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NationalAntisemitism royal commission

Antisemitism royal commission as it happened: Police, ASIO boss and Jewish security group members to give evidence

Perry Duffin
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

NSW Police did not conduct risk assessment before Chanukah 2025
ASIO agents are infiltrating extremist cells, says Burgess
Antisemitism ‘normalised’, ASIO boss says
ASIO pivoted to counter-espionage, away from terror, boss says
‘No intelligence’ about Bondi Beach attack before 15 shot dead
ASIO boss Mike Burgess to front royal commission
Royal commission to hear from security agencies
Pinned post from 9.43am on May 25, 2026
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Royal commission to hear from security agencies

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The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has resumed in Sydney for a second set of hearings, 10 days after the first block concluded with the lived experiences of Jews.

The commission is drilling into the security environment before alleged IS terrorists opened fire at the Chanukah By The Sea festival in December, killing 15 innocents.

Police and federal security agencies will be asked about the national threat level, security arrangements at the festival and the handling of intelligence allegedly linked to the shooters.

Among those to giving evidence today are the head of Australia’s spy agency, Mike Burgess, Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt and NSW Police Counter-Terror Commander Leanne McCusker.

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Hearing concludes

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The first day of hearings has wrapped up with evidence to resume at 10am tomorrow.

More witnesses are expected to give evidence throughout Tuesday and, starting from Wednesday, the hearings will close to the public and focus on sensitive and classified material.

Jewish community ‘uneasy’ after police declined request for extra officers

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A representative of a Jewish security group urged police to keep boots on the ground at the Chanukah By The Sea festival, but was rebuffed, before terrorists opened fire on the crowd, the royal commission has heard.

The senior figure from Community Security Group (CSG) told the commission, under a pseudonym, that he spoke to a police operations inspector around three or four days before the terror attack at Bondi Beach in December last year.

A menorah frames flowers laid in grief a week after the December 14 massacre at Bondi Beach.Getty

CSG, which provides security at Jewish community events but cannot be armed in public, was requesting a “static” police presence at two Chanukah events in the city’s east.

One was held at Bondi Beach, the second at Dover Heights.

NSW Police did not conduct risk assessment before Chanukah 2025

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NSW Police did not conduct a risk assessment for Chanukah By The Sea 2025, even as the national terrorism threat was considered “probable” and Jewish groups raised fears of an attack, the royal commission has heard.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker in her evidence to the royal commission reviewed internal police documents, from August 2024, that concluded crowded places would be likely targets for lone actors or a small group seeking to carry out a terror attack.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker giving evidence on Monday.Royal commission livestream

Police resourcing is decided based on risk assessments, which can be written or less formal, according to the commission’s interim report.

Jewish security group CSG produced its own risk assessment before the event, warning of high numbers of antisemitic attacks and flagged fears of violence, but NSW Police did not provide any such written assessment.

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Eleven people shot in 29 seconds: Commission hears eight key facts

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The royal commission has heard 10 people were fatally shot, allegedly by Sajid and Naveed Akram, in just 29 seconds at Chanukah By The Sea on December 14, 2025.

Counsel assisting the commission, Richard Lancaster SC, outlined eight key facts about the size and timing of police response in the “harrowing” event.

Specialist police at Bondi Beach following the shooting on December 14.Flavio Brancaleone
  • The Jewish Community Security Group (CSG) asked NSW Police to be present for the entire event.
  • NSW Police decided not to provide a static presence, but went with a mobile tasking.
  • Four police were at the scene when the shooting started.
  • Within the first 29 seconds, 11 people were shot, 10 fatally.
  • Three police were shot and injured.
  • Within five minutes of the first shot, there were 11 officers on the scene.
  • Sajid Akram was shot dead and Naveed Akram was injured after seven minutes and 41 seconds.
  • Specialist police were dispatched, but the specific timing will not be explored in public.

Caravan bomb plot had ‘chilling’ effect on Jewish Australians, AFP says

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AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt told the royal commission a caravan packed with explosives, dumped on the edge of Sydney, had a “chilling effect” on the Jewish community – even though the plot was a fraud.

