The attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, permanently changed the world. And the Bondi massacre on 14 December has changed Australia forever. Communities that have lived together for decades are suddenly finding it difficult to find peaceful co-existence, under our leaders’ watch and there are calls that Anthony Albanese should go. I examine them below.
Albanese government’s inaction blamed
Jewish leaders have slammed the government’s wisdom in allowing the on-going pro-Palestine protests to continue since 2023. Videos have surfaced from time to time of people allegedly preaching hatred against Jews, Australia’s authority and those who do not follow Islam, infidels or ‘Kafirs or non-believers’. There is consensus among leadership not only from Jewish Australians but also from others including former Prime Ministers, John Howard and Tony Abbott that the Bondi massacre could have been prevented, had the Albanese government taken action against people preaching hate.
Speaking to Peta Credlin of Sky News, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott called it ‘hand-wringing impotence’ of the Albanese government.
“I think that what we’ve seen from all levels of government in this country since October the 7th is hand-wringing impotence,” he said.
“If you effectively tolerate hateful thoughts, sooner or later you’ll have hate-filled actions and that’s what we’ve got. What we have got here 24 hours ago is, if you like, the consequence of two years of sustained hate speech against Jewish Australians.”
David Southwick, state member for Caulfield and the Shadow Minister for Planning and Major Projects and the former Shadow Minister for Police, Corrections and Crime Prevention, of Jewish heritage, says, “These attacks do not emerge without warning. They grow when governments fail to identify risk, intervene early and act decisively.
“This failure is part of a broader pattern. The Government has clearly sat on its hands when dealing with antisemitism and rising hate. The Federal Government’s own Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism delivered serious, practical recommendations to address the surge in anti-Jewish sentiment. To date, the Government has not even responded.
“At a state level the Premier has allowed hateful weekly protests to go unchecked without consequences.”
Earlier David had told Melbourne’s 3AW, “I hate to say it, but they have blood on their hands for what they have allowed to happen over the last two years.”
Albanese government’s response – Reforming the Gun Laws
Under pressure, Prime Minister Albanese immediately called a meeting of the National Cabinet to reform Australia’s gun laws, to develop options, including:
- Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register;
- Allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licencing that can be used in administrative licencing regimes;
- Limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual;
- Limiting open-ended firearms licencing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and
- A condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship.
As I argue below, this whole exercise was the biggest con job a politician could have done on the innocent Australians, particularly Jewish Australians.
Deciphering the reform
Other than number 3 and 5 which haver been espoused as some “substantial reform” by pro-Alabanese thinkers; everything else, seems plainly administrative, relating to extraneous reform, not really an item for the National Cabinet’s intervention at such a high-octane time.
No. 3 – Limiting the number
The PM took pains to avoid but finally, 48 hours later accepted that the two shooters subscribed to the Islamic State ideology. How would then gun ownership and the number of weapons one owns would contribute to the massacre.
Also, can the PM say under oath that Sajid Akram was the only person in Australia to own more than one weapon? If the answer is NO and if the PM is right, then why are the other multiple gun-owners not going around committing similar heinous crimes?
No. 5 – Is Australian citizenship – license to kill?
How does Australian citizenship ensure only appropriate use of firearms?
Naveed was Australian citizen by birth. Although he came to the notice of authorities in 2019, for his association with two people who were jailed, he was assessed to be not a person of interest in 2019 going forward. How will he be disentitled to apply for or hold a license after that assessment under the prospective ‘toughened’ gun laws?
Where is the connection?*
What the PM has done is to treat Australians as complete fools. Think for a moment, if a surgeon turns rogue and starts cutting people open causing death, will the PM’s focus be on the number of scalpels in the operation theatre at the time and whether a register was kept to keep records.
Or will the PM focus on who the surgeon is, his background, his training, and any radical thinking, that is foreign to the Australian way of life and our constituion.
