Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the shadow Attorney-General's motion about the Albanese government's continued failure to deal with antisemitism and to keep Australians safe. As I said in my maiden speech, antisemitism is an offence against Australian values. We have seen our Jewish community attacked, discriminated against and terrorised. This is a stain on our good national character. Every time there is an attack on our Jewish community, political leaders have a choice: to confront this head-on or to choose to look away and hope it goes away. Tragically, on this issue we have not seen the strength and moral courage befitting a prime minister.

Now, I wholeheartedly support the government's actions in expelling the ambassador of Iran. As Greg Sheridan said in the Australian today, 'These are serious, even historic, actions, taken for the right reasons.' But yesterday's turn of events, sadly, follows a litany of failures to properly address the oldest hatred of all time—left unchallenged by this government that for too long has shown it will not listen and it will not act.

In today's question time, the Prime Minister defended his actions on this issue by pointing to the fact that he appointed a special envoy on antisemitism. But the obvious question to this is: why haven't you listened to her? Why didn't you act on the special envoy's report? The safety of Australians should not be an afterthought to government. It should be treated with proactive urgency, not a reactive mop up. This has been a massive failure of duty. It has been an abrogation of diligence. It is indicative of how this government chooses to govern. The Prime Minister was fond of the slogan 'a better Australia' when he came to government. Where has he taken us to today? Not a better Australia. We are more divided, less united and at greater risk.

For 2½ years, the coalition has been calling for the Albanese government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. But the government wouldn't listen, and they didn't act. Synagogues have been firebombed. This government has acted too late on the motivation for these attacks and the aftermath. ASIO and the Australian Federal Police provided evidence that the Iranian government has been responsible for not one but at least two serious antisemitic attacks in Australia. There could well be more. These are despicable actions. They are unprecedented in their nature in Australia. They are illegal. They have put lives at risk. They have terrorised our community. This is a foreign government not just seeking to cause violence. It is seeking to sow hate, disunity and civil disruption. These are major national security risks.

Jewish Australians are living in fear right now, particularly in my home state of Victoria. They are scared. We have some shocking, appalling examples of schoolkids being publicly abused because they are Jewish. You have to ask what sort of time we are living in, where anyone would feel comfortable racially abusing schoolchildren—kids!—in public, because they feel like they can, because that's the time that we're living in right now. We've seen businesses owned by Jewish Australians having their staff attacked, their premises firebombed and frequent and persistent calls for their businesses to be boycotted. In no other situation would this be tolerated, and for no other group in society would this be allowed to stand.

I am proud to represent an electorate named after Australia's greatest ever citizen, General Sir John Monash, a Jewish man. Despite his heroic war efforts, Monash had to contend with antisemitism in his day. He would be heartsick, I am sure, to see his beloved city of Melbourne and home state in the grips of an epidemic of antisemitism right now. Last year, I visited a synagogue in St Kilda that John Monash was once the president of. I met a Holocaust survivor, Judy, who would be 95 this year. We talked about antisemitism in Melbourne. She said Australia was a safe haven from the greatest horrors on Earth.

To Judy I say: I stand with you, the coalition stands with you and good Australians stand with you. (Time expired)

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