>>23978158

>>24080609

>>24090619

>>24289106

Pro-Palestine group prepares for ‘advocacy fight’ at royal commission

JAMES DOWLING - 23 February 2026

1/2

Australia’s biggest pro-Palestine network will launch a co-ordinated legal barrage on the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, using its voice at the inquiry to attack Israel and claim anti-Jewish incidents have been “weaponised” against its movement.

It comes as former treasurer Josh Frydenberg calls for royal commissioner Virginia Bell to put a “special focus” on religious extremism, as she prepares to launch her year-long post-Bondi inquiry on Tuesday.

The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network has begun hiring for a royal commission project manager, calling the federal inquiry “one of the most important advocacy fights in the country”.

“It is important that APAN and the broader movement for justice and freedom for the Palestinian people have a voice at the royal commission,” a job listing reads. “We are acutely aware that over the last two and a half years we have seen a dramatic increase in anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Arab racism.

“We have also seen over a long period of time the weaponisation of antisemitism to blunt legitimate criticism of Israel, including its genocide in Gaza, its illegal occupation and theft of Palestinian land, and its system of apartheid.

“APAN advocates for a national co-ordinated approach to tackle all forms of racism and rejects notions of exceptionalism in relation to any one form of racism.”

APAN is the latest anti-Israel advocate to signal its plans for the royal commission, which will deliver an interim report by April 30 and a final report by December 14.

High-profile publisher Louise Adler earlier this month said the progressive Jewish Council of Australia was developing submissions with “an alternative perspective to the Jewish establishment”, while political lobby group Muslim Votes Matter is recruiting volunteers to engage with the inquiry.

A central friction for the inquiry will be its balance between its titular elements: antisemitism and social cohesion, the latter of which Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has hinted could provide a catch-all for more forms of bigotry.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy this month said the National Indigenous Australians Agency was sitting in on the royal commission’s internal meetings.

Jewish groups have urged against a wider investigation of social cohesion problems, citing the scale of antisemitism and the inquiry’s tight 11-month deadline.

Mr Frydenberg on Saturday said a sharp focus on religious extremism was also integral.

“We need to rebuild a culture of tolerance in our country with a special focus on the extremists in our midst who want to hurt and do harm to their fellow Australians,” he said in a statement.

“Extremism can no longer be tolerated if we are going to turn a new page and create a safer and ­secure Australia for us all.”

(continued)

>>24295203

2/2

The royal commission will hold its first hearing at the NSW Federal and Supreme Court building on Tuesday morning. Both Ms Bell and senior counsel assisting Richard Lancaster will provide opening statements, but no evidence will be heard.

The Australian previously revealed Ms Bell met with Jewish community leaders at a private meeting on February 12 for a “procedural” discussion of the inquiry’s structure, while former public servant Dennis Richardson – who is leading the security and intelligence portion of the probe – has been interviewing Jewish leaders about community safety concerns.

A senior Jewish figure told The Australian discussions were under way between community groups about how joint submissions would be collated, collective positions defined, and shared counsel retained.

The source named six major Jewish groups likely to align their positions, including Mr Frydenberg’s Dor Foundation, noting more partisan organisations such as the JCA and conservative Australian Jewish Association would be left out.

Law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler will represent the community collective, they said. The firm’s head of litigation, Leon Zwier, has been floated as a potential legal co-ordinator.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry is offering two positions dedicated to managing its submissions.

Ms Rowland’s old firm Gilbert + Tobin has been contracted to provide legal services for the royal commission.

Anthony Albanese on Sunday defended ASIO after it failed to predict the terror threat posed by Sajid and Naveed Akram, or prevent the December 14 Bondi Beach massacre.

“They were radicalised online. It is very difficult, as ASIO have said, to intervene where there’s no electronic trail, where there’s no warning signs of meetings and engagements,” he told Sky News.

“What we know already is that this was a father and son acting in the equivalence of a lone wolf, in this case, it’s people having a conversation over the kitchen table.

“This was a big event in Australian history, and obviously big events make changes … but Australia overwhelmingly will get through this because we’re a resilient country.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/propalestine-group-prepares-for-advocacy-fight-at-royal-commission/news-story/c85f869fe90a91378b40ff9baaea9c3e

>>23978158

>>23981350

>>24042410

>>24042433

>>24071201

>>24085178

Ahmed Al Ahmed reveals what he said to Bondi gunman when he turned his weapon on him

Dimity Clancey and Anne Worthington - February 22, 2026

1/2

From suburban businessman to global hero, Ahmed Al Ahmed says he will never forget the moment he stared evil in the eye and he says it was the sound of women and children screaming for help that gave him the courage to take on a terrorist.

