Bondi shooting: Growing call for Labor to purge anti-Semitism from party after Australia’s worst terror attack

NSW Premier Chris Minns has declared anti-Semitism needs to be purged from the Labor Party, as an influential Jewish group called for Federal Labor ministers to be barred from Jewish events.

While the State Labor leader insisted anti-Semitic members need to be “kicked out”, he also ruled out pressuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the ongoing push for a Federal royal commission into the Bondi massacre.

Mr Minns told reporters on Wednesday that it was imperative that the party worked to “confront” the issue of anti-Semitism in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

“If we see anti-Semitism inside the Labor Party, we need to confront it. We can’t mince our words here,” Mr Minns told reporters on Wednesday.

“The messages that the Government are saying to the public about hate speech and vilification apply everywhere — they especially must apply to our political parties.

“Where it’s shown to be an example of racism of anti-Semitism, they need to be kicked out of our party.”

The mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at the iconic Sydney beach on December 14 claimed 15 lives and marked the worst terror attack in Australia’s history.

Prime Minister Albanese and Labor colleagues have faced intense criticism following the attack after more than two years of warnings by the Jewish community of rising anti-Semitic sentiment on home soil.

Despite calls from victims’ families, Jewish leaders, Opposition and prominent Australians, the PM has resisted calls to hold a Federal royal commission.

The Albanese Government has instead commissioned former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson to undertake a snap review which would report back within months.

Former Federal MP and Labor Israel Action Committee president Mike Kelly backed in Mr Minns’ remarks, saying the Bondi attack should be a line-in-the-sand moment for anti-Semitic attitudes with the political party.

“I think it’s time now to draw a line in the sand of unacceptable comments. These are unacceptable in our party, and we have to set some standards,” Mr Kelly told The Nightly.

He was among those behind a letter penned to NSW Labor’s leadership by the Labor Israel Action Committee in the wake of the attack, which called for a crackdown on widespread anti-Semitism within the ALP.

The letter has laid out a string of accusations, including against former foreign minister and premier Bob Carr. Mr Kelly accused Mr Carr of “recycling the worst of old anti-Semitic tropes”.

“He doubled down on those sorts of comments at a Labor meeting where one of the attendees made a complaint to the executive about it, and no action was taken,” Mr Kelly said.

“Just to let that slip through to the keeper means you’re falling into that trap of the standard that you walk by as the standard you accept.

“We would certainly urge the party to take vigorous action to ensure they’re setting a standard here and making sure that standard is upheld.”

He also denounced comments by Labor minister Tim Ayres on Sky News on Wednesday that a royal commission would be “symbolic” and cause “division and delay”.

Mr Ayres said he understood that people would see the probe as an option given the “magnitude” of the attack.

“To see this terrible violence in one of our iconic national places, people want to see the firmest possible response from the Australian Government and the royal commission sounds like an effective response,” he said.

“It sounds like a big response. The truth is, it would take many, many years to complete.

“It would be (a) symbol. It would be a symbolic approach about division and delay, rather than an approach that is about getting practical responses right now.

“The Richardson report will report in a few months, not in a few years. We’re not dragging our heels. Quite the opposite.

“It will deliver a broad and effective and pragmatic assessment of what is required from Australia’s security agencies to strengthen our overall response and harden Australia’s capability to deal with these kinds of terrorist attacks.”

In response, Mr Kelly said “those comments are just not valid”. This was echoed by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, who labelled Mr Ayres “tone deaf”.

“Yet another Labor minister tone deaf to the realities. Yet another member of Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet who does not understand what is at stake here,” Ms Ley said.

Ms Ley also accused Mr Albanese of using “slippery language” when sidestepping questions about the identities of the “actual experts” who he claimed had advised him against holding a Commonwealth royal commission.

Mr Albanese had claimed at a press conference in Canberra on Tuesday that undisclosed “actual experts, who are the current experts” had informed his government’s current approach.

“None of these agencies have publicly stated this. In fact, senior figures have said that it is highly unusual for our security agencies to advise against a Commonwealth royal commission,” Ms Ley said.

“Australians deserve the truth. We need clear answers.”

On Wednesday Mr Minns ruled out his intervention in the argument for a federal royal commission after receiving a letter from NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane urging him to do so.

Mr Minns said he “wouldn’t yell from the sidelines” and that his government would simply initiate the royal commission at State level.

The Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said his body was calling for all Jewish organisations to “seriously consider” barring Federal Labor ministers from venues or events unless they publicly called for a royal commission.