Human Rights Commissioner and former army chief join growing call for Royal Commission into antisemitism

Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay and former army chief Peter Leahy have joined escalating calls for a federal Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack and the rise in antisemitism.

These add further weight to demands already made by Jewish organisations, victims’ families, legal figures, senior national security experts, and others.

Finlay became the first government-appointed official to publicly back a Royal Commission after posting a statement on LinkedIn on New Year’s Eve. She said existing reviews did not go far enough to address the causes of the violence.

 

“The Richardson Review will examine our national security framework. But understanding the deeper causes of violence is critical,” Finlay wrote. “The Bondi terrorist attack was driven by antisemitism. Confronting that directly must be a national priority. A federal Royal Commission is essential to fully understand what has happened and ensure it never happens again.”

Her intervention follows public support from more than 200 former judges and barristers and builds on a united call from Jewish community leaders and the families of victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack.

Peter Leahy rejected the federal government’s claim that a Royal Commission is not an appropriate forum for national security matters. He told The Australian newspaper that a Royal Commission is “the highest investigative process that we’ve got” and said it should be used to examine terrorism and extremist ideology in full. Peter Leahy served as Chief of Army from July 2002 to July 2008.

Leahy accused elements within the government of opposing a public enquiry for political reasons and urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to make public the advice he says he has received from unnamed “current experts” who oppose a Royal Commission. He said a closed review would fail to examine the broader ideological influences and overseas drivers linked to Islamist extremism.

Former prime minister John Howard also intensified his criticism, telling The Australian that the prime minister had failed to treat the Bondi massacre as a national tragedy. Howard rejected comparisons with Port Arthur, saying there had been no warning in that case and that decisive action was taken immediately. He accused the government of viewing both the attack and the rise in antisemitism as political issues rather than a national challenge.

Leahy joins a growing group of former national security leaders backing a Royal Commission, including former governor-general Peter Cosgrove, former ASIS chief Nick Warner, former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty and former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo.

Families of victims of the Bondi attack have also called for a full public enquiry, arguing that only a Royal Commission can compel evidence, test institutional failures and examine whether warning signs were missed.

The federal government has so far rejected those calls, instead appointing former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson to lead a closed review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Prime Minister Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke have said a Royal Commission could undermine social cohesion and is not suited to national security issues, a position disputed by defence experts, legal figures and Jewish organisations.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has committed to a state-based enquiry but said he would not publicly pressure the Commonwealth to change course.