Brave New Laws Keep Aussies Safe as Whingers Complain

Two months after the Bondi Beach massacre that claimed 15 innocent lives, a 144-page hate speech Bill has passed the House 116–7, a foreign head of state has come and gone, 50,000 people have been pepper-sprayed at Town Hall, the Coalition has split and reunited, and the first female Liberal leader has been rolled after 276 days.

Nobody can explain what any of this has to do with a father and son who walked onto a beach with firearms.

But everyone agrees something had to be done, and something has been done, and that is what matters.

A masterclass in decisive action

In the two months since December 14, Australia’s political class has been busy.

The Royal Commission has not started. The Richardson Review has not reported. The coronial inquiry has not commenced. No findings have been made about what went wrong, why it went wrong, or what would have prevented it.

The government introduced the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026 anyway — giving the Home Affairs Minister power to ban organisations without any member being convicted of a crime. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland confirmed that statements such as “Israel is engaged in genocide” could fall within scope. The legislation received a thorough two-day public consultation period.

Constitutional law professor Anne Twomey warned the laws “could be challenged in the High Court.” The government is understood to be “confident”.

The government also invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a four-day visit — ostensibly to promote social cohesion after an ISIS-inspired attack with no established connection to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Herzog laid a wreath at Bondi. He received a 21-gun salute in Canberra. In Melbourne, approximately 100 protesters gathered near a police barricade. They were ‘managed’.

Meanwhile, the Nationals’ Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell, and Susan McDonald voted against the Bill in the Senate, defying the shadow cabinet position. Sussan Ley accepted their resignations. Nationals leader David Littleproud had warned her in writing that all eight remaining Nationals shadow ministers would resign in solidarity. She accepted anyway. They resigned. The Nationals left the Coalition.

Eighteen days later, the Coalition reunited under a written agreement. Five days after that, Angus Taylor defeated Ley 34–17 in a leadership spill. Ley announced she would resign from parliament entirely, ending a 25-year career as the member for Farrer. She was the first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party. Her tenure lasted 276 days.

Taylor — who was once caught praising himself from his own Facebook account (“Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus.”) — outlined his priorities: cost of living, affordable housing, and lower immigration.

Former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull told the ABC:

“What a lot of people say about Angus Taylor is he is the best qualified idiot they’ve ever met.”

PM Albanese wonders: “Can a soufflé rise once?”

The Bill was supported by both Ley and Taylor. It was supported before the split, during the split, and after the split. The leadership of the Opposition changed. The position on the Bill did not. The performance of disagreement produced no actual disagreement. Senior sources describe the party as “unified”.

Social cohesion in action

The Herzog visit was declared a “major event” under the Major Events Act 2009 — legislation designed for the Sydney Royal Easter Show and New Year’s Eve — granting police sweeping powers to control access, issue move-on orders, and search people across the CBD and eastern suburbs.

An estimated 50,000 people turned up anyway. Police deployed pepper spray, tear gas, and mounted officers. Twenty-seven people were arrested.

The protests are understood to have strengthened the government’s resolve that the new laws are necessary. The new laws are understood to have strengthened the protesters’ resolve that the protests are necessary. This is called social cohesion.

Perth: Separate incident, say authorities

A separate incident in Perth on Australia Day — in which a man allegedly threw a homemade bomb containing ball bearings, screws, nails and volatile chemicals into a crowd of 2,500 at an Indigenous rally — was formally declared a terrorist attack after nine days.

No emergency legislation has been introduced. No parliament was recalled. No royal commission. No foreign head of state invited in solidarity with Indigenous Australians.

WA Premier Roger Cook said the Perth bomb, had it detonated, would have been “a mass casualty event.”

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss observed: “If this happened at any other event, we’d call it terrorism.”

Experts say the situations are different because they are different.