Press conference - Sydney
Prime Minister of Australia
Anthony Albanese MP
Minister for Home Affairs
Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Tony Burke MP
Attorney-General
Michelle Rowland MP
E&OE
Subjects: Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion; Gun Reform; Foreign Fighters' Families; Artificial Intelligence.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: On 14 December last year, our nation was shattered by an act which was evil. An antisemitic terrorist attack shook the nation. The deadliest terrorist attack that has ever occurred on Australian soil, targeting Jewish Australians on the first night of Chanukah at our iconic Bondi Beach. This should have been an occasion where every Australian could celebrate what is a victory of light over darkness. Instead, 15 innocent men, women and children were killed and many were wounded. Five months on from the attack, Australia's Jewish community is still grieving, still hurting, still craving answers. And that's why my government set up the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, led by the Honourable Virginia Bell. To help us understand what happened that day, to help us stamp out the hatred that drove the attackers and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. Today the Government is pleased to receive Commissioner Bell's Interim Report. And I thank the Commissioner for the extraordinary work that she and her team have done. And I thank also those who participated and made submissions and will continue to do so, given they are still open for a short period ahead. Commissioner Bell has found that our existing legal and regulatory frameworks did not hinder our agencies in preventing or responding to the Bondi attack, and that no urgent changes are required to keep Australians safe. But the Commissioner does make 14 recommendations which go to enhancing our national counter-terrorism arrangements and capabilities. This is as the Government envisaged, that the first task of the Royal Commission, the priority was to look at the security elements of these issues. I can confirm that the National Security Committee has met this morning and we have adopted and will implement all the recommendations of the Interim Report that are relevant to the Commonwealth. A number of the recommendations relate to state and territory jurisdictions, aimed at ensuring a nationally consistent approach to implementation. And we'll work constructively with state and territory governments on those issues. A small number of recommendations are classified because they could compromise sensitive national security information. But I can assure the Australian public that the Government will do everything necessary to protect the community. In the wake of the Bondi attack, my government took immediate action to bolster the resources of our security agencies, tackle antisemitism, crack down on hate preachers and deliver tougher gun laws. That's why we brought the Parliament back in January. We weren't able to get the support across the Parliament of everything we wanted to achieve, but we did make substantial progress. Commissioner Bell's recommendations complement those changes that we already made. I want to thank Commissioner Bell and her team for their hard work and professionalism in delivering this report. My thanks also to Dennis Richardson for leading the Independent Review of Australia's Federal Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies, which became part of the Royal Commission. And I look forward to receiving Commissioner Bell's final report this year.
MICHELLE ROWLAND, ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Thank you, Prime Minister. I too acknowledge and thank the Royal Commission for its important work to date, and in particular, Commissioner Virginia Bell for her work and her leadership. As the Prime Minister said, the Government established the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion following the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi. Royal Commissions are our nation's highest form of inquiry. They help us comprehend what has occurred by investigating, listening and making recommendations. The Interim Report handed down by the Royal Commission today is part of that process. And as the Prime Minister said, we will adopt and implement all the recommendations relevant to the Commonwealth and work with the states and territories to ensure a nationally consistent approach to implementation. In establishing the Royal Commission, the Government made clear our expectation that an Interim Report be delivered by the end of April. That is exactly what's being delivered today. At the end of the year, Commissioner Bell will hand down the final Report. However, it is important to note the Royal Commission can deliver recommendations to government at any time. The Royal Commission will hold its first hearing block in Sydney between Monday 4 May and Friday 15 May. Australians will be able to live stream the hearings and details of how to access this will be made available at asc.royalcommission.gov.au. Over 3,500 submissions have already been made to the Royal Commission from individuals and organisations, and this is critical to ensuring the Royal Commission's work is thorough, credible and impactful. Australians can continue to make submissions until at least the end of May, and I do encourage people to do so. The Government has also funded a national legal advice service for members of the public who want to engage with the Royal Commission. This service, provided by National Legal Aid and the Jewish Centre for Law and Justice, provides free legal information, help and advice, including about voluntary submissions to the Royal Commission. My Department is also administering a legal financial assistance scheme to help individuals and entities when they are formally required to engage with the Royal Commission. Further information about these initiatives are available at the Royal Commission's website and my Department's website.
