Pushing back on criticism about the appointment, the federal government has said that the Honourable Virginia Bell AC is “one of the smartest legal minds this country has produced” and will assume duties as head of the newly established royal commission into anti-Semitism with the utmost diligence.
As reported last night (Thursday 8 January), the Albanese government has established a Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, in response to the Bondi terror attack in mid-December.
The terms of reference for the inquiry 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.
The Honourable Virginia Bell AC, former justice of the High Court of Australia, was named as commissioner. She will hand down the commission’s report in mid-December.
The former judge, the PM said, “has the deep experience and expertise to conduct her inquiry in such a way that meaningfully examines the impact of anti-Semitism on the daily life of Jewish Australians – and works to promote social cohesion”.
The appointment was welcomed by the Law Council of Australia (LCA), which had pushed for the establishment of the royal commission.
“Justice Bell is an eminent Australian jurist,” said LCA president Tania Wolff.
“Both judicial decision making and the conduct of royal commissions are governed by clear and well-established legal principles.”
“In Australia, judges decide matters impartially and independently, by applying the law to the evidence before them. They do not act on personal views, political considerations, or public pressure,” Wolff said.
“Those same principles guide royal commissions: procedural fairness, careful testing of evidence, and conclusions reached according to law.”
Criticism and responses
Earlier this week – ahead of the official announcement of Bell as the inquiry’s head – former treasurer Josh Frydenberg labelled the rumoured appointment “unthinkable”.
“The Prime Minister has been told directly by leaders of the Jewish community that they have serious concerns about this appointment. After more than two years of unprecedented hate, harassment and violence directed towards the Jewish community, culminating in Australia’s deadliest terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, it is unthinkable the Prime Minister would choose a commissioner that did not have the total confidence of the Jewish community,” he said on X.
“This is a time for unity and national healing. This is a time to turn back the tide of hate and anti-Semitism that has destroyed so many lives. 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.”
Elsewhere, mainstream media outlets have reported that some members of the Jewish Australian community wished for a commissioner who would supposedly be more sympathetic to concerns about anti-Semitism nationwide.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News, critics of Bell have cited the High Court decision in Brown & Anor v The State of Tasmania [2017] (in which the former judge was one of three justices presiding), which ruled that provisions of Tasmania’s Workplaces (Protection from Protestors) Act impugned the implied freedom of political communication. That decision, the mastheads said, was then cited by the NSW Supreme Court in overturning a decision by the Minns government to ban a pro-Palestine march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last year.
Speaking on ABC’s Radio National Breakfast this morning (Friday, 9 January), Attorney-General Michelle Rowland responded to questioning about the criticism levelled against former justice Bell by Frydenberg by cautioning people “who would seek to impugn one of the smartest legal minds this country has produced”.
“Her experience speaks for itself,” the A-G said.
“She will undertake this task with all the diligence that she brought to her life, not only as a solicitor but also as a justice.”
“I think that the fact that this royal commission, its terms of reference and its overall direction have been supported by everyone from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to the Zionist Federation of Australia to the Business Council of Australia, demonstrates that this choice is the right one,” A-G Rowland said.
Last night, on ABC’s 7:30 program, the PM said: “Virginia Bell has received Australia’s highest honour, a companion of the Order of Australia. She’s someone who served at the highest level in New South Wales on the Supreme Court and on the High Court of Australia.”
“She’s someone whom I have not seen any legitimate criticism of any view that she has expressed. She is someone who is held in such high regard,” he said.
“We are very confident with the experience that Virginia Bell has that she is the right person to make sure that can be achieved.”
Looking ahead
Following the announcement of the royal commission, barrister Daniel Aghion KC, who is the president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), said: “The ECAJ will co-operate fully with the royal commissioner the [Honourable] Virginia Bell AC SC and will make every effort to ensure that the full force of the community’s views and experiences of anti-Semitism in various sectors of society are brought to the forefront of the Inquiry.”
Jeremy Leibler, partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler and president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, called the establishment of the royal commission a “necessary and important step” and said that the scope of its terms of reference “provides a strong foundation for meaningful outcomes”.
“The work now is to ensure the commission is able to examine all relevant issues fully and rigorously, so it can follow the evidence wherever it leads and deliver practical reforms that strengthen the safety and wellbeing of Jewish Australians and the broader community,” he said.
Wolff said the royal commission “represents an important opportunity to confront anti-Semitism, improve institutional responses and reinforce trust in Australia’s legal framework”.
“We support the breadth and objectives of the four key areas the commission has been asked to investigate,” she said.
The Law Council, Wolff’s statement read, “looks forward to engaging constructively” with the royal commission as it conducts its important work.
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.
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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