Australia news live: royal commission recommends higher security at Jewish festivals in wake of Bondi terror attack

Alice Springs search enters fifth day for allegedly abducted five-year-old Sharon

Northern Territory police say there have been no major developments overnight in the search for the missing five-year-old Sharon, who police believe was taken by 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis from Old Timers Camp, outside of Alice Springs.

The young girl was last seen by her mother at 11.30pm on Saturday. A short time before her disappearance NT police say she was seen with Lewis, who was holding her hand. An arrest order was issued for Lewis on Sunday. Yesterday, police found several items related to the pair including a child’s underwear and a yellow T-shirt that Lewis was last seen wearing.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, authorities confirmed that six of the 20 sq km search zone has been extensively covered on foot, with air support currently scouring the terrain for any signs of Sharon:

A helicopter is in the air now, focusing over the Mt Johns area and nearby bushland, with more air assets deploying today,” NT police said. More than 170 volunteers are assembling for the search.

72 people are on the ground as of a short time ago with the total ground search team yesterday reaching 172 individuals.

Police are encouraging more people, including experienced civilian horse riders, to join the search and comb the rugged bush and scrub in the search and rescue efforts.

The community support the NT Police Force’s Search and Rescue team has received has been overwhelming. Police would like to thank the community for this support as they work to bring Sharon home.

Multiple recommendations will be kept confidential as they could compromise national security

As we noted earlier, multiple recommendations in the interim report will not be made public. Albanese said in a statement:

The interim report contains a small number of classified recommendations which cannot be publicly released because they could compromise sensitive national security information. The government will respond swiftly to these recommendations and Australians will see practical outcomes through a range of policy, program and funding measures.

Higher security at Jewish festivals recommended

The top recommendation from the royal commission’s interim report is that 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”.

The report states that, since the 7 October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas, an “increase in the occurrence and reporting of antisemitic incidents has led to a significant increase in contact between relevant NSW Police Commands” and the Jewish safety organisation, Community Security Group NSW – particularly cultural festivals including Purim, Passover, Shavuot, the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret), Chanukah and days of cultural significance.

The report notes there is already “substantial engagement” between CSG and police agencies, but that there “may be scope for exploring different modes of collaboration between all parties”.

It suggests potential benefit in working closer, including whether police could start “meeting together regularly with CSG NSW at the operational level, to discuss the threat environment faced by Jewish Australians, planning for upcoming events and receiving CSG assessments and threat information”.

‘We’re acting on it’, Albanese says of interim report recommendations

The prime minister was asked how long it will take to implement the recommendations in the interim report; weeks, months or years. He said the government only received the report this morning and had already convened the national security committee, showing the brisk pace of action:

We’re not sitting back and just reading this document. We’re acting on it.

PM calls for nationally consistent gun reform

Albanese was just asked about the pace of gun reform in the wake of the Bondi attack and resistance from some states and territories. He said:

We support the recommendations, all of them. It will be up to state and territories. Of course, we’ll have to give consideration to the very clear recommendations – there were two of the recommendations that make it clear – that we should progress with nationally consistent gun reform.

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.

Too early to tell if there were intelligence failures before Bondi attack: royal commissioner

The interim royal commission report into the Bondi massacre says it has not yet reached any conclusions about intelligence failures or police resourcing before the attack.

In the interim report released on Thursday morning, commissioner Virginia Bell said:

While systemic aspects of the effectiveness of Commonwealth and state intelligence and law enforcement … are addressed in this Interim Report, important issues arising from the Bondi attack, including whether there was any failure to identify and act upon intelligence in the lead up to it, or in the allocation of police resources to the Chanukah event, will be addressed in hearings.

No conclusion in these respects can be reached on a review of the agencies’ documents alone and in the absence of according procedural fairness to any person or agency at risk of an adverse finding.

Bell said it was possible these questions would have to be asked in private hearings:

In light of the nature of the evidence that I anticipate will be led, some hearings will need to be closed to the public (closed hearings).

To the extent that it is possible to adduce evidence touching on intelligence and security matters in public this will be done.

The commission also noted that a submission received just before the finalisation of the interim report proposed improvements to the National Criminal Intelligence System, and “will be investigated in the course of hearings”.

Albanese says national security committee agreed to adopt all recommendations relevant to the commonwealth

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is speaking now in Sydney after the delivery of an interim report from the Bondi royal commission.

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

He said the report will help the nation “understand what happened that day, to help us stamp out the hatred that drove the attackers and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again”.

He said the report found no urgent changes are required to keep Australia safe. But the 14 recommendations included in the interim report would enhance the nation’s counter-terrorism arrangements and capabilities.

Albanese said the national security committee had met this morning and will adopt all of the recommendations that a relevant to the commonwealth.

Bondi terror accused will not be called to give evidence to royal commission, Virginia Bell says

The accused shooter behind the Bondi terror massacre at a Jewish Hanukah festival will not be called to give evidence at the royal commission, commissioner Virginia Bell says, and has indicated that witnesses to the attack may also not feature in her inquiry.

It’s also unlikely the royal commission will – at least in its public hearings or reports – make any findings about the motivation behind the attack.

Her interim report gives some new ideas about her thinking about how the commission will be framed. In the report, Bell writes that her “general principle, … to guide the conduct of the Royal Commission in light of the current criminal proceedings” include not asking the accused to be interviewed or give evidence.

“Persons who are, or who are likely to be, witnesses in the criminal proceedings ought not be interviewed or called to give evidence about the Bondi attack,” Bell wrote.

The Royal Commission ought not, in its public hearings or publicly available report, make findings or comments about the intention and motivation of the shooters. To the extent that it is possible, the Royal Commission should avoid causing or contributing to further publicity that may occasion prejudice to the accused among potential jurors.

The Bondi royal commission’s interim report says it has heard evidence that police and government agencies had not found “any gap” in legal frameworks that impeded the terror attack being prevented or responded to – but says there is room for improvement.

“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 by the then current legislative and authorising framework. In these respects, no issue requiring urgent or immediate action has been identified,” the interim report states.

Nonetheless, the review of this considerable body of material by officers with relevant experience and expertise and by Counsel Assisting and me has revealed aspects in which counter-terrorism capability at Commonwealth and state levels could be improved.

The Bondi royal commission’s interim report has been released. We’re reading now, but there are 14 recommendations – including six that are not included in the public version of the report, and kept to a confidential version.

Of the eight which are in the public version, they include recommendations that:

• 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.

• Consideration be given to making the counter-terrorism coordinator’s role full-time.

• 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.

There’s also other recommendations about updating procedures on crisis management, a review of joint counter-terror teams, and calls for state and federal governments to “prioritise efforts to finalise and implement an updated and nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement” and “to implement the proposed National Gun Buyback Scheme”.