Political leaders face a tough test amid concerns about social cohesion following a difficult week for Australians, who’ve been left reeling over two stabbing attacks.

Six people were killed in a knife attack at Bondi Junction shopping centre and just days later authorities declared a “terror incident’ following the stabbing of an Assyrian Orthodox Bishop during a live streamed church service in Western Sydney, which sparked a riot.

And the judgement in the defamation trial Bruce Lehrmann brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson was handed down this week, with Justice Lee finding that on the balance of probabilities, Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.

Kate McClymont, chief investigative reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald joins Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas on The Party Room.

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