In an Australian first interview with 60 Minutes, the 44-year-old revealed what he said to gunman Sajid Akram after he tackled him to the ground, and how he is still living with two bullets from the December 14 terror attack at Bondi lodged in his shoulder.

He also detailed his snap decision to tackle Sajid Akram and wrestle a high-powered gun from the shooter’s hands.

“He didn’t say anything. Only I can see with his teeth, showing anger, as a devil, you know?” he told 60 Minutes.

The former tobacco shop owner from Sydney’s south visited Bondi Beach that Sunday evening almost by accident, searching for an afternoon coffee with his cousin Hothefa, when they came across the Chanukah by the Sea gathering at Archer Park.

As Ahmed retraced his steps through the park for the first time since that fateful summer evening, he recalled the sound of happy families celebrating the Jewish tradition of light over darkness.

Ahmed can also vividly remember the moment when joy turned to terror, as rapid gunfire erupted.

“I’m hearing heavy, heavy shooting, like a war. I can hear all the kids, women, everyone crying, you know, screaming,” he said.

As Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram carried out their lethal attack from the footbridge, Ahmed took cover between two parked cars, metres from the armed men.

Trying to shield himself from relentless bullets being aimed directly at the crowd, Ahmed says it was the harrowing sound of cries for help that propelled him into action.

Footage from that day captured the chilling twist when Sajid Akram left the footbridge and crept along the park’s edge towards hundreds of terrified and helpless people cowering nearby.

Ahmed said he couldn’t see the attacker approaching, but that another innocent bystander crouching nearby mouthed to him that the gunman was on his way.

“This guy kept telling me, ‘He‘s coming, he’s coming’ and then he said, ‘He’s here’.”

“I asked God, ‘help me’. I didn’t think, I just saw it, do it.”

(continued)

>>24295210

2/2

Ahmed can still feel Sajid Akram’s “strong and muscular” frame when he leapt onto his back and forced him to the ground.

“I run into him and hit him with my hand, right hand in his head and grab him into my arm, you know, his, his face, his neck, try to hold him, you know, with my arm,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed reveals for the first time what he said to Sajid Akram as he snatched the weapon out of the terrorist’s hands and turned it back on the shooter.

“Motherfcker, stop what you doing … You motherfcker, piece of shit,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed said he does not regret not shooting at the terrorist himself.

“Because I’m a human being, and I don’t wanna put my hand in blood,” he said. “My target was just to take the gun and stop him from killing a human being.”

Fifteen people were killed and 40 more were injured, including Ahmed, who was shot five times in his left shoulder, which he said was payback for trying to stop the atrocity and save lives.

“In this moment, I start screaming, ‘help’ and then asking my God, ‘Give me power, give me patience’,” he said. “I start feeling hot, my heart starts pumping, and then I start feeling sweaty. I was thinking I’m gonna die.”

Still recovering from his critical gunshot wounds, the reality of what Ahmed survived that day is only starting to set in for him. The murder of 10-year-old Matilda, the youngest of the 15 innocent victims, haunts him the most.

“I think all the time about this girl, I cry. Why? Why to the little girl, an angel like her,” Ahmed said.

Two months on from Australia’s deadliest terror attack, Ahmed is still in a lot of pain, two of the five bullets remain lodged within his shoulder and his left hand has little to no feeling.

Medical tests can’t detect any nerve activity yet, adding to Ahmed’s fear that he might never get full use of his hand back.

But asked if he would do it again, the ordinary man who did something extraordinary doesn’t falter.

“I will do it again and again and again. And anywhere in the world. If I have power and I have a life, I will do it.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/ahmed-al-ahmed-reveals-what-he-said-to-bondi-gunman-when-he-turned-his-weapon-on-him-20260220-p5o463.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKaDPkVVJos

>>23978158

>>23981350

>>24042410

>>24071201

>>24085178

>>24295210

Bondi hero on life after the attack: ‘I’m proud of what I did’

Ahmed al Ahmed’s bravery in disarming one of the gunmen has made him a symbol of unity in Australia, though he is still suffering from his injuries

Katie Tarrant - February 22 2026

1/3

On Sunday, December 14, Ahmed al Ahmed was walking along the parade at Bondi beach looking for a place to get coffee.

