It has been one month since the worst alleged terror attack on Australian soil.
One month since 15 lives — including that of a 10-year-old girl — were cruelly stolen.
One month since a spray of bullets shattered forever Australia’s sense of itself as a place insulated from some of the worst ills of the world.
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In that month we have learnt the ugly truth — we are not exceptional. The dark forces of hatred and anti-Semitism are as potent here as they are anywhere else.
The Bondi massacre exposed the worst of Australia. It has forced us to reckon with that which we would rather ignore.
But it also brought to light the best of us. Ahmed Al Ahmed has been elevated from Sydney tobacconist to feted national hero; a new Australian symbol of tenacity and courage to rival Simpson and his donkey.
And it has brought us together, as Australians from every corner of our continent rallied behind the Jewish community in this time of incomprehensible grief.
This coming together of everyday Australians has occurred in spite of ongoing dysfunction in Canberra, where our Federal leaders have made a spectacular failure of their response to this atrocity, by either cynically exploiting grief for political gain, or by putting their own self-protection ahead of the obvious need to investigate this tragedy fully through a royal commission.
It took 25 days and an avalanche of public opinion — led by some of the country’s most eminent thinkers and the families of the Bondi victims themselves — for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to be dragged kicking and screaming to that conclusion. A royal commission, to be led by former High Court justice Virginia Bell, will probe the factors which led to anti-Semitism taking root in Australian society and institutions, and will make recommendations on how to stop this cancer spreading further.
This will be a painful process, but one which is unavoidable if we want to prevent future tragedies.
Australians have inherently understood the need for strong action in response to this horror.
Yet in Canberra, politicians continue to quibble. Coalition backbenchers have expressed dissatisfaction with some elements of the Government’s legislation to crack down on hate speech, prompting concern the parties could choose to oppose the Bill when Parliament is recalled next week. That could leave the Government to work with the Greens to get the legislation passed — a scenario which should worry those who want to see anti-Semitism stamped out for good.
Meanwhile, the Jewish Australians continue to grieve. They have lost valued members of their community, and had their worst fears confirmed — they are not safe from violence and hatred here.
For many of us who were not there on Bondi Beach that day, the initial horror is beginning to fade. But for the families and loved ones of the dead, the suffering is only just beginning.
