Other signatories include tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, NRL commentator Brad Fittler, former swimmers Michael Klim and Dawn Fraser, surfer Mick Fanning, Olympic canoeist Jessica Fox and skater Steven Bradbury.<\/p>\n
Among the AFL figures who signed were Collingwood player Scott Pendlebury, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, St Kilda coach Ross Lyon and Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan. In Sydney, they include Swans player Isaac Heeney, coach Dean Cox, former coach John Longmire and former GWS Giants player Phil Davis.<\/p>\n
Seventeen families related to the Bondi victims last Sunday made their own call for a royal commission in an open letter \u2013 a demand now echoed by the Business Council of Australia, more than 100 captains of industry, more than 200 judges and barristers<\/a>, the Coalition, and two of Albanese\u2019s backbenchers.<\/a><\/p>\n The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference this week stressed<\/a> the church did not want to politicise the issue but agreed a national inquiry was needed, while Australian human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay was the first public servant to openly back a royal commission<\/a>.<\/p>\n Major Muslim associations have not put forward their view \u2013 although the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils previously warned a narrow or politicised process could entrench division \u2013 while prominent defence silk Robert Richter<\/a> argued a royal commission would be premature and dangerous, particularly if framed around defining antisemitism.<\/p>\n Albanese has repeatedly argued a Commonwealth royal commission would not deliver the urgent response required after two gunmen inspired by Islamic State ideology travelled to Bondi and fired on Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah, killing 15 people.<\/p>\n The federal government has instead pointed to action it has taken since December 14: adopting the wide-ranging recommendations from antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal<\/a>, backing a NSW-based royal commission<\/a>, launching an inquiry <\/a>into federal agencies<\/a> led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson<\/a>, and introducing tougher hate speech and gun laws.<\/a><\/p>\n Albanese and his ministers have also claimed a royal commission is not the preferable way to deal with intelligence issues, and raised concerns that an inquiry would platform the worst examples of antisemitic hate speech.<\/p>\n But public demands have persisted. Some of the signatories to Sunday\u2019s sports letter had political backgrounds: former Liberal MP John Alexander and Peris, a former Labor senator.<\/p>\n Peris has been a strong public supporter of Israel. She was the subject of controversy last year after sharing several anti-Islam posts on X, including one that described Muslims as \u201ccockroaches that need to be eradicated\u201d.<\/a> She later distanced herself from the posts, and said she did not share the views expressed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another signatory, former AFL player and TV presenter Sam Newman, has also made offensive remarks about Muslim Australians, suggesting they did not share common interest with Australian values. Earlier this year, Newman was criticised for inviting two Australian neo-Nazis onto his podcast.<\/p>\n Thorpe said that hate should have no place in Australia. \u201cThe hate experienced by the Jewish community and our whole community in Bondi and beyond was abhorrent, unjustified and not the Australia I know and love,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, Jewish people are not the only group targeted by hate. First Nations people, people of different faiths, ethnicity and even LGBTIQ+ people remain among those facing rising levels of vilification and targeted violence.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernments at both the federal and state level must do everything in their power to protect all communities who are subjected to hate and violence, now.\u201d<\/p>\n The sports open letter acknowledges that a cross-section of Australian leaders had joined with families of the Bondi victims to call publicly for a royal commission into antisemitism, radicalisation and the events that led to the massacre at Bondi Beach on December 14.<\/p>\n \u201cThis attack did not occur in isolation. It followed more than two years of escalating extremism, intimidation and unchecked radicalisation within Australia. What unfolded at Bondi was an act of terrorism driven by violent extremist ideology, and its consequences have shaken the foundations of our national safety and social cohesion,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a national crisis, and it demands a national response. This is bigger than politics. It is about the character of our country and the Australia we want future generations to inherit.\u201d<\/p>\n Hackett said the tragedy at Bondi was a defining moment for \u201cwho we are as a nation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen our values are tested, Australians expect strength and leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cA Commonwealth royal commission is vital to protect our social fabric, support the Jewish community, and uphold the Australian way of life we are proud to call our own. Our response must match the gravity of this moment.\u201c<\/p>\n The statement said the eyes of the world would soon be upon Australia with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, and the values Australia projected as a nation had never mattered more.<\/p>\n It describes a royal commission as \u201cthe most credible and unifying pathway to understanding what went wrong, ensuring accountability, restoring social harmony and taking Australia forward with a meaningful, practical plan of action\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Australians who have long championed unity and national pride \u2013 on the field and beyond it \u2013 we implore our leaders to act with urgency and moral clarity,\u201d it said. \u201cThe safety of Australians, and the future cohesion of our nation, depends on it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Other signatories include tennis star Lleyton Hewitt, NRL commentator Brad Fittler, former swimmers Michael Klim and Dawn Fraser,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-218413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}