Calls mount for Royal Commission extension as hearings end

Former prime ministers, serving MPs, senior former defence and intelligence officials, Holocaust survivors and families of Bondi victims have all called for the Royal Commission to have more time, arguing the inquiry has not examined how antisemitism was allowed to grow or held anyone to account for it.

Thirty former national security, defence and policing leaders made the case in a statement issued on August 25, among them former governor-general David Hurley, former Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo, former AFP commissioner Michael Keelty and former ASIS directors-general Rex Stevenson and Paul Symon.

The commission represented Australia’s best hope to understand and counter modern antisemitism, they said. “If the Royal Commission is not allowed the time and scope needed to do its work, this will have been a lost opportunity to build social cohesion in Australia.”

Many of the signatories had called in January for the commission to be established. They said they were now concerned it had not called ministers, had not called members of Islamist organisations active in protests after October 7, and had not investigated the sources and growth of Islamist extremism in Australia.

Member for Berowra Julian Leeser moved unsuccessfully in parliament last week to suspend standing orders to debate a motion calling for the reporting date to be extended and for the Prime Minister and his ministers to appear. “It is a Royal Commission that finishes in a matter of days, and as it stands, it is a Royal Commission with unfinished business,” he said.

He contrasted the inquiry with the child abuse royal commission, where bishops and religious leaders long retired were brought out of nursing homes to account for their conduct, and said the list of witnesses who had not appeared was long, spanning the arts and cultural sector, universities, protest organisers, the Australian Human Rights Commission and prominent Australians.

“The powers of a Royal Commission exist for a reason. They should be used,” Leeser said. “Fifteen people were murdered on Bondi Beach. Their memory demands that we get this right.”

Former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott have also backed calls for an extension.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who was not called as a witness, wrote in The AJN this month that the inquiry had to confront the nexus between the foreign and the domestic.

“If the Royal Commission is going to make a real difference and turn back the tide of antisemitism it must lay down new red lines that say clearly that we, as Australians, have zero tolerance for the people that fan the flames of hate and the places where it is fostered,” Frydenberg wrote. “If it does not, if it equivocates, if it hesitates, our society will continue to fragment.”

The Australian reported this week that families of Bondi victims, Holocaust survivors and former parliamentarians had joined the calls for an extension.

Holocaust survivor Eddy Boas, who survived Bergen-Belsen as a child, told the paper the short deadline and omission of key figures was “what Albanese wanted”. “The commission should have been extended. They have not given one good reason why it should not be extended to ask more questions,” Boas said.

Anthony Halas, one of the commission’s first witnesses, said he had become disappointed with a “light touch” approach “that skimmed the surface of a crisis that has torn through this country for three years”.

“The people who actually shaped this issue were not brought before the commission. Protest organisers who took to our streets were not called. Sitting MPs were not called. The Prime Minister was not called,” he said. “If you leave out the people at the centre of the problem, you cannot claim to have properly examined the problem.”

Jenny Roytur, niece of Bondi victim Boris Tetleroyd, said she had made two submissions but was not asked to give evidence. “Ending the public hearings early while significant witnesses remain unheard and major questions remain unanswered sends entirely the wrong message,” Roytur said.

Eva Weitzen, widow of victim Tibor Weitzen, told The Australian she was very disappointed and did not believe the commission would get to the bottom of the attack that claimed her husband’s life. She said her family was yet to hear from the Albanese government.

Former Labor senator Nova Peris said Australians had deserved more than broad statements about social cohesion and collective responsibility. “We deserved a fearless examination of how Jew hatred was allowed to grow and fester; who contributed to it, who enabled or normalised it, where our institutions failed, and what must change,” Peris wrote in a lengthy statement. She said the commission had instead built a narrative that everyone just has to try harder. “That is not accountability. What a failure.”

Senior counsel assisting the commission Richard Lancaster SC has rejected the criticism, telling the hearing that critics had failed to appreciate the full scope of the evidence canvassed.

Community advocate Marnie Perlstein, who has a petition on Change.org calling for an extension, said she was surprised the commission had wrapped up two days early, and that an extension could still be granted after hearings concluded.

“As far as I’m concerned, this royal commission is unfinished,” Perlstein said. “There are people that should have been called but haven’t been. There is testimony that should have been heard that hasn’t been. We can’t give up on this. It’s a once in a generation opportunity to uncover a very ugly situation in our country.”

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the commission had received more than 20,000 submissions and heard evidence from more than 340 witnesses since January.

“Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences and perspectives. Every submission and testimony is informing the Commission’s important work,” Rowland said. “I look forward to receiving the Commission’s Final Report as we all work to combat antisemitism and strengthen social cohesion in Australia.”

Share Your Story, a joint initiative between Australia’s major Jewish communal organisations, said in a statement, “A Royal Commission was never going to give us everything we wanted. We understand the frustrations but we cannot let them be where this ends.

“The scale of the process has been extraordinary: 20,000+ submissions, 346 witnesses, 62 hearing days and around 550,000 pages of compelled material. The Commissioner said the Commission heard directly from 14,000 Jewish Australians, alongside many non-Jewish Australians concerned about antisemitism.

“We asked for this Royal Commission. We fought for it. Now we need to see where it leads and hold Government to account for what comes next.”

Petition: change.org/p/extend-the-royal-commission-on-antisemitism-and-social-cohesion