The Royal Commission into Anti-semitism and Social Cohesion will host an additional, secret hearing to look into security arrangements, months after the Coalition urged the government to continue the public investigation.
The royal commission concluded the final block of hearings, focused on strengthening social cohesion in Australia, in August, three months after kicking off.
However, in a statement, the royal commission announced on Monday an additional hearing will be held later this month as part of the second block of hearings, which probed circumstances surrounding last December’s deadly Bondi Beach terror attack.
“Due to the sensitivity of the evidence, this hearing will be classified and therefore closed to the public to avoid prejudice to national security and the ongoing criminal proceedings relating to the attack,” the statement said.
The second hearing blocked focused on “The terrorism threat level and security environment in the lead up to the attack”.
It also examined the conduct of security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including what was known about the alleged gunmen “and what was done with that information”, security arrangements for the Chanukah by the Sea event, how intelligence was shared – including in relation to firearms applications – and resourcing for counter-terrorism.
More to come