PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Royal Commission into Islamic Extremism in Australia

Preface

This petition is submitted in the immediate aftermath of the Bondi attack on Sunday 14 December 2025, one of the most serious mass-casualty incidents Australia has experienced in decades.

While investigations remain ongoing, the incident has been treated by authorities as Islamist-motivated extremist violence. The attack underscores the urgent need for transparent, independent, and preventative scrutiny of Islamist extremism in Australia before further lives are lost.

This event reinforces the urgent need for a comprehensive Royal Commission rather than fragmented reviews or reactive measures.

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Australia, respectfully petition the Parliament to establish a Royal Commission into Islamic Extremism in Australia.

Petition Statement

Australia has experienced a sustained and evolving threat from Islamist-motivated extremism, including completed terrorist attacks, disrupted plots, and ongoing national security operations. Comparable democratic nations — particularly in Europe — have experienced a significant increase in both planned and executed Islamist extremist attacks, often following prolonged failures to confront radicalisation within communities, institutions, and migration systems.

These international developments provide a clear warning. Australia has an opportunity — and responsibility — to identify and address risks early, before they manifest in further loss of life, erosion of public confidence, or irreversible harm to social cohesion.

While successive governments and agencies have undertaken counter-terrorism efforts, significant public concern remains regarding the effectiveness, transparency, and consistency of existing frameworks. Current oversight mechanisms lack the independence, scope, and coercive powers necessary to examine systemic failures and emerging threats.

This petition does not target ordinary Australian Muslims, who are valued members of Australian society and are often the first victims of extremist ideology. On the contrary, it explicitly invites cooperation, evidence, and testimony from Muslim Australians who oppose extremism and wish to ensure that places of worship, schools, and community institutions are not exploited to promote violent or anti-democratic ideologies.

Precedent for Independent Inquiry

Australia has previously demonstrated the willingness to confront sensitive institutional failures through independent national inquiries, including the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which examined Catholic institutions.

That Royal Commission was not an attack on Catholics as individuals, but an investigation into systemic governance failures, cultural issues, and oversight deficiencies. It established the principle that no organisation or belief system is beyond scrutiny where public safety and the rule of law are at stake.

That same principle must apply to Islamist extremism. Equal application of scrutiny is essential to fairness, public confidence, and social cohesion.

Matters the Royal Commission should inquire into:

1. Immigration and Visa Frameworks: vetting and risk assessment processes; post-arrival monitoring and compliance mechanisms; safeguards against exploitation of migration pathways.

2. Intelligence and Security Oversight: management and prioritisation of ASIO and allied agency watchlists; thresholds for intervention, surveillance, and disruption; inter-agency information sharing and accountability.

3. Radicalisation Pathways in Australia: domestic and second-generation radicalisation; organised or informal networks; online and in-person vectors.

4. Places of Worship and Community Institutions: governance, funding transparency, accountability; safeguards against extremist preaching or indoctrination; foreign funding or ideological influence, where applicable.

5. Islamic Schools and Educational Institutions: curriculum oversight and regulatory compliance; teaching of civics, democratic values, gender equality, and tolerance; mechanisms for detecting and addressing extremist content.

6. Community Engagement and Protection: barriers to reporting; protection for whistleblowers and community informants; best-practice partnership models.

Why a Royal Commission is necessary

A Royal Commission is required because existing reviews and oversight mechanisms are insufficient to address the complexity and seriousness of Islamist extremism.
• Only a Royal Commission can compel witnesses and documents, including from government agencies and non-government organisations.
• It can examine classified intelligence operations and systemic decision-making processes.
• It operates independently of political influence, providing transparency and accountability.
• It can deliver authoritative recommendations for systemic reform that protects national security, democratic values, and community safety.

Without a Royal Commission, there is a risk that institutional gaps, systemic failures, and emerging threats may continue to go undetected, leaving Australia vulnerable to further extremist violence.

Petition Request

We therefore request that the Parliament advise the Governor-General to establish a Royal Commission into Islamic Extremism in Australia, with full powers to investigate, report, and recommend reforms necessary to protect national security, uphold democratic values, and preserve social cohesion.