How the antisemitism Royal Commission will work

How the antisemitism Royal Commission will work

In the wake of the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach in December last year, there were widespread calls for a federal royal commission into antisemitism in Australia. PM Anthony Albanese initially resisted those calls, but in January, he changed his mind - and this week, the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion gets underway. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll unpack:

• How we got here

• How it’s going to work

• And what might come out of it…

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Squiz the Shortcut

Let’s start with the basics - what is a royal commission?
It’s a very thorough independent public inquiry that’s usually only called for in response to a matter of serious public significance. Its purpose is to find out why specific events happened and work out who is accountable, and in addition to that, it can also make findings and recommend changes to policies and laws. The one we’re having now is in response to the Bondi terror attack - the worst in our country’s history - on 14 December last year when 15 people were killed while celebrating a Chanukah by the Sea event.

Was it an instant decision to hold one after Bondi?
No… Many leaders in the Jewish community called for a royal commission straight away, pointing to the number of antisemitic incidents in Australia over the past few years as a sign that antisemitism was growing - and they accused the government of not doing enough about it. Initially, PM Anthony Albanese resisted those calls, saying it’d take too long and would overlap with a proposed state one. But he eventually backed down and the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion is getting underway this week.

Got it… What’s expected to happen?
It’ll look at 4 major ‘pillars’ - the prevalence of and reasons behind antisemitism in Australia, the specific circumstances and security failures that led to the Bondi attack, how police/security organisations can do better when it comes to fighting religious/ideological extremism, and it’ll make recommendations to ‘repair and strengthen social cohesion in Australia’. So it’s a big job…

Huge… How will it tackle all of that?
It works kind of like a big coronial inquest. Royal commissions can summon witnesses to give evidence, they can also decide whether hearings will be public or private. If they find evidence of criminal activity, they can refer a case to the Director of Public Prosecutions for further action… And if someone doesn’t turn up to give evidence to a royal commission, or provide documents or anything else it’s asking for, there are consequences - they can be charged and possibly jailed. 

Besides witnesses, who else contributes?
There are public submissions as well. Basically, anyone can write in to share their experience and viewpoint to contribute to a royal commission’s work. It’s all about gathering enough information to make recommendations to the government about what needs to change. 

How long will this one go for?
The average royal commission over the past 25 years in Australia has lasted 652 days - the longest (looking into institutional responses to child sexual abuse) took almost 5 years. But the antisemitism Royal Commission doesn't have anywhere near that amount of time. Its deadline for a report is 14 December this year - exactly one year after the Bondi attack. And it needs to hand down an interim report before that, by 30 April.

So, who’s in charge?
Overseeing it is former High Court Justice Virginia Bell. She served on the bench of the court for 12 years, from 2009 to 2021. Before that, she was a NSW Supreme Court judge and she also served on the NSW Court of Appeal. And this isn’t her first experience with a royal commission - she was a Counsel Assisting on the Wood Royal Commission in the 1990s, which looked into corruption in the NSW police force. She also led an inquiry into former PM Scott Morrison and the ‘secret ministries’ scandal in 2022, assessing that it was “corrosive of trust in government”. And it’s worth noting that she wasn’t a consensus pick…

Can you explain that a bit more…
Many members of the Jewish community advocated for someone else taking on the role - some reports flagged concerns around her perceived association with the political left in Australia and fears that she wouldn’t have the Albanese Government’s actions in her sights to an appropriate degree. But despite that, she’s got the job - and if you didn’t know who she was before, you probably will by the time this year is out. Her name will be appearing in the news a whole bunch, starting with today.

How did the Royal Commission begin?
Bell kicked things off by clarifying that direct or ‘eyewitness’ evidence relating to the attack would be excluded to make sure there’s no risk of prejudice in the separate criminal case against the alleged shooter Naveed Akram (who is charged with 15 counts of murder and 40 of attempted murder). She also confirmed she would deliver her report by the anniversary of the attack, saying “anniversaries are important” and added that “for some it will never be right to speak of closure, but one small part of coming to terms with the events of that evening will be the work of this commission”. 

Who else will be working on it?
Bell’s Counsel Assisting is Richard Lancaster - his function is a bit like that of a prosecutor in a court case. He compiles the evidence, leads the public hearings and cross-examines witnesses… 

So, what can we expect to come out of the Royal Commission?
We can expect a report and recommendations from Bell which will go to the government - but whether it adopts them is another thing. It’s not compelled to, and it’s important to remember that royal commissions don’t have the power to directly change Australian law… Once the report is in, the government will formally respond, and then the process of implementing recommendations begins. That can all take time, so even after it’s all wrapped up, there’ll still be a lot to play out…

Onto our Recommendations

Watching: The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion is being livestreamed. You can watch the proceedings here…

Reading: This (paywalled) article from The Sydney Morning Herald looks at 5 main questions the Royal Commission is looking to answer…

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