Antisemitism royal commissioner Virginia Bell has restated her commitment to a December 14 deadline and confirmed she will end hearings two days early, despite escalating calls for the probe to be extended.
A spokesperson for the Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission confirmed it would end its ninth and final hearing block on Wednesday — despite setting aside the rest of the week for evidence — after The Australian first reported it had called the majority of its last witnesses and was eyeing an early conclusion.
Ms Bell and her counsel assisting will each provide closing statements during Wednesday’s hearing.
“Following hearings, the royal commission will focus on preparation of the final report,” the spokesperson said.
“The commissioner is committed to completing the final report within the timeframe set in the letters patent.”
It has and will hear from a collection of sporting groups on Tuesday, including the Australian Rugby League, Netball Australia and Jewish sports organisation Maccabi Australia. The sporting anti-racism organisation Reflect Forward and migrant support group Settlement Services International are also on Tuesday’s witness list.
On Tuesday, Angus Taylor said the abrupt end to public hearings constitutes a “betrayal of the Jewish community”.
“It is absolutely the wrong thing to do. This is a government that has never wanted this royal commission. They did it under duress and there are clear witnesses that need to be called that haven’t been,” he told News24.
“There needs to be transparency and accountability. We owe that to the families. We owe that to the Jewish community. We owe that to all Australians.
The Opposition leader rebuffed suggestions that the government was limited in its ability to extend the commission and should defer to royal commissioner Virginia Bell, saying “if the government wanted to fix it, they can fix it”.
Senior figures among the mainstream Jewish community groups have privately said Ms Bell should hold herself to the commission’s December 14 deadline, or even have it ready before the beginning of Hanukkah on December 4. However, a growing portion of the public have pushed for the commission to be extended and a petition to that effect had accrued 4600 signatures by Tuesday morning.
Parliament’s most senior Jewish MP Julian Leeser last week campaigned for an extension to the commission and said on Tuesday its premature end to hearings should be reversed.
“Let me be clear: responsibility for the early end to this commission lies entirely with the Prime Minister,” he said.
“It was the Prime Minister who wrote the terms of reference and set the deadlines, and even now it is the Prime Minister who could extend the commission. It is only his stubborn refusal to extend its terms of reference that is getting in the way.
“We, as a nation, will not prevent another attack if we don’t hold people to account who allowed the hatred to fester into violence. The message we will send is that there is no consequence for a failure to lead; no responsibility for the actions that set the conditions for tragedy.”
Independent Wentworth MP Allegra Spender said these calls risked politicising an inquiry she said should remain independent.
“We should be trying to step away from the politics of this,” she told News24. “We should be careful as politicians to be telling an independent royal commission what they should be doing and how they should be conducting their activities.
“I’m conscious that some of those peak bodies of the Jewish community haven’t been backing this (extension).”
NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday said he would back an extension of a “couple of weeks” if required and said it would be “money well spent”, departing from the position of the federal government who have emphasised the “independence” of Ms Bell’s inquiry and gagged debate in parliament of an extension.
James DowlingScience and Health Reporter