Australia’s Security Culture-war: Should the safety concerns of 0.5 % of the population condemn the other 99.5 % to a Police State?
Roughly 140,000 Jewish Australians (half of one per cent of the country) have just lived through the deadliest antisemitic attack on Australian soil. In the fortnight since Bondi, their communal leaders, backed by the federal Opposition, are demanding a national royal commission, new visa-cancellation powers, citizenship-stripping laws and a statutory definition of antisemitism drawn from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Both camps claim they are defending the safety of all Australians. Yet, in practice, the debate boils down to this: should the fears of 0.5 % of the population become the reason for imposing sweeping counter-terror laws on everyone else (the 99.5 %). Laws that will never actually reach the elite 0.5 % whose own actions & deeds became the foundation of their security anxieties in the first place?
| Action | Who is doing it | What they are actually saying / doing |
|---|---|---|
| DISPROVE (federal RC not needed) | Anthony Albanese | Ordered in-house intelligence review; rejects RC as “delay”; concedes “we need to do more” after vigil booing. |
| DISPROVE (federal RC not needed) | Penny Wong | “Agencies need powers, not more hearings”; backs PM. |
| DISPROVE (federal RC not needed) | Tony Burke | “Last thing I want is RC delay—action today keeps people safe.” |
| DISPROVE (federal RC not needed) | Jim Chalmers | “Agencies must stay focused on criminal probe, not diverted to commission.” |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Josh Frydenberg | Bondi speech: “greatest stain on nation”; 8-point plan incl. federal RC; labels Burke “weak”. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Chris Minns | NSW state RC, ban “globalise intifada”, new hate-symbol laws. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Peter Dutton | Coalition package: recall Parliament; pass Envoy plan; strip citizenship; visa bans; “RC important but must not delay today’s action.” |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Julian Leeser | Private bill for campus-antisemitism commission; lobbying cross-bench. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Paul Scarr | Coalition task-force: RC into “antisemitism & counter-terror failures that led to Bondi”. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Sussan Ley | Promised Opposition will “implement Envoy plan & push for RC”. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Barnaby Joyce | Nationals backing; applauds deportation message. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Jacinta Price | “Strip citizenship from jihadists who want to kill Jews.” |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Alex Hawke | Lobbying for deportation bill; says PM repeating Bourke-St errors. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Amanda Stoker | Drafting citizenship-stripping second-reading speech. |
| PROMOTE (federal or state RC) | Vic Liberal MPs (Battin, Southwick) | State petition for Vic RC; audit of multicultural grants to “anti-Israel groups”. |
| SIDELINE / DILUTE | Adam Bandt (Greens) | “Gun-violence” frame; demands Islamophobia inquiry too. |
| SIDELINE / DILUTE | Mehreen Faruqi (Greens) | Repeats Bandt; refuses antisemitism-only inquiry. |
| SIDELINE / DILUTE | Andrew Giles | Unsigned ministerial direction; no s.501 hate-preacher cancellations since Bondi. |
| SIDELINE / DILUTE | Group of Eight VCs | Refuse to appear before committee; want Leeser bill to die. |
| IGNORE | Published public polling | No major poll released; media claim “majority don’t care about RC”. |
| PRAISE | Pauline Hanson | Applauds “tough” deportation talk; backs RC. |
| PRAISE | “Ahmed” (Bondi Hero) | Social-media hero for reportedly running toward gunfire. |
