The Dor Foundation welcomes Royal Commission interim report and calls for immediate action

Australia’s counter-terrorism architecture needs reform - the Commission has shown us where to start

The Dor Foundation today welcomed the release of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion's interim report and called on government to implement its recommendations without delay.

Our first thoughts today are with the fifteen people murdered at Bondi Beach on 14 December, and their families. It is a devastating reality that people had to lose their lives for Australia to have this reckoning, but the Royal Commission is the most powerful mechanism we have to ensure the country learns the lessons from Bondi and acts before another tragedy occurs.

The Dor Foundation also acknowledges the courage of first responders, volunteers and community organisations, whose bravery helped save lives.

A serious report that demands serious action

The interim report highlights weaknesses in Australia’s counter-terrorism architecture, at a time of heightened security threat – where a terrorist attack was known to be probable.

It identifies that the Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Coordinator role was part-time, that insufficient national exercises had been conducted, that the wrong crisis mechanism was used on the night of the attack, that Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams are not functioning optimally, that a nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement has not been finalised, and that information sharing across agencies requires significant improvement.

No single agency was ever going to see the whole threat picture alone. Australia needs an intelligence and law enforcement architecture that connects the dots strategically, acts cooperatively and evolves to stay ahead of the threat environment. The interim report identifies a system that, when tested by the worst terrorist attack in Australian history, did not perform with the coherence and readiness the threat environment demanded.

The Commission’s recommendation that the security planning applied during the High Holy Days be extended to all high-risk Jewish festivals and public-facing events is practical. It represents the operationalisation of a threat assessment that should have occurred on 14 December. We wish it was not needed, and as the Commission’s work continues, we hope it will address the circumstances that have given rise to such a heightened threat environment.

Bondi did not occur in a vacuum

The interim report also reinforces a broader reality: The attack at Bondi did not occur in a vacuum. The report documents the environment that preceded the attack, including escalating antisemitic incidents, hateful rhetoric, and the involvement of a foreign state in directing attacks on Jewish Australians.

The climate in which the Bondi attack became possible did not appear overnight. It was built over time, through language that was tolerated and incidents that went unaddressed, while the Jewish community kept raising the alarm.

Most antisemitism Jewish Australians experience is not a mass casualty attack. It is daily harassment, vandalism, intimidation and fear. This is the environment in which the catastrophe occurred, and the Commission will begin hearing lived experience witness testimony on Monday.

What the report cannot yet say

Today's interim report is one chapter of a longer inquiry operating under real constraints, including a pending criminal trial, and secrecy provisions.

We are only at the beginning. The final report is due 14 December 2026. That is where the wider picture comes through, and where we hope to see recommendations about how to push back the rising tide of hate in our society and its institutions.

The recommendations made today are urgent and actionable, and government should not wait to act on them. This Commission is the most powerful tool the country has to fix this - we are backing the process and we urge every Australian to do the same.

The Dor Foundation will continue to support the Commission’s work and advocate for reforms to protect all Australians and strengthen national resilience.

The Dor Foundation is an independent, non-partisan not-for-profit, strengthening Australia’s response to antisemitism and hate.

Quotes attributable to Tahli Blicblau, Chief Executive Officer of The Dor Foundation.

Tahli brings two decades of experience in intelligence, law enforcement, public service and community leadership including as Director of Strategic Intelligence and Capabilities at the NSW Crime Commission, where she led efforts to prevent and disrupt serious organised crime and terrorism. Tahli holds a Bachelor of Arts/Laws (Hons) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Science in Countering Organised Crime and Terrorism from University College London.

Tahli Blicblau