Anthony Albanese’s opposition to a national royal commission into the massacre at Bondi is, quite simply, baffling. As the shock and indignation of the first days after the attack have given way to grief, rage and partisan politics, the prime minister has dug in his heels over and over again, insisting a federal inquiry is not needed.

Albanese has offered justifications that a national inquiry would slow down the learning of lessons from the attack, that NSW is holding one anyway, that one was not held after either the Port Arthur massacre or the Lindt cafe siege, and that former senior public servant Dennis Richardson has the trust of security agencies, so will be able to undertake a quick review.

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This all sounds quite reasonable until you remember that Port Arthur, in particular, was a lone-wolf attack that did not occur, as Bondi did, because of a potentially glaring intelligence failure by security agencies, which they would dispute and which needs to be settled by an impartial third party.

A state-based commission could be hamstrung in its ability to call some federal witnesses. It would also lack the scope to examine the rise of antisemitism across the nation, with the firebombing of a rabbi’s car in Melbourne in the early hours of Christmas morning another reminder that this isn’t just a Sydney problem.

Yes, the Coalition is using calls for a royal commission as........

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