The royal commission set up after the Bondi terror attack is facing new pressure after former ASIO chief Dennis Richardson resigned as special adviser.
His departure removes one of the inquiry’s most senior national security figures just weeks before a key interim report is due at the end of April.
Commissioner Virginia Bell confirmed the resignation on Wednesday but did not give a public reason for why he left.
Richardson had been brought in to help the commission examine how intelligence and security agencies prepared for and responded to, the 14 December 2025 attack at Bondi.
Bell said he was uniquely well placed to advise on the material needed from agencies such as ASIO and the Australian Federal Police and she thanked him for his contribution. Richardson has not publicly explained why he stepped down.
Two senior members of his team will stay on until the interim report is finished but the resignation still raises new questions about whether the commission can deliver the early answers the government promised when it first turned to Richardson after the attack.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the commission would continue its work and provide further updates in due course.
Richardson was first appointed to lead a separate Commonwealth review into whether federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies had done everything possible to prevent the attack and what they knew about the alleged gunman.
This review was later rolled into the broader Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion after the Albanese government announced the wider inquiry on 8 January with Bell appointed commissioner and an interim report due in April.
The commission formally opened on 24 February and is examining both the rise of antisemitism in Australia and the events around the Bondi attack while also trying not to interfere with ongoing criminal proceedings.
This already gave the inquiry a difficult job. Richardson’s departure now adds more scrutiny over whether the commission can give a clear account of any failures inside the security system and do so within the tight timetable the government set from the start.