It was one of Ahmed’s regular strolls, and the heat was sweltering, even as the sun began to set. As he approached the green adjoining Bondi beach, where members of the local Jewish community were celebrating Chanukkah, the festival of light, he realised something was wrong.

“I heard children screaming, women and old men crying,” he said.

The 44-year-old shopkeeper rushed towards the screams. He spotted a figure on a bridge about 50m away, shooting at partygoers as they fled the palm tree-lined pavilion. Ahmed ran, head down, towards the gunfire and ducked behind the boot of a silver car. As he contemplated running towards the shooter, a louder crack of gunfire made him turn his head to see another shooter only metres in front of him.

Speaking via video call from the suburb of Sutherland, southern Sydney, in his first newspaper interview since the attack, Ahmed said he didn’t think twice about acting, didn’t think about the shooter or the danger he was in. He didn’t think about the very real possibility he might die, that his two daughters Sofia, six, and Claudia, three, might be left without their father, or his wife, Alsu, widowed. He said he “couldn’t handle” hearing people’s screams. “I just ran to stop him killing innocent people,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe this was happening, I was in shock.”

Ahmed said it was his “humanity” which compelled him to intervene in the attack. “It came from my heart as a human being to give my blood to save innocent people,” he said. “I didn’t know who these terrorists were, I just stood up as a man full of love for everyone.”

In the video, under the shade of a palm tree, Ahmed points the gun towards the shooter, Sajid Akram, in warning, visibly shaking. In the weeks since the attack, some people have speculated that they would have shot and killed the gunman in self-defence, had they been in Ahmed’s position. Instead, he rested the gun against the tree — and, shortly afterwards, was shot five times by the other shooter from his vantage point above the pavilion.

Immediately, the Syrian-born businessman, who moved to Australia in 2006 and gained citizenship in 2020, was praised by Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, for “saving countless lives”. A fundraiser to thank Ahmed for his efforts, set up by a local business, raised $AUD 2.5 million (about £1.3 million) within four days, receiving 43,000 donations. Ahmed’s neighbours, Australian-born citizens, told news channels that his actions were “the epitome of the Australian way”.

The country is now reckoning with growing division and whether the “Australian way” is under threat. The Jewish community had been sounding the alarm about rising incidents of antisemitism in Australia since October 7, 2023, after more than 1,200 Jews were killed in Israel by Hamas terrorists, igniting a war that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) says antisemitic incidents in Australia have increased almost fivefold since the October 7 attacks, from an annual average of 342 in the decade prior to October 2023 to a total of 1,654 last year. Alongside thousands of threats against Jews which didn’t make headlines, there were shocking incidents of violence leading up to the Bondi attack, from the firebombing of a nursery to an attack on the ECAJ president’s former home.

In response the government has ordered a royal commission, a form of national inquiry, tasking one of the country’s top lawyers with interrogating potential failures in national security and the state of “social cohesion” in Australia.

Ahmed has become the face of unity: an Australian Muslim who risked his life to save Australian Jews.

(continued)

>>24295228

2/3

We speak two days after 24-year-old Naveed Akram, the man alleged to have shot Ahmed and some of the 15 people who were killed, made his first court appearance charged with 59 offences including murder and terrorism. Sajid Akram, Naveed’s father, was shot dead by police during the attack.

Ahmed was born in the village of al-Nayrab near Idlib. He was conscripted into compulsory military service at the age of 18 but was placed with the civilian police as a driver, meaning he did not handle firearms, he said. He worked for several years in Dubai in car showrooms before visiting Australia on holiday, where his cousin lived at the time.

He fell in love with it: its “nature” and “nice people”, relocating permanently in 2006. He set up a life in Sutherland, 20 miles from Bondi, and opened a tobacco and gift shop. For the last two decades, he says he has felt like he is “living in a heaven — that’s what Australia and Bondi is”. The attack did not reflect the Australia he thought he knew. “After 20 years [here], I’ve never seen something like this.”

