Interim Report Confirms Bondi Attack Prevention Unaffected by Counter-Terrorism Laws Amid Rising Antisemitism

Jewish organizations have expressed concerns over the interim findings of the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, particularly in light of the recent attack in Bondi. They are urging Jewish Australians to voice their experiences with antisemitism to better understand the challenges at hand.

On Thursday morning, Commissioner Virginia Bell released a comprehensive 150-page report. The document concludes that there is no immediate necessity to revise counterterrorism legislation. However, it does indicate that security and intelligence agencies will undergo private hearings to pinpoint any failures or resource deficiencies.

The commission is investigating the details surrounding the antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach, where two gunmen allegedly opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration, resulting in the tragic loss of 15 lives and injuring 40 others.

Michele Goldman, CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, recognized this release as the beginning of a longer process, acknowledging the impatience of those seeking swift resolutions.

“This marks an essential initial step in scrutinizing not only the specific events at Bondi but also the broader context that allowed such an attack to occur,” she stated on Thursday.

“The report clearly focuses on the need for greater coordination between our agencies.”

Alex Ryvchin, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO, reiterated “faith” in the commission to address questions around resourcing as well as intelligence sharing.

“We need to understand why the resourcing decisions were made, whether they were made at the right level of seniority and what can be done in future to ensure when you have a vulnerability like this the challenges are met by the police and people are not left exposed and vulnerable,” he said.

The peak body for Jewish Australians argues that the scale of the attack demonstrates “inevitable failures” which occurred “through a process of radicalisation, through failures of leadership, through missed intel [intelligence]”.

The interim report has made 14 recommendations, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government will adopt and enact in full.

Those include applying higher security procedures during all high-risk Jewish festivals in NSW and making the counterterrorism coordinator a full-time role.

Five recommendations by Bell and several other sections have been redacted from the public report and are contained confidentially for national security reasons and to “avoid prejudice to current criminal proceedings”.

Albanese acknowledged that the Jewish community was “craving answers” about what happened on 14 December, assuring the public that “the government will do everything necessary to protect the community”.

“Commissioner Bell has found that our existing legal and regulatory frameworks did not hinder our agencies in preventing or responding to the Bondi attack, and that no urgent changes are required to keep Australians safe.”

Intelligence agencies and police to face closed hearings

Chapter 8 of the report focuses on legislative frameworks, stating “no agency” has urged legislative reforms “to prevent, detect or respond to an attack of a similar nature to the Bondi attack”.

It adds that current laws did not prevent “intelligence or law enforcement agencies from taking action that may have prevented the Bondi attack”.

While no legal framework gaps were identified for immediate action, the commission did not reach a conclusion on whether there were intelligence failures or issues with police resource allocations.

Bell said a conclusion could not be reached based on the agencies’ submissions alone, stating that closed hearings would need to be conducted.

It includes examining whether there was adequate funding for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) “in the deteriorating security environment”.

The interim report found that funding for ASIO increased by 37 per cent between 2020 and 2025, however, allocations to counterterrorism “significantly declined”.

Opposition Home Affairs spokesperson Jonathon Duniam welcomed the report and urged the government to lift its funding for counterterrorism.

“We had the terror threat level raised to probable. That meant a 50 per cent-plus chance of a terror event occurring in Australia,” Duniam said.

“I would have thought that was a signal to government to lift its resourcing, to reallocate resources into counterterror efforts, including a full time counterterror coordinator, which would have dealt with a lot of the issues this interim report highlights.”

State participation key to firearms reforms

Albanese called on states to “engage constructively” to review firearms regulations and implement a National Buyback Scheme, which would purchase surplus as well as illegal guns.

“There are two of the recommendations [that] make it clear that we should progress with nationally consistent gun reform,” he said.

States faced a 1 April deadline to sign up for the reforms, which would see them pay for half of the buyback scheme.

The NSW backed the reforms quickly; however, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory have all ruled out their support.

Western Australia completed its own buyback scheme in January, Tasmania is setting up its own scheme, while Victoria, which agreed to participate, is awaiting a review to commit fully.

The report also recommends a review of Joint Counter Terrorism teams, urging police commissioners to submit a report on the leadership structures, team integration, and information-sharing arrangements within three months.

The first block of public hearings is expected to start on Monday and will focus on experiences of antisemitism, with the commission receiving more than 3,500 submissions already.

Both bodies have encouraged Jewish Australians to share their concerning experiences of antisemitism, suggesting an anonymous submission if they fear being identified.

“It’s become normalised to hear all these, to hear all these examples of people whose lives are no longer ordinary,” Goldman said.

“Who have to think about what they wear for fear of being identified as being Jewish, who have increased levels of anxiety in terms of what their colleagues might say to them, this is not the way of Australia.”

The full report will be handed down no later than the first anniversary of the attack on 14 December 2026.

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