Antisemitism to ‘continue for years’ without commission, says Christchurch councillor

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A former Christchurch councillor who worked with victims during the New Zealand royal commission into the mass shootings that targeted the city’s Muslim community said he is surprised the Australian government has not called a federal commission into the Bondi attack, which he said was “absolutely critical” to stamp out antisemitism in Australia.

He rejected the arguments made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke at a press conference on Monday that a federal royal commission would damage social unity and be too slow to report.

“I’ve been listening to a little bit of the conversation around a proposed royal commission, which I would completely support. I’m kind of surprised the government hasn’t moved to that,” former councillor Raf Manji said on Tuesday morning.

“Public reassurance, after an event like this, is absolutely critical. And part of that is the ability for the affected community to have their say and be listened to; it’s absolutely critical. If you don’t do that, this will just continue for years and years,” Manji told ABC Radio National.

Manji was a Christchurch City councillor for the centrist Opportunities Party during the March 2019 mass shootings perpetrated by Australian man Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people and injured 89. The attacks directly targeted the Muslim community, taking place at a mosque and an Islamic centre, and were investigated by a royal commission, which delivered its findings in 2020.

“It was a very difficult process. People were in a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of anxiety, but the process is worth going through, and it is really important. And I think people do feel safer after just being able to express how they feel,” Manji said.

“We had the issue of Islamophobia here, obviously, in Australia, you have the issue of antisemitism. I’ve been watching that. There are a lot of similarities,” he said.

Former councillor Raf Manji following the Christchurch attacks in 2019.

After the publication on Monday morning of an open letter signed by the families of 17 victims of the Bondi attack, urging a royal commission, Burke said the proposed inquiry would provide a public platform for “some of the worst statements and worst voices” on antisemitism.

The government has instead offered a review into the workings of intelligence agencies and law enforcement, chaired by former department head and ambassador Dennis Richardson. Labor will also seek to reform gun laws and implement a national buyback scheme, bolster hate speech legislation, and act on recommendations from antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s report, delivered to the government six months ago.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced a state-based royal commission into the attack, with which the federal government has said it and its agencies will cooperate. The NSW commission’s inability to compel evidence from agencies outside its jurisdiction has been criticised by those pushing for a federal commission, which includes over 130 judges and silks, former governor general Peter Cosgrove and former high court chief justice Robert French, as well as the victims’ families, several Jewish organisations and the Coalition.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the Jewish community was feeling “disrespected” by Albanese’s government, claiming the prime minister had “decided to speak over” their wishes.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley at Bondi Beach following the December 14 attack.

“This insufficient and inadequate review that was announced yesterday could, of course, be folded into the very necessary commonwealth royal commission, and it could make early interim recommendations as well,” Ley said.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Burke said the Jewish community was asking for “their voices to be heard” but he was “yet to find anybody” willing to platform antisemitic views, which he argued would be a direct result of a royal commission.

“They are certainly asking for the trauma and experience that they have been through to be able to be understood, and they are asking for answers, for solutions and for accountability,” Burke told ABC Radio National.

“We have just had the most extraordinary, horrific massacre on Australian soil, and people see the worst event and say, ‘well, logically, that means you should go straight to what is normally the biggest response’. That is a completely logical starting point for people to get to,” Burke said.

“But when you look at that method, and you say, ‘Okay, it’s not the best pathway for national security, and it carries very real risks of making social cohesion worse and of actually platforming some of the voices that are the most dangerous’. Then that’s why, the government chooses a different path,” he said.

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson dismissed Bourke’s argument that a commission would showcase hate speech, saying that a federal inquiry is “not an open mic night” and the commission could choose who testified and whose submissions were accepted.