A moral failure that demands accountability

It’s time the Prime Minister and the federal government read the mood of the nation.

Australians from all walks of life – the legal and business words, sports sphere, religious groups, politics, civil society and more – have joined the families of the victims in calling for a Royal Commission into the Chanukah terrorist attack at Bondi last December.

This week, a raft of prominent former Labor MPs have joined the chorus, illustrating that this issue is not one of politics.

Yet Anthony Albanese it would seem, remains unmoved. He claims he has been advised to reject such an inquiry but won’t say from whom the advice came. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has ludicrously suggested the government is trying to protect the Jewish community’s feelings from rhetoric that might be aired during the probe.

The security agency review announced late last year is important, but it will not solve the full puzzle. And curiously, its terms of reference do not mention “Jews” or “Jewish”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns – a case study in leadership whom the prime minister may want to emulate – has called a state based Royal Commission, which while welcomed, is also not enough.

Only a federal Royal Commission has the power to oblige individuals to produce documents and testimony that would otherwise not be forthcoming. Only a federal Royal Commission can get to the bottom of the festering problem of antisemitism at universities. Only a federal Royal Commission can examine the many failures that allowed Bondi to happen. Only a Royal Commission can make compelling recommendations for changes in federal legislation.

Australia cannot afford for the government to not listen. It didn’t listen for two years as hatred against Jews festered and grew and moved from the fringes to the mainstream, creating the environment in which the Bondi terrorists acted.

It is unfathomable now, that with fifteen innocent souls murdered, the Albanese Labor Government has seemingly learned nothing and still refuses to listen. Which truths, that might be unearthed, are they afraid of?

The primary function of any government is to protect its citizens. The longer Albanese continues to snub calls for a Royal Commission, the more Australia will wonder if he and his government are more concerned about merely protecting themselves.