The announcement of a Royal Commission 25 days after Australia’s worst terrorist attack, and the largest loss of Jewish life outside Israel since the Holocaust, is welcome. But it is also an indictment of the lowest standard of leadership this country has witnessed in modern times.

‘What we’ve done is listen, and we’ve concluded that where we have landed today is an appropriate way forward for national unity,’ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as he finally announced the inquiry.

Mr Albanese has not listened.

Not when it mattered. Not when warning signs were blaring. Not when Jewish Australians were pleading to be taken seriously.

Instead, it is my view that his government capitulated to political convenience, to a Western Sydney voter base, and to extremist voices that should have been confronted, not appeased. Had the government listened to the hate preachers, whose rhetoric escalated immediately after October 7, rhetoric that should have resulted in arrest and deportation, Australia may well be in a different place today. That would have been an appropriate way forward for national unity.

When the Sydney Opera House was illuminated in blue and white in solidarity with our democratic ally, Israel, the world watched as antisemitic mobs descended on the forecourt. Israeli flags were burned. Chants of ‘Gas the Jews!’ and ‘F- the Jews!’ echoed through one of Australia’s most iconic spaces.

Yet instead of listening to what was plainly audible, ‘experts’ concluded that these protesters were chanting ‘Where’s the Jews?’

Well, they found them.

They found them in Bondi, where 15 innocent lives were taken and dozens more injured.

They found them in schools and synagogues, graffitied and firebombed.

They found them on university campuses, where Jewish students were too afraid to attend lectures.

They found them at my children’s school, where the words ‘Jews Die’ were spray-painted on the walls.

Jewish Australians became afraid to enter the city on weekends. Anti-Israel protests allowed to run unchecked featured chants such as, ‘All Jews are terrorists’, ‘Death to the IDF’, ‘From the river to the sea’, and ‘Globalise the intifada’. Each chant, dripping with genocidal intent, was tolerated. Each week, the hate was normalised. Each week, it grew bolder.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong rarely missed an opportunity to condemn Israel over its military response to Hamas. When certain allegations were later debunked and exposed as Hamas propaganda, no apology followed. Condemning Israel appeared to be our government’s default position. Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke cancelled or denied visas to Israeli politicians and speakers in line with activist demands, yet quietly welcomed ISIS brides into Australia. Nearly 3,000 visas have been issued to Palestinians who were raised in an environment where hatred of Jews, Israel, and the West is systematically taught. When Hamas thanks your government, warning lights should have been flashing in bright red.

Some now argue that Australia has traded its values, freedoms, and security for political expediency.

This country was built on Christian-Judeo values. These are values defended by the ANZACs who gave their lives so we could live freely. Post-war immigrants embraced Australia, assimilated, adopted our way of life, and enriched our nation while honouring their heritage. This balance of unity without erasure is the tapestry of Australia.

The Albanese government, aided by the Greens and some independents, has torn holes in that tapestry.

There are many questions to answer.

Why did Australia increase funding to UNRWA despite credible evidence of staff members being complicit with the October 7 attacks?

How did this serve Australia’s interests?

Why did the Foreign Minister not take the one-hour journey to see the massacre sites and understand what Israel is confronting?

When it comes to the Royal Commission, the Prime Minister claims he has ‘taken the time to reflect’ and met with Jewish leaders and victims’ families. That is not leadership. Leadership would have been reflected in the government’s actions after the Sydney Opera House protests.

Leadership would have listened when the Adass Synagogue in Ripponlea was firebombed in December 2024.

Leadership would not have waited three days to visit that attack site.

Leadership would have known 25 days ago that the situation had spiralled beyond control and demanded a Royal Commission immediately.

Leadership would have changed protest and hate speech laws. To argue that protesters operated ‘just under the criminal threshold’ is not a defence. Professional agitators should be investigated, not enabled.

The government failed its duty of care at every level.

Jewish leaders warned repeatedly that a terrorist attack was likely. Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory described the Bondi attack as ‘entirely foreseeable’. The warnings were ignored.

Frankly, I could write the Royal Commission’s findings today.

Start by implementing the recommendations of the government’s own antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal. Arrest and deport imams who preach murder. When an imam declares, ‘Towards the end of times … the stones will say, O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ this is not a peaceful sermon.

The UAE, the United States, and Singapore enforce such standards and demand respect – an apparently radical concept – which also happens to be why crime rates in those countries are so low and public order is maintained. Australia should learn from those models. Target the organisers, funders, and professional protesters who orchestrate weekly hate rallies. Investigate ideologues who call Australia a ‘colonial state that must fall’. In my view, that is not free speech – it is subversion. Victoria, in particular, could learn an extraordinary amount from these jurisdictions, but that might require something unfashionable: consequences. I digress. A lack of consequence should definitely be explored.

Perhaps the evolution of critical race theory, and its application of ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ narratives, should also be examined. We are all equal, yet many of these protesters seek to force radical ideologies down the throats of others.

Multiculturalism only works when those who come here want to share in Australian values. Those who loathe our freedoms and the sacrifices made to secure them should not be able to remain part of this country. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion only works when everyone is included. When critical race theory dominates, none of these concepts function, and social cohesion collapses.

This is not only about Jews. It never ends with Jews. These radicalised ideologies brand all non-Muslims as infidels. Christians are next.

The Royal Commission must also examine why ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess’s warnings went unheeded. Why were anti-terror laws not enforced?

This was not an isolated failure. It was the predictable outcome of political appeasement.

And that brings us to the most basic question of all:

If the single most fundamental responsibility of government is not the protection of its citizens, then what is it?