TONY BURKE, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thank you. Following the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi, the Government took immediate action to legislate to deal with both the motive and the method of that attack. We also, when we set up the Royal Commission, made clear that any recommendations about national security couldn't wait till the end of a long royal commission process. We needed that information and we needed it quickly. Importantly, we said we needed it by the end of April. And that's exactly what's led to the Interim Report that we received today. I'm pleased in terms of the findings of the Royal Commission, in terms of our general national security settings. It is also the case that they've made a number of recommendations where they believe that we can further enhance the safety of Australians. And I'm pleased to be in a situation where the Government today has resolved through the National Security Committee to implement all of them.
JOURNALIST: One of the recommendations says that the Government should do a counter-terrorism exercise. What would that require, and is that an indication that the Government response [INDISTINCT]?
PRIME MINISTER: No, if you look at the recommendations, that what they're saying is nine months after an election, that that should happen and the Government has adopted that recommendation and we will do so.
JOURNALIST: There is some foot dragging on gun reform. There are recommendations in this Interim Report. How do you respond to what's been recommended and what states and territories are doing?
PRIME MINISTER: We support the recommendations, all of them. It will be up to state and territories, of course, we'll have to give consideration to the very clear recommendations. There are two of the recommendations, make it clear that we should progress with nationally consistent gun reform. I certainly hope that that occurs and would continue to engage constructively with state and territory governments to say that this is reform which is necessary. This week, just a couple of days after we commemorated the tragedy that occurred at Port Arthur that resulted in the country coming together with uniform action in a bipartisan way. There was no politicisation of any of those events. And to the credit of John Howard, Tim Fischer and Kim Beazley, the Parliament acted in a way that was appropriate, and the nation is safer because of that. And I, again, would reiterate a constructive call for states and territories to work with the Commonwealth. We've put in place the legislation and indeed the financing is there to achieve an outcome which is consistent with the recommendations from the Royal Commission.
JOURNALIST: Recommendation six calls for a further specialist review of the joint counter-terrorism teams with a focus on the NSW team. Can you give any details of that further review? And given agencies conceded information sharing could improve, can you hand on heart say that cooperation between federal agencies and NSW Police is adequate?
PRIME MINISTER: Obviously what we want to see is the best cooperation possible. That's one of the recommendations that goes to both the Commonwealth and to state agencies.
MINISTER BURKE: This is one of the recommendations, which is why we say that we're adopting everything to the extent of the Commonwealth, which means that we are ready and able to be able to undertake the review that's being recommended. Those joint teams, there's joint teams for each of the states and obviously both governments have to be able to agree. But from a Commonwealth perspective, we're ready to go.
JOURNALIST: The report notes that counter-terrorism funding declined significantly in the five years to 2025. Can you explain why that happened and whether anything will be done to address the situation?
PRIME MINISTER: The report has a clear table in it that goes to the increased funding that is there for all of the national security agencies.
JOURNALIST: Dennis Richardson's resignation delayed reporting on issues surrounding acting upon intelligence in the lead up to a terror attack. Will that be addressed in the next report?
PRIME MINISTER: Dennis Richardson contributed a great deal to this report, and when you have the opportunity to go through it you will see that work is acknowledged. And importantly as well, the team that he put together continued to contribute to the report. What the Government envisaged very clearly in the wake of this terrorist attack was concentrating on the security issues by April, which is what Dennis Richardson was commissioned to do. When we made the decision to then go to the full Royal Commission that work was rolled into the work of the Commission.
JOURNALIST: On the adoption and implementation, you said that you'll accept those, you'll adopt them, you'll implement them as they apply to the Commonwealth Government. How long do you envisage that will take? Are we talking about weeks? Months? Years?
PRIME MINISTER: We received the report this morning. National Security Committee has met. We've adopted the recommendations. I'm now holding a full-scale press conference to indicate that. I think that clearly is an indication of the fact we're not sitting back and just reading this document. We're acting on it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, recommendation one, if NSW Police are now being told to extend operations to Jewish high holy days, to protect other Jewish festivals, doesn't this basically make it an admission that governments have failed to properly respond to rising antisemitism concerns, and it's basically an admission that the Government still hasn't done enough to deal with rising antisemitism? If this is still a concern?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a recommendation clearly for the NSW Government.
