AFP commissioner vows to stand with Jewish community

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett has told Jewish women they should never have to hide their identity to feel safe, delivering a deeply personal address to the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia’s national conference in which she spoke of grief, motherhood and the fight against hate.

Barrett opened by paying tribute to NCJWA founder Dr Fanny Reading, describing her as “a female trailblazer, my favourite type” and expressing admiration for her decision to work in Kings Cross caring for people “who others would have preferred were invisible”.

She drew a direct line from Reading’s legacy to the NCJWA’s guiding principle of “justice shall you pursue”, saying justice was a lifelong pursuit and that the means of pursuing it mattered just as much as the end goal.

“This ethos lives in my bones,” Barrett said.

Barrett said she was “deeply disappointed, frustrated, motivated to do more” when she heard stories of Jewish community members, especially children, removing their kippot or Stars of David for fear of being racially abused.

“Never, ever again should anyone from the Jewish community feel they need to hide or strip away their identity just to feel safe,” she said. “It is sickening when we feel we cannot keep our kids safe.”

Describing women as “the great protectors” who fought to be heard to protect their children and future generations, Barrett said that women and the community must be heard, because “ silence is a sabotage to liberty, and that creates a permissive environment for hate.”

Turning to the Bondi Beach terrorist attack on December 14, Barrett revealed she had been in Vanuatu for official meetings when the news broke.

“Every second that I was in Vanuatu felt as long as an hour. It was excruciating,” she said.

She said she held initial conversations with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu, but details were still scarce and unfolding. Upon returning to Australia, she held security briefings with the Prime Minister, Home Affairs minister Tony Burke, and NSW Police commissioner Mal Lanyon, before relocating her team to the AFP’s Sydney office.

Barrett read from her first public statement on the attack, made on December 16 in Sydney, saying she had wanted Australians to know she would “be vulnerable with them in their grief” while assuring them they could count on her and the AFP to be strong and focused.

“Jewish Australians were hunted down in broad daylight at an Australian iconic beach,” she read. “The suspected murderers, callous in their coordination, appear to have had no regard for the age or ableness of their victims. It appears the alleged killers were more interested in a quest for a death tally. Like October 7, 2023, we will not forget how that shocking attack forced Jews around the world to relive modern-day terror that should have been consigned to the history books decades ago.”

Barrett outlined reforms she introduced upon taking the role in October 2025, saying the AFP had been “not fit for purpose” and that hate crime responses had been inconsistent depending on jurisdiction. Her first public announcement was the formation of national security investigations teams, which she described as “a flying squad of hate disrupters” targeting politically motivated violence, communal violence and hate crimes.

The teams have charged 56 individuals with Commonwealth offences, including 38 for threats against high office holders and parliamentarians.

Barrett warned that the erosion of protective factors such as family, school, sport and faith leaders was leaving young people vulnerable to online manipulation and radicalisation. She said many young people were turning to the internet for answers on polarising issues instead of asking a parent or trusted adult, and were being “siphoned to sites that peddle mis- and disinformation”.

Until now, 65 young people aged between 12 and 17 have been investigated for serious crimes by joint counter-terrorism teams across Australia, with 35 charged with one or more terrorism-related offences. Of the 65, 45 per cent were identified as religiously motivated and 25 per cent as ideologically motivated.

“If it used to take a village to raise a child, because of advances in technology, it now takes a whole country to keep them safe,” Barrett said.

During a question-and-answer session, Barrett was asked what law enforcement should have done differently before the Bondi attack. She said she was unable to comment in the context of the ongoing Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, but confirmed she had commissioned a rapid internal review of the AFP’s response immediately after the attack. She said ASIO director-general Mike Burgess had done the same, and that findings from both reviews were being implemented.

Asked about the AFP’s approach to Australians who had lived in Islamic State territory, Barrett said the agency had been investigating returning cohorts for more than a decade.

“Every single one of the people in those cohorts has been under AFP attention and the attention of our partner agencies as well,” she said.

On hate preachers, Barrett referenced Operation Antrobus, the AFP’s standing investigation, and said dedicated resources had been assigned to review all such matters twice. She acknowledged that hate preachers were well supported by legal advice, saying they “know exactly how far to push the line, the threshold … just falling short of committing a criminal offense”. 

Barrett closed her address with a pledge. 

“It is important that you know I will work hard every day as AFP Commissioner to protect our country and our future, and I will also do this side by side with the mothers of this country who understand what we need to protect today and tomorrow.”