Barrett: security environment for Jews ‘very volatile’

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has declined to say Jews are safer in Australia than before the Bondi terror attack, describing the security environment as very volatile and expecting it to remain complex into 2027 and beyond.

In a wide-ranging interview last week with The Australian, Barrett – who began her five-year term in October 2025, just two months before the attack in which 15 were killed – was asked whether Jews were safer than when the attack was committed on December 14.

Barrett did not answer directly, instead pointing to measures the AFP was taking to protect the community, including expanding National Security Investigations Teams to identify and arrest offenders before violence occurs, and increasing engagement with Jewish community leaders.

Pressed on whether the environment remained volatile, she told the paper: “It is very volatile, and that’s the truth of it. We have seen a rise in antisemitism.

“Looking forward to 2027 and beyond, I think we are anticipating that the environment will continue to be complex.”

Barrett, who has just marked her first year leading the AFP, said Islamic fundamentalism would remain the biggest terror risk over the next year and that the local threat from Hamas supporters was not declining. The war in Iran was adding to the complexity of counter-terrorism work. “It’s adding to people who are looking for causes or motivations to latch on to. I can’t underestimate that enough,” she said.

A growing share of the counter-terrorism caseload involved “young boys who are just angry and feeling isolated, and are looking for something to give some meaning to them”, she said.

Barrett said she had twice directed her team to review all investigations on the AFP’s books to find any way to prosecute hate preachers, pointing to radicals benefiting from lawyers advising them what they can say to scrape under the criminal threshold.

Protecting the Jewish community extended beyond Australian law enforcement to sharing intelligence with overseas partners, she said.

On the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which reports in December, Barrett said she expected Virginia Bell’s findings to be contentious. “There’s going to be very different views on the royal commission final report,” she said. “There’s something to learn for everybody out of every agency, so we will work with partners and with the community in terms of the recommendations.”

She said she could not say with certainty the AFP would endorse all recommendations, but did not expect to be in conflict with them. A rapid external review and the commission’s interim report had shown the agency could not have done anything differently to prevent the Bondi attack, she said.

Barrett also denied having advised against holding a royal commission, after the Prime Minister said in January that it was not the preferred option of experts advising him. “It’s not my job to provide advice to the government on the merits of a royal commission, or whether there should or shouldn’t be one,” she said.