November 24, 2024
Thank you very much for the invitation to be here today.
To Peter and Alex and so many other leaders of the community in the room – thank you for your courage and strength over the last year.
I want to start with an apology.
What the Australian Jewish community has been asked to endure over the last year is simply not good enough. No community deserves this and especially not the Jewish community, who have enriched every facet of life in Australia.
The rampant anti-semitism on our streets, in our schools and universities, and online is a stain on our great country. And it has left the Australian Jewish community feeling less safe and less welcome than at any time in living memory.
I am deeply troubled by the number of Jews who have told me they are contemplating moving to Israel because they think they may feel safer in a country under attack from three terrorist organisations and a genocidal nation state than they do in Melbourne or Sydney.
But I understand it.
Because at times over the last year I have not recognised our country. The distressing events in Woollahra in Sydney on Wednesday night are just the most recent and most disturbing among many the Jewish community has suffered.
Prominent Australians, including elected representatives, have said the most breathtakingly ignorant and objectionable things.
Take the NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong. Her crude and grotesque use of the anti-semitic trope about Jews and tentacles attracted understandable revulsion. But even more revealing and insidious was her accusation that Jews “infiltrate” community groups and tactically join anti-racism and other political campaigns as part of an underhand attempt to increase their power.
This was not a slip up. It was not a mistake. It was a window into how the Greens view the Jewish community, and the prejudice they are willing to tolerate. And this is an MP who has in her social media bios “remember, don’t be racist” – perhaps as a reminder to herself.
If any other politician made comments like this about any other religious or ethnic community it would rightly be career ending. But not in the Greens, at least for vilifying the Jewish community.
While not on the same level, here in Victoria an independent MP who claims to represent the Jewish community called for a ceasefire in December last year because of the consequences of Israel’s actions for the Jewish community in Australia.
This is warped and dangerous logic. No Jew in Melbourne should be held responsible for the decisions of any government of Israel. And no other community would be held to that standard by a federal member of parliament.
Has anyone ever called for a ceasefire in Ukraine because of the impact on the Russian diaspora in Australia? Of course not. We would all agree it would be absurd and unfair to hold a Russian Australian responsible for the crimes of Vladimir Putin.
It is even more absurd to hold a Jewish Australian responsible for the difficult choices Israel must make in a defensive war against a listed terrorist organisation after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. And yet that is exactly what has happened in our country over the last year.
We have even seen protests outside a Synagogue not far from here during a Shabbat service. It was so menacing the Shul had to be evacuated on Police orders because of their concern for the safety of its occupants.
I never thought we would see scenes like this in Australia.
Nor would I have ever thought any Australian would think it is ok to waive the flag of a listed terrorist organisation on the streets of our major cities, let alone that they would do so week in week out for over a year without any consequences.
That protestors would not just mourn the deaths of terrorist leaders, but publicly proclaim their loyalty to them.
That a mob would overtake our iconic international landmark, the Sydney Opera House, to terrify the Jewish community.
That our university campuses would be occupied for weeks on end by extremists who would also threaten and menace Jewish students.
That our Jewish schools would be defaced with vile anti-semitic slurs.
That there would be serious security threats to Jewish childcare centres and aged care homes necessitating around the clock security.
That offices of federal members of parliament would be routinely vandalised with the symbols of listed terrorist organisations and even firebombed.
That the targeting symbol of the militant wing of a listed terrorist organisation would be hung from the front of Parliament House and that the perpetrators would receive a slap on the wrist.
That our war memorials would be defaced with hateful slogans about a distant conflict - and that some politicians would defend and excuse it.
That social media activists would construct family trees of Jewish philanthropists to explain why boycotting their grandkids businesses was the moral thing to do.
That arts and cultural institutions would publicly advertise they don’t take money from the Jewish community.
That private information of Jewish professionals and artists would be published online in a calculated attempt to intimidate.
And when political leaders finally spoke out against it, I would never have guessed how much equivocation, false equivalence and prevarication we would see. We’ve seen hand-wringing in the face of an unprecedented anti-semitism crisis. The Jewish community is the only community whose vilification can never be condemned in isolation. It always has to be bracketed with denunciations of racism against other communities – regardless of whether it has recently occurred.
There is no other form of racism we treat like this. If there is an instance of racism against Indigenous Australians, for example, no political leader says “I condemn anti-Indigenous racism and anti-Asian racism.” All forms of racism should be called out when it occurs.
No one’s experience of racism needs to be balanced against racism faced by other communities. It is not a contest. Condemning racism against the Jewish community takes nothing from any other community. And yet too often, that’s exactly the message weak political leaders have sent.
