Police admit parliament failure

A senior NSW Police officer has apologised to the Jewish community for failing to warn it that a neo-Nazi group would rally outside NSW Parliament House, while defending the force’s handling of the 2023 Sydney Opera House protest.

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Tuesday, Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna conceded police had not notified Jewish community representatives of the November 2025 demonstration, at which members of the group White Australia displayed a banner reading “abolish the Jewish lobby”.

“Absolutely, it should have happened,” McKenna told the commission. “It was human error.” He apologised for the failure, said he understood why the community was upset, and told the inquiry police had since introduced new systems to prevent a repeat.

On the October 9, 2023 protest that marched from Town Hall to the Opera House, McKenna endorsed an earlier assessment by Deputy Commissioner Peter Hudson that police had appropriately managed “a potentially volatile situation”. He said police had no power to stop the demonstration because organisers had not lodged a formal notification, and defended the decision to allow protesters to march to the Opera House rather than block them.

He also acknowledged community concern over the arrest of two people carrying Israeli flags near the Opera House while the larger protest continued. “I can certainly understand that, and I empathise with that position,” he said, explaining the arrests were based on concerns about an imminent breach of the peace.

McKenna said the scale of protests after the outbreak of the Gaza war – swelling “from 500 to 20,000” before settling at about 2000 – had prompted police to establish Operation Shelter to manage demonstrations across Sydney.

Earlier, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told the commission police had effectively “transferred control” of the CBD to protesters on October 9, 2023, when the community was advised it was not safe to be in the city centre.

“I can’t recall any group … ever being provided advice that they should avoid their own city’s CBD for their own safety and wellbeing,” he said.

“It was effectively the police saying we can’t keep your community safe.”