PM’s department royal commission scramble after Bondi terror attack revealed in new documents

The Prime Minister’s department drew up options for an inquiry in the days immediately after the Bondi terror attack, but they never made it as far as a formal recommendation despite Anthony Albanese facing pressure to call a royal commission.

Documents obtained by this masthead under Freedom of Information laws reveal the scramble by authorities in the days around Christmas to work out the best way to examine what led to the Bondi terror attack.

But a key document written just two days after the deadly December 14 attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach has been kept under wraps.

It comes after The West revealed that two departments involved in the response – Home Affairs and Attorney-General’s – made no recommendations about whether or not to hold a royal commission at the time Mr Albanese was saying his experts had counselled against one.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet officials wrote a draft brief on December 16, which was captured by The West’s request for documents “regarding a royal commission or other options for an inquiry or review associated with the Bondi Beach shooting.”

But this brief has been kept secret on the basis that it contained “opinion, advice or recommendation prepared by the Department which was not progressed” and “does not reflect settled or approved views”, indicating whatever it proposed never happened.

That same day, December 16, Mr Albanese was asked for the first time whether he’d call a royal commission into the rise of anti-Semitism and the Islamic State-inspired attack that left 15 people dead.

NSW Premier Chris Minns had swiftly announced his State would launch an inquiry with royal commission powers.

But Mr Albanese instead asked former ASIO and Defence head Dennis Richardson to review the role and interaction of security agencies and police, and whether there had been any intelligence failings or gaps in the law.

Eventually, after calls from notable figures across business, sports, legal and community organisations, on January 8, the Prime Minister caved to the mounting pressure.

He appointed Virginia Bell to lead a year-long royal commission and rolled Mr Richardson’s snap review into that. She released an interim report on the intelligence and security agencies last month.

Mr Albanese signed his department’s recommendation that he appoint Mr Richardson to lead the snap review of intelligence and security agencies the day after he announced it would happen, the documents show.

The Prime Minister announced the review via press release on December 21, the Sunday a week after the attack.

He held a press conference the next day where he again faced repeated questions about why he hadn’t called a Commonwealth royal commission.

Suggested responses to such questions were added to a set of talking points circulated by PM&C on December 24.

The terms of reference for the Richardson review and a letter for Mr Minns explaining how it would interact with the planned NSW inquiry were signed by the Prime Minister on Christmas Eve, but not released publicly until December 29.

Mr Richardson requested access to Cabinet documents on January 2, and was preparing to start meetings with agency heads on January 6, two days before his inquiry got rolled into the royal commission.

During this time, the department also helped prepare several letters responding to calls for a royal commission, including from the Rabbinical Association of Australasia and crossbenchers Kate Chaney, Monique Ryan, Zali Steggall and Sophie Scamps.

It also rushed to search its files the day the families of victims published an open letter calling for a royal commission to see if the correspondence had been missed, according to a daily “key issues” update.

“PM&C has undertaken a search and confirmed a copy of the letter has not been formally received,” the next day’s update revealed.