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A senior NSW Police officer has been grilled as to whether the force “significantly understated the risks” of a Chanukah by the Sea event where a deadly terrorist attack killed 15 people.
On December 14, 2025, the day of the shooting in Sydney’s east, four NSW Police officers were stationed at Archer Park on Bondi Beach, the Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion was told on Tuesday.
Within five minutes 11 officers were on the scene.
The senior officer was asked on Tuesday about a phone call with a member of the Jewish security group CSG prior to the event in which they reportedly asked police to provide “static” officers.
The officer, however, denied this and said the majority of the phone call was taken up discussing a recent incident at a Westfield shopping centre, and they would not have spoken about resourcing.
When asked about the use of “a static police presence”, the police witness said the term would typically refer more to traffic operations or accidents.
“High visibility policing … I think static in its definition is standing still and that’s not what NSW Police need to be doing. We need to be moving around talking to people, surveying … trying to intervene early to prevent crime, and community reassurance is very important,” they said.
However, Richard Lancaster SC asked the officer if the term static was used in a “non-literal way” it would be appropriate to describe officers being stationed at an event for the whole duration.
“Static is not the word I would use … or my team, it’s not generally a request I would get from event organisers or stake holders,” the officer said.
“Most of our requests are can we have a policing presence or can we have police … and then we, our senior leadership team, decide what that presence will look like and what we will tell them to do, particularly for events, whether it’s stadium events or outdoor or indoor events.
“Police standing still are not monitoring their environment because they only have a very narrow focus.”
Mr Lancaster asked if treating the event as a tier 1 community event – the lowest security risk – at a public place such as Bondi Beach “significantly understated the risk associated with the event occurring”.
“The event was planned with the information available to us at the time, and we allocated resources that I believed at the time were appropriate,” the officer said.
The police witness said they did not accept that it was a mistake treating the event as a tier 1 community event.
“But in hindsight, knowing what I now know, absolutely events of that this nature should be dealt with similar to Jewish High Holy Days,” they said.
The officer was also asked about the large NSW Police presence at the 2023 Hanukkah event, to which they said Operation Shelter was also in place and it was tasked to the eastern suburbs and eastern beaches commands to “ensure community safety”.
The officer said community fear was significant then, with community leaders and local members of parliament regularly contacting police about what they needed to do to protect themselves.
“So it was very important that police were out being visible, walking around shopping centres, walking around areas of, significance, particularly on Friday nights and Saturdays when the community is mobile and moving around,” the officer said.
“There is not an officer in the command that would not say that. That is my intent, that they are there to protect the community, and that’s the community at large as well, the Jewish community as well.”
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences after allegedly participating in the ISIS-inspired terrorist attack.
His father Sajid Akram, 50, was killed by police at the scene.
‘Hatred and bigotry’
During Tuesday’s hearing, commissioner Virginia Bell spoke about a “concerning and dramatic increase” in online hate messages towards Jewish witnesses.
“In one incident, it has been referred to the AFP (Australian Federal Police) for investigation,” she said.
“The commission is keeping a close eye on these instances and recording these offensive social media posts.
“This undiluted level of hatred and bigotry towards members of the Jewish community thought to benefit those who post these remarks is lost on me.”
An AFP spokesperson told NewsWire they had received a report of crime in relation to this matter.
“An investigation has been commenced by the National Security Investigations team,” they said.
The police response to the terror attack at the Chanukah by the Sea event is the focus at the commission on Tuesday.
Witness ABQ, the first police witness of the day whose identity is protected, said the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command was “acutely aware” of anti-Semitism instances in the area.
“Our planning always considers the environment at the time … from documents we are provided by specialist partners (to) counter-terrorism, state intelligence commanders and our local crime environment,” they said.
“Risk is something we turn our minds to daily in policing. Particularly in the eastern suburbs, we are acutely aware of the anti-Semitism offences that are occurring in our command in some instances targeting community members that live in the command.
“We turn our mind to the risk to the community daily … and anti-Semitism is spoken about most mornings in our briefings.”
The officer was asked in the lead up to Hanukkah events, both at Dover Heights and at Bondi, if they considered Jewish people would be vulnerable at these “significant” events
“Yes, and that applied as well as the 15 other events that were listed for that period in my command,” they said.
It was their view these events required “a police presence at the minimum”, they said.
“To address what we had been dealing with which was the high level of anti-Semitic behaviour targeted towards the Jewish community,” the officer said.
Australia ‘changed forever’
NSW Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna told the commission on Tuesday, Australia has “changed” since the horrific terrorist attack.
“The way we went about our business, the way we went about our policing has changed since that attack, since December last year,” he said.
Mr Lancaster asked the officer how he anticipates the annual Hanukkah event will change in the wake of the attack.
“Oh, there’s no doubt, and I heard you put that to the officer,” Mr McKenna said.
“We will move to the same model that we use for the High Holy Days, but once again I’m not saying that’s necessarily about threat to the community, I’m saying that is as much about reassurance to that community as anything else.”
Mr McKenna was also asked about public order and riot squads attendance of the 2023 Hanukkah event, and if officers had long arms.
“Prior to this horrific attack on December 14, there’s never been an occasion where the public order and riot squad have overtly had long arms out … at any event,” he said.
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook on Tuesday afternoon was asked about the force’s emergency response to the December 14 attack.
Mr Cook explained that four officers were stationed at Archer Park, 11 officers were on the scene within five minutes of the shooting, and officers broadcast the incident “almost immediately” over the police network.
Among the commands that responded to the attack, Mr Cook said, were the Tactical Operations Group and Tactical Operations Unit, the Public Order and Riot Squad, the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit and the Terrorism Security Intelligence Unit.
“The, Police Aviation Command was also deployed, family liaison officers were deployed, the State Crime Command was deployed, forensic evidence and technical services officers were deployed, and traffic and highway were deployed,” he added.
“I think that sums it up … the emergency response.”
ASIO wants access to Firearms Register
In his statement to the royal commission, ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said he believed the national security agency should “be granted access” to the National Firearms Register to ensure security assessments were conducted in a timely manner.
“Access to the Register would significantly assist ASIO to obtain timely information relevant to undertaking security assessments and checks for firearms licence applications and renewals, and security assessments for ASIC-initiated or partner-initiated own motion checks for firearms licence holders; and ASIO initiating checks as part of our investigations and operations,” he wrote.
Mr Burgess also warned about the rise of anti-Semitic incidents in the agency’s 2025 terror threat assessment.
“I noted that Australia’s Jewish community was seeing first-hand the spikes in communal violence, and voiced my concern that the anti-Semitic attacks had not yet plateaued,” he said.
He maintained ASIO was not made aware of any threats to public safety for the Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach.
“My understanding is that ASIO did not hold any specific and credible intelligence that there was a threat to Chanukah By The Sea or any other festive gathering over the 2025-26 holiday period,” he said.
Mr Burgess spoke at the commission on Monday, where he addressed what he saw as ASIO’s role in addressing anti-Semitism, and the changes to the terror threat level in 2022 and 2024.
Public hearings for the commission began after Ms Bell’s interim report was published with 14 recommendations.
Anthony Albanese vowed to accept all that related to the commonwealth.
The recommendations include calls to heighten security during Jewish events and refine counter-terror co-operation between federal and state agencies.
The Prime Minister announced the royal commission on January 8, nearly four weeks after the terror attack, amid mounting public and political pressure.
The commission’s final report is due to be handed down in December, a year on from the Bondi attack.
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