This afternoon (Thursday, 8 January), former High Court justice, the Honourable Virginia Bell AC, was appointed as the head of a newly announced royal commission into the recent Bondi terror attack and anti-Semitism more broadly across the country.
After weeks of public pressure, the federal government has relented and announced the establishment of a Commonwealth royal commission following the horrific attack that occurred at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in mid-December.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called former justice Bell the “most qualified person we could possibly consider” to lead the inquiry.
Speaking with reporters in Canberra, the PM said he’d come to the decision to establish such an inquiry following consultation with families of the victims of the Bondi terror attack, as well as the broader Jewish community.
The terms of reference will include: investigating the nature and prevalence of anti-Semitism in Australia, examining the circumstances that led to the Bondi attack, and making recommendations about how law enforcement, immigration, and security agencies can better tackle anti-Semitism, as well as any other recommendations to strengthen social cohesion nationwide.
In a joint statement with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, the PM said: “A royal commission is not the beginning or the end of what Australia must do to eradicate anti-Semitism, protect ourselves from terrorism or strengthen our social cohesion.”
“That is an ongoing national effort, for all of us. Because an attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians.”
Former justice Bell was appointed to the High Court of Australia in early 2009, from the NSW Court of Appeal.
Over the course of her career, she practised at a prominent Sydney-based community legal centre, was a public defender, was admitted to the NSW Bar and took silk in 1997. In the mid-90s, she was a counsel assisting the Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service and was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW in March 1999.
The previously announced inquiry being led by former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson will be folded into the royal commission and will hand down its recommendations in April.
Bell is set to report by 14 December 2026.
The announcement follows a call from the Law Council of Australia to establish such an inquiry. Public confidence in Australia’s legal system, the advocacy body said, depends on the law operating effectively to protect all members of the community from harm, intimidation, and violence, and when any group is targeted based on identity or belief, “the legitimacy of the legal system as a whole is undermined”.
As reported earlier this week, LCA president Tania Wolff said the advocacy body’s core responsibility is to uphold the rule of law and confidence in Australia’s legal system, and noted that the rise in anti-Semitism, “and the violence it has fuelled, strike at the heart of those foundations”.
“The Bondi terror attack did not occur in isolation. While it happened in one state, the forces that shape radicalisation, online incitement and prevention operate nationally and engage significant Commonwealth responsibilities,” she said.
“In our view, only a Commonwealth royal commission has the independence, scope and authority necessary to examine these issues fully, restore public confidence, and ensure Australia’s legal and institutional frameworks are fit for purpose.”
“We acknowledge and support other inquiries which are underway, but believe a royal commission is needed to ensure a rigorous, evidence-based examination of systemic issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries and agency responsibilities,” Wolff said.
In 2022, Bell led the inquiry of the former PM, Scott Morrison, to several ministerial portfolios – including treasury, home affairs, health, finance and industry, science, energy and resources – without the public’s knowledge.
In the executive summary of the report coming out of that inquiry, the former judge wrote: “Mr Morrison does not appear to have attached any significance to the fact that, from the time of its making, each appointment operated in law to charge him with responsibility for the administration of the whole department. There was no delineation of responsibilities between Mr Morrison and the other minister or ministers appointed to administer the department.”
MORE TO COME.
Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of professional services (including Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily, and Accounting Times). He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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