Australians are looking for reassurance from political leaders after the Bondi massacre and not partisan point-scoring, a leading pollster says.
Hopes of a bipartisan response to the killing of 15 people by two gunmen at a Jewish festival in Sydney have evaporated with the federal opposition taking aim at the government for failing to stamp out anti-Semitism.
Having also been roundly criticised by the Jewish community, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s net performance rating dropped 15 points to negative nine in the wake of the massacre, according to a Resolve poll published in Nine newspapers.
His net likeability fell 14 points to negative five.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s performance rating dropped seven points to negative four, while her likeability dropped from eight to one, following her politically charged statements against Labor and Mr Albanese.
“Australians don’t want a partisan political debate on this, they want a response that’s unified, that reassures them they’re going to be safe,” pollster Kos Samaras told AAP.
But the jury was still out on whether people would see Mr Albanese as having done enough to keep them safe from hate groups, he said.
“If his government deals with these groups swiftly, that would go a long way to convincing Australians the response is commensurate to the events,” Mr Samaras said.
Ms Ley has defended her criticisms, saying she didn’t apologise for standing up for the Jewish community and would continue to push for a royal commission and stronger action.
“I’m not going to tolerate the empty rhetoric and weak response that we’ve seen from this Albanese government. I am angry that they have failed this community,” she said.
Mr Albanese pushed back, noting that previous crises like the Port Arthur massacre had been met with a bipartisan response.
“This is a time where partisanship of any level should be not appropriate, in my view,” he said.
Mr Samaras said Australia wasn’t like the US, as a majority of people backed gun reform and didn’t want to see partisan theatre.
He said Ms Ley and the coalition could seek advice from former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison about the mistakes he made during the pandemic.
“He made it a partisan exercise in the middle of an existential crisis,” he said.
“They’re just basically creating more problems for themselves; they are yet to put a right foot forward after the election.”
Mr Albanese has invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit Australia after expressing his “profound shock and dismay” over the Bondi attack during a phone conversation.
The government on Wednesday launched the first phase of the National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database.
Agreed to by national cabinet to address a rise in anti-Semitic offences, it provides information on individuals charged under hate crimes legislation in all Australian jurisdictions to help governments co-ordinate their responses.
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