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-Kurt Vonnegut
The Albanese government’s Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has suffered a major setback with the resignation of Dennis Richardson whose role was to probe whether intelligence failures were a factor in last year’s Bondi massacre.
Richardson declined to comment on why he walked away from his special advisory role, but it is understood he had become increasingly frustrated with the legal processes and felt he was wasting his time.
Former director-general of ASIO and defence secretary Dennis Richardson. Andrew Meares
Initially, when the government refused to hold a royal commission into antisemitism following the December 14 massacre, it appointed Richardson, a former ASIO boss, Defence department secretary and US ambassador, to inquire into whether the intelligence agencies could have done better.
On December 14 last year, two adherents of Islamic State murdered 15 people and wounded 44 more when they opened fire during a public event to mark the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach.
When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese subsequently caved to pressure from the federal opposition and the public, he called a royal commission to be led by Virginia Bell, and said Richardson’s inquiry would be folded into the commission process.
However, in a statement released Wednesday night, Bell said Richardson had resigned from his role as Special Advisor.
“As I noted at the Commission’s initial hearing, Mr Richardson was uniquely well-placed to advise on the material to be sought from our intelligence and security agencies in order to assess the effectiveness of their preparedness for, and response to, a terrorist attack,” she said in a statement.
“Thanks to Mr Richardson and the senior members of his team, Tony Sheehan, the former Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism co-ordinator and deputy director-general of ASIO, and Peter Baxter, a former deputy secretary at the Department of Defence and Director-General of AusAID, work on the interim report is well advanced.
“Mr Sheehan and Mr Baxter will remain with the Commission to support preparation of the interim report, which I am confident will be delivered in accord with the Letters Patent.”
Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland thanked Richardson for his work and said the commission’s interim report would be handed down on April 30 as scheduled.
“The government will continue to support the Royal Commission to deliver its important work, including the delivery of the interim report by 30 April,” she said in a statement.
“The Royal Commission, which is independent of government, will provide further updates in due course.”
Bell will receive $1.3 million for the year-long inquiry, in addition to her judicial pension of $330,000, while Richardson was being paid $5500 a day.
