In an extraordinary personal censure, Australia's Jewish community effectively denied Anthony Albanese the role of being the nation's chief public mourner in this week of national tragedy.

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In such circumstances, a prime minister would normally attend the funerals of the victims, especially those of a rabbi and a ten-year-old child. But Albanese knew he was not wanted, and indeed might receive a hostile reception. Contrast the warmth of feeling for NSW Premier Chris Minns, who was at both services.

The government struggled for days with its response to the massacre. Initially, Albanese emphasised the need for tighter gun controls, and brought together national cabinet to put work in train. On Friday he announced a national gun buyback scheme - it will be the biggest since the Howard plan in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre.

But critics saw guns as a side issue to the main problem - that being the failure to have acted more strongly on the anti-Semitism that has plagued Australia in the past two years.

The cabinet's national security committee - which met six times between Sunday and Friday - broadened the response. On Thursday Albanese brought forward a package of measures to strengthen hate laws and existing powers to deny visas. The government is also examining what can be done about hate online, and it has established a taskforce under respected business figure David Gonski (who did the seminal inquiry into schools that reported to the Gillard government) to tackle the problem in the education sector.

Unlike NSW, where new legislation will be pushed through early next week - including to "restrict the authorisation of public assemblies during high-risk times like when there is a terrorist event" - there will be no pre-Christmas recall of the federal parliament. The new federal measures are very complicated to draw up, Albanese says. More to the point, the government doesn't want to give the opposition another forum to attack........

© Canberra Times