The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia made a submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
The Academy welcomes the opportunity to engage with the Royal Commission. The antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi must be a turning point in Australian public life, a moment of acute national reckoning that prompts deep reflection, institutional learning, and prevention-focussed reform.
Our submission draws on a substantial body of international and Australian social science evidence on social cohesion, its relationship to antisemitism, and the mechanisms of grievance escalation and hate speech. It uses this evidence base to inform principles for reform and practical recommendations for embedding and operationalising social cohesion within a broader, system-based policy approach. This is particularly important to anticipate and manage times when social cohesion is under stress and not simply respond after escalation.
The Royal Commission has an opportunity to translate the evidence base and years of thoughtful review into genuine structural change. Our submission makes 13 recommendations across institutions, civil discourse, education, research and locally led interventions, aimed at enhancing government responses to antisemitism, through best practice approaches to strengthening social cohesion.