LORRAINE FINLAY: We owe the victims of the Bondi terror attack more than just empty words

This is a time of deep pain for our nation.

The Bondi Beach terrorist attack on Sunday evening, which claimed the lives of 15 innocent people, was not an isolated act of violence. It was the culmination of years of rising anti-Semitism in Australia — a hatred that has been allowed to fester despite repeated warnings.

Over the last 2 ½ years, we have watched anti-Semitism take hold in this country. We said it had no place in Australia each time that Jewish schools, homes and businesses were defaced with graffiti.

We said it when nurses at Bankstown Hospital were recorded threatening to kill Israeli patients. We reached for the phrase yet again when the Adass Israel Synagogue was firebombed.

Each time, we repeated the mantra — anti-Semitism has no place in Australia — almost as though saying it often enough would help to make it true.

But words alone are never enough. Anti-Semitism was — to our national shame — given a place. We allowed it in, and on the weekend at Bondi Beach we saw its true form unmasked.

In early 2024 I wrote about the “quieter forms of anti-Semitism that currently permeate the daily lives of Jewish people in Australia”. But anti-Semitism in Australia has not been quiet for some time. We heard the chants of “Where are the Jews” at the Sydney Opera House. We heard the hate preachers spreading conspiracy theories and vilifying Jewish communities.

We were warned where this would lead. Maya Angelou famously said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”. Our failure to heed that advice has now led to tragedy.

We cannot allow this to continue. Anti-Semitism should have no place in Australia — but it currently does. Our focus now must be on driving it out, not just condemning it in words.

How do we do this?

First, we must name the problem openly and clearly. Anti-Semitism flourishes at both extremes — among both neo-nazis and radical Islamist ideology. Underplaying one or the other only allows the problem to grow.

Second, we must enforce existing laws and implement existing recommendations before rushing to create new ones. Australia already has a range of laws and mechanisms — from hate speech laws to immigration powers — that should be used more decisively.

Thursday’s release of the Government’s response to the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Anti-Semitism and announcement of five priority changes agreed to by the National Security Committee was a welcome — if overdue — demonstration of resolve.

A key announcement was the development of “a package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalisation”.

In the response to the Special Envoy’s plan, the Government said that we already “have the toughest laws against hate crimes in Australia’s history”. Yet — despite this — we have experienced an unprecedented surge in anti-Semitic violence in Australia. Having tough laws is not, by itself, enough to keep Australians safe.

If there are gaps in our existing laws, then these need to be addressed. But stronger laws won’t themselves prevent the spread of hate, division and radicalisation. Our immediate focus needs to be on making sure that we not only have the right laws in place, but that those laws are also actively enforced.

Third, we must address the cause and not fall into the trap of just masking the symptoms. A review of gun laws may be necessary and overdue, but the driving force behind the Bondi attack was anti-Semitism. Tackling that directly must be the priority.

Defeating anti-Semitism requires more than just stronger laws and effective enforcement. It also demands a cultural shift. Education is critical — our schools must teach not only the history of the Holocaust but also the contemporary forms of anti-Semitism that threaten democratic societies. Silence and ignorance only allows prejudice to grow unchecked.

We also need visible leadership. Political and community leaders must speak with clarity and courage, rejecting inflammatory rhetoric and modelling respect. Interfaith initiatives and civic programs can help rebuild trust and remind us that diversity is not a threat — it is extremism that threatens our safety.

These steps matter because anti-Semitism is not just a Jewish problem — it is an Australian problem. It corrodes the social fabric that binds us together as Australians. If we fail to act decisively now, we risk normalising hatred in ways that will haunt future generations.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework provides an important foundation for this work, offering a roadmap for co-ordinated action to challenge racism in all its forms — including antisemitism — and to build a more inclusive Australia.

The Prime Minister was correct yesterday when he acknowledged that there was much more the country has to do to combat anti-Semitism. The challenge now is to transform those words into action. We owe that much at least to the 15 people who were violently taken from us at Bondi.

Lorraine Finlay is the Australian Human Rights Commissioner