Former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson has resigned from his position as special adviser to the antisemitism royal commission, just weeks before commissioner Virginia Bell is due to deliver her interim report into the performance of the nation’s intelligence and police agencies.
Bell announced Richardson’s shock resignation in a statement on Wednesday night.
“As I noted at the Commission’s initial hearing, Mr Richardson was uniquely well placed to advise on the material to be sought from our intelligence and security agencies in order to assess the effectiveness of their preparedness for, and response to, a terrorist attack,” she said.
“Thanks to Mr Richardson and the senior members of his team, Tony Sheehan, the former Commonwealth Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator and Deputy Director-General of ASIO, and Peter Baxter, a former Deputy Secretary at the Department of Defence and Director-General of AusAID, work on the Interim Report is well advanced.”
“Mr Sheehan and Mr Baxter will remain with the Commission to support preparation of the Interim Report, which I am confident will be delivered in accord with the Letters Patent.”
Following the Bondi Beach massacre, which killed 15 innocent people at a Hanukkah celebration on December 14 last year, the Albanese government announced Richardson would lead an inquiry into potential failures by intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted for several weeks that Richardson was the pre-eminent authority on the nation’s intelligence agencies, and there would be no need for a royal commission.
His review was later wrapped into the royal commission when Albanese bowed to pressure to hold a wide-ranging federal probe.
Bell, a former High Court judge, said she was “grateful to Mr Richardson for the valuable contribution he has made to the Commission”.
Richardson formerly led domestic spy agency ASIO, the Defence Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and served as Australia’s ambassador to Washington.
Richardson was contacted for comment.
More to come
Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.