As I pen this, the Prime Minister has finally emerged from the shadows to address the public.

Anthony Albanese broke his silence with a press conference in Canberra at 11:30 a.m., where he revealed new legislation aimed at curbing hate speech. His lack of visibility in the days after the Bondi Beach incident spoke volumes.

He had visited the memorial when it was relatively quiet, avoiding the emotionally charged atmosphere of larger gatherings.

With the Jewish community expressing dissatisfaction towards the Albanese administration, it seemed the Prime Minister was keen to steer clear of uncomfortable scenes similar to those faced by Scott Morrison during his visits to bushfire-stricken areas in early 2020.

Albanese was also absent from Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s funeral, perhaps due to logistical or security concerns, or possibly in respect of personal requests made to his office. There might have been official guidance suggesting a low profile.

Nevertheless, Australians are beginning to recognize a trend: a leader who opts for controlled settings over spontaneous public interactions. A leader who favors media appearances and press briefings as his primary method of communication.

In a crisis like this, when trust is the currency that matters the most, such choices don’t just look cautious – they look strategic.

‘We should remember 10-year-old Matilda, whose parents, Jewish migrants from Ukraine, gave her what they described as “the most Australian name that could ever exist”, only for her life to be taken on Sydney’s most famous beach’

‘The Prime Minister’s physical absence has become its own kind of message in the wake of the Bondi attack,’ writes Peter van Onselen

There are moments when leadership stops being about politics and must be all about the country.

In the aftermath of the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi on Sunday, that moment arrived for Albo.

He must become less polarising, yet it remains doubtful whether he can, considering the underlying factors that led to the Bondi attack.

Many Australians are still processing what happened – partly because of the time of year. Its enormity is dawning on us gradually, day by day. Shock, followed by grief, and now anger is setting in.

There is an uneasy sense that we are living through something that will mark us for a long time.

In the wake of atrocities like this, the anger often seeks a target, and it can quickly turn towards political leaders. Sometimes that is justified, often it is not.

Responsibility for the murders sits with the terrorists who allegedly carried them out. One is dead. One has been charged.

Pictured, Matilda’s grandparents grieved at the floral memorial

Albo didn’t go to the funeral of Rabbi Eli Schlanger (Chief Rabbi Yehoram, his father-in-law, is pictured outside the service)

But governments are responsible for what follows: the quality of national leadership, the capacity to comfort those who have been targeted, to calm those who are frightened, to stop the country splintering into rival camps, and to ensure the official response is anchored in something more than reactive messaging.

The PM has not been equal to the moment. In part, that’s because the trust required to lead us now has been squandered over the past two years – a reality glaringly exposed by what happened on Sunday evening.

Since October 7, 2023, antisemitism has reared its head in increasingly open ways across Australian public life. The government’s response has too often sounded cautious, been delayed, or been couched in generalities. 

That matters because leadership after a terror attack is not only about what is said in the weeks that follow. It is about whether people believe the words a leader expresses when they are finally uttered.

None of this is to pretend antisemitism is new. It is ancient, stubborn and adaptive. But acknowledging its history does not absolve leaders of what has happened on their watch, especially after the conflict that reignited tensions here at home.

When the PM points out that antisemitism existed before the last two years, he is stating the obvious while skirting the harder question: what did his government do, consistently and clearly, as the climate worsened in recent years?

The answer is deeply underwhelming, which is why the Jewish community has little time for Albo’s show of support after the fact.

The first job of a government after an attack like this is to transcend the moment and hold the country together. That begins with empathy that is both expressed and accepted. The benchmark for leadership remains John Howard after Port Arthur and Bali, and Jacinda Ardern following the Christchurch attack.

Albo just doesn’t seem capable of emulating what they achieved in the here and now. Not because he can’t turn up, or can’t read the right lines of his briefing notes, but because a large part of the Jewish community doesn’t believe he was willing to confront antisemitism when it was politically inconvenient to do so. 

And without that community’s trust, he can’t credibly claim to unite the rest of the nation.

Instead, we get what we are already seeing: partisanship rushing in where leadership should have been. People questioning motives, treating contributions with cynicism. Arguing about causes and remedies before we have even properly honoured those who should be the centre of our attention.

We should remember Boris and Sofia Gurman, who confronted the attacker with a speed of judgement most of us can only admire, and who paid with their lives. 

We should remember Ahmed al-Ahmed, who did what was right in an instant and now lies in a hospital bed recovering from his wounds. 

We should remember 10-year-old Matilda, whose parents, Jewish migrants from Ukraine, gave her what they described as ‘the most Australian name that could ever exist’, only for her life to be taken on Sydney’s most famous beach. 

We should remember all the other victims, including those whose names have not yet been made public. And we should remember the imperfect but courageous bystanders who did whatever they could to help, including the man widely referred to as AB, who intervened at great personal risk.

I have plenty of disagreements with the PM on policy and politics. I don’t doubt that he wants to do the right thing. The problem, however, is that his recent record means that he can’t now speak in a way that lands as authoritative or unifying with the community most directly targeted by the hatred on display on Sunday, which continues to foment in small communities around the country.

The consequences of the last two years have caught up with Albo, and the country is paying for it. He should know that his leadership, right now, is endangering the very unity he is meant to protect.

Beyond the need for moral leadership right now, Australia also needs answers – and it needs them sought with purpose, not political performance.

The government should immediately establish a Commission of Inquiry with full authority under the Royal Commissions Act. It should be co-chaired by a senior judicial figure and a former bureaucrat with national security credentials.

The remit is straightforward: How did Australia become a breeding ground for antisemitism, and what has driven that shift? What evidence connects that escalation to the attack on 14 December? 

What practical steps would dismantle antisemitism domestically, including the role played by hate speech and imported ideologies? 

After October 7, 2023, and again after the national terrorism threat level was raised on August 5 last year, were counter-terrorism resources and coordination sufficient? 

And finally, were there clear points at which the attack could have been prevented but wasn’t?

To function properly, the commission must have full access to relevant materials, including highly classified intelligence information, and the ability to compel documents and witnesses.

Initial hearings should occur largely behind closed doors to avoid compromising criminal prosecutions and coronial processes, with public sessions held only where it is legally safe to do so.

An initial report should be released early next year to help smooth the public’s need for answers. But it should be confined to urgent and actionable recommendations. Additional reports should follow on a schedule set by the commissioners once the legal boundaries are better defined.

Such an inquiry is necessary, but it will not be enough on its own. The country also needs leadership able to steer us through the grief and fury being felt, without widening existing fractures. 

It’s hard to see how Albo has the credibility to do that. It’s an intractable problem for a recently endorsed PM.