The caravan, found at the end of January 2025, was filled with mining explosives and notes suggesting a Sydney synagogue and a second venue were to be targeted in an antisemitic terror attack.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt after appearing at the royal commission.Sitthixay Ditthavong

The Joint Counter Terror Team, set up to investigate, found that organised criminals “fabricated” the plot to tip off authorities in exchange for preferential treatment in an upcoming court case.

But it left the Jewish community terrified, Nutt said.

“While it was a fabricated plot, it had a chilling effect on the Jewish community,” Nutt said in a statement to the commission.

“Given the extent of media attention it got, it had the desired effect … on the Jewish community in Australia at large,” he told the royal commissions on Monday.

ASIO agents are infiltrating extremist cells, says Burgess

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ASIO boss Mike Burgess AM has finished his time in the witness box at the royal commission after speaking about his agency’s infiltration of extremist cells and also about Iran’s role in arson attacks in Australia.

Arsonists attacked multiple organisations linked to Australia’s Jewish community throughout the so-called “Summer of Terror” in 2024-25, including Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne.

Police outside Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20, 2024.Flavio Brancaleone

Burgess, director-general of ASIO, told the royal commission his agency concluded the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had been behind at least those two attacks and likely more, but “can’t quite get there” on the current evidence.

Earlier, Burgess told the commission ASIO had pivoted toward detecting and disrupting the rising threat of foreign interference in Australia, but feared lone actors or small groups could slip under their radar and carry out a terror attack.

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Antisemitism ‘normalised’, ASIO boss says

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ASIO boss Mike Burgess has described how the spy agency saw a shift in threats following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In February 2024, in his annual threat assessment, Burgess warned “Sunni violent extremism poses the greatest religiously motivated violent extremist threat in Australia”.

Burgess, in 2024, warned a small group or an individual could fly under the radar of authorities and carry out extremist violence.Dion Georgopoulos

He warned lone actors or a “small group, under the radar of authorities” could carry out extremist violence.

On Monday, Burgess told the royal commission ASIO was becoming concerned Jewish Australians were being targeted domestically and antisemitism was becoming “unchecked, normalised, and given more permission for violence”.

ASIO pivoted to counter-espionage, away from terror, boss says

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Australia’s spy boss has taken the stand in the royal commission, saying the agency had pivoted toward espionage and foreign interference before the attack on Bondi Beach.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess AM said the agency had previously been devoted to identifying and countering violent extremism following the rise of Islamic State.

ASIO boss Mike Burgess AM at the royal commission on Monday.

“(But) when the caliphate was defeated, that shrunk considerably,” Burgess said.

Burgess said ASIO had been “pivoting” toward countering foreign powers trying to silence diasporas, spying or trying to shape political life in Australia in recent years.

“Every rock we lifted up, we found espionage or foreign interference,” Burgess said.

But, Burgess said, he believed there was no counter-terror information that went without investigation.

‘No intelligence’ about Bondi Beach attack before 15 shot dead

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Counsel assisting Lancaster said police and security agencies had no intelligence suggesting the terror attack at Bondi Beach was about to take place.

“There is no evidence that any intelligence agency or law enforcement agency had any actual knowledge or specific information to suggest that there might be an armed attack on the Chanukah celebration at Bondi on 14th December 2025,” he said.

“In that sense, it was a surprise attack.”

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‘Information sharing’ between agencies expected to be focus of hearing

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Commissioner Virginia Bell has convened the hearing into “information sharing” between state and federal agencies responsible for law enforcement and security in the lead-up to the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14 in which alleged Islamic State terrorists shot dead 15 innocents.

Richard Lancaster SC, who is counsel assisting, outlined the shape of evidence expected to emerge on Monday.

Former High Court judge Virginia Bell, SC, who is presiding over the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, and senior counsel assisting the inquiry, Richard Lancaster, SC.Janie Barrett

It will include ASIO’s intelligence sharing with other agencies and the effectiveness of its investigations and analysis of Naveed Akram, one of the alleged terrorists, who had been identified in a counter-terror probe in 2019 but ultimately discounted as a threat.

Part of this, Lancaster said, was the way people on the “known entity management” list, individuals who had been flagged by counter-terror squads, were managed between agencies.

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