James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion, and I start by thanking the member for Macnamara and the member for Wentworth, the seconder of this motion, for providing us with this platform. We should always take this opportunity to commemorate such a horror—the murderous tyranny that occurred under the Nazi regime in Europe.

I particularly pay tribute to, and thank, those members who have shared their personal stories of their connections, through their families, to the Holocaust. It is quite striking that we have members of this parliament who have members of their family who escaped the horrors of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, that is a tragic reminder of the six million people whose descendants could equally have been serving in roles like members of this parliament and making such a contribution to humanity. That, of course, never came to pass because of the murder of their ancestors in that awful period of history.

I too have been to Dachau, just outside Munich. I've also been to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, and I'm very proud that we now have a Holocaust museum in Adelaide. Like others, I pay tribute to the former member for Kooyong Josh Frydenberg, who I was able to work with to secure very important support for that institution.

I particularly acknowledge my constituent Andrew Steiner, who is a Holocaust survivor. He was born in 1933; he's about to turn 90 years of age. He, for many decades, has been utterly dedicated to educating school-aged children, in particular, about the Holocaust; about the experience that he had as a boy growing up in Hungary, fleeing Europe and coming to Australia; and about the members of his family that he lost, that were murdered. The people that he came to Australia with had similar scarring experiences. He encapsulates the essence of how vital it is that we continue to educate people, particularly our next generation, on that horrible, murderous period of our history.

It is depressing to hear stories about a lack of awareness of the Holocaust. It is disgusting to see some of the very recent examples of antisemitism and the glorification of Nazism. We had it in Adelaide a few days ago. These are vile neo-Nazi people, giving their Hitler salutes in front of the Holocaust museum. Who are these people? They are an absolute disgrace. But at least we stand up to that sort of rubbish. We will make sure that the tragic loss of life and the other horrors of the Holocaust are not forgotten to the next generation and every generation into the future. The only good that can come out of the Holocaust is that it never, ever happens again and that nothing anywhere like it ever happens again. The only way that we can ensure that is by all doing everything we possibly can to make sure that the awareness of that horrible period in our history is always present with every generation into the future. There are members of this chamber that do great work in that regard. I would like to see other states follow the lead of Victoria and New South Wales in having Holocaust awareness in the curriculum, and I don't see why that is a challenge or anything overly controversial.

I want to finish by quickly touching on a very important element of the motion that the member for Macnamara moved, which is about some people recently seeking to compare things that happened in the pandemic to the Holocaust. There's nothing more disgraceful than people that think they can reference the Holocaust and trivialise the Holocaust by saying, 'This is just like the Holocaust.' There's nothing like the Holocaust. Nothing that we have experienced could ever come close to what happened in the Holocaust. Thank God! But it is absolutely disgusting and disgraceful when people trivialise the Holocaust by referencing things that have got nowhere near the horrors of that period of time and thinking that they can reference it to make some kind of cheap political point. So I thank the member for that element of the motion and I thank all those that have contributed to the debate. I look forward to continuing to work towards ensuring we commemorate the Holocaust into the future.

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