Commission says it had no choice on Ossip cross-exam

The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was legally obliged to let pro-Palestinian counsel cross-examine NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip, the commission’s head of community engagement has told the Jewish Community Council of Victoria.

Speaking at the JCCV plenum on Tuesday night, Rebecca Carpenter said Ossip’s written statement had set out a number of facts as he saw them about the events of October 7, 2023, in Israel. Parties already granted leave to appear then sought leave to test those facts, and under the rules of procedural fairness Commissioner Bell was required to allow it.

Carpenter, who was in the hearing room, said Ossip had been given advance warning of the types of questions he would face, and that nothing in the way they were put would have allowed the commissioner to intervene.

“My personal view as a Jewish woman is that it was deeply, deeply uncomfortable. It was really challenging, and I think Mr Ossip did a fantastic job,” she said.

She added that being questioned did not mean the commissioner had been persuaded. “Just because questions were asked, and just because organisations appear and give evidence, does not necessarily mean that the commissioner will change her views.”

The AJN understands Ossip was told at 8:30am that morning that he would face cross-examination.

Lived experience witnesses have not been cross-examined at all. Bell decided early that people describing their own experiences of antisemitism should not face cross-examination under any circumstances, a departure from the practice of some other royal commissions.

Other witnesses provide written statements, which are made available to legal teams, and counsel for another party may then seek leave to cross-examine. Bell rules on each application before the relevant hearing block.

Asked why the Prime Minister and senior ministers had not been called, Carpenter said the commission had heard extensively from the heads of law enforcement, intelligence agencies and police, who carry operational responsibility in the area.

“He won’t be in a position to speak to the work of the royal commission until the commissioner hands down her final report,” she said of the Prime Minister. “At this stage, he would just be speculating.”

The time for government to respond would come after the report was handed down, she said.

Noting that the interim report withheld five of its 14 recommendations, an audience question asked how much of the final report the community that lived through the attack would actually be allowed to read.

Carpenter confirmed that a section of the report, due by mid-December, would remain classified. Some evidence was taken in closed hearings because it went to national security and how intelligence agencies operate, and airing it publicly would compromise those systems.

Other sessions were closed to protect community security arrangements, including evidence from the Community Security Group, so that vulnerabilities were not made public.

A third group of hearings was closed because of the continuing criminal investigation into the Bondi attackers. The worst outcome, she said, would be the commission hearing evidence publicly that prevented that investigation running its course. Any recommendations touching on those three areas would also stay classified.

The commission has received more than 20,000 written submissions, more than double the previous record for an Australian royal commission. Bell initially read every submission herself and was determined to keep doing so, Carpenter said, but the volume made that impossible for one person also running an inquiry.

She still reads a large number personally, works at least six days a week, and spends eight to 10 hours reading in the office on at least one weekend day. Staff bundle submissions of particular note and send them to her every few days.

A policy and research team that began with five people has grown to about 35 analysts working full time on the submissions.

The commission is running to a deadline set by letters patent issued by the Commonwealth and by every state and territory, which effectively makes it several royal commissions operating as one.

Bell can seek an extension under the Royal Commissions Act, and government can also mandate one, but Carpenter said the commissioner was determined to report on time and had not sought an extension.

That structure will shape what happens next. Recommendations will go to every jurisdiction, not just Canberra, and each will respond separately.

“Handing the report to government is a really, really critical step. It winds up formally the work of the Royal Commission, but that’s really where the work starts,” Carpenter said, adding that organisations and the community itself would have a role in driving implementation.

On whether a universal definition of antisemitism might be tied to funding eligibility, Carpenter said it was too early to speculate, but Bell had been clear that adopting the IHRA definition was practical because government had already done so, and had asked a number of questions about organisations that do and do not use it.

Online abuse of witnesses is itself being collected as evidence. The commission runs its own social media monitoring and receives a daily report from the Dor Foundation while hearings are sitting, with the material tendered so it can inform findings.

Some submissions will be published where authors gave authority, with the remainder archived under the Archives Act. Anonymous submissions will stay protected, and Carpenter said release under freedom of information was technically possible but highly unlikely.

The commission employs about 95 people, just under 20 of them Jewish. It has held 142 roundtables in 14 weeks, and the final block of hearings, on social cohesion, began in Sydney this week.