Australian PM Albanese orders review of security agencies, police after Bondi attack

The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, has announced a sweeping review of intelligence and law enforcement procedures in the lead-up to the Bondi Beach attack. The development aimed at assessing whether agencies possess adequate powers to keep the public safe.

As calls intensify for a Commonwealth royal commission into the killing of 15 people at a Hanukah event last Sunday, the Australian PM stated that the review would be led by former Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) boss Dennis Richardson, according to a report by the Guardian.

The four-month inquiry will assess whether federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies possess the necessary powers, structures, processes, and information-sharing mechanisms to ensure public safety. Albanese said on Sunday that the Bondi attack “reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation." “Our security agencies must be in the best position to respond," he added.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, among Albanese’s most vocal critics since the shooting, dismissed the move as “wholly inadequate” and accused the prime minister of shying away from ordering a royal commission. “To use an Australian colloquialism, it’s bullshit,” he said.

Frydenberg further argued that the departmental review would fail to address the core problems, including what he described as growing radicalisation in the country that had been allowed to escalate under the government’s watch.

ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said the agency would fully cooperate with the review, adding that he had already launched an internal examination of its decision-making processes.

“If Asio is found to have made mistakes, we will own them, and we will learn from them. Tragically, in this case we did not know about the attack before it happened. That is a matter of grave regret for me and my officers. It weighs on us heavily. But that does not necessarily mean there was an intelligence failure or that my officers made mistakes.”