The way that 2025 has ended – with the worst terrorist attack ever carried out on Australian soil – is likely to shape our understanding of the year that preceded it and the one to come.

Before the massacre at Bondi Beach, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was already being chided – not least by our columnists – for leading a government that shied away from doing difficult things.

Bipartisanship following the Bondi massacre has evaporated: Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Credit: Aresna Villanueva

After the atrocity, such criticisms took on a darker tone. Now Albanese’s political caution and his foreign policy shifts were parsed as grievous moral failures that marked him as responsible for the massacre, with the niece of one victim calling him a coward. The bipartisanship at first promised in response to a sickening crime evaporated faster than water on Bondi’s pavers.

One has to wonder if any of the major challenges facing us as a nation can be tackled effectively........

© The Age