If terrorists drive vehicles into crowds mowing down innocent people, as they did in Spain, France, London, Toronto; I presume Albo’s advice would be to look into how the vehicles are sold, not who is buying them.
I reiterate, the PM has treated Australians as complete bunnies.
This is not merely a diversion; it is the utmost insult to Australians and perhaps one of the best examples of political spin doctoring. If Australians buy that, God help Australia.
Who is in charge? Why did he not sack Anika Wells
I tend to question if the PM is in charge of the game. Clearly, he is a captive of factional warlords and perhaps some invisible forces, only being told what to do. Not just the gun laws façade, but also defending Anika Wells against an avalanche of public outrage, defies my impression of an Australian PM. Rather than sacking Anika Wells, Albo has publicly defended her, saying her expenditure was all within the rules.
I doubt any rule entitles the Minister to keep taxis waiting for unrestricted long hours and bill the taxpayer.
If John Howard was the Prime Minister, she would have gone soon after the story broke. Prior to Albanese, on both sides, if Ministers were wrong, they were made to pay back.
Jim Sharp paid back $9000 under John Howard.
Sussan Ley repaid $5,232.20 under Malcolm Turnbull.
Bronwyn Bishop repaid $7,200 under Tony Abbott.
When it comes to discipline, the Liberals have tackled issues a lot better. After Barnaby Joyce’s affair came to light, Ministerial Code of Conduct was amended.
Under Hawke and Keating- Ministers facing disciplinary action included Mick Young, Barry Cohen, Neil Brown and Graham Richardson.
Both Rudd and Gillard also disciplined their Ministers or MPs be it – Craig Thomson, Peter Garrett, Joel Fitzgibbon, or Mark Arbib.
But they faced off their invisible captors and did what was expected of them. Not serving the personal interests of some friends in parliament who may be worried of losing their seat and facing difficulties to find equally well-paid jobs; all Australian PMs did what their country expected them to do.
Politicians are elected to serve Australia, to keep Australians safe. This Prime Minister and his government have failed to do exactly that as the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Sky News:
“A serious, serious government in this country would have deported hate preachers, it would have prosecuted people spilling the bile that we’ve seen all too often in our streets and in mosques and prayer rooms and it would have banned these hate marches.
…
“I don’t think anyone in this government ever looks comfortable talking about national security and yet that is the first responsibility of government: to keep our people safe and to keep our country free.”
If the PM, his government and Ministers are focused to save their own jobs at the cost of Australia’s national interest, they do not deserve to be in parliament. The power, privilege and handsome salary with very lavish perks, are provided to politicians to serve the nation, not to guarantee personal enrichment for life. Politics was built on the idea of service, self-sacrifice, to put the country first and, not only to protect and but also promote Australian values. That by default would mean, when an electorate tends to deviate from Australian values, the MP in order to justify the power, privilege and their astronomical cost to the taxpayer, is supposed to bring the electorate back into the Australian fold; and NOT to capitulate, fearing losing the election.
That sacrifice is built into and paid for not only while they are in parliament, but also with their handsome pension schemes they enjoy in their post politics life. It is high time that innocent ordinary gullible Australians start making our politicians accountable, not only socially, morally, ethically but also economically.
So much so for this ‘within the rules’ potential abuse of perks.
The Prime Minister’s defense of Ministers and now response to the Bondi massacre have been appalling.
It is sad to call time for the PM. To ensure there are no more additions to the litany of failures, Albanese should go now. That may leave something to reference to when posterities look for his legacy. If that means return of Mark Dreyfus into the cabinet and the consequent reshuffling, it might still instill some confidence in the Australian Labor Party.
For those Indian Australians who are Albo fans, the Bondi massacre should serve a warning to us all. We do not have Josh Frydenberg like leader, the Jewish community has. In that sense, we are political orphans. If someone were to target us on one our festivals, it will ruffle not a single feather in Canberra. With the might that the Jewish community has, if Jewish Australians can be butchered the way they were, on December 14, do we have any hope?