Thanks for this. I found it tough to engage with most reactions to the attack. Partly because of the toxic opportunism that followed. Partly because I was taken aback at how divorced most commentators were from almost all elements of the problem. And just being aghast at how quickly people gave voice to the most dehumanising attitudes.
Jason, a difficult topic to wade into as you acknowledge. Bedding your analysis in history and Shakespeare shows 'nothing new under the sun'. Glad you mentioned Robodebt Royal Comission, because it laid it all out for the public to see, then what. There appears to be no action taken but we are still waiting for the NACC to do something (might be a long wait). Worse I read AI tools are now being used inside government in the same way that averaging income tools were used, so we didn't learn at all. In the end Robodebt was just a few bad apples I suppose. Also how many Royal Comissions into Bushfires disasters, saying the same thing, with various governments accepting all the recommendations and then off we drift. We need accountability but it seems to me that Royal Comissions don't deliver what is wanted.
These are interesting points and seeking solace in the work of the bard is important.
He is the best. It is important to have the best means available to examine any one instance of ongoing tragedy of this scale.
In NZ there was a federal royal commission.
<<Kō tō tātou kāinga tēnei means “This is our home”. This title represents an inclusive New Zealand, welcoming of people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.>>
In Australia too there will be a Royal Commission, if this is what the people want, as we are a democracy. I am at home with these outcomes either way.
Two old allies of Time and Patience are at play here too.
One pointed area of self reflection that I have been struggling with for sometime.
I have been finding difficulty with certain elements of the Australian Left since my university days. Pro-Palestinian, sure...but more than that too. This current debate I have finally understood their drift towards AntiSemitism...you see in the past I have always assumed that they were NOT Right Wing NeoNazi or Fascist...if anything they were the Communist wing of the Socialist part of the far left that had me worried. But this tragedy has reminded me of the sting of the origin of Fascism...its Mussolini inspired broad appeal, the socialist who gave a Nationalist popular spin to socialist arguments...and Hitler who marshalled disgruntled masses with Propaganda, Media and political manipulation.
On the left we are the ones that are at risk of drifting towards Fascism and even Nazism, complete with zealous Anti-Semitism.
We have not guarded against our own populist tendencies and we have failed and are continuing to fail in this key regard.
The Catholic Church in Australia is still slowly learning from the shocking lessons of the Royal Commission into the abuses of our children...these are difficult lessons to hear.
The centre left of Australian politics also needs to relearn the stark and terrifying lessons of Fascism and Nazism...not excuse and forgive itself before we all have the chance to have a good look at our historical and ongoing failings. Whatever the means externally, these lessons and the subsequent transformation of resolve needs to come from within.
Thank you for the valid critique and ongoing dialogue.
I hear what you say and understand most of why you are upset, but I disagree completely.
Being at home with disagreement in debate and policy, even and especially in the most sensitive areas of our National interest, is part of being at home at all in politics.
And Australia is our home. So please keep your good thinking shared and help me understand your difficulties with this response...or the parts that you may agree with too.
Like I said I have no issue with the form of investigation. But Royal Commissions usually revolve around criminality, negligent or deliberate. Plus they are very long and very expensive. Plus what was proven after Robodebt, the relevant officials weren’t actually held to account. That particular commissioner was outstanding in the performance of her duties. Yet the result was poor. My point is the ignorance of those yelling, they simply aren’t considering such. I would posit a continued feed approach is better with incremental recommendations.
How do you propose to attain the mechanism to surpass or circumvent the oft falsely claimed national security caveat Jason in the continued feed approach you proposed?
It is obvious in FOI requests and the redactions present in all matters that are claimed as threatens national security.
I surely agree that as a royal commission has no legal power of arrest or sentencing it tends to become an irrelevant sideshow to the problems it was called for as you alluded to and is always throttled by pedantic terms of reference.
I like debating this topic. The critique you are placing at highest value is vulnerable.
<<The Royal Commission report also noted the crucial role of government leadership in countering political polarisation and violent extremism, with a key to its success being predicated on its ability to include minority communities, First Nations peoples, civil society, the private sector and local governments in the decision-making processes.>>
There is no perfect system of government or justice…but the basic premise that you are missing is the separation of powers.
You will necessarily get a better, as in actually independent, investigation into these known issues from a twin AUS RC here involving this similar related issue…anything but a government led investigation would be more appropriate than what has been proposed.
These are difficult issues to get right…many opportunities have been missed to date…making the same mistakes again here won’t help.
Justice requires independence and there are political prices to pay anyway so best to get the investigation means adequate from the start.
This government would do itself a service, and our home a service, to call a RC into this tragic failure.
This is noting point and plainly self evident without an RC. Like I said investigate appropriately to incident. I would argue an extensive coronial enquiry would also be suitable.
