Industry voice in growing chorus for royal commission
Allanah Sciberras, Callum Godde and Grace Crivellaro |
Australia’s peak industry groups are joining a growing chorus of business and religious leaders for a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attack.
Nine representatives of major employers including the Business Council, Australian Banking Association and Minerals Council issued a joint statement on Friday, stating a royal commission would help prevent “shock and grief” from hardening into long-term anger and division.
It said the inquiry was vital to supporting diverse workplaces and would show Australia is serious about combating anti-Semitism.
“A federal royal commission can help us understand what happened, what needs to be done different and bring us together in the shared goal of preventing future tragedy,” the statement said.
It came after at least 120 prominent leaders signed a similar open letter earlier on Friday, including former Reserve Bank of Australia governors Philip Lowe and Glenn Stevens, billionaire James Packer and former Telstra chief executive David Thodey.
That letter also backed a royal commission and said solutions are needed to restore social cohesion in Australia.
“This is a national crisis, which requires a national response. This goes beyond politics, it’s about the future of our country,” it said.
The prime minister has so far resisted a push from the families of Bondi Beach massacre victims, Jewish groups and top silks for a federal commission following the December 14 attack.
The Labor government has instead set up a review into the responses by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, led by former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson.
The statement from industry groups is the third to be issued on Friday, with Australia’s most senior Catholics also joining the call for a broader inquiry into anti-Semitism.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said prominent voices from all sectors of society were united in their requests for a federal royal commission.
“It is above politics, because people who might identify with different sides of politics in the past … have all come together,” she told reporters in Albury.
“If the prime minister of Australia wants to listen to the voice of Australia, he has it loud and clear today.”
Archbishop of Perth Timothy Costelloe said while the Richardson review was an important step to prevent a repeat of the Bondi attack, there was a need to confront and eradicate the deeper roots of anti-Semitism in Australia.
“It is only by shining a light into the dark corners of our society … that we can hope to unmask the anti-Semitism which might otherwise go unseen, unacknowledged and unaddressed,” the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president said.
“For that reason, alongside the Richardson review, some form of wider, national inquiry with sufficient authority and resourcing which can probe into the deeper issues which lie at the heart of anti-Semitism is needed.”
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said he understood there was “many calls from outside politics” for a federal royal commission, but the government held a “very different view”.
He said the Richardson review would deliver an interim report by April.
“A royal commission, with all due respect, would only be limbering up by April and getting ready to think about starting its work,” Mr Bowen told ABC Radio National.
The NSW government will hold a state-based royal commission that will have the cooperation of federal agencies, the federal government has said.
Mr Albanese applauded Australians’ response to the Bondi Beach shootings by two men, in which 15 people were killed and more than 40 others injured.
On New Year’s Eve, about one million people gathered around the Sydney Harbour foreshore and lit up their mobile phones in remembrance of the victims.
AAP
