Ben Harvey: For an atrocity on the scale of Bondi, it is essential that this blunder does not go unpunished

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt could well have been talking about journalists when he wrote about his contempt for people who sit back and judge the efforts of others. Newspaper columnists often criticise the doers of deeds. It’s an easy thing when you enjoy the clarity of vision that hindsight affords. That said, an atrocity on last Sunday’s scale can only happen when a great many people drop the ball. Before we talk about who those people are, let’s be very clear that the blame for this tragedy lies squarely with Sajid Akram and, allegedly, his son Naveed. The word allegedly might seem superfluous given the footage we have all seen but it’s a legal requirement because Naveed has been formally charged. The Akrams were able to do what they allegedly did because of failures by government at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. We don’t need a parliamentary inquiry to know that our domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, was not on top of these two. ASIO’s number-one priority is keeping Australians safe from physical harm in Australia. Keeping Australians safe if they are overseas is the remit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but inside our border it’s ASIO. Naveed was on ASIO’s radar but then off. Why? We don’t have Britain’s problem of an army of undocumented would-be jihadists living in our cities after skipping across the English Channel in a boat or in the back of a truck. The number of radicalised people here is proportionally very small yet a young man authorities knew moved in the same circles as the leader of Islamic State in Australia, Isaac el Matari, wasn’t on a watch list? And his father, who successfully applied for a gun licence a year after ASIO knew his boy was being seduced by extremists, wasn’t either? How is that possible? Was it budgetary priorities? Was ASIO too focused on cybersecurity and foreign espionage? Whatever the reason, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess should fall on his sword. I’m sorry but you don’t get to keep your job if the worst terror attack in the country’s history happens on your watch. Tactically, last Sunday was a failure because in 2025 you don’t allow 1000 Jews to gather anywhere for any reason without a monumental security operation. How was there no cop at the beach carrying a long gun? Why were Glock side-arms the only weapon at anyone’s disposal? How did police not have two or three tactical officers with Colt MG assault rifles, a weapon with which officers are trained to make a headshot at more than 100m. For that tactical failing the head of NSW Police, Mal Lanyon, should also be fighting for his job. He hasn’t had the gig for long, but it happened when his head was heavy from the crown. Operationally, Sunday was a failure because the standard you walk past is the standard you accept and the Albanese Government accepted people saying ‘f…’ the Jews, ‘from the river to the sea’ and ‘globalise the intifada’. We walked past incidents of anti-Semitism that were increasing in tempo and had the audacity to gaslight those who complained about being vilified and threatened by saying they were overreacting. Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation director David Slucki is sceptical about whether there was anything Anthony Albanese could have done to stop the massacre. Maybe. But I do wonder if the Prime Minister’s response to an angry mob would have been tougher if the mob had been going after one of his pet projects. What would Albanese have said if that crowd at the Opera House had been baying for the blood of transgender people? He was more vociferous in his opposition to people who voted no to The Voice than he was to those who hate Jews and every time I hear him talk about the perils of anti-Semitism I feel he is busting to say “yeah but”. If, after all the inquiries have handed down their findings, it is concluded that Bondi occurred because the Australian Government did in fact fail to act on anti-Semitism, either because it naively underestimated the threat toward Jewish citizens, or was blinded by its ideological support for Palestine — or worse, because it wanted to shore up seats in Muslim-heavy electorates — then the Australian Government will have been proved to have failed the country. And if that’s the case, the Prime Minister should follow Burgess and Lanyon out the door.