August 19, 2022
THREE MHRs and a senator handled a broad canvas of issues – from Israel and antisemitism to Indigenous reconciliation and climate change – at a forum organised by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and Zionism Victoria.
Three months after the federal election, a panel discussion at Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre on Sunday saw the quartet facing important questions.
Moderator Gabi Crafti, president of the United Jewish Education Board, grilled new Labor MP for Higgins Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, new independent MP for Goldstein Zoe Daniel, Victorian Liberal Senator James Paterson and Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns.
Asked for her take on Australia’s relationship with Israel, Ananda-Rajah said Australia could learn from Israel’s world-beating investment in research and development. “We don’t need another review into R&D … all we need to do is to look to Israel.”
Paterson noted the previous government, in which he chaired the Parliamentary security committee, widened bans on Hamas and Hezbollah to full proscription, “a decade-long project”.
Daniel observed that “both major parties in Australia have, in effect, the same position on the safety and security in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and that’s a position that I share”.
Burns praised Israel’s Iron Dome defence system for preventing the escalation of this month’s Gaza conflict. He emphasised that “every single loss of life needs to be recognised. I think that’s something inherent within the Jewish community.”
On antisemitism, Paterson said, “All racism is evil, but there’s a particularly deep and old sickness in humanity of antisemitism, and those who have the opportunity in public life to keep it at bay … must uphold that opportunity.”
Stating she had deep concerns, “about free speech and hate speech being conflated”, Daniel outlined her support for a federal ban on online displays of Nazi swastikas.
Noting the Jewish community has long been part of First Nations reconciliation, Burns recounted William Cooper’s Kristallnacht protest, lawyer Ron Castan’s fight for the Mabo land decision, and Mark Leibler’s role in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Daniel said she is fearful the Voice process “could become fodder for a culture war”, adding, “It’s incumbent on all of us to talk to those that we know about what this actually is … this is a moment in time that will not come back.”
Burns said soaring property prices mean many young Jews can no longer plan to live near their parents. Advocating for greater housing density, less urban sprawl, and a high-speed rail link around Australia, Ananda-Rajah said climate change is having a deep impact, while COVID “has exposed fault lines within society”.
