Albanese’s own strength navigating the path ahead will be just as important as the bravery seen at Bondi | Bondi beach terror attack

Visiting Ahmed al-Ahmed’s hospital room on Tuesday, Anthony Albanese appeared humbled. Faced with the unfolding terror of Sunday’s Bondi shooting, Ahmed was heroic, running towards danger and tackling one of the gunmen.

Despite being weak from bullet wounds and facing serious surgery this week, the 44-year-old, Albanese said, was strong. “Your heart is strong,” the prime minister told Ahmed.

Strength is in question in the wake of Australia’s deadliest massacre since Port Arthur – a heinous attack on Jews celebrating Hanukah.

To his critics, including former treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and even Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Albanese had already missed his moment. They say he was too weak in the days after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel, leaving Australia’s Jewish community exposed, facing abuse, attacks and fear.

The Coalition has also criticised Albanese for not moving quickly to implement recommendations from a review into antisemitism by special envoy, Jillian Segal. Five months after presenting her findings, Labor is yet to formally respond.

The usual bipartisan spirit in face of death and suffering has been missing this week. But some of the criticism is political and opportunistic.

Albanese did respond carefully to the firebombing at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne and as Nazis pushed themselves into the public sphere around the country. Seeking nuance and cooperation – including on recognition of Palestinian statehood – he has brought his usual sober approach. His efforts to calm tensions and represent the whole community should be welcomed.

But the government can’t say it has done everything possible to stop antisemitism. Tougher hate speech laws, building on the ban on Nazi symbols passed in February 2025, should be a priority when MPs return to Canberra next year.

The government should ask tough questions of security agencies, including Asio, as well. Reports claiming the alleged gunmen may have travelled to the Philippines for military style training in recent months are deeply concerning and police are investigating. Australians are right to ask how someone who had been interviewed by authorities over links to radicalised individuals, even if found to be no threat, could seemingly have had access to a cache of weapons.

Albanese has made gun law reform an immediate priority, even as former prime minister, John Howard, the architect of world-leading protections delivered within weeks of the Port Arthur carnage, calls the action “a diversion”.

A national register of gun ownership should have been established sooner. Calls for it have persisted since the Hoddle and Queen street massacres 35 years ago, with similar recommendations made after Port Arthur and the Lindt cafe siege in 2014. Speeding up its implementation to 2026 is necessary.

To achieve real action on gun reform, Albanese will have to stare down opponents, including One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, who on Tuesday posted a photo of herself shooting a gun.

For its part, the Coalition is trying to keep the focus on antisemitism, avoiding offering full support for gun law changes. The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, risks being left behind on changes that will see owners face limits on the number of firearms they can hold, with licences restricted to Australian citizens and not issued in perpetuity.

The question of how to better tackle antisemitism is not as simple as the opposition might suggest. Some of the recommendations in Segal’s report are unrealistic in the extreme.

As well as establishing a definition of antisemitism for use across all levels of government, she proposes monitoring media organisations for impartiality and balance, chasing “false or distorted narratives”. A government-appointed envoy has no place in news coverage or complaints handling.

Segal proposes cutting funding from universities and cultural institutions found not to be doing enough to drum out antisemitism, albeit as a last resort.

The report also calls for social media content moderation, and working with platforms to stop social discord. It is not clear why Segal would have more success limiting toxic slop on platforms serious about solving the problem, let alone those cultivating division for profit.

Ley and Coalition figures have been challenged on whether better education and media monitoring could really have prevented an attack like this. When pressed, the opposition leader insisted only that “from today, everything must change”.

Her likely rival Andrew Hastie quickly seized on immigration, insisting it was time to ask “who are we letting into our country?” It seems almost inevitable some figures in the Coalition will seek to capitalise on the shootings to bolster their anti-immigration agenda into 2026, something premiers and the prime minister should loudly oppose.

As Bondi mourns, Albanese’s own strength will be just as important as the bravery seen at Bondi.