Family of Lindt cafe siege victim Katrina Dawson slam Albanese for rebuffing Bondi royal commission calls

The family of a barrister killed in Sydney’s Lindt cafe siege has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for rebuffing calls to establish a royal commission into the Bondi massacre that killed 15 people.

Katrina Dawson was 38 in December 2014 when the mother of three died near the end of a 17-hour hostage ordeal in Martin Place. Islamist gunman Man Haron Monis had also executed cafe manager Tori Johnson.

Katrina’s parents Jane and Sandy, and brother Angus Dawson, are upset Mr Albanese has continued to ignore calls for a Commonwealth royal commission into Australia’s worst-ever terrorist attack.

“As the parents and brother of Katrina Dawson, who was killed in the Lindt Cafe siege, we are appalled that the Prime Minister, seeking to avoid a much needed royal commission into anti-Semitism and Islamic extremism, would say that we don’t need a royal commission because there wasn’t one into the Lindt siege,” they said in a statement on Wednesday.

While NSW Premier Chris Minns is establishing a NSW royal commission into the Bondi atrocity, Australia’s worst shooting spree since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, the Dawson family said the state would lack the resources of a federal royal commission.

“We also know from painful personal experience the limits of a State-based process when Commonwealth agencies are involved,” the Dawson family said.

“During the inquest, the Australian Federal Police and ASIO repeatedly relied on extensive legal representation, claims of secrecy and privilege, and procedural resistance that a state coroner simply had no power to penetrate.”

Mr Albanese on Tuesday argued a federal royal commission wasn’t needed because former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott hadn’t established one in the wake of the Lindt Cafe siege.

The Federal Government is instead tasking career public servant Dennis Richardson with reviewing the AFP and ASIO for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

“There was no royal commission called by the Abbott Government after the Lindt Siege,” the Prime Minister said.

“We provided on both those occasions as the Opposition, and I was a part of that Opposition, we provided support for national unity at that time. And we have now, New South Wales has said that they’re going to have a royal commission. We’ve said we’ll cooperate with that and we certainly will. And the Richardson Review will be completed by April.”

Liberal Party frontbencher Julian Leeser, who is Jewish, also slammed Mr Albanese.

“The strongest way that the Prime Minister can demonstrate he’s serious about dealing with anti-Semitism is call the royal commission that Jewish leaders, that legal leaders, the Coalition and now the Dawson family have all called for,” he told Sky News.

Mr Albanese on Wednesday announced that Governor-General Sam Mostyn would be asked to create a special honours list to recognise the heroes and first responders of the Bondi massacre, modelled on honours bestowed in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 88 Australians.

“The attack did show us the worst of humanity — hatred, anti-Semitism, violence. It also showed us the best of humanity - extraordinary acts of bravery and courage, acts of kindness for fellow Australians,” he said.

Mr Minns said hate speech was a precursor to violence, after the State’s upper house early on Wednesday passed Labor’s Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill, which included tightened gun restrictions and a 14-day ban on inflammatory protests after a terrorist attack, that could be extended in 14-day increments over three months under the authority of the police commissioner.

“We’re currently looking at other areas of the law that are urgently required to confront hate speech, confront Islamist terrorism in our community and to send a clear message that if anyone is hoping to divide Australian against Australian, in Australia’s largest jurisdiction, we’ll do everything we possibly can to confront it,” he said.

“There’s a recognition from this Government that hate speech leads to hateful actions. That’s what happens, even in civilised communities, like ours.”

Labor’s omnibus bill was passed in both houses of State Parliament with support from the Liberal Party as the Greens abstained, over the protest ban element, and the Nationals voted against it, because of a new provision restricting recreational shooters to four firearms and farmers and sporting shooters to 10 guns.