AARON PATRICK: The Bondi tragedy has revealed a great leader and exposed a poor one

Crises make leaders. The tragedy of the Bondi Beach massacre evolved over the past week into a contrast of leadership likely to shape the destiny of two of the most important Labor politicians of a generation: Anthony Albanese and Chris Minns.

The Prime Minister finished what was presumed to be the end of the political year with a policy success that summed up his government, a social media ban to protect sensitive teenagers.

Then, 15 days later, on what should have been a celebration of peace, violence struck another vulnerable community.

As Sydney’s Jews buried their dead, a leader emerged who expressed anger, sadness and compassion. He reassured the sad, the threatened and disturbed. He attended every one of 15 funerals. He answered reporters’ questions until they ran out. He took action, and promised more.

That man is not the Prime Minister. He is the 46-year-old premier of New South Wales, an unassuming church-going dad who flipped conventional politics, before and after December 14, by praising opponents and acknowledging mistakes.

“I would give anything to go back a week, a month, two years to ensure that didn’t happen,” Mr Minns said Monday when asked about the anti-Jewish sentiment that built up in Sydney in the years before the massacre.

“It is my strong belief that anti-Semitism - racism more generally - starts with words and then it becomes actions.”

Bureaucrat speak

A couple of hours later in Canberra, Mr Albanese was asked if he was sorry for the rise in anti-Jewish conduct under his Government, which critics accuse of fostering by recognising a Palestinian state following an August protest march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge organised by members of the anti-Israel far left.

The PM’s answer was a classic example of the bureaucrat speak that has turned Australian Jews against him: “We take responsibility for everything that occurs on our watch.”

A community leader who watched as the prime minister was jeered when he arrived at a memorial service Sunday evening said the hostility wasn’t partisan. After all, many of the people stood and clapped when Mr Minns was introduced at Bondi Beach, even though the two events that seemed to presage the massacre happened under his government: this year’s Harbour Bridge march and the October 9, 2023, celebration at the Opera House of Hamas’s bloody invasion of Israel.

“He has taken responsibly,” said Paul Rubenstein, a prominent lawyer and state president of the Australian Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, referring to the premier. “He has apologised. He requested to go to the funerals and he showed up.”

As for Mr Albanese, Mr Rubenstein and other Jewish leaders have watched for two years while he eroded a bipartisan agreement not to reward the Palestinians until attacks on Israel stopped, from rocket barrages to street stabbings. While they hope his actions work, many Jews are not in the mood to give him credit.

“At the Federal level people are not sure they [the government] understand the problem,” Mr Rubenstein said. “All the proposed solutions are just seen as politics.”

Crucial split

The State and Federal governments are making big changes, from tighter gun laws to outlawing inflammatory sermons. But on a crucial point - whether to hold a royal commission - Mr Albanese appears to be protecting himself politically.

Mr Minns wants a judicial inquiry to investigate the underlying and specific causes of the Bondi massacre. Mr Albanese refuses to initiate one, arguing a quick review of the intelligence services by a long-standing public servant will be more effective.

That shifts responsibility to Mr Minns, who on Monday said “we want a comprehensive royal commission” and will consult with Jewish leaders about the scope.

A problem with a State-based inquiry, even one with a royal commission’s enormous powers, is that it may not be able to obtain confidential information from the two important Federal agencies, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

Even if the AFP and ASIO wish to hand over documents - and Mr Albanese promised “full cooperation” - they may be legally blocked from doing so.

“There are difficulties with one jurisdiction exercising coercive powers against the officers of another jurisdiction,” legal academic Anne Twomey said in an email. “My guess is that ASIO would be prohibited by law from handing over information that is classified as secret, etc. There would obviously be security implications regarding what it could divulge.”

Unpalatable information

Given ASIO conducted a limited investigation in 2019 into accused attacker Naveed Akram, the security agency’s conduct would be an important focus on the inquiry. Mr Minns and Jews want a broader investigation into how anti-Jewish hostility infiltrated society, from the Opera House steps to Islamic schools and mosques.

“How is it (a NSW royal commission) going to be effective nationally?” Mr Rubenstein said. “It’s not. It’s a national problem. Melbourne city is uninhabitable every weekend,” for Jews because of anti-Israel protests.

Royal commissions are thorough, not fast. A national-based inquiry could uncover embarrassing and unpalatable information for years, leading into the next Federal election, which is due by September, 2028. The Government would prefer Australians to have moved on by then.

Last Wednesday at Bondi, shortly after Josh Frydenberg held Mr Albanese responsible for the deaths in his now-famous speech, a Jewish friend of the former treasurer’s asked The Nightly a heart-breaking question. “Do other Australians regard this as an attack on them too?” he asked.

The answer may be inferred from a poll published today. Mr Albanese’s popularity fell 15 percentage points last week, according to a Resolve Strategic poll published in Nine’s newspapers.

Only 100,000 strong, Jews are a tiny portion of the population. Australians are rallying to them, led not by the Prime Minister, but a leader whose greatest achievement, before last week, was approving new apartment buildings.