This false equivalence has been particularly dangerous because while all racism is equally morally wrong, it is not equally prevalent. As statistics from Victoria Police and evidence from the Director General of ASIO have demonstrated, anti-semitism has been far more prolific than any other form of hatred. That is a disturbing fact no leader should overlook, no matter the political discomfort it might cause.
Nor should we pretend that thinly veiled attacks on Zionists are anything other than attacks on the Jewish community.
When extremists on the streets say “Zionists are not welcome here” we know what they really mean. I guess it is theoretically possible to be an Anti-Zionist without being an Anti-Semite. But I am yet to meet this mythical person who wants to wipe the only Jewish state off the map and condemn the Jews of Israel to dhimmitude or worse, but who bears absolutely no ill-will in their hearts towards Jewish people.
I recently visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. Two things moved me profoundly. The first was the exhibition of Kristallnacht. It is a time in history we teach young people about in the hope it is never again repeated. Yet in Amsterdam this month we’ve witnessed scenes disturbingly reminiscent of that dark time.
And we would be naïve if we think Australia is immune. We are not.
The second was exhibitions about righteous gentiles who helped save Jews during the Holocaust. I remember learning about them as a student, and thinking it would never be necessary for non-Jews to show that kind of courage again. While I think we are thankfully still a long way away from the 1930s, non-Jewish friends of the community have never been called upon since then like we are today.
And we must step up to the challenge.
Of course, the extremism unleashed in our country since 7 October is not only a problem for the Jewish community. It is a problem for all of us. Because prolific anti-semitism is a warning sign of a sick society. Throughout history whenever anti-semitism has reared its ugly head, trouble has followed. While anti-semites might start with Jews, they will never end there. By their actions these extremists have revealed themselves not just to be enemies of the Jewish community, but civilised people everywhere. You deserve better, and Australians expect better.
The tragic truth is that it didn’t have to be this way. We could have had a very different year if, as a country, we took a different approach to the explosion of extremism in our community since 7 October. We could have had rallies for peace without praise for terrorism. We could have had empathy for the heartbreaking loss of innocent life without vilification. If, instead of weakness and impotence, we had strength and clarity.
A Coalition government led by Peter Dutton would have handled this very differently. And if we form government at the next election, tackling the anti-semitism and extremism crisis will be a top priority. Because we recognise this as morally abhorrent and a threat to our national security and community safety.
So, what will we do?
Firstly, and most importantly, we will show leadership.
There’s great moral power and authority in the office of Prime Minister. It is past time it was used. No Australian will be in any doubt where the Prime Minister stands on anti-semitism if Peter Dutton occupies that office. There will be no hesitation, equivocation or ambivalence when it comes to confronting extremism.
Second, enforce the law.
Extremists have been emboldened in our country since 7 October because they do not fear the consequences of their actions. Why would they? The law has been repeatedly and blatantly violated when it comes to incitement to violence, support for listed terrorist organisations, online harassment, hate symbols and much more. And yet today we can count on one hand the people charged but not convicted for any of these crimes.
Third, strengthen the law.
Our incitement provisions are not fit for purpose. Doxxing has still not been criminalised. And if it proves too hard to prosecute someone for displaying a symbol of a listed terrorist organisation, that law will have to be fixed.
Fourth, use the powers already available to government.
It is a privilege to live in Australia. No guest in our country who violates the character provisions of the Migration Act will be allowed to stay. No form of support for terrorism – rhetorical or otherwise – will be tolerated. Their visas will be cancelled without hesitation or remorse.
Fifth, don’t make the problems worse.
No one will be brought into our country from a warzone controlled by a terrorist organisation without proper checks. No hate preacher or extremist organisation will be given taxpayers money for social cohesion. No UN body guilty of employing terrorists will be subsidised by the Australian taxpayer.
Sixth, we will address the rot in our cultural institutions.
We will not allow anti-semitism to fester on campus unchecked. We will not allow our taxpayer funded arts and cultural institutions to be hijacked. We will make clear we expect accurate and impartial reporting from our publicly funded broadcasters.
Finally, we will always stand with Israel.
Because it is the right thing to do. And because letting extremists dictate our foreign policy through political intimidation is not in our national interest. We will not – and I can’t believe I need to say this – ban former Israeli ministers from centrist governments from visiting Australia. Nor would we – and again I can’t believe this needs to be said – arrest the democratically elected head of a friendly government for the crime of defending his country. We will never abandon our ally in international forums like the United Nations. We will never concede important principles like the right to self-defence. We will never reward terrorism by giving in to their demands.
We will do this not only for the Jewish community, but for our country.
Because a country that is not safe for Jews is not safe for anyone.
And for as long as I am in public life, and whatever position I hold, I will work every day until we fix this.
Thank you.
ENDS
