SYDNEY — A landmark royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, established in the wake of December’s Bondi Beach attack, has recommended that gun reforms be prioritized and policing arrangements for Jewish holidays extended to other Jewish festivals. Sydney’s Jewish community told police of a “high” threat of an attack at December’s Chanukah by the Sea festival at Bondi beach, but New South Wales police appeared not to have completed a comprehensive risk assessment for the event, the commission said in an interim report. The commission found no gap in current laws that could have prevented the shooting. But it did call for greater coordination of policing at Jewish festivals and events. The interim report by former High Court judge Virginia Bell gave 14 recommendations although five of them remain confidential due to national security concerns. Among the 14 recommendations outlined in the report, the commission said the federal government’s counter-terrorism coordinator should become a full-time position; the commonwealth and states should finalize nationally consistent gun laws and prioritize a proposed post-Port Arthur style gun buyback; and that joint counter-terrorism teams across Australia be reviewed. The commission, Australia’s most powerful form of public inquiry, was announced in January, three weeks after two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event at Bondi Beach, killing 15 people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a National Security Committee meeting had agreed to implement all of Bell’s recommendations. On 14 December last year, a father-and-son duo – armed with rifles and shotguns – targeted a Sunday afternoon event at a Bondi Beach park. Sajid Akram, 50, was killed by police at the scene of the shootings and his son Naveed Akram – the other alleged attacker – was critically injured and later transferred from hospital to prison. The 24-year-old has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist attack. Thursday’s report recommended that state and federal governments should prioritise efforts to finalise and implement “nationally consistent” firearms reforms as well as a proposed gun buyback scheme. Gun reforms put forward in the wake of the shooting have received a lukewarm response from some of Australia’s states and territories, with Queensland, for example, refusing the buyback scheme and cap on firearms ownership. Other recommendations included a review of joint counter-terrorism teams in Australia, made up of federal and state police forces, and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The prime minister and national cabinet ministers should also take part in counter-terrorism exercises within nine months of each federal election, the report said. The report said that it had not identified any gap in existing legal frameworks that would have prevented the attack, or impeded the ability of law enforcement or other agencies to respond to it. “In these respects, no issue requiring urgent or immediate action has been identified,” the report said. It added that any failures to identify and act upon intelligence in the lead up to the shooting and in the allocation of police to the Hanukkah festival would be addressed in hearings, though some of these may be closed to the public. Albanese said the report showed “no urgent changes” were required but that governments “could always do better”. David Ossip, President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the report was “an important first step” in examining the circumstances around the attack but that it was “only part of the picture”. Antisemitism was “not only a law enforcement issue” but a “societal issue” and “the environment for Jewish Australians had been deteriorating well before Bondi”, he said. Alex Ryvchin, of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told the ABC there were still “burning questions” surrounding the attack including how the Akrams were able to acquire firearms and why the festival hadn’t been better resourced by police. A first series of public hearings for the inquiry, which is looking at the rise of antisemitism in society and institutions and the events leading up to the mass shooting, is to begin on Monday. A final report is to be delivered on the anniversary of the shooting. — Agencies
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