When parliament returns…well this is why we have parliament.
The RR will demonstrate why we are will need and will have an RC.
Just as with the RC for Child abuse, which was for better or worse only able to go ahead after Gillard widened the terms away from Catholic Church abuse…
Perhaps here the RR will demonstrate that the failings are Whole of Government and certainly, in consideration of the NZ RC, have occurred over multiple governments and now with GWOT decades of intensification.
The other issue with the RR will be immediate benefits not for AntiSemitism and GWOT and other forms of violent religious or political extremism and our intel and law enforcement…but with the Taiwan Strait Zero Day approaching…instead the benefits will be broader.
How to explain the benefit and dilemmas of having a Chinese language and culture community in Australia that is vibrant and liberal in its views and activity even while a very narrow CCP linked narrative is being intensified?
There are intel and law enforcement issues here too…
Some part of these issues goes to claims of extremism and isolationism and extraordinary rendition and action outside of international law.
Wong has expelled the Iranian Ambassador…after hybrid warfare attacks here…
Will a foreign minister act in a similar way given the parties at stake in the Taiwan Strait and SCS?
In issues of DRVO there are no plainly self evident points.
The process of grief and justice can and does involve state processes…in various jurisdictions in Australia.
But the Denis Richardson review has failed at the outset.
<<JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack have come out in favour of the royal commission, this is on top of eminent people such as Mick Keelty, Peter Cosgrove, Robert French, Luke Warner, Josh Frydenberg, two Labor MPs, Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, Alan Finkel. Are all these people wrong?>>
PM <<Where royal commissions are not as good, is to consider things that are not agreed, where people have differences of views and to enable, which is what it would do, a repetition of some of the worst elements.
As the Minister has said. the Government is responding quickly. We have had as well the envoy on antisemitism's report that we are busy implementing and working with her and working with the community on these issues.>>
Here the PM is denying, reversing victims and offender…he has turned inwardly as part of the problem not in a way that offers a chance for reflection and transformation but in a way that is belligerent and determined to make the same mistakes he will not allow anyone to investigate in the first place.
The PM has placed these agencies and his government above the law.
This approach will fail.
The people will be heard especially about the aspects of this tragic series of events that are obvious and guard against self refutation…this is the way we heal and grow from these failures.
Tommy you again miss my point. The statement was self-evident, ‘if a society pulls as one then these problems become lesser’. That doesn’t take an RC, it is the recommendations that are implemented that matter. A comprehensive investigation plan is required. The calls that an RC will solve all this are dog whistles at present and the interview text proves nothing otherwise. If the government is failing to present a convincing plan to the wider Australian public then a genuine groundswell which will bring an RC with solid terms of reference in which all recommendations are feasible and then funded, I am fine with all that. I am talking about a group of people not the aftermath of the massacre. On your calls about the conduct of the PM I make no comment.
I was once involved with a particular issue of blindness prevention. We organised a meeting with a particular community…it was meant to be constructive and incremental and prepare the way for positive results given new evidence and technology. These things all happened but only after we all conceded at every stage that the community themselves were many things but anything but ignorant to the risk and rewards that were in play. As one nurse told me at the outset…these are our eyes, our lives and our families lives…we live this everyday. There is nothing you can teach us about this issue, but there is much to learn. Much that we can teach.
Here too. A large and important part of the communities involved, our own communities, are calling for a Royal Commission.
The very last thing that at this point these people need to be hearing is that calling for a Royal Commission is ignorant.
Please reassess your understanding of community. Learning. Knowing and Justice.
There will be a lot to learn for everyone here, but how to acknowledge different ways of knowing and understanding Truth and Justice should be the first and most important lesson.
Tommy but it’s not community asking for this that’s my point. We have one of the finest minds of the public sector community for the last thirty years chairing an intelligence inquiry. You won’t get a better investigation. That’s pretty good. You have missed my point have an inquiry, best have a couple. But the default that somehow an RC is best is nonsensical., at least not without a terms of reference attached to petition. Plus we have one champion of such who knocked down an RC into Veteran Suicide when in office? So I stand by my words. The assumption that an RC leads automatically to change is likewise currently flawed in Australia. Investigate to full, but articulate an end to end plan first.
Thanks for this. I found it tough to engage with most reactions to the attack. Partly because of the toxic opportunism that followed. Partly because I was taken aback at how divorced most commentators were from almost all elements of the problem. And just being aghast at how quickly people gave voice to the most dehumanising attitudes.
