Bondi terrorist attack: Virginia Bell to head royal commission

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/anthony-albanese-under-pressure-over-royal-commission/news-story/fe0a92a1dcdb310ab14ffada7eabd196

25 Comments

  1. SuperannuationLawyer on

    What a waste of time and resources. There are several issues warranting a royal commission, but a horrible crime that has seen all suspects arrested and charged isn’t one.

  2. This is a genuine and hopefully non-inflammatory question: is the pushback about Bell because she’s not Jewish? I would have thought you’d want an objective commissioner?

  3. After all this pressure, it appears Albo is about to backflip and announce a RC.

    Now that appears the case, suddenly the judge is too “left wing” to lead the commission.

    [theage](https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/former-high-court-justice-in-frame-to-lead-bondi-royal-commission-20260107-p5nsfm.html):

    > After publication of this story, former Coalition treasurer Josh Frydenberg, a top advocate for a royal commission, said he opposed Bell’s appointment, without specifying reasons.
    >
    > “The prime minister has been told directly by leaders of the Jewish community that they have serious concerns about this appointment,” he posted on X.
    >
    > “Prime minister, I appeal to you, this is the time to do the right thing and **call a Commonwealth royal commission with the appointment of the right commissioner** whose leadership will provide the answers and solutions our country so urgently needs.”

  4. The Royal Commission is a waste of time and money but at least it’s being headed by an actual former High Court justice and respected legal professional.

    Fryenburg is already complaining that Bell doesn’t have “the full support of the Jewish community” whatever that means… I assume that because she isn’t a full throated genocidal Zionist, she isn’t good enough.

  5. Environment-Small on

    Now that the RC is well underway … can we focus on other issues. But oh wait we aint happy with the commissioner coz (drum rolll) she’s a lefty with nil support from the Jewish community

  6. rolodex-ofhate on

    Private citizen Josh Frydenberg can pipe down with his rhetoric and go back to his chummy banker mates.

  7. “She (Virginia Bell) was previously invited to deliver the 2016 Sir John Monash Oration by the current Australian Social Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal AO.”

  8. So do we have any evidence aside from news.com claiming these decisions at 2 in the morning…?

  9. What an embarrassment Albo is if the RC ends up going ahead – looks like even the PM of Australia has a price.

  10. I’m sorry if this sounds awful but since this has been politicised, I’ve genuinely switched off about the Bondi Tragedy. It’s beyond ridiculous the carry on over this when there was no RC for Port Arthur and Lindt Cafe. My heart is always with those that were tragically killed, the first responders who had to deal with it and Ahmed Al Ahmed will have my respect.

  11. Flaky-Gear-1370 on

    lol Ley is so useless that she seems to be a willing participant in ousting herself for Frydenberg

  12. justpassingluke on

    The former stooge from Kooyong and his ilk don’t want a RC, not really. They just want a finding, however nonsensical and ill-founded, that (a) protests for Palestine were to blame for the Bondi shooting and (b) criticising Israel is antisemitic.

    I suspect this is going to drag on and end up doing little besides costing a lot of money. But hey, I guess it’s fine as long as a bunch of Australian sports players signed a letter…

  13. Affectionate_Sail543 on

    I wanted a Royal Commission to go ahead if only they actually went ahead and formally charged the guilty parties from the last Royal Commission into the Robodebt scandal. What’s the point of a RC if guilty parties aren’t going to be charged, why are we going to selectively charge people. Is it because the last one would look bad on certain politicians from the LNP so no action to be taken, but this RC, depending on the outcome, people would be in favour of say, Albanese getting charged for whatever crime they think he’s done?

  14. I’ll be making a submission to the Royal Commission concerning Sussan Ley.

    Ley was a convenor of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group so by the standards Ley herself now applies, she is an antisemite.

    We therefore have an antisemite leading the opposition and an issue of this gravity must be investigated by the Commission.

    Your rules Sussan.

  15. The fact that Frydenberg is outraged at her selection means she’s probably the right person

  16. “Royal Commission now!!!!”
    “No, not like that”

    They were never going to be happy, whatever was done.

  17. So I presume we’ll also have one on Israel influencing Australian politicians right?
    Right??

  18. I’m willing to bet 10bucks, maybe even 20, that when the result of this RC isnt ‘It was Labor and Albos fault…’ that the zionist faction and the Libs will complain about it being a waste of resources.