EDITORIAL: Hope Albanese may finally call Bondi royal commission

Attention on Venezuela and Donald Trump’s new world order has not reduced by one iota the need to focus too in this country on the necessity of a Federal royal commission into the Bondi massacre.

To restate: Australians want to know what law enforcement, intelligence and policy failures led to the massacre?

How was hateful anti-Semitism allowed to fester, rising from graffiti — another example of which was revealed on a wall in Perth on Monday — and hate speech to violence and terror?

And how was it that this went on even as the Jewish community warned over and over again of the dangers and potential consequences?

The chorus of calls for that royal commission have continued unabated, even as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his senior ministers dug in, throwing out various spurious excuses to justify instead a snap review by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson and insisting the Federal Government would support the NSW State-level Royal Commission.

The calls for the wider Federal inquiry have been led by the families of the massacre victims, Jewish community members and organisations, a long list of prominent business and judicial figures, politicians — including Labor Party figures — and sporting heroes.

Adding further pressure on Monday was the revelation that an Australian Federal Police “national surveillance team” set up under the Commonwealth High Risk Terrorist Offender regime was quietly disbanded because of funding shortfalls just weeks before the deadly Bondi attack.

The decision to wind up the Canberra-based squad was made late last year after a senior AFP figure told staff: “Current budget pressures and the lack of certainty in relation to ongoing funding has limited our ability to fill vacancies.”

In the face of the calls, Treasurer Jim Chalmers seemingly offered a sliver of hope, saying on Monday that he acknowledged the push for a Federal royal commission came “from a good place”.

“A lot of the voices that I’ve heard are voices that I respect a great deal,” he said.

And on Tuesday Mr Albanese also seemed to change direction as he pledged to do “everything that is possible” for national unity.

“I continue to be engaged with leaders in the Jewish community. I’m talking and meeting on a daily basis with people to make sure that we do everything that is possible,” he said.

Mr Albanese’s stubborn refusal to call a royal commission to date saw his standing decline with each passing day.

The strong suspicion remains that his stubbornness was because he feared that an all-encompassing probe at the Federal level would uncover failures and missed opportunities under his watch.

That obstinacy has seen him sustain significant political damage.

So to save his legacy from being irreparably stained by this issue Mr Albanese must finally see what the rest of the nation sees and agree to a royal commission into Bondi.

And so we again add our voice to those which have been raised so loudly by the rest of the nation.

Mr Albanese, hear those voices.

Do what’s right. Make the call.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.