Ahmed said he had never experienced racism in Australia. His English wasn’t strong — maybe there were racist comments that he couldn’t understand at the time, he said — but he found it to be a “fair” country. “I didn’t see any discrimination,” he said. “Australia gave me hope and I said, when I took my citizenship, that I have to give back to this country,” he added.

His actions on the day of the Bondi attack have cost him the use of his left arm. The bullets — two of which are still embedded in his left shoulder — ripped through his nerves, causing so much damage that, two months on, he still cannot substantially move his fingers unaided.

Ironically, he spent three months last year with the same arm in a sling after rotator cuff surgery. “My whole left hand was weaker to fight, but that’s how I know it was a message from God telling me to help people,” he said.

Now he spends his days strenuously willing his left hand to close around objects, such as the small soft resistant foam ball doctors gave him as part of his rehab. He is testing his shredded upper arm muscles with daily exercises and stretches, but his arm still has a very limited range of motion two months after surgery.

Some sensitivity remains in his fingers — he can feel if someone holds his hand or his fingers brush against a surface — which gives him hope that one day he will be able to use his arm again.

The physical pain can be debilitating. “I can’t sleep more than two hours, I’m lucky if I have three hours every night.” He takes three tablets of one painkiller every four hours and another every 12. He hasn’t been able to take his daughters to school or work.

He lowers his voice when he talks about the possibility that he may never be able to move his arm again. But he insists it isn’t memories of the moment he was shot that are keeping him awake at night.

“I’m worried about losing movement in my fingers and it not coming back, but mentally everything’s good because for me it was about saving lives,” he said. “I’m proud of what I did.”

By the time his wife arrived to see him at the hospital on the day of the attack, the video of Ahmed apprehending the gunman had spread online. She knew her husband had been shot, but had not yet spoken to him.

“She told me when she saw it that she knew it was me [in the video] because who else would do that?” he said. In his hospital bed, by order of King Charles, who is Australia’s head of state, he was brought a bunch of native purple flowers by a representative of the New South Wales government, he said.

His eldest daughter, Sofia, already knew what had happened because her teacher had seen the news and told her, “your father is a hero”. He laughed as he recalled that, instead of showing concern for her father’s condition, she asked him: “Dad, why didn’t you go to take the gun off the other guy on the bridge?”

(continued)

>>24295234

3/3

Despite doctors’ orders to rest and recover, days after he discharged himself from his first hospital stint in early January, Ahmed stood on the field of Sydney Cricket Ground at the final Test of the Ashes series next to lifeguards who used surfboards as makeshift stretchers to carry victims, hand resting on his chest over the strap of his sling as a packed stadium observed a moment’s silence.

The following week, he flew to America on the invitation of the Chabad of New York, part of the Hasidic global charity network, to be a guest of honour at events where he stood side-by-side wearing a yarmulke with Australian and American rabbis, including the father-in-law of the London-born rabbi killed at Bondi, Eli Schlanger.

He was welcomed by Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, in Washington DC, met the Muslim mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and shook hands with the Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer in the corridors of the Capitol. At a gathering of US senators he advocated for the nation of his birth, telling senators that his actions came “from my background” and that members of the Syrian government had called him to “thank me for saving a human life”.

Though he shies away from talking about religion, Ahmed has become the face of the Australian Muslim community at a moment where they, too, appear to be facing rising hatred.

When investigators tracked down the vehicles of the gunmen, they found two hand-painted flags bearing the symbols of Islamic State, a jihadist militant organisation that uses a totalitarian and violent interpretation of Islam as justification for its actions.

Australia, along with other western countries, has seen a rise in discrimination against Muslims after the Hamas attack on October 7. Reports of Islamophobia have surged by 740 per cent since Bondi, as of January, according to the Islamophobia Register Australia.

Ahmed rejects the terrorists’ identification with Islam, calling them “evil and his son”. “As a Muslim, this is not part of what I know. In my religion, to save one life is the same as saving the whole of humanity, and that’s why I ran into danger to save innocent people. I don’t agree with anyone who says these two people were part of Islam — they were brainwashed, sick, mental.”

Ahmed was familiar with some members of the Jewish community who visited his shop before the attack, but now he has become a regular face at many events to honour those who died, including a national day of mourning at the Sydney Opera House last month. “We’re standing next to each other, together as a family,” he said. He feels a pinch of regret that he couldn’t do more to save the 15 people killed and more than 40 injured.

