“I continue to be engaged with leaders in the Jewish community. I’m talking and meeting on a daily basis with people to make sure that we do everything that is possible to … as I have said, what we need to do is to promote unity at this time, and that is my focus.”
Albanese said he was “talking to NSW” about how the state-based inquiry would run.
“We are engaged with the community as well as with the NSW government to make sure that we get done everything that is required to make sure we build social cohesion back in this country.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ language on a royal commission has changed.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
He did not rule out launching a royal commission, or repeat his previous objections that it would take too long and hurt national unity. Albanese may change his position by expanding the Richardson review or creating a joint probe with NSW, but sources believe it is more likely he will enact a royal commission, the highest form of official inquiry.
Reports of the prime minister’s shift in thinking follow a change in language from Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Health Minister Mark Butler, who emphasised they respect the many calls for a royal commission.
In a statement released after Albanese spoke to the media, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley welcomed the apparent change of heart but said, “words are no longer enough”, urging the prime minister to adopt the Coalition’s draft terms of reference for a commission.
“The prime minister has delayed, deflected and talked past those most affected for too long. If he proceeds now, he must do so on the terms of victims and families, not on his own political timetable,” Ley said.
Former Labor frontbencher Mike Kelly is among those to urge the prime minister to launch a federal royal commission.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
On Tuesday, former Labor frontbencher and army colonel Mike Kelly held a press conference in Canberra to warn that only a federal royal commission would give security officers the legal protection they need to tell the truth about what went wrong leading up to the Bondi Beach massacre.
The co-convener of the Labor Friends of Israel group urged Albanese to reverse course and launch a national inquiry that would cover both the attack and antisemitism, joining the families of Bondi victims, national and state Jewish community groups, more than 200 senior members of the Australian Bar, over 100 captains of industry, the Business Council of Australia, the Law Council of Australia, Catholic bishops and prominent sports stars.
The former defence materiel minister, who had earlier signed his name to an open letter by Labor identities, said on Tuesday that Albanese should seize the opportunity to listen to what MPs are hearing from their constituents as parliament returns in coming weeks.
“The government can then come out and say, look, we’ve heard what the community has to say. We’ve seen this new information, and we have decided now to act,” he said. “And we will give them all the credit in the world for recognising that. We don’t want to attack anybody here. We just want our country to be safe.”
Kelly confirmed Labor figures, who because of their current or former positions within the party did not want to comment publicly, were privately lobbying the prime minister to reverse course.
Albanese has at several press conferences rejected calls for a federal royal commission, arguing it would be lengthy, divisive and risk duplicating work already under way.
Kelly questioned the government’s argument that because many details of the case were known, further investigation was not necessary.
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“We’ve heard comments about there being no terrorist cell uncovered, or that these were lone actors, but that, to me, signals a misunderstanding of how terrorism operates these days and the disaggregated nature of terrorism, how people are groomed, how people are recruited, how they’re given the ability to acquire weapons, how they’re empowered and enabled to develop improvised explosive devices.”
Kelly also warned that federal agencies and their employees would be reluctant to “fully open the kimono” to the NSW royal commission because it did not offer the same legal protections as a federal inquiry would.
“I know there are Commonwealth officers who will not want to speak fully and openly unless they have the legal protections of a Commonwealth royal commission,” he said.