Royal commissions have become a symbolic way that Australia chooses to confront its ugliest problems, even if they do not solve them.

At the beginning of last century, Commonwealth royal commissions looked at topics such as the butter industry and tobacco monopolies. These days they’re reserved for more seismic issues, including those that involve the most vulnerable members of our society: child sex abuse, Indigenous deaths in custody, and the abuse and neglect of people with disabilities.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the December 21 vigil at Bondi Beach.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Now the Jewish community is asking for a royal commission to look antisemitism in the eye. Just as child abuse victims, Indigenous Australians and the disabled community volunteered to have their traumas interrogated so they wouldn’t happen again, Jewish Australians are prepared to share their worst experiences in public to stop another event like this month’s Bondi massacre.

The Albanese government is doing its best to turn down that request with sympathy and reason.

For just over a week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been building on his argument for why he won’t call a royal commission.

Last Monday, he said NSW would hold its own inquiry, while the feds would ask former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson to review the security ecosystem – a Commonwealth commission would only duplicate and delay, he said, and urgency was required. The next day, he went to historical examples:........

© The Sydney Morning Herald