The GoFundMe donation came as a complete surprise to him. “I’m not going to be quite Elon Musk or Bill Gates,” he joked, but he plans to spend some of the money on treatment “to bring my hand back to life”. He has also considered using the money to travel, including to the UK, where he has family in Liverpool. He hasn’t been to London since a brief trip 20 years ago.

On Friday, Ahmed celebrated Ramadan at a local Syrian restaurant, which invited him, his friends and family to eat fried kibbeh and sweet knafeh as a thank-you for representing their expat community.

Two months on from the day he set out looking for coffee and ended up risking his life, he is still figuring out what to do next. “I still haven’t had that cup of coffee.”

The landlord of his tobacco shop in southern Sydney gave him a month’s free rent when they learnt of his role in trying to stop the attack, but last week Ahmed completed the sale of the shop, closing the door on that chapter of his life.

He feels positive about the future. “We have a saying in my country: feel good, and the future will be good.”

This mantra is part of the reason why he doesn’t worry about the future for his daughters, two girls of ethnic and religious minority background in a country reckoning with discrimination and division.

“We have to all work together to create a future for the younger generation, a better life for them and try to fix the problems,” he said. “We need to go back to being a family in Australia.”

https://www.thetimes.com/world/australasia/article/bondi-beach-shooting-ahmed-al-ahmed-7tbwhktwm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRz6W5mXYTg

>>23978158

>>24080609

>>24090610

>>24090619

The five key questions for the Bondi royal commission to answer

Matthew Knott - February 23, 2026

1/2

The royal commission into the Bondi Beach massacre and antisemitism in Australia begins in Sydney on Tuesday with its first public hearings. Royal commissioner Virginia Bell and counsel assisting Richard Lancaster, SC, will deliver opening statements explaining how they will perform their duties.

Later this week, Bell will visit Bondi, the scene of the worst terror attack in the nation’s history, to meet with survivors of the massacre and relatives of the 15 innocent people killed on December 14.

Those invited have been told that Bell will use the informal meeting to explain “limitations on the approach the commission can take to leading evidence of the circumstances of the attack and answer questions about how it will operate”.

With a tight mid-December deadline and expansive terms of reference, Bell and Lancaster have much work to do over the next year. Here are the five key issues they will examine.

How prevalent is antisemitism in Australia, and how does it compare to other forms of prejudice?

The royal commission’s terms of reference instruct it to investigate “the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in institutions and society, and examining its key drivers in Australia, including religious and ideologically motivated extremism and radicalisation”. The inquiry should also assess “the impact of antisemitism on the daily life of Jewish Australians including with respect to security, physical and mental health and wellbeing”.

Jewish organisations have recorded a surge in antisemitic incidents following the October 2023 attacks on Israel and the war in Gaza, including attacks on synagogues, homes, Jewish daycare centres and restaurants.

The latest Scanlon Foundation report into social cohesion, released last year, found that 15 per cent of Australians said they hold negative feelings towards Jews, up from 9 per cent two years earlier. (Thirty-five per cent of Australians said they held negative views against Muslims and 18 per cent about Christians.)

An important, but complicated, question for the royal commission will be the connection between antisemitism in Australia, events in the Middle East and the Albanese government’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What motivated the shooters?

Two months after the attacks, Australians still have little insight into exactly what motivated Naveed Akram and father Sajid to unleash terror on Bondi Beach. Naveed came onto domestic spy agency ASIO’s radar in 2019 because of his associations with radical preachers in Sydney’s western suburbs. Even though it appears he fell off security agencies’ radar in following years, he and his father became radicalised by falling under the sway of Islamic State, a terror group that pursues an extreme, fundamentalist vision of Islam.

Bell’s terms of reference call for her to examine the “lead-up to and planning of the attack”. What drove the Akrams from being devout Muslims to violent extremists? Did the war in Gaza, and other events in the Middle East, influence their radicalisation? Or were other factors more important? Some evidence related to this aspect of the royal commission may remain confidential because of the requirement that the inquiry does not prejudice ongoing criminal hearings.

Did intelligence and security failures contribute to the Bondi attack?

This section of the inquiry is being led by former ASIO and Defence department boss Dennis Richardson. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese originally planned for Richardson’s probe to be a standalone inquiry, sitting alongside a NSW royal commission, but rolled it into the Commonwealth royal commission after bowing to community pressure to establish the wider investigation. Richardson will deliver to Bell by April an interim report examining the performance of intelligence and law enforcement agencies leading up to the attack. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police will be his focus.

