Editorial: Anthony Albanese must listen to the families of Bondi Victims who are calling for Royal Commission

Today, the people have spoken. Families of victims of the December 14 terror attack at Bondi Beach – 17 in total, whose loved ones were either cruelly taken or injured – united in their plea for the Prime Minister to call a Commonwealth Royal Commission into the rapid rise of anti-Semitism in Australia. They are people whose collective call for action deserves to be heard and listened to more than almost any other, but people who should not have had to be in this position at all. Like a chorus of voices across the nation for more than a week, the families are demanding answers and solutions. They, like all Australians, want to know what law enforcement, intelligence and policy failures led to the Bondi Beach massacre. And they believe a well-led Commonwealth Royal Commission, and strong action, could save lives in the future. They are correct. Yet for more than a week, Anthony Albanese has deflected questions, batted away suggestions, and insisted that a State-run inquiry in NSW and a departmental probe is the right level of response to the worst terror attack on Australian soil. Will he listen now to the pleas of the Bondi families who have joined the chorus with a powerful co-signed letter? Usually ‘when the people have spoken’, its election rhetoric. In fact, it’s a phrase Mr Albanese leaned into as part of his 2021 victory speech. Australians — perhaps including the Prime Minister — should also be reminded of his first proclamation in his moment of triumph, which was about bringing all Australians together. “I want Australia to continue to be a country that no matter where you live, who you worship, who you love or what your last name is, that places no restrictions on your journey in life,” he said then. “I want to seek our common purpose and promote unity and not fear and - optimism, not fear and division. It is what I have sought to do throughout my political life. And what I will bring to the leadership of our country, it is a show of strength to collaborate and work with people, not weakness.” Mr Albanese — our country, these families, have grieved for two weeks. The attacks on the Jewish way of life in Australia has risen from issues of graffiti and hate speech to violence and terror, to the point people no longer feel safe in our communities. How has it been that violent, hateful anti-Semitism has been allowed to to fester in this nation? Or in the words of the Bondi families: “Prime Minister, how can you not support a Royal Commission into the deadliest terrorist attack on Australian soil? Royal Commissions have been established for banks and for aged care. We have lost parents, spouses, children and grandparents. “You owe us answers. You owe us accountability. And you owe Australians the truth.” In life and especially death it is impossible to move through grief without asking questions and receiving answers. A Commonwealth Royal Commission would do both. But it shouldn’t have taken this.