JOURNALIST: But isn't it the Government's role to deal with antisemitism?
PRIME MINISTER: Hang on. You get to ask the question and then I get to answer it, that’s the way the system works. The NSW Government will – that's a recommendation for them, which quite clearly they will give consideration to. What we say from the Commonwealth is that we are adopting all of the recommendations that go to the Commonwealth. So, matters for NSW, which – what all state governments did was to give letters patent. So, they rolled into the Royal Commission. NSW was going to have a separate, they were going to have a Royal Commission. They made the decision to roll into this Royal Commission. And I'm sure the NSW Government will respond to that.
JOURNALIST: What do these recommendations tell you about the failures of your government leading up to the Bondi attack?
PRIME MINISTER: The recommendations show very clearly that in terms of the Government’s legal, regulatory frameworks did not hinder the agencies that we are responsible for in either preventing or responding to the Bondi attack and that there are no urgent changes that are required to keep Australians safe. There has been a rise in antisemitism. That is a global phenomenon that has occurred since the October actions of Hamas. That is something that has happened right around the world. Governments need to respond to it. We are responding to it.
JOURNALIST: Do you maintain there's nothing different the Government could have done then? By the sounds of that, you think there were no failings by the Government.
PRIME MINISTER: We have a Royal Commission and we will allow the Royal Commission to do its work. This interim report goes to security agencies. I have said on multiple occasions governments could always do better. Social cohesion is important. Governments don't control by themselves social cohesion, that's something that everyone in the community has a role in, when it comes to racism in general, when it comes to antisemitism, where there has been a specific rise in antisemitism, that's why we appointed an envoy, a special envoy on antisemitism. That's why we had already increased security funding. That's why we had taken action, including appointing a National Student Ombudsman and a range of measures that we have taken well before this Royal Commission in response to the rise of antisemitism. We’ll continue to work each and every day to promote social cohesion and to stamp out antisemitism.
JOURNALIST: Am I able to ask the minister, in regards to the so-called ISIS brides, I just wondered, given the latest pressure from the US to take them in, what is the latest details on their departure? Will they potentially be arrested when they arrive here and if so how many?
MINISTER BURKE: Our position is completely unchanged. We will not repatriate, we will not assist these individuals. Whether they choose to, as citizens can, to try to come back to Australia is something that if they try on their own without any of our assistance. This is not a cohesive group, so we shouldn't be expecting that every individual will have the identical legal challenges of some. I'll leave it for the Australian Federal Police to make announcements or to choose not to make announcements. There is no way I'll interfere with anything operationally. But I will say this, anyone who has broken the law will face the full force of the law. And I suspect some of these individuals will be weighing up whether they want to come back to Australia ever.
JOURNALIST: Do we have an idea on their departure date?
MINISTER BURKE: If you repatriate, you are in control of that because you are choosing to bring them back, we are not assisting in any way and have made that decision clear for a long time.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I make this point as well, that the United States’ position is not a new one. That has been their position for some time, and we have indicated our position for some time.
JOURNALIST: For the minister, on another topic. Anthropic has bypassed Home Affairs in briefing critical infrastructure providers on the cyber threats of AI, and APRA today issued a warning to financial institutions on their level of preparedness. Why is Home Affairs seemingly being left behind in addressing the cyber threats posed by AI, given it set the target of Australia being a world leader in cybersecurity by 2030?
MINISTER BURKE: Your use of the word ‘bypassed’, I find bizarre. I've got to say. For any business to go directly to another business is not bypassing a department. They don't need the permission of a department to be able to do that. My agencies are engaging and have continued to engage with critical infrastructure as you would expect, on emerging technologies, including the precise emerging technologies that we are talking about. I have a series of agencies that do this work. I'm also sworn to a part of the Signals Directorate as well. Obviously, the cybersecurity role that exists within the Department of Home Affairs and the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies that you'd be aware of. So, there is no part of the premise of that that I can accept, I'm afraid.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
[ENDS]