As Aussies start to trickle back into work after the Christmas break, one question has dominated the headlines:

Why won’t Anthony Albanese call a Royal Commission into the Bondi terror attack?

There will be a basic investigation at the level of the relevant law-enforcement agencies, but no wide-reaching Royal Commission.

That means no minister will be held publicly accountable and no wider policy questions can be asked.

Most importantly, it means Albanese and their government can continue to avoid the hard questions about mass immigration that need to be addressed.

Let’s be clear: all the commentary about the specific citizenship or immigration statuses of the terrorist attackers are beside the point.

There is a broader policy question to examine about the way mass immigration destabilises our society and makes attacks like this more likely.

This is the core question Albanese is avoiding.

And it’s not surprising that this is the path he’s chosen.

Anthony Albanese is a weak, shrinking figure as a leader.

He is, at heart, a backroom student politics wheeler and dealer.

He is not a national leader. His real character was revealed as he failed to rise to the occasion and respond with the seriousness this tragic and evil act demanded.

Time and again, he shows an instinct for putting his political interests first, not the interests of Australians.

And the decision to avoid questions about mass immigration by refusing to fully investigate the worst terror attack on Australian soil further demonstrates his unworthiness.

As far as Albanese is concerned, there are no “problems” to “solve” or “lessons” to “learn”. There is only “politics” to “manage”. That is the entire Anthony Albanese political ethos.

That is why he is dodging a Royal Commission and was incapable of meeting the moment as the Prime Minister after a terrorist attack resulting in a national tragedy.

The calls for a Royal Commission will continue.

But the real question is if Albanese keeps shrinking away from the hard issues that are important to our country: who will step up and put Australians first?