Michael Stutchbury, Executive Director of the Centre for Independent Studies, opens this panel discussion with a sobering observation: the Bondi massacre did not come from nowhere. The attack on 14 December 2025 was the violent endpoint of a cascade of hatred that had been building across Australian society for years, and it has forced a confrontation with a question our institutions can no longer avoid. Are our laws, our civic culture, and our leaders equipped to deal with antisemitism as it is now?
Former Federal Treasurer The Hon. Josh Frydenberg argues that the answer, so far, has been no. He traces the failure of political and civic leadership that allowed antisemitism to move from the fringes into the mainstream of Australian life, and sets out what he believes the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion must find and recommend to create genuine, lasting change. For Frydenberg, this is not a Jewish problem. It is an Australian one.
Human Rights Commissioner Dr Lorraine Finlay examines the tension between protecting Jewish Australians from harm and preserving the liberal freedoms that define an open society, and argues these goals are not in conflict. She warns against treating the Royal Commission as the solution in itself, calling on institutions and individuals alike to take responsibility for what has become normalised. Retired Federal Court judge The Hon. Ronald Sackville AO KC brings a historical and legal perspective, reflecting on the significance of Australia’s response and what meaningful accountability must look like.
The discussion is moderated by Peter Kurti, Director of the Culture, Prosperity and Civil Society programme at the Centre for Independent Studies, with a vote of thanks delivered by award-winning journalist and author Jill Margo AM.