LIVE UPDATES: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks on Bondi Royal Commission’s 14 interim recommendations

The Prime Minister is pressed on the rise of anti-Semitism and whether the recommendation that NSW Police should provide more protection for Jewish festivals and events is an admission that not enough has been done.

He repeats what he has been saying since January, that governments could always do better.

“Social cohesion is important. Governments don’t control, by themselves, social cohesion – that’s something that everyone in the community has a role in,” he said.

He points to his appointments of Jillian Segal as the special envoy on anti-Semitism, and a new national student ombudsman, an increase in security funding, and setting up the royal commission.

“We will continue to work each and every day to promote social cohesion and to stamp out anti-Semitism,” he said.

Anthony Albanese says Virginia Bell has made two “very clear recommendations” about the need for tougher gun laws and a national buyback.

Queensland, South Australia and the NT have so far refused to sign up to a national buyback scheme and stronger laws, while Tasmania is only partially on board.

“Two of the recommendations make it clear that we should progress with nationally consistent gun reform,” Mr Albanese said.

“I certainly hope that that occurs and would continue to engage constructively with state and territory governments, to say that this is reform which is necessary.”

The Prime Minister says Virginia Bell’s recommendations around a national gun buyback and stronger firearms laws, in particular, complement the changes the Federal Government has already made.

“In the wake of the Bondi attack, my government took immediate action to bolster the resources of our security agencies, tackle anti-Semitism, crack down on hate breaches, and deliver tougher gun laws,” he said.

“That’s why we brought the Parliament back in January. We weren’t able to get the support across the Parliament for everything we wanted to achieve, but we did make substantial progress.”

Recommendation 1 – The procedures adopted by NSW Police in respect of Operation Jewish High Holy Days should apply to other high risk Jewish festivals and events, particularly those that have a public facing element.

Recommendation 2 – Having regard to the significance of the role of the Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in providing counter-terrorism leadership, the Commission recommends consideration be given to making the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator’s role full-time.

Recommendation 3 – If the ANZCTC is to be used again as a crisis committee, the ANZCTC should be included in the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework so its role is clear.

Recommendation 4 – The Counter-Terrorism Handbook should be updated promptly and then at least every three years in coordination with updates to the Counter-Terrorism Plan and the ANZCTC triennial review.

Recommendation 5 – The ANZCTC should provide direct advice in the form of a written and/or oral briefing, at least annually, to National Cabinet (including, as appropriate, advice on ANZCTC activities, the use of the ANZCTC Special Fund, and national counter-terrorism challenges and priorities).

Recommendation 6 – The ANZCTC should commission a review of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams, with a report to be submitted to Police Commissioners and the Director-General of Security within three months of commencement. The review should include consideration of leadership structures, team integration, systems access and information sharing arrangements. The review should place particular focus on the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team-NSW, elements of which should be for reporting specifically to the NSW Police Commissioner, the AFP Commissioner and the Director-General of Security.

Recommendation 7– The Australian Government should consider whether National Security Committee ministers, including the Prime Minister, should participate in a counter-terrorism exercise, along with all National Cabinet members, within nine months of each federal election.

Recommendation 8 – This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report. Interim report: Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion

Recommendation 9 – This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.

Recommendation 10 – This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.

Recommendation 11 – This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.

Recommendation 12 – This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.

Recommendation 13 – The Commonwealth and states and territories should prioritise efforts to finalise and implement an updated and nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement.

Recommendation 14 – The Commonwealth, states and territories should prioritise efforts to implement the proposed National Gun Buyback Scheme.

Anthony Albanese is speaking now about the royal commission’s report.

His government has accepted “all recommendations that relate to the Commonwealth” and will work with the States and Territories to make sure there’s a national approach to dealing with all 14 recommendations.

“Five months on from the attack, Australia’s Jewish community is still grieving, still hurting, still craving answers,” he says.

The interim report also recommends that NSW Police should extend its security arrangements and threat assessments for Jewish high holy days to all high-risk Jewish festivals and events, especially those in public.

It calls for a review of joint counter-terrorism teams to go to police commissioners and the ASIO boss within three months, looking at leadership structures, team integration, systems access and information-sharing arrangements.

Ms Bell also recommends the government consider having the Prime Minister, premiers, chief ministers and all Federal ministers on the national security committee participate in regular counter-terrorism exercises.

Other recommendations say counter-terrorism procedures should be updated more regularly, and that the Australia New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee should brief national cabinet at least once a year on counter-terrorism challenges and priorities.

Governments should prioritise efforts for a gun buyback in all states and speed up work on a new national firearms agreement, the anti-Semitism royal commission has recommended.

Commissioner Virginia Bell has made 15 recommendations in the interim report released on Thursday that deals with intelligence and security efforts.

However, five of these recommendations are classified and won’t be made public.

The report also finds that no law enforcement, border control, immigration or security agency identified any gaps in legal frameworks that stopped them from being able to prevent or respond to the Bondi Beach shooting.

“No Commonwealth or state intelligence or law enforcement agency has suggested that it was prevented from taking prohibitive actions before or on 14 December 2025,” the report states.

Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has revealed she has a personal relationship with five-year-old Sharon Granites, the five-year-old who investigators believe was abducted in the Northern Territory.

Speaking to Sky News host Sharri Markson on Wednesday night, Senator Price revealed that she was “an aunt” to the missing five-year-old, who is suspected to have been led away from the Old Timers Camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs by Jefferson Lewis, 47.

It is understood Mr Lewis also lived at the camp and had recently returned home from a stint in prison.

“She’s part of my extended family. I’m an aunt to her, and I just know the family are absolutely beside themselves,” Senator Price said.

Read the full story here.

The anti-Semitism royal commission’s interim report contains 14 recommendations, according to its website.

However, it is yet to be published.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland will explain the government’s response to these recommendations at 10.30am Sydney time.

The report will be released once it had been formally tabled in Parliament, which is expected to happen today.

The US Secretary of War has told Congress that allies like Australia appreciate the need to increase their defence budgets but has echoed US President Donald Trump’s comments that the AUKUS partnership is “full steam ahead”.

Appearing before the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Pete Hegseth said it was “vitally important for America’s allies and partners to step up and do their part for our collective defence”.

He said the War Department was “prioritizing increased burden-sharing in the Indo-Pacific,” noting South Korea was a “model ally” by committing to increased defence spending.

“Australia likewise understands the need to increase defence spending and Canberra has taken another step with the release of its latest National Defence Strategy,” he said.

“We look forward to building on that progress with our Australian allies to be able to do more in the Alliance together, move full steam ahead on AUKUS and build capability to promote meaningful deterrence, just as we look forward to working closely with others in the region to strengthen partners’ self-defence capabilities, bolster interoperability with American forces, and expand access, basing, and overflight arrangements.”