Federal politics LIVE: Anthony Albanese to announce royal commission into Bondi terror attack

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-08/live-blog-albanese-antisemitism-royal-commission/106205802

38 Comments

  1. I’m honestly pretty annoyed that the government has bent the knee to such an obviously bs political stunt. The only real result of this will be The Coalition and mainstream media getting more ammo to fire at Labor, it won’t result in any positive effects on national security or tackling extremism.

  2. What a waste of bloody time and money. Cheers Murdoch you prick. More divide and conquer tactics from the right wing nerds.

  3. DillyDallyEnjoyerer on

    Because, naturally, appeasing the most loudest minority who have no interest in operating in good faith or supporting you or your party is the way to go.

  4. Expensive-Horse5538 on

    Despite a trusted judicial official being put in charge, the Liberals are still not happy. They clearly want it to be set-up in a way in which it becomes a taxpayer subsidised witch hunt against their political enemies.

    There is also a high risk of it interfering with an up-comming court trial.

  5. Well done to the media for helping create more utter shit for the opposition and themselves to bitch about. Can’t wait to hear in a few years how it’s all Albos fault the royal commission has spent 300million dollars and wasting taxpayers money.

  6. Financial-Dog-7268 on

    Meanwhile all of us waiting for the Government to actually make meaningful actions on the last RC into Defence and Veteran Suicide know we’re officially abandoned

  7. Expensive-Horse5538 on

    Anyway after this political shitshow is over, can we have a Royal Commission into the disgraceful behaviour of commercial media, who have used this event to push an agenda, while some not reporting the fact that a RC at this time has a very high risk of interfering with a court trial?

  8. Can’t afford housing, but sure, let’s spend $500,000,000 on an inquiry into an event that could be handled by already taxpayer-funded internal audits.

  9. RatioEfficient3924 on

    That’s a waste of tax payer money. I better use of money would be on the underlying issue of why these guys were not picked up by asio earlier given all the warning signs.

  10. Very little difference between a federal RC and the federal government supporting and cooperating with a state based one.

    I bet if Albo had immediately announced a federal RC, he would have been accused of kicking the can down the road, wasting taxpayers money etc.

  11. Background_Kale_4569 on

    The media and Jewish community were determined and now they get what they want . Will they leave Albo alone now? Probably not.
    Pointed the finger at him and slaughtered him quite frankly but no one mentions Netanyahu

  12. Royal commission or not, it seems like the Libs and media aren’t gonna be happy unless it says Albo basically pulled the trigger.

    They’re gonna complain forever. Don’t forget the commission will actually have experts as witnesses and it’ll kinda be funny when it turns out the anti semitism envoy recommendations wouldn’t have done shit

  13. If the terms are wide enough, this could put a lot of attention on the media and israel’s contribution to this. Though I don’t anticipate that will be the case.

  14. VastOption8705 on

    Even the ABC were running articles on how there should be a royal commission.

    *Albo was basically gonna be skewered politically if he didn’t do this.*

  15. Expensive-Horse5538 on

    Key info:

    It will a RC into into antisemitism and social cohesion

    Former High Court justice Virginia Bell will lead the RC

    It will cover four key areas, including:

    * Tackling antisemitism by investigating its nature, prevalence and key drivers, including “religious and motivated extremism and radicalisation”.
    * Making any recommendations to enforcement, border immigration and security agencies to tackle antisemitism
    * Examining the circumstances surrounding the alleged Bondi terrorist attack
    * Making any other recommendations to strengthen social cohesion and counter the spread of “ideological and religiously motivated extremism in Australia”.

    Interim report due by April 2026, with a full report by December 14, 2026

  16. oohbeardedmanfriend on

    Interim report due by April and the Richardson Report into the intelligence failure also reports in April.

    I do hope the terms of reference now are tight so they dont waste more money on this media influenced show.

  17. AggravatedKangaroo on

    Could be a smart move long term…

    People complained they wanted a RC…

    Albo gave them one…. with Virginia Bell, who they didn’t want.

    Man’s playing a bit of chess.

  18. LittleRedRaidenHood on

    For a country that love to play the victim at every opportunity, it is absolutely staggering how much influence Israel have over world politics when you see the US and Australia bending the knee to them.

  19. ItsStaaaaaaaaang on

    It boils my blood that the media and liberals have used this to attack Albanese. They’ve basically gone from a rudderless pack of animals eating each other with zero chance at election to well, hard to say tbh, but they’re in a much stronger position today than they were before the attack.

    It’s not out of any love for Albo either, it’s simply not related to his governance. He can’t control whether two psychopaths will commit mass murder. The idea of using such a tragedy as a political tool is just so far beyond the pale to me. It speaks volumes to the character of those that do. If there was a failing for Labour to answer to, of course, fair play. But anybody with a brain knows this had nothing to do with who held government at the time.

  20. Optimal_Mix1163 on

    Now that was truly weak of Albo. Why should a tiny minority get a royal commission dedicated to them alone?

  21. Not sure I’m reading this right. It’s a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, not actually how the Bondi attack was able to happen under their noses (which I thought was what people were calling for??)

  22. According to the ABC report;

    “Individuals speaking privately broadly agreed that Ms Bell was a qualified legal expert and there were no personal reasons for opposing her potential appointment.

    “However, they said concerns remained in some parts of the community she was associated with the political left.”

    WTAF? They want an RC into antisemitism and social cohesion, but when one is called they have issues with the Commissioner because she’s not right wing!!!

  23. YouLykeFishSticks on

    LNP successfully wedged federal Labor once again. And unelected idiots like Frydenberg are pissed at who they’ve floated to lead the RC. If Albo picked the Pope, Josh would still be unhappy.

  24. HHTheHouseOfHorse on

    It’s simply not going to be enough to these people. Because the fact is, they’re not thinking about the people killed in the Bondi Terror attack, they’re thinking about how they can use that to politically harm Albo and thats it.

  25. garrybarrygangater on

    We need an RC into foreign interference into this whole situation.

    How is israel allowed to put pressure campaigns in Australian politicians using their dual citizens.

    Look at the sparks markson pr group. They organised the sports star event . Max markson is also the dad of Sherri markson from sky news and ally of Netanyahu.

  26. Hopefully the terms allow exploration of the NeoNazi links with Liberal Party/One Nation and Murdoch Media.

  27. No money for energy rebates next year to relieve cost of living but they’ll spend another 500 million dollars to appease 0.4% of the population… this government has no backbone

  28. What a waste of time to appease an Israel-backed witch hunt when we already have the perpetrator in custody/dead.

    A bunch of money, a bunch of vitriolic coverage, and no actual outcome likely. Just kowtowing to Frydenberg and the screeching harridan.

  29. I can’t blame Albo for folding here given how utterly relentless the push has been, but this is fucking absurd.

    The shooting, which is the event that triggered the RC, is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, and it may be a long time before the court makes a ruling. Which means this RC won’t be able to investigate/comment on the event that is the reason for its existence.

  30. It’s not a royal commission into the terror attack. It’s a royal commission into antisemitism. It will only serve to further divide the nation.