Opposition bid to extend Royal Commission defeated

The federal opposition unsuccessfully tried to extend the term of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in parliament on Tuesday.

Member for Berowra Julian Leeser moved a motion to suspend standing orders to allow debate on a motion calling on the government to immediately extend the commission’s reporting date, and on the Prime Minister and his ministers to appear before it.

“It was defeated by Labor who gagged debate,” Leeser, a Jewish Australian, told The AJN.

Leeser, who appeared before the Royal Commission himself last month, told the House the Royal Commission was in its final two week hearing block, which he said was for many Australians the only chance the nation would have to properly expose and address antisemitism.

“But 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.