The families of those who died at the Bondi Beach terror attack have called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to launch a royal commission into the tragedy.
The plea was made in an open letter penned by the families of 11 victims who were tragically killed when two gunmen allegedly opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration at the Sydney beach earlier this month.
The letter demands that Albanese “immediately establish” a royal commission at the federal level to investigate “the rapid rise of antisemitism in Australia” in the wake of the October 7 attacks in 2023.
It also urges the government to examine “the law enforcement, intelligence, and policy failures” that led to the Bondi terror attack.
“We demand answers and solutions,” the statement read. “We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored … and what changes must be made to protect all Australians going forward.”
“Prime Minister, how can you not support a Royal Commission into the deadliest terrorist attack on Australian soil? Royal Commissions have been established for banks and aged care. We have lost parents, spouses, children and grandparents,” the letter continued.
Albanese has so far resisted calls for a federal royal commission into the tragedy, saying he would instead action more immediate reforms and changes.
Those have included gun control reforms and the ordering of an independent government review — which has different legal powers to a royal commission — into the attack and the circumstances leading to it. That review is due in April of next year.
But the victims’ families said not enough is being done.
“Announcements made so far by the federal government in response to the Bondi massacre are not nearly enough,” their letter read.
“We demand answers and solutions … You owe us answers. You owe us accountability. And you owe Australians the truth,” it added.
Last week, Albanese defended withholding a royal commission on the basis that neither the Port Arthur massacre nor the Lindt Café siege prompted one in 1996 and 2014, respectively.
The NSW Government is holding a state-level royal commission into the attack, but the families said there is “unprecedented support” for a federal one because it is “a national crisis that demands a powerful national response”.
Also in NSW, Premier Chris Minns this month backed the police commissioner’s move to immediately ban public protests in the wake of the Bondi attack.
Lead images: Getty Images
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