After weeks of mounting pressure, the government has called a royal commission to look into antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed former High Court judge Virginia Bell to chair the wide-ranging inquiry. It’s required to report by December 14 2026: the one-year anniversary of the Bondi terror attack taregting the Jewish community, in which 15 people died at a Hanukkah event.

The royal commission will take in the Richardson inquiry, which was already looking into law enforcement responses to the attack. An interim report on that work will be handed down in April.

It’s welcome news. In a politically contested environment, the decision represents leadership and bipartisan recognition that a threshold has been crossed. The deadliest attack on Jewish people since the October 7 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel – and the deadliest terrorist attack in Australia’s history – did not occur in isolation. Nor can it be explained as a security failure alone.

It was the product of deeper ideological convergences and institutional and social breakdowns that now demand national scrutiny.

Albanese outlined four key areas in the terms of reference, which determine the scope of the inquiry. They are:

Tackling antisemitism by investigating the nature and prevalence of antisemitism and examine key drivers in Australia, including religiously motivated extremism.

Making recommendations to enforcement, border, immigration and security agencies to tackle antisemitism.

Examining the circumstances surrounding the Bondi Beach terrorist attack in December.

Making recommendations to strengthen social cohesion in Australia.

By investigating these concerns, the aim should be to prevent such an attack from happening again, and to eradicate antisemitism from Australia’s public institutions and civic life.

Achieving this means holding people responsible. This does not necessitate a descent into blame, but it does require clarity about who enabled harm, who failed to act, and who benefited from silence, ambiguity or procedural delay.

This means asking tough........

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