Behind Anthony Albanese’s slow, distracted Israel response

Anthony Albanese belatedly visited the St Kilda Shule in Melbourne on Wednesday - five days after the Hamas attack on Israel. Photo: James Ross / AFP

Anthony Albanese failed to do two important things in the immediate aftermath of the weekend’s heartbreaking attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists.

He failed to call a meeting of the cabinet’s national security committee, and he didn’t immediately make a point of standing side-by-side with those most affected by this tragedy – Australia’s Jewish community.

These steps in dealing with a tragedy of this magnitude have been followed to the letter by past prime ministers. And for good reason.

The convening of an NSC meeting is about getting all of the government’s top ministers around the table with the nation’s key security and foreign affairs officials to collectively consider the implications of such an event.

Are any Australians at risk? What does it mean for the nation’s interests in the region? Are there domestic security issues arising from this event? What are the economic implications? NSC considers all of these issues and more.

Past prime ministers have not been shy in telling the Australian public that NSC has met. Why would they?

An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza.

It’s an important signalling mechanism, reassuring the community the government is on the case, and warning malign actors not to take advantage of the situation.

It in no way gives away any of the classified information that NSC considers.

But this Prime Minister made the bizarre declaration this week that his government does not talk about meetings of the NSC.

“What I don’t do is foreshadow either past, present or future, talk about (the) national security committee,” he said.

This is a new position, and an unusual one for a government that promised to be the most transparent in Australia’s history.

It’s also one the PM himself hasn’t followed in the past, as a perusal of his transcripts shows.

In fact, the edict was a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that he was called out on the matter by Peter Dutton on Tuesday.

There’s no doubt the government has been distracted by the Voice referendum, and the fact that many in the Labor Party are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

But the absence of an NSC meeting for five days after the attack was a dangerous oversight.

The PM belatedly visited a Melbourne synagogue on Wednesday afternoon to show solidarity with the Jewish community, expressing the nation’s “profound sorrow” for the worst loss of Jewish lives since the Holocaust.

Until then, he had not contacted many of the most senior figures in Australia’s Jewish community – all of whom have friends and family in harm’s way.

The visit was heartfelt and welcomed by Australian Jews. But it came too late.