Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement of two minutes.

Leave granted.

I thank the Senate for granting leave. I wanted to make sure that I could contribute on the appalling situation that sees an esteemed public servant, Dennis Richardson, feel that he can no longer continue with integrity in investigating what occurred behind the curtain with the Bondi terrorist attacks. How is it that Islamists were able to be granted a firearm licence by the New South Wales Police Force? What did our intelligence agencies know, and when did they know it? And did they communicate that effectively to the jurisdictions and the agencies that could have prevented this atrocious attack on Jewish Australians in December last year?

Our Jewish community, who are feeling incredibly fragile in the wake of the attack at Bondi Beach during Hanukkah, will feel gutted and betrayed that the Prime Minister's own hand picked chair has resigned, a man that is esteemed on both sides of the chamber and that Australians broadly trust—Dennis Richardson. He has not just served governments; he has served our nation as head of some of our intelligence organisations and the men and women—we don't know their names—who put themselves in danger to protect our national interests here at home and in theatres around the world. We always supported Dennis Richardson's appointment. (Time expired)