February 2, 2025
The Coalition will use a series of antisemitic attacks over the weekend to step up pressure on the Albanese government to pass new laws aimed at curbing growing violence and returning social cohesion.
In the latest of a series of escalating incidents, eggs and verbal abuse were hurled at five young women near Bondi Beach and cars and buildings were spray-painted in Sydney. Other attacks occurred in Melbourne and Perth.
NSW police said they believed the women were targeted by three young men in a silver Mazda that crashed onto a kerb with the engine running on Saturday night. The car contained a carton of eggs and an empty jerrycan.
Strikeforce Pearl commander Detective Superintendent Darren Newman said investigators were treating the matter as an antisemitic incident with the young women’s clothing possibly identifying them as targets.
Vandals also sprayed cars and garage doors in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with antisemitic obscenities, mirroring previous graffiti attacks in the city’s east.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said adding the attacks to the new national database of such events – a recent government measure – was not going to stop the escalating violence.
The Coalition is calling on Labor to implement eight steps when parliament resumes on Tuesday for possibly the last sitting fortnight before the election due on or by May 17.
The steps include reforming “incitement to violence” laws currently before the federal parliament; imposing mandatory prison sentences of at least 12 months for the public display of hate symbols such as Nazi emblems; adding antisemitic conduct as a feature of the character test for visas; establishing a cross-jurisdiction antisemitism taskforce including state and federal police and national security agencies; and rolling out an advertising campaign to combat antisemitism and extremism.
Senator Patterson also called for an independent inquiry led by an eminent national security expert into why the prime minister and relevant ministers were not informed about the Dural incident in which a caravan packed with explosives and a list of Jewish sites was found on the side of the road.
“This is a test of Anthony Albanese’s leadership. He must take strong action to stamp out antisemitism,” he said.
Since December, a synagogue has been firebombed, several cars torched and swastikas and antisemitic language painted on vehicles and buildings in Jewish communities across the country.
The Australian Federal Police is investigating whether overseas actors paid local criminals to carry out the attacks.
As the latest incidents came to light, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton slammed major tech companies over concerns young people were being radicalised online.
“If there is terrorist-related advocacy and spreading of that hate message, they [tech companies] have the algorithms,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
“As [Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general] Mike Burgess would point out, a young person sitting in front of a computer screen can be indoctrinated over a week or two because of the constant videos and bombardment of propaganda,” Mr Dutton said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong on Monday will announce counter-terrorism sanctions on the neo-Nazi/white supremacist terrorist group Terrorgram as part of ongoing work to target antisemitism.
Terrorgram is an online network that promotes white supremacy and racially motivated violence. Following the sanctions, it will be a criminal offence to use the platform, with penalties including prison and fines.
Mr Dutton accused the prime minister and universities of not being strong enough in condemning antisemitic conduct.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly and unequivocally condemned acts of antisemitism and called for perpetrators to be hunted down and prosecuted.
Speaking on The Conversation podcast on Sunday, Mr Albanese said he was satisfied that his government was doing everything within its powers to deal with the recent spate of incidences.
“My focus is two things. The first focus is on safety. The second is on providing those intelligence and police agencies with support so that people can be rounded up, and I want to see people hunted down,” he said.
Federal and state police have investigated and charged people over the waving of terrorist flags at protests.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth accused Mr Dutton of playing politics with a serious issue.
“It’s unacceptable that there are people of Jewish faith feeling unsafe in this country but for the government it’s about being responsible and making sure people are actually safe, not playing politics,” she told Sky News.
