{"id":226320,"date":"2026-01-08T00:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/226320\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:41:14","slug":"christchurch-royal-commission-could-be-blueprint-for-bondi-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/226320\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch royal commission could be blueprint for Bondi inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

A royal commission into New Zealand’s worst mass shooting could provide a blueprint for a federal inquiry into the Bondi massacre, legal experts say.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has softened his position on setting up a royal commission into the December 14 terrorist attack<\/a>, where 15 people were killed and more than 40 injured, after previously rejecting calls for such an inquiry.<\/p>\n

As thought turns to potential terms of reference, the Law Council of Australia has warned a royal commission should not interfere with a criminal investigation into gunman Naveed Akram.<\/p>\n

Council president Tania Wolff said New Zealand’s royal commission into the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks, where 51 people were killed, could be used as an example to ensure a criminal case is not compromised.<\/p>\n

“It will be vital that the timing, conduct and terms of reference of any royal commission be structured so as not to interfere with ongoing criminal proceedings,” she told AAP.<\/p>\n

The Christchurch royal commission’s term of reference included provisions to hold part of the investigation privately to ensure confidentiality, as well as restrict access to information to not affect a criminal trial.<\/p>\n

The Law Council has been among many groups backing calls for a royal commission following the terrorist attack, with Wolff saying a clear focus on anti-Semitism was needed for a Commonwealth probe.<\/p>\n

“This inquiry must be wide ranging and look at matters including national security co-ordination, intelligence-sharing arrangements, communications and online regulation, hate speech legislation, counter-terrorism laws, pathways to radicalisation and the effectiveness of preventive frameworks,” Wolff said.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a memorial for the victims of the mass shooting that took place last week at Bondi Beach on December 21, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Other groups calling for a royal commission include Jewish groups, families of victims of the massacre, as well as prominent Australians and the federal opposition.<\/p>\n

One open letter calling for a federal inquiry was from the Labor Israel Action Committee, with former MP Mike Kelly calling for the terms of reference to examine anti-Semitism and who is behind it.<\/p>\n

“You look into the generation of hate and propagandising of hate material in general, regardless of who it’s targeting,” he told AAP.<\/p>\n

“We can look at how the mechanics of that work, who’s behind it, for what reason and where the funding is coming from.”<\/p>\n

The group has called for a broad terms of reference to allow systemic issues to be examined.<\/p>\n

Kelly said the terms of reference could be altered if it appeared other issues associated with the Bondi massacre were not immediately investigated.<\/p>\n

“They can be adjusted as you go along, too, as you find different things, it may lead to the need to broaden terms of reference or narrow them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A royal commission can issue interim reports as it goes along. It’s been done before.”<\/p>\n

The coalition has called for terms of reference to include the drivers of anti-Semitism, the effectiveness of Commonwealth, state and territory agencies, as well intervention programs for radical Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A royal commission into New Zealand’s worst mass shooting could provide a blueprint for a federal inquiry into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[972,97907,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-226320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-crime-and-justice","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226320","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=226320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}