Jason, a difficult topic to wade into as you acknowledge. Bedding your analysis in history and Shakespeare shows 'nothing new under the sun'. Glad you mentioned Robodebt Royal Comission, because it laid it all out for the public to see, then what. There appears to be no action taken but we are still waiting for the NACC to do something (might be a long wait). Worse I read AI tools are now being used inside government in the same way that averaging income tools were used, so we didn't learn at all. In the end Robodebt was just a few bad apples I suppose. Also how many Royal Comissions into Bushfires disasters, saying the same thing, with various governments accepting all the recommendations and then off we drift. We need accountability but it seems to me that Royal Comissions don't deliver what is wanted.
Great article JT
These are interesting points and seeking solace in the work of the bard is important.
He is the best. It is important to have the best means available to examine any one instance of ongoing tragedy of this scale.
In NZ there was a federal royal commission.
<<Kō tō tātou kāinga tēnei means “This is our home”. This title represents an inclusive New Zealand, welcoming of people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.>>
https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz
In Australia too there will be a Royal Commission, if this is what the people want, as we are a democracy. I am at home with these outcomes either way.
Two old allies of Time and Patience are at play here too.
https://substack.com/@powerlinesmedia/note/c-194470290?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=9kr7t
One pointed area of self reflection that I have been struggling with for sometime.
I have been finding difficulty with certain elements of the Australian Left since my university days. Pro-Palestinian, sure...but more than that too. This current debate I have finally understood their drift towards AntiSemitism...you see in the past I have always assumed that they were NOT Right Wing NeoNazi or Fascist...if anything they were the Communist wing of the Socialist part of the far left that had me worried. But this tragedy has reminded me of the sting of the origin of Fascism...its Mussolini inspired broad appeal, the socialist who gave a Nationalist popular spin to socialist arguments...and Hitler who marshalled disgruntled masses with Propaganda, Media and political manipulation.
On the left we are the ones that are at risk of drifting towards Fascism and even Nazism, complete with zealous Anti-Semitism.
We have not guarded against our own populist tendencies and we have failed and are continuing to fail in this key regard.
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
The Catholic Church in Australia is still slowly learning from the shocking lessons of the Royal Commission into the abuses of our children...these are difficult lessons to hear.
The centre left of Australian politics also needs to relearn the stark and terrifying lessons of Fascism and Nazism...not excuse and forgive itself before we all have the chance to have a good look at our historical and ongoing failings. Whatever the means externally, these lessons and the subsequent transformation of resolve needs to come from within.
Thank you for the valid critique and ongoing dialogue.
I hear what you say and understand most of why you are upset, but I disagree completely.
Being at home with disagreement in debate and policy, even and especially in the most sensitive areas of our National interest, is part of being at home at all in politics.
And Australia is our home. So please keep your good thinking shared and help me understand your difficulties with this response...or the parts that you may agree with too.
Like I said I have no issue with the form of investigation. But Royal Commissions usually revolve around criminality, negligent or deliberate. Plus they are very long and very expensive. Plus what was proven after Robodebt, the relevant officials weren’t actually held to account. That particular commissioner was outstanding in the performance of her duties. Yet the result was poor. My point is the ignorance of those yelling, they simply aren’t considering such. I would posit a continued feed approach is better with incremental recommendations.
How do you propose to attain the mechanism to surpass or circumvent the oft falsely claimed national security caveat Jason in the continued feed approach you proposed?
It is obvious in FOI requests and the redactions present in all matters that are claimed as threatens national security.
I surely agree that as a royal commission has no legal power of arrest or sentencing it tends to become an irrelevant sideshow to the problems it was called for as you alluded to and is always throttled by pedantic terms of reference.
Thanks for your entertaining take Jason.
Thank you
I like debating this topic. The critique you are placing at highest value is vulnerable.
<<The Royal Commission report also noted the crucial role of government leadership in countering political polarisation and violent extremism, with a key to its success being predicated on its ability to include minority communities, First Nations peoples, civil society, the private sector and local governments in the decision-making processes.>>
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/lessons-christchurch
There is no perfect system of government or justice…but the basic premise that you are missing is the separation of powers.
You will necessarily get a better, as in actually independent, investigation into these known issues from a twin AUS RC here involving this similar related issue…anything but a government led investigation would be more appropriate than what has been proposed.
These are difficult issues to get right…many opportunities have been missed to date…making the same mistakes again here won’t help.
Justice requires independence and there are political prices to pay anyway so best to get the investigation means adequate from the start.
This government would do itself a service, and our home a service, to call a RC into this tragic failure.
This is noting point and plainly self evident without an RC. Like I said investigate appropriately to incident. I would argue an extensive coronial enquiry would also be suitable.
You make good points here.
Thank you for clarifying.
I agree with most of them.
When parliament returns…well this is why we have parliament.
The RR will demonstrate why we are will need and will have an RC.
Just as with the RC for Child abuse, which was for better or worse only able to go ahead after Gillard widened the terms away from Catholic Church abuse…
Perhaps here the RR will demonstrate that the failings are Whole of Government and certainly, in consideration of the NZ RC, have occurred over multiple governments and now with GWOT decades of intensification.
