlino was among a group of business figures to call for a royal commission last week, along with former cabinet colleague Phillip Daladakis, who is of Jewish heritage.

The letter also reflects on the depth of anger and fear within parts of the Jewish communities in Australia since the attack. It describes Jewish Australians being forced to send children to schools guarded by armed security, to pray behind blast-resistant walls and to conceal their identity in public to remain safe.

“At stake is the health of our democracy and our national security,” the letter says. “This includes the very values and institutions that have helped create a safe, harmonious and multicultural Australia.”

Mike Kelly, a former defence materiel minister and Eden-Monaro MP and now a co-convenor of the party’s Friends of Israel group, said the Bondi attack took place within a broader narrative of rising antisemitism, arguing that violence did not emerge in isolation but from an environment in which hatred has been allowed to grow unchecked.

“There’s an entire ecosystem that’s associated with the terror attack,” Kelly said. “That atrocity doesn’t come out of the blue. There are a whole lot of questions to be asked, very broadly that the narrow cast terms of reference that have been given to Dennis Richardson won’t address,” he said.

Kelly said Labor members would be foolish to think it is a partisan political call for a national inquiry.

“This is not just an issue of partisan politics, although I would like to see the Coalition be more approachable and offer support to deal with this situation, as much as to highlight where there’s been deficiencies,” he said.