(continued)

>>24295246

2/2

Richardson, who has begun holding interviews, will examine whether the relevant agencies could have done more to prevent the attack. He is also investigating whether there were failures in information sharing between ASIO, AFP and NSW Police. A key question will be whether authorities should have kept a closer watch on Naveed Akram after deciding in 2019 that he did not adhere to or intend to engage in violent extremism. For example, should authorities have raised an alarm when the father and son travelled to a known terror hotspot in the Philippines as they planned the attack? Or when Sajid began amassing a stockpile of firearms.

ASIO said in a recent statement: “Tragically, ASIO did not know what the perpetrators of the Bondi attack were planning – or indeed that they were planning anything. This is a matter of grave regret. It weighs on us heavily. But that does not mean additional resourcing would have prevented the attack or there was intelligence that was not acted on or that our officers made mistakes.”

The spy agency continued: “Ultimately, the royal commission will make its own assessment … based on all the evidence, rather than selective claims.”

Separately, the royal commission will also examine whether there should have been a bigger security presence, including more police officers, at the Hanukkah celebration at Bondi.

Did governments ignore warnings of rising antisemitism?

Jewish community leaders had warned since the October 7 attacks that they felt increasingly unsafe in Australia and expressed fears that a fatal attack could occur. Some are angry at the federal government for what they believe was a lack of action and a failure to take the problem seriously enough. Albanese counters that he appointed Australia’s first special envoy for combating antisemitism and increased security funding for the Jewish community. In December 2024, the AFP announced it would lead a special operation, with the support of ASIO, to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians. Still, there are questions about whether warnings went unheeded and more could have been done to clamp down on antisemitism.

A thorny issue for the royal commission will be how the war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian dispute influenced the rise of antisemitism in Australia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that the Albanese government’s criticism of Israel during the war, and its recognition of Palestinian statehood, helped foment antisemitism in Australia. Others contend that governments and individuals, including in Australia, must be able to criticise actions of the Israeli government without being branded antisemitic.

What legal reforms and societal change is needed?

Albanese brought back parliament early this year to pass new laws on gun control and hate speech following the Bondi massacre, but more action is likely to follow. The terms of reference for the royal commission call for Bell to make “recommendations to counteract and prevent manifestations of antisemitism”. It will be fascinating to see to what extent her recommendations endorse those of Jillian Segal, the government’s envoy for tackling antisemitism, who delivered a detailed and controversial blueprint last year. Segal called for a crackdown on antisemitism in universities, the media and the arts sector.

The terms of reference also say the royal commission should “contribute to strengthening social cohesion in Australia and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism in Australia”, which opens the inquiry’s remit beyond antisemitism. Indigenous groups have already said they want to participate, as have Islamic and pro-Palestinian organisations. Bell will need clear parameters to keep the royal commission on track given she has just 10 months to complete her work.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-five-key-questions-for-the-bondi-royal-commission-to-answer-20260220-p5o43q.html

—

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion

https://asc.royalcommission.gov.au/

https://www.youtube.com/@ASCRoyalCommission

Opening Hearing - Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYsWDDjxWNc

>>24276632

Accused China asset 'fabricated' Kevin Rudd reports for cash

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd was asked for advice about Australian defence and security by a businessman ‘groomed’ by Chinese spies, a jury has heard.

Miklos Bolza - 19 FEB 2026

Security and defence advice falsely claimed to have come from former prime minister Kevin Rudd was supplied to Chinese intelligence agents by an Australian businessman, a jury has heard.

Dr Rudd is expected to testify in the foreign interference trial of businessman Alexander Csergo, which began on Thursday.

Csergo, 59, has pleaded not guilty to one count of reckless foreign interference after providing reports to two people he believed were working for China’s Ministry of State Security.

The owner of IT consulting firm Conversys was living in Shanghai and working on data-sensitive telecoms projects relating to Chinese government strategy.

Jurors heard he communicated with two individuals - known as “Ken” and “Evelyn” - from when he was approached on LinkedIn in November 2021 until March 2023, a month after he returned to Australia.

The Australian believed Ken and Evelyn worked for Chinese intelligence and were “grooming” him to be a potential source, crown prosecutor Jennifer Single SC said.

In exchange for cash, he provided reports on topics including lithium and iron ore, the change in German government, the AUKUS security agreement and the Quad diplomatic partnership.

Csergo compiled this information from open-source material found online and included quotes from fake interviews he claimed to have conducted with a number of individuals, including Dr Rudd, the court was told.

The former prime minister and diplomat was expected to testify he did not talk to Csergo after the businessman contacted him and asked about Australian defence, AUKUS and the Quad, the prosecutor said.

“(Csergo) fabricated source material to lend feasibility to his reports and make him a more valuable asset,” Ms Single said.

When the businessman finished compiling each report, he would not send it by email.

Instead, he would hand over a printed version or digital file on a USB stick at in-person restaurant or cafe meetings, the jury heard.

“Often those restaurants and cafes were completely empty apart from the accused, Ken and Evelyn,” Ms Single said.

In early 2023, Ken provided Csergo with a “shopping list” of topics to research when he returned to Australia.

‘I have read your ‘shopping list’. I know what you are looking for,” Csergo told Ken on WeChat days before he flew out.

During a search warrant at the 59-year-old’s Bondi premises in March 2023, Australian Federal Police seized a document that was read out to the jury on Thursday.

In it, Ken asked for information about China-related issues in the Australian and US intelligence communities, defence and national security strategies on China, and China foreign policy.

He instructed Csergo to find contacts in the prime minister’s office, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and other law-enforcement bodies.

The AFP also seized his smartphone, laptop and other electronic devices, finding over 3,200 WeChat messages between the 59-year-old and his two alleged handlers.

Csergo told police he felt he had to work with Ken and Evelyn because he was under Chinese surveillance and could not leave the Asian nation due to COVID-19 lockdowns, the court was told.

His barrister Iain Todd argued his client made a commercial decision to provide the information for money.

“There are no secrets disclosed, no blueprints of military weapons or Australia’s military capabilities in any of those reports,” he told the jury.

The only deception was Csergo lying and passing off material written by others as his own to Ken and Evelyn, Mr Todd said.

The IT consultant also did nothing with the “shopping list”, the jury was told.

The trial continues.

https://thenightly.com.au/australia/kevin-rudd-accused-china-asset-fabricated-rudd-reports-for-cash-c-21689678

>>23959445

>>24264442

British submarine arrives for ‘extraordinary’ AUKUS visit

Matthew Knott - February 22, 2026

1/2

A British nuclear-powered submarine has arrived in Australia for an unprecedented month-long visit despite the well-chronicled problems plaguing the British navy’s ability to send its vessels to sea.

The British and Australian governments are holding up the visit as a sign of the countries’ commitment to the AUKUS pact, even as the United Kingdom views Russia as its most pressing security threat.

HMS Anson, an Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine, arrived on Sunday at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Perth for a month-long maintenance visit.

Defence Minister Richard Marles and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy described the first such visit by a UK nuclear-powered submarine in Australia as a “historic step in our nation’s readiness to operate and maintain conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines”.

HMS Anson, which was commissioned in 2022, is reportedly the only available submarine in the British navy’s fleet of five Astute-class boats, highlighting the significance of the extended deployment to Australia.

British defence publication Navy Lookout has written that the “timing of the deployment seems extraordinary” as the British navy does not have any other Astute-class submarines available.

“The UK must continue to play its part in AUKUS, but in the short term, perhaps more local concerns should be the priority,” the publication argued this month.

“Placing the sole attack submarine on the other side of the globe appears to be at odds with vigorous official warnings to Russia that ‘any threat will be met with strength and resolve’.”

Navy Lookout said the British navy’s other four Astute-class submarines were “all at low or very low readiness”.

Conroy described the visit as “an important milestone that will build confidence in our strategic partners that we have the workforce able to deliver AUKUS submarines, and also lays ground for more jobs for locals”.

Two Australian navy officers have been embedded on the submarine to gain a better understanding of how nuclear-powered submarines operate.

The Australian navy will also conduct tests of its Speartooth large underwater drone to see how it operates with the British submarine at sea.

(continued)

>>24295254

2/2

Britain’s deputy high commissioner to Australia, Brian Jones, said the visit “sends a simple message of our water-tight commitment to AUKUS”.

“Our security as the UK is global, and we are committed to contributing to the security and stability wherever that might be,” he said.

“Our shared prosperity with Australia depends on that security … Deploying one of our most capable defence assets into this region reflects our commitment to work with our close partners to uphold peace, security and stability.”

According to the British navy, the Astute-class submarines “are the largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy, combining world-leading sensors, design and weaponry in a versatile vessel”.

While nuclear-powered, these submarines do not carry nuclear weapons.

American nuclear-powered submarines made similar maintenance visits to Australia in 2024 and 2025, following the announcement of the AUKUS delivery plan in 2023.

The plan involves the US selling Australia at least three Virginia-class submarines while the UK and Australia partner on the development of a new class of submarine known as the SSN-AUKUS.

US senator Tim Kaine told this masthead last week he believed there was a “100 per cent chance” the US would provide the submarines to Australia as promised despite sluggish production rates at American shipyards.

Retired rear admiral Philip Mathias, a former director of nuclear policy with the UK Ministry of Defence, told this masthead last month he feared Australians were not adequately informed about how the troubles plaguing the British navy could scuttle the SSN-AUKUS plan.

“Whilst the United States may sell some [nuclear-powered submarines] to Australia, there is a high probability that the UK element of AUKUS will fail,” he said.

Mathias, who led a 2010 review of the UK Trident nuclear-weapons system, said: “It is clear that Australia has shown a great deal of naivety and did not conduct sufficient due diligence on the parlous state of the UK’s nuclear submarine program before signing up to AUKUS – and parting with billions of dollars, which it has already started to do.”

The head of the British navy, First Sea Lord Gwyn Jenkins, ordered an urgent 100-day drive to tackle systemic delays in the UK submarine program in October.

UK publication Defence Eye reported that the British navy “has struggled to put more than one of its five Astute boats to sea at a time” and that “for a number of months over the past two years, no Astute boats have been at sea”.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/british-submarine-arrives-for-extraordinary-aukus-visit-20260222-p5o4d8.html

New $1.5 billion, six-star Trump hotel confirmed for Gold Coast will be Australia's tallest building

Sarah Swain - Feb 23, 2026

1/2

Plans for a $1.5 billion Trump hotel on the Gold Coast will go ahead, developers say.

Last month, 9News reported conversations were under way to build a Trump hotel in front of the beach at Surfers Paradise

Altus Property Group says the deal for the hotel – which, if built to the height developers say it will, will become Australia's tallest tower – has been signed.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower will be 340 metres and 91 storey high, the company said.

It will be on vacant land on Rickett Street.

"All of my employees at Altus Property Group Pty Ltd are excited about building this iconic six-star resort in the sky and are proud of what it means for Queensland tourism and the Australian economy," Altus chief executive David Young said.

He said he signed the deal on February 14 at Trump's Florida home after he started pursuing the idea almost 20 years ago.

"We are now deeply into a process of design, engineering, construction and fit-out that will cost a shade under $1.5 billion and bring the world's preeminent hotel-resort brand to our shores," he said.

"This project is entirely funded by private investors who come from Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and the United States.

"They have contributed a mix of debt and equity (in the form of convertible notes) and it gives my organisation access to 'patient capital' insofar as we don't have to rush to make presales as we would with Australian bank finance."

However the building will be "Australia owned and Australia built," he said.

He said it will create 500 jobs when its being built, and another 500 when complete.

Young said the design will not be "gaudy" and will be "tasteful and expensive".

He said a third of the building will be apartments starting at $5 million, although added a price tag for penthouses is yet to be set.

Shops and a beach club will also be created.

(continued)

>>24295317

2/2

Trump Hotels, which has over 130 hotels around the world, confirmed the development is "coming soon."

"Rising 91 storeys above Surfers Paradise, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Gold Coast will introduce the first Trump-branded hotel in Australia, alongside 272 exclusive residences, a private beach club, and premier retail and dining," it says on its website.

"Set to become Australia's tallest tower, this landmark address redefines beachfront sophistication with world-class amenities, iconic design, and uninterrupted Gold Coast views."

The Q1 tower on the Gold Coast at 322 metres is Australia's tallest building.

Australia 108 in Melbourne is the tallest residential tower at 316 metres.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/trump-tower-hotel-planned-for-gold-coast-queensland/9676905f-9767-4f8d-994c-8bb5e072a24c

https://www.trumphotels.com/properties/trump-international-hotel-tower-gold-coast