More than half of Australians have lost confidence that people of all faiths can live safely in the country following the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre, according to new research conducted on behalf of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).

The survey found that 52% of Australians felt less confident that people of all faiths could live safely in the country following the attack.

It also revealed a deterioration in public attitudes toward the Jewish community, with 30.5% of respondents describing attitudes toward Jewish Australians as negative, up 2.5 percentage points from 28% last year.

Further key findings included that 47% of Australians believed that local municipal councils should be doing more to combat hate directed against Jewish communities, and 23% said racial or ethnic tensions in their local areas worsened in the past year, up 5 percentage points from 2025.

Just 21% said local municipal councils were doing enough to combat religiously motivated hate, a sharp decline from 40% a year ago, and 16% said they had seen or heard of an antisemitic incident in their local area, up from 12.5% in 2025, a rise of 3.5 percentage points.

Read the full study here.

CAM Public Affairs Advocate for Australia Sheina Gutnick, whose father Reuven Morrison was murdered in the Bondi attack, stated, “Although there has been a coordinated response from all levels of government in response to Bondi, local leaders need to step up and address the fraying feeling of safety in the community."

“This is personal for me," she added. “My father was killed because hatred was allowed to grow unchecked. I would rather spend this year working with councils to turn this moment into action, so that by the first anniversary, we can point to meaningful change."

“Local councils are the front line of defense against all hate," Gutnick emphasized. “We urge every mayor and councilor to speak out and step up - and to join our summit to learn how their peers around the world are tackling these rising threats."

Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh said councils could not outsource social cohesion.

“As the level of government closest to the community, councils have an obligation to take meaningful and decisive action on challenging antisemitism and hate, and fostering stronger social cohesion," he noted.

“The devastating terror attack at Bondi clearly highlighted the importance of local leadership," Nemesh added. “When hate arrived on our doorstep, it was the local community and its council that stood up first and responded to the unprecedented and unimaginable challenge. But even before December 14th, our Council declared that ‘never again’ would be more than a motto, and instead a call to action to guide our steadfast efforts to stamp out antisemitism. Every council in Australia has the same responsibility and [the upcoming] summit is where we learn how."