{"id":19219,"date":"2026-05-27T03:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/19219\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T03:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T03:43:13","slug":"deputy-police-chief-held-reservations-over-expanding-powers-of-jewish-security-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/19219\/","title":{"rendered":"Deputy police chief held ‘reservations’ over expanding powers of Jewish security groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of the NSW Police’s investigations and counterterrorism operations has said he would have “considerable reservations” about expanding the powers of private Jewish security groups.<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner David Hudson on Wednesday gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is examining the circumstances surrounding the Bondi terror attack on December 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

Fifteen people were killed in the shooting, which occurred during a Hanukkah celebration called Chanukah by the Sea.<\/p>\n

A number of volunteers from Jewish security organisation Community Security Group NSW (CGS NSW) were present at the time of the attack, but were not armed.<\/p>\n

\"Floral<\/p>\n

Floral tributes left outside Bondi Pavilion in memory of the 15 people killed in the terror attack on December 14, 2025.\u00a0 (ABC News: Che Chorley)<\/p>\n

The commission has heard CSG NSW requested a static police presence for the entirety of the Bondi Hanukkah celebration, with one CSG NSW witness telling the commission he was told by NSW Police resources would not be available for the duration of the event.<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Hudson was on Wednesday asked about the relationship between CSG and NSW Police.<\/p>\n

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC asked Deputy Commissioner Hudson to explain his view that police would have “considerable reservations” about granting additional powers and privileges to CSG in respect to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

“Isolating a particular group for additional powers within our community is problematic,” Deputy Commissioner Hudson said.<\/p>\n

“It creates a disconnect between groups. It can cause friction between groups if one particular element of society is afforded privileges that others aren’t.”<\/p>\n

Weeks after the Bondi attack, NSW Premier Chris Minns flagged that arming CSG NSW would be considered.<\/p>\n

Mr Minns said the state government needed to take a “deeper look at arming CSG” in a step that “we haven’t taken in the past”.<\/p>\n

End of open hearings<\/p>\n

Wednesday marks the end of the open sessions for the second hearing block, with witnesses to provide evidence behind closed doors until June 12.<\/p>\n

The hearings are to be closed to prevent prejudice to national security and criminal proceedings related to the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n

Among those to be questioned during the closed hearings will be ASIO’s Mike Burgess and Mike Noyes and NSW Police’s Leanne Mccusker and Kirsty Heyward, as well as four officers from the NSW Police firearms registry.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Sydney on Monday. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Representatives from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and the WA Police Commissioner, Col Blanch, are also expected to appear during the closed hearings.<\/p>\n

Mr Lancaster noted the impact the closed sessions may have on public understanding of the circumstances surrounding the Bondi terror attack.<\/p>\n

“An unavoidable consequence of taking some evidence in public hearings and later evidence in closed hearings is that the evidence taken publicly will only reveal part of the story,” he said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Mr Lancaster said a “relatively small number of people” had been authorised to access classified information in preparation for the closed hearings, including access to the confidential version of the commission’s interim report.<\/p>\n

One person who has not been called to give evidence or provide a statement is the NSW Police operations inspector in charge of resourcing for community events, including the Chanukah by the Sea celebration at Bondi.<\/p>\n

Mr Lancaster said Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell made the decision “in light of information provided by NSW Police Force”.<\/p>\n

The officer was referred to by a pseudonym during this week’s hearings “for reasons that will not be placed on the public record,” Mr Lancaster said.<\/p>\n

Details of the next hearing block have yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

More than 13,000 submissions have been made to the commission, with most respondents identifying as Jewish.<\/p>\n

Submissions will be accepted until June 14.<\/p>\n

More on the royal commission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the NSW Police’s investigations and counterterrorism operations has said he would have “considerable reservations” about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[103,18712,1540,22,21,2814,18713,2021,2817,2585],"class_list":["post-19219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-afp","tag-anti-semitism","tag-asio","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-bondi-terror-attack","tag-david-hudson","tag-nsw-police","tag-royal-commission","tag-social-cohesion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}