‘You don’t need to change. Australia needs to change’

“You don’t need to change. Australia needs to change,” NSW Premier Chris Minns told members of the Jewish community gathered at a Yom Ha’atzmaut cocktail function on Thursday night.

Acknowledging the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025, the Premier noted that “six months on, you meet tonight on Israeli Independence Day – this landmark of Jewish survival – not in fear or silence, but instead with pride, with defiance and with a clear message to any terrorists: this is your home,” he said.

The Premier also addressed the Royal Commission hearings that have taken place throughout this week.

“Yesterday, we heard some incredibly distressing testimony of children being abused in school, of racist imagery being normalised, of young Australian Jews having to hide their identity in public, of Jewish Australians fearing violence at schools and synagogues and Jewish events,” he said.

“It was hard enough to listen to – I can only imagine how hard it was for the witnesses, particularly the young people, getting up and sharing those stories on the national stage in public.