Political pressure on Australian government increases week after Bondi Beach attack

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is busy defending his position a week after the attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney beach. On Monday he apologized to the Jewish community. “Many people are hurt and angry. Some of that anger is directed at me, and I understand that,” the prime minister said during a press conference. “As Prime Minister, I feel the weight of responsibility for the tragedy that occurred under my leadership. I am sorry that the Jewish community and the entire country had to experience this.”

On Sunday evening at 6:47 pm local time, the exact time the first shot was fired a week earlier, a minute’s silence was held for the victims. The last candle of the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah was also lit. More than ten thousand people attended the commemoration. On arrival in Bondi, Prime Minister Albanese was booed by people in the crowd. When his name was mentioned a little later, whistling and booing could be heard.

The fierce criticism of the Prime Minister and his government has increased over the past week. The Jewish community in particular is convinced that the government has done too little against anti-Semitism in recent years. From a recent poll commissioned by the newspaper Sydney Morning Herald shows that 46 percent of the population thinks the government’s response to the terrorist attack is ‘weak’, compared to 29 percent who think the government has responded ‘strong’. A large majority, 72 percent, see more racism and intolerance in Australia compared to two years ago.

Albanese’s government has announced a host of measures since the attack. For example, new legislation is in the making that will make it easier to prosecute people who use hate speech and calls for violence. The government also wants to tighten national gun laws and buy up firearms on a large scale. The Minister of the Interior may be given more power to refuse or revoke visas if someone is suspected of anti-Semitism.

In addition, the restriction of the right to demonstrate is being considered. In the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located, the local government plans to ban large demonstrations for the time being. There is a lot of criticism about this, including from the pro-Palestinian movement. He states that these demonstrations nothing to do with the Bondi Beach attack.

Penny Wong has not attended any funerals. I didn’t see her shed a single tear

However, according to the opposition parties, these far-reaching measures are not enough. Soon after the attack, there was harsh criticism. Opposition leader Susan Ley of the conservative party has nothing good to say about the prime minister. “He has not taken responsibility,” she told the Australian public broadcaster ABC. Penny Wong, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, also suffered. “Penny Wong has not attended a single funeral. I have not seen her shed a single tear,” said an angry Ley.

A week after the deadly attack, room for nuance is hard to find. Mark Kenny, a former journalist and professor at the Australian National University, is concerned about the politicization of the debate. “The opposition has reacted with a lot of political bias. The comments about Penny Wong are a new low in Australian politics, with the accusation that a woman does not show enough emotion,” he told the Australian public broadcaster ABC.

Gun laws

The attack on Bondi Beach, in which fifteen people were killed and more than forty injured, is considered the worst attack in Australia since the 1990s. In 1996, a mass murder took place in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur in which 35 people were killed. It was the reason for new weapons legislation and a large-scale buyback program, measures that the government of Prime Minister Albanese is now also proposing.

But the political cooperation seen at the time is now lacking, Kenny says. “The situation was immediately abused and there is a culture of accusations.” These accusations come, among others, from former Prime Minister John Howard, who was in power during the Port Arthur massacre. Albanese “has failed over the past two and a half years to do enough, in word and deed, to demonstrate his aversion to anti-Semitism,” Howard said of the current Prime Minister during a visit to the Bondi Beach memorial.

Neo-Nazis

Since the attack, the political battle over immigration has flared up again. Populist politician Pauline Hanson (One Nation) called at the memorial site to restrict immigration. “I want the Australia I grew up in back. Look at the people we are bringing to this country. People from certain countries should not be allowed to come here,” she said.

Much criticism is aimed at the government and the pro-Palestinian movement, which has organized weekly demonstrations since the war in Gaza. It is striking that little is said about recent demonstrations against ‘mass immigration’, which involved hundreds of black-clad members of neo-Nazi groups. Hanson was also present at that demonstration. During a speech in Melbourne she called for migrants to be deported if they do not show their “unalloyed loyalty” to Australia.

While the “heroes” of Bondi Beach are immigrants. Ahmed al-Ahmed, who managed to overpower one of the gunmen, is of Syrian descent. Another Middle Eastern refugee risked his life to save people by kicking a gun away from one of the gunmen. The man, who does not want to be named, can according to his lawyer be deported from the country at any moment.

Give a gift





Part





Email the editor

The journalistic principles of NRC