Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

One of the first things that Ms Segal did was attend the world envoys on antisemitism conference in South America—because other countries have had envoys for a long period of time. It never happened until this government.

We, of course, established Special Operation Avalite with the AFP and the intelligence agencies to combat acts of antisemitism. What they have done is make rather extraordinary findings after hard work about the caravan incident in Sydney and then about the incidents in Melbourne with the Adass synagogue and the restaurant in Bondi—important work going through the chain of command, tracing it to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran and working backwards with those people who were paid both offshore and onshore to commit what are criminal acts driven overseas by antisemitism but driven by some of the perpetrators as simply being petty and, in some cases, not-so-petty criminals in order to be paid to do that.

We have imposed new counterterrorism sanctions on terror grounds. We have had a landmark ban on the Nazi salute and hate symbols—never happened before—with penalties of one-year imprisonment or a fine of up to $16½ thousand. We've criminalised doxxing, something that was raised by the Jewish community in particular. The legislation was opposed by the coalition when we did it last year. We have worked with states and territories on a national hate crimes and incident database. We've appointed Australia's first national student ombudsman. Just this week on Monday, I met once again, as I have every year for a couple of decades, with the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, talking to them directly about what they had gone through in recent times and talking to them as well about something that is not new.

I had the president of National Action, James Saleam, who ended up in jail for murder, who ran for president of Sydney Uni SRC way back in 1983 when I was a student there. Antisemitism is not new. It has been around for a long period of time, as have Neo-Nazis as well. ASIO have warned about the rise of hard-right extremism. Of course, we see it tragically in recent times. We'll have more to say when the police are able to confirm issues, and we await those announcements before we raise them in the House.

In the weeks following the 7 October terrorist attack, we committed $25 million for improved safety and security of Jewish sites across the country, including schools