The prime minister, Anthony Albanese is continuing to resist calls for a federal royal commission into the Bondi Beach terror attack but he has announced the terms of reference for an independent review. Led by former Secretary of the Department of Defence, Dennis Richardson, it will look at whether federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies operated as effectively as possible prior to the attack.
00:00And the Prime Minister has today again resisted those growing calls, instead opting to release
00:09the terms of reference for a review into intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
00:14It will be led by former spy chief Dennis Richardson.
00:17Now, those growing calls for a Federal Royal Commission have taken place over the past
00:24couple of weeks since the Bondi terror attack, and that includes calls from Jewish community
00:29leaders, Jewish groups, former High Court Chief Justice Robert French, the opposition,
00:37some members of the crossbench, and even some Labor MPs have broken ranks to call for a Royal
00:44Commission.
00:45They, and then today, we've also heard that the families of victims and those who were
00:52injured in the Bondi terror attack over a couple of weeks ago now are also joining those calls.
00:59They're demanding the Prime Minister to urgently establish a National Royal Commission, and
01:05they want it to examine anti-Semitism in Australia over the past couple of years, as well as any
01:11law enforcement or intelligence failures that may have happened ahead of the Bondi terror attack.
01:19Now, Anthony Albanese today came out and again spoke about why the government isn't going ahead with
01:29that National Royal Commission.
01:31He says that the government will cooperate with a New South Wales-led Royal Commission, and once
01:38again pointed to concerns about the length of time that a Royal Commission could take, and pointed to this
01:47intelligence review that's being led by Dennis Richardson as being able to get the answers a lot quicker.
01:53It's expected that that intelligence review will be finalised by April next year, and the Prime Minister has
02:00released a number of terms of reference.
02:03That includes that Mr Richardson will examine what the relevant Commonwealth agencies knew about the alleged offenders
02:10before the terror attack at Bondi Beach.
02:13It will also look into the interaction and information sharing between Commonwealth agencies, as well as state and territory agencies, and whether or not there were any additional measures that relevant agencies could have taken to prevent the terrorist attack.
02:30The Prime Minister spoke about this here in Canberra earlier, let's take a listen.
02:35The government is committed to making sure that we can't wait years for answers we need to get on with any changes that are required.
02:45Mr Richardson will engage with New South Wales agencies and, to the extent necessary, agencies in other states and territories.
02:53The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has established a secretariat for the review and is providing logistic support as required, and the review is underway.
03:04Mr Richardson will have full access to all material he considers may be relevant to his inquiry.
03:11Departments and agencies will cooperate fully with the review and provide assistance in the form of documents, data, material and meetings.
03:20Romy, the opposition leader has also been speaking this afternoon.
03:24What's her position?
03:26Yes, that's right.
03:27So she spoke after the Prime Minister's press conference and reiterated calls from the opposition for the federal government to call a royal commission.
03:38She said that given that the families of those victims and those who were injured are now also calling for one,
03:46and that adds to the reason as to why the federal government should call a royal commission.
03:53She said that the families of victims feel shut out, unheard and disrespected,
03:58and that the Prime Minister is hiding behind process and speaking over the families.
04:04And when asked if she held any concerns about the length of time that a royal commission could take,
04:10the opposition leader, Susan Lee, said that as part of the opposition's terms of reference that have been put forward
04:18and its proposal for a royal commission, some of those interim recommendations would be made by mid-next year.
04:25And she also went on to say that the other reviews and processes can still take place in the meantime,
04:33on top of a royal commission being held.
04:36Here's a little bit more of what she had to say earlier.
04:39The review that he has proposed, and I know he's released the terms of reference today, is insufficient.
04:45It's inadequate.
04:46And it doesn't capture what we need to with respect to the royal commission.
04:50And the families of the victims have made that very, very clear that while all of these others' reviews
04:56and departmental operations and agencies talking to agencies, they actually are not what the families are seeking.
05:04And they're not what millions of Australians believe is the right response to the worst ever terrorist attack on Australian soil.
05:12Only a royal commission can answer these questions and do it in a way that keeps Australians safe
05:19and tackles the rising scourge of anti-Semitism, which we need to address and address as a matter of urgency.
05:28Opposition Leader Susan Lee, they're continuing to apply pressure to the Prime Minister and the federal government
05:36for a royal commission to be held at the federal level.
05:41Now, we know that the federal government has taken a raft of other measures in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.
05:47That includes accepting and implementing or accepting all recommendations from the special envoy into anti-Semitism,
05:57Gillian Siegel's report that was handed down earlier this year.
06:00And the government also over summer is looking to draft toughened legislation against hate speech.
06:07So we'll see some developments on that within the new year.
06:10But it's likely that these calls and growing calls for a royal commission at that federal level won't ease any time soon.
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