The Prime Minister and Premiers should receive counter-terrorism training, and police and intelligence agencies need a snap review of counter-terrorism teams, the anti-Semitism royal commission has recommended.

Commissioner Virginia Bell has made 14 recommendations in an interim report released on Thursday that deals with intelligence and security efforts.

However, five of these recommendations are classified and won’t be made public.

Chapters dealing with the timeline of the emergency response on the day of the Bondi attack, Commonwealth and State law enforcement and intelligence agency activities in relation to the attack, and information-sharing between these agencies are also largely withheld from the public report.

Ms Bell says Governments should prioritise efforts for a gun buyback in all States and speed up work on tougher, national firearms laws.

She also recommends the government consider having the Prime Minister, premiers, chief ministers and all Federal ministers on the national security committee participate in regular counter-terrorism exercises.

The interim report calls for a review of joint counter-terrorism teams to go to police commissioners and the ASIO boss within three months, looking at leadership structures, team integration, systems access and information-sharing arrangements.

Other recommendations say counter-terrorism procedures should be updated more regularly, and that the Australia New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee should brief national cabinet at least once a year on counter-terrorism challenges and priorities.

The interim report also recommends that NSW Police should extend its security arrangements and threat assessments for Jewish high holy days to all high-risk Jewish festivals and events, especially those in public.

“Our inquiry revealed some respects in which counter-terrorism capability at Commonwealth and state levels might be improved,” Ms Bell said.

Anthony Albanese said his government accepted all the recommendations that were matters for the Commonwealth, and would work with the States and Territories to implement the others.

“Five months on from the attack, Australia’s Jewish community is still grieving, still hurting, still craving answers,” he said.

The report also finds that no law enforcement, border control, immigration or security agency identified any gaps in legal frameworks that stopped them from being able to prevent or respond to the Bondi Beach shooting.

“No Commonwealth or state intelligence or law enforcement agency has suggested that it was prevented from taking prohibitive actions before or on 14 December 2025,” the report states.

While it makes recommendations, which are redacted, around better sharing information between jurisdictions, it states that “it is not suggested that had any recommended change been in place on 14 December 2025 the Bondi attack might have been averted”.

Mr Albanese was pressed by reporters on the rise of anti-Semitism and whether the recommendation that NSW Police should provide more protection for Jewish festivals and events was an admission that not enough has been done.

He repeated his sentiment since January, that governments could always do better.

“Social cohesion is important. Governments don’t control, by themselves, social cohesion – that’s something that everyone in the community has a role in,” he said.

“We will continue to work each and every day to promote social cohesion and to stamp out anti-Semitism.”

The government has already appointed Jillian Segal as the special envoy on anti-Semitism, created a new national student ombudsman, increased security funding, and set up the royal commission, he said..

Queensland, South Australia and the NT have so far refused to sign up to a national gun buyback scheme and stronger laws, while Tasmania is only partially on board.

“Two of the recommendations make it clear that we should progress with nationally consistent gun reform,” Mr Albanese said.

“I certainly hope that that occurs and would continue to engage constructively with state and territory governments, to say that this is reform which is necessary.”

The examination of agencies was originally commissioned as a standalone piece of work from former top security bureaucrat Dennis Richardson, but was rolled into the royal commission when it was established.

Mr Richardson quit in mid-March, saying he didn’t find his full expertise was necessary to the new format of the work.

The royal commission begins its first hearings on Monday, for a block of two weeks. It will deliver a final report before the anniversary of the shooting on December 14.

Recommendations from the Bondi royal commission

1. The procedures adopted by NSW Police in respect of Operation Jewish High Holy Days should apply to other high risk Jewish festivals and events, particularly those that have a public facing element.
2. Having regard to the significance of the role of the Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in providing counter-terrorism leadership, the Commission recommends consideration be given to making the Counter-Terrorism Coordinator’s role full-time.
3. If the ANZCTC is to be used again as a crisis committee, the ANZCTC should be included in the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework so its role is clear.
4. The Counter-Terrorism Handbook should be updated promptly and then at least every three years in coordination with updates to the Counter-Terrorism Plan and the ANZCTC triennial review.
5. The ANZCTC should provide direct advice in the form of a written and/or oral briefing, at least annually, to National Cabinet (including, as appropriate, advice on ANZCTC activities, the use of the ANZCTC Special Fund, and national counter-terrorism challenges and priorities).
6. The ANZCTC should commission a review of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams, with a report to be submitted to Police Commissioners and the Director-General of Security within three months of commencement. The review should include consideration of leadership structures, team integration, systems access and information sharing arrangements. The review should place particular focus on the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team-NSW, elements of which should be for reporting specifically to the NSW Police Commissioner, the AFP Commissioner and the Director-General of Security.
7. The Australian Government should consider whether National Security Committee ministers, including the Prime Minister, should participate in a counter-terrorism exercise, along with all National Cabinet members, within nine months of each federal election.
8. This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report. Interim report: Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
9. This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.
10. This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.
11. This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.
12. This recommendation is contained in the confidential Interim Report.
13. The Commonwealth and states and territories should prioritise efforts to finalise and implement an updated and nationally consistent National Firearms Agreement.
14. The Commonwealth, states and territories should prioritise efforts to implement the proposed National Gun Buyback Scheme.