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Alongside hate speech reforms and changes to gun laws, the federal government has announced a review into federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson, and offered the co-operation of both the government and federal agencies with the NSW commission.
James Wood pictured at the time of his landmark royal commission into the NSW police force. Credit: Ben Rushton
“The Richardson review will enable action to take place. It will report, as I have said, before April. That review can feed into any royal commission that is established in NSW,” Albanese said.
Ley said Albanese’s reasons for resisting a commission “do not stand up”.
“Drawing comparisons with Port Arthur or the Lindt Cafe fundamentally misunderstands what has happened. This was not an isolated act of violence. It was the culmination of years of unchecked antisemitism and extremist warnings ignored on his watch,” Ley said.
“That failure of understanding explains the failure of leadership. The prime minister still does not grasp the scale, the cause or the national consequence of this attack.”
Despite his support for a federal commission, Wood said the NSW royal commission would be effective if additional commitments were offered from the Albanese government.
“If they refuse to do it point-blank, then a state one will be certainly better than nothing. But the state one should have an assurance from the federal government that relevant agencies, departments, immigration and so on, will co-operate,” Wood said.
Wood’s calls to the government were echoed in an open-letter signed by 139 former judges and senior barristers which said a federal commission must be established, describing its powers as “uniquely placed” within Australian inquiries to address antisemitism.
“Without a federal remit, any inquiry risks producing findings that are necessarily partial and that do not fully reflect the scale, complexity, or interconnected nature of the problem,” the letter read.
There have been 15 federal royal commissions held in the last 25 years, with an average duration of 652 days. The longest running was the review of institutional responses to child sexual abuse, which took almost five years – 1799 days – for its final report to be delivered.
Commissions that focused on social issues such as violence and neglect suffered by people with disability, or institutional responses to defence and veteran suicides were the next longest running, taking 1639 and 1159 days respectively.
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While Wood agreed that commissions can take time, particularly in their setup, he said there was no reason governments and agencies could not respond before a commission’s work was completed.
“A royal commission for this area can actually release interim reports if it becomes apparent that there’s something which should be addressed, which hasn’t been addressed,” Wood said.
Jewish Labor MPs have been split in their responses to a possible commission. Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said after being involved in 10 commissions that it was “not what’s needed now”. However, backbencher Mike Freelander said earlier this week that a federal inquiry should be held.
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