I read the Interim Report of the Royal Commission into anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion and I felt physically sick. I couldn’t breathe.

Not because it shocked me. Because it didn’t. Because buried inside its calm, measured language is a truth that should stop every Australian in their tracks: this massacre was not unforeseeable.

Fifteen people were murdered at a Chanukah celebration at Bondi. Families who stepped out to light candles never came home. And now we are told that the danger was already known.

ASIO had raised the terror threat level to probable. The Jewish community had warned the risk was high. Security concerns were raised. Requests were made.

And still, when that night came, the protection did not match the danger. In fact, police attending the event were reportedly told there was “no need to stay the entire duration.”

“Until one day, the warnings become funerals.

That is not just a detail. That is a moment that will haunt this country. At the very moment the threat level was rising, investment in counter-terrorism had been falling. The Bell Report makes something else devastatingly clear: there were no legal barriers stopping action. The powers existed. The system had what it needed.

And yet, when it mattered most, the response fell short of the risk that had already been identified. I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to implement the 14 recommendations. But let’s be honest: a promise is not protection. And delay is not neutral. Delay is exposure.

Anti-semitism in this country did not suddenly erupt on Bondi Beach. It was building. Growing louder. More brazen. More dangerous. And too many people convinced themselves it would stop short. It never stops short. It escalates. Until one day, the warnings become funerals. That is what Bondi was. The Bell Report is not just a document. It is a warning written after the blood has already been spilt.

And now there are no excuses left. Because the next time a threat is identified, the next time a community says it is at risk, the next time the warning lights flash every decision will carry the weight of what happened that night. And if we hesitate again, if we downplay it, if we tell ourselves it won’t go further then what comes next will not be a tragedy.

It will be a failure we chose.