An additional closed-door hearing will be conducted by the Royal Commission into anti-Semitism after the inquiry previously wrapped up in August.
In a statement released on Monday, the commission announced it would take further evidence related to the circumstances surrounding the anti-Semitic attack at Bondi Beach in December 2025 that claimed 15 lives.
The commission previously examined the security environment in the lead-up to the attack and the conduct of security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies prior to the massacre.
The statement noted that due to the sensitivity of the evidence, the additional hearing would be classified and closed to the public "to avoid prejudice to national security and the ongoing criminal proceedings relating to the attack".
Throughout the hearings, which began in May, the commission took testimony from almost 350 witnesses and received around 20,000 written submissions, ultimately hearing from 14,000 members of the community.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Peter Werheim said the community had put its heart and soul into the commission.
“Australia is the only country in the world which has turned the spotlight on itself to examine its own record of anti-Semitism, and to do so with the seriousness of purpose that the issue clearly warrants,” he said.
The inquiry concluded in August, with Commissioner Virginia Bell announcing that its final report would be handed down on December 18.
The report was initially scheduled to be released on December 14, but was delayed over concerns that releasing it on the one-year anniversary of the attack would distract from memorial events.
Ms Bell acknowledged community frustrations that the commission did not appear to outwardly investigate the events leading to the attack, but said closed hearings had been held to avoid prejudicing ongoing criminal proceedings.
The findings from those hearings and other classified evidence would be in a confidential volume of the final report, Ms Bell said.
“I am satisfied I am currently in a position to give a full and fair account of the term of reference, which asks whether, in relation to the Bondi Hanukkah attack, our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies operated or performed to maximum effectiveness,” she said.
