Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg has called for bans on radical "hate preachers," protests, stronger immigration laws and a royal commission into antisemitism in an emotional speech at the site of the Bondi terror attack.
Mr Frydenberg was applauded by the crowd as he spoke at the Bondi Pavilion on Wednesday, where he said he had come to both "mourn" and "warn" governments about the response required after two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration called Chanukah by the Sea, killing 15 people.
Labor ministers responding to Mr Frydenberg's emotional pleas conceded the government had more work to do, but insisted they had always taken the issue of antisemitism in Australia "seriously".
Mr Frydenberg, who was once the most senior Jewish Australian politician in the country, expressed both fury and grief as he detailed what he felt was a litany of failures by Anthony Albanese and his government to urgently tackle antisemitism.
He described regular anti-Israel protests as "incubators of hate" toward the Jewish community, accusing the prime minister of allowing Australia to be "radicalised on his watch" and urging him to take personal responsibility for the Bondi deaths.
"Unless our governments, federal and state, take urgent, unprecedented and strong action, as night follows day, we will be back grieving the loss of innocent life in another terrorist attack in our country," he said.
Mr Frydenberg said Sunday's attack was "all too predictable," drawing a line from the protest on the Sydney Opera House in the wake of October 7 two years ago, the doxxing of Jewish creators, boycotting of their businesses, graffiti of schools, harassment on university campuses and the firebombing of synagogues and day care centres.
"For two and a half years, as the Australian Jewish community and others have raised the alarm bells, they were told by people who should know better that this was not as significant as they had said," he said.
Mr Frydenberg outlined eight points he wanted governments to address, including banning "hate preachers" and "extremist organisations" he felt had been allowed to "flourish" in Australia.
"Prosecute those who incite violence and hate that has produced this," he said.
"Stop the protests. For two and a half years we have put up with daily protests which have become incubators of hate."
Mr Frydenberg called for investment in education, a more "effective and rigorous" immigration system, and a full response to the report by antisemitism special envoy Jillian Segal.
He also demanded a royal commission into the Bondi attack and the "rise of antisemitism in our country".
"We need answers, we need solutions, we need action," he said.
"Guns may have stolen the life of 15 innocent civilians, but it was radical Islamist ideology that pulled the trigger."
Authorities confirmed on Tuesday the Bondi terror attack gunman appeared to have been inspired by the terror group Islamic State.
In a statement, the Australian National Imams Council said it "unequivocally condemns" ISIS as a "dangerous terrorist organisation".
"This terrorist organisation does not deserve any association with Islam in name or description," the senior group said.
"Its ideology is evil and rooted in violence and terror. It bears no relationship to Islamic teachings, ethics, or scholarship, which emphasise the sanctity of life, justice, and mercy."
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government would look at "all measures" that could "contribute to eradicating hatred".
"We will continue to engage with the special envoy and leaders in the … Jewish community, about the way forward on that," she said.
Ms Wong said the government had already taken steps to tackle antisemitism.
"You've seen us bring forward legislation to criminalise hate speech. You've seen us expel the Iranian ambassador," she said.
"But I absolutely accept that more needs to be done. We all know that."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he had a "lot of respect" for Mr Frydenberg and did not doubt the "intensity or the sincerity" of his views.
"He, like a lot of Australians, is mourning and grieving, and we will take suggestions from him or from other members of the community very seriously," he said.
Mr Chalmers said the government took the "evil" of antisemitism seriously and had taken "significant steps already".
"But we've all acknowledged that more steps need to be taken and more steps will be taken," he said.
"We will consider any reasonable suggestions."
Mr Chalmers also took aim at critics he felt were arguing the response to Bondi was a choice between either strengthening gun laws or addressing antisemitism.
"This is not an either-or," he said.
"We don't just have the capacity to deal with both evils at once, we have got a responsibility to deal with both evils at once, and that is the approach we are taking."
Mr Chalmers criticised the "dismissing and diminishing" of the "national leadership" shown by Mr Albanese on gun reforms, a day after former prime minister John Howard described the proposed reforms as a "diversion".
Speaking in Bondi on Wednesday after attending the funeral of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was killed in the attack, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley dialled up her criticism of the government.
She took aim at Mr Albanese for not spending more time with mourners at the funeral.
"You really had to be there, you really had to experience the grief which was physical and everywhere in the synagogue," she said.
Liberal frontbencher Julian Leeser also called on Mr Albanese to visit the growing shrine to victims at the Bondi Pavilion.
"He should come down here as Sussan Ley and I have been down here, every day walking among ordinary Jewish Australians and hearing their anger," Mr Leeser said.
"It's only when you hear the anger, it's only when you hear the tears of grown men at a funeral, it's only when you understand the enormity of a 10-year-old child massacred at this place that you will feel the need to take action."
Earlier, Mr Albanese visited victims of the attack in hospital and said he would be wherever the community asked him to go.
"I would attend anything that I'm invited to," he said.
"These are funerals that are taking place to farewell people's loved ones."
He also acknowledged there was more for the government to do and vowed to take any legislative responses required.
"We have outlawed hate speech that can lead to violence," he said.
"If we need to examine (the laws), if there's a need to strengthen them.
"We're certainly up for whatever is necessary."
