The Prime Minister today convened a meeting of National Cabinet following the evil anti-Semitic terrorist attack directed at members of the Jewish community celebrating Chanukah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

The National Cabinet pledged to eradicate anti-Semitism, hate, violence and terrorism and emphasised Australia’s commitment to national coordination on countering terrorism and violent extremism, social cohesion, resourcing and rhetoric to ensure community safety.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I think we all regret the circumstances of this meeting of the National Cabinet. The antisemitic terrorism incident in Bondi, I think, has shaken the whole nation, not just people in Sydney and New South Wales, in particular, members of the Jewish community have been devastated by what is an unprecedented scale of attack on the Australian way of life.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much for joining us. I'm joined by Tony Burke, the Minister for Home Affairs, and Nigel Ryan, the AFP Acting Police, Acting Deputy Commissioner. This morning I convened a meeting of the Cabinet where we were briefed on the latest intelligence on yesterday's attack in Bondi. And I've just come from a meeting of the National Security Committee where I also invited Premier Chris Minns to join us along with the NSW Police Commissioner.

CHRIS MINNS, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: I'm joined with the Prime Minister, the Minister for Police, the Commissioner for New South Wales Ambulance, and of course, Mal Lanyon, the New South Wales Police Commissioner. It's a very sad duty this morning to report that 16 people have been confirmed as being killed. 15 innocent people and one perpetrator. There are 42 people in New South Wales hospitals overnight, and the victims' age ranges are from as young as 10 to 87. A devastating fact.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I am joined tonight by Nigel Ryan, the Acting Deputy Commissioner for National Security for the AFP, and Mike Burgess, the Director-General of ASIO. And we don't normally talk and confirm meetings of the National Security Committee, but I think at this moment it is appropriate to tell Australians that the National Security Committee was convened as a matter of urgency and we have just come from it. This afternoon, there has been a devastating terrorist incident at Bondi at the Chanukah by the Sea celebration.

MERYL SWANSON, MEMBER FOR PATERSON: Well, good morning everyone. It's great to be here and as the boss said, thunder struck this morning. And it was a sign, a really positive sign for not only this facility but for our region and quite frankly our nation. Tomago Aluminium is an important industrial piece in Australia and we all learned from COVID that we need to keep making things here in Australia, and under this Prime Minister and the Albanese Government, that's what we intend to do.

MERYL SWANSON, MEMBER FOR PATERSON: Well, good morning everyone. It's great to be here and as the boss said, thunder struck this morning. And it was a sign, a really positive sign for not only this facility but for our region and quite frankly our nation. Tomago Aluminium is an important industrial piece in Australia and we all learned from COVID that we need to keep making things here in Australia, and under this Prime Minister and the Albanese Government, that's what we intend to do.

Today the Australian Government has unveiled a plan to work with the NSW Government and Tomago Aluminium to keep the smelter open beyond 2028.

This joint effort secures thousands of jobs at Tomago and across the Hunter, and positions Australia as a global leader in aluminium produced using renewable energy.

Over the coming months, Tomago Aluminium will work with the Federal and NSW Governments on a long-term renewable energy solution to support the smelter’s viability when its current energy contract expires in 2028.

ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Well, bright new morning in Australia as we have delivered our world-leading laws, and I think it's pretty clear overnight that the world is watching. We have had huge global interest in how we are delivering a law that is not just I think a moral imperative, one of the defining issues of our time, but a law that is novel, complex, innovative. So, there's been a huge amount of global interest and we welcome it.

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for your time. As Trudy just mentioned, there some congressional figures, senior figures, MAGA Senator Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz. They're sounding positive about a social media ban, potentially in the United States. That must have surprised you, did it?