The Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs indulged in some world-class gaslighting on Monday when they said a royal commission on anti-Semitism would "platform" anti-Semites and pro-Palestinian protesters by putting them on the stand to defend and justify their actions over the past two and a half years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Monday's news conference was a shocker. To claim that a royal commission into the explosion of anti-Semitic attacks would "platform anti-Semitism" is, frankly, offensive. Many Australians would love to see the professional rabble-rousers who have done so much to stir up ancient hatreds and undermine social cohesion summoned to undergo forensic questioning by special counsel under threat of tough penalties for perjury and contempt. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
Mr Albanese is sounding increasingly desperate and is bordering on the pathetic. This is not leadership.
Given allegations the ALP has a cultural problem when it comes to Israel and Jewish people - and that senior MPs such as Tony Burke are dependent on the Muslim vote not only for their seats in Parliament but also as part of the rank-and-file vote in any future leadership ballot - it is beginning to look as if the government has much to hide.
The suggestion a royal commission could retraumatise people whose lives have been upended by the Bondi massacre is risible. Having seen their friends and relatives gunned down before their eyes, it is unlikely they would be further traumatised by a process designed to call to account those who contributed to the environment in which this tragedy could occur.
Quite the reverse, in fact. They, and indeed all Australians shocked and dismayed by what has happened, deserve answers. Exposing this evil and examining how it has been allowed to fester and grow in our suburbs would actually be quite cathartic.
That was the case with the royal commission called by Julia Gillard into the historic sexual abuse of children within churches, schools and other institutions, the disability royal commission, the aged care royal commission, the robodebt royal commission and so on.
That is how royal commissions work. They drag the evil into the light.
Mr Burke's claim that even though the Dennis Richardson inquiry does not include anti-Semitism in its terms of reference it will investigate anti-Semitism is more world-class gaslighting. If the government wanted Mr Richardson to go there, they would have spelt it out in the very comprehensive terms of reference that were released this week.
A close perusal of those terms of reference - which focus strictly on agency effectiveness, powers and information sharing - appears to bear out the fears of many in the intelligence community that the security agencies are going to be made into the patsies for the Bondi massacre.
Once again, this is world-class deflection by politicians with a history of criticising Israel and actively tub-thumping for the Palestinian cause in order to dog-whistle to specific ethnic groups with electoral clout.
It has been said the only people Mr Albanese, Mr Burke and others are trying to protect are themselves and the Labor Party.
The longer the government refuses to call a royal commission into how anti-Semitism was allowed to flourish to the point where 15 people, including a 10-year-old girl, were gunned down during a loving celebration at an iconic beach, the more plausible this line of argument will become.
Mr Albanese's fondness for rock music is well known. He should ponder Leonard Cohen's famous words: "Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