The other issue with the RR will be immediate benefits not for AntiSemitism and GWOT and other forms of violent religious or political extremism and our intel and law enforcement…but with the Taiwan Strait Zero Day approaching…instead the benefits will be broader.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/03/15/video-zero-day-tv-series-illustrates-what-a-chinese-invasion-of-taiwan-could-look-like/
How to explain the benefit and dilemmas of having a Chinese language and culture community in Australia that is vibrant and liberal in its views and activity even while a very narrow CCP linked narrative is being intensified?
There are intel and law enforcement issues here too…
Some part of these issues goes to claims of extremism and isolationism and extraordinary rendition and action outside of international law.
Wong has expelled the Iranian Ambassador…after hybrid warfare attacks here…
Will a foreign minister act in a similar way given the parties at stake in the Taiwan Strait and SCS?
https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/response-iranian-attacks
All hot topics in our region don’t you think?
Ciao
Thank you for your help.
Tom it is CPC not CCP just to make it correct.
Why?
It is CCP if I say so…because I am the writer and you understand me perfectly.
Why do I owe Beijing or Communism or any dictatorship or authoritarian shift in our own systems anything?
Where are you trying to correct me within your own mind, I wonder?
Do I owe you correction as student or teacher? What lesson have you failed to understand here?
Struck a very sensitive nerve there it seems toddy.
In issues of DRVO there are no plainly self evident points.
The process of grief and justice can and does involve state processes…in various jurisdictions in Australia.
But the Denis Richardson review has failed at the outset.
<<JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack have come out in favour of the royal commission, this is on top of eminent people such as Mick Keelty, Peter Cosgrove, Robert French, Luke Warner, Josh Frydenberg, two Labor MPs, Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, Alan Finkel. Are all these people wrong?>>
PM <<Where royal commissions are not as good, is to consider things that are not agreed, where people have differences of views and to enable, which is what it would do, a repetition of some of the worst elements.
As the Minister has said. the Government is responding quickly. We have had as well the envoy on antisemitism's report that we are busy implementing and working with her and working with the community on these issues.>>
Here the PM is denying, reversing victims and offender…he has turned inwardly as part of the problem not in a way that offers a chance for reflection and transformation but in a way that is belligerent and determined to make the same mistakes he will not allow anyone to investigate in the first place.
The PM has placed these agencies and his government above the law.
This approach will fail.
The people will be heard especially about the aspects of this tragic series of events that are obvious and guard against self refutation…this is the way we heal and grow from these failures.
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-parliament-house-canberra-29-dec-2025#:~:text=ANTHONY%20ALBANESE%2C%20PRIME%20MINISTER:%20Thank,agencies%20performed%20to%20maximum%20effectiveness.
Tommy you again miss my point. The statement was self-evident, ‘if a society pulls as one then these problems become lesser’. That doesn’t take an RC, it is the recommendations that are implemented that matter. A comprehensive investigation plan is required. The calls that an RC will solve all this are dog whistles at present and the interview text proves nothing otherwise. If the government is failing to present a convincing plan to the wider Australian public then a genuine groundswell which will bring an RC with solid terms of reference in which all recommendations are feasible and then funded, I am fine with all that. I am talking about a group of people not the aftermath of the massacre. On your calls about the conduct of the PM I make no comment.
I was once involved with a particular issue of blindness prevention. We organised a meeting with a particular community…it was meant to be constructive and incremental and prepare the way for positive results given new evidence and technology. These things all happened but only after we all conceded at every stage that the community themselves were many things but anything but ignorant to the risk and rewards that were in play. As one nurse told me at the outset…these are our eyes, our lives and our families lives…we live this everyday. There is nothing you can teach us about this issue, but there is much to learn. Much that we can teach.
Here too. A large and important part of the communities involved, our own communities, are calling for a Royal Commission.
The very last thing that at this point these people need to be hearing is that calling for a Royal Commission is ignorant.
Please reassess your understanding of community. Learning. Knowing and Justice.
There will be a lot to learn for everyone here, but how to acknowledge different ways of knowing and understanding Truth and Justice should be the first and most important lesson.
Tommy but it’s not community asking for this that’s my point. We have one of the finest minds of the public sector community for the last thirty years chairing an intelligence inquiry. You won’t get a better investigation. That’s pretty good. You have missed my point have an inquiry, best have a couple. But the default that somehow an RC is best is nonsensical., at least not without a terms of reference attached to petition. Plus we have one champion of such who knocked down an RC into Veteran Suicide when in office? So I stand by my words. The assumption that an RC leads automatically to change is likewise currently flawed in Australia. Investigate to full, but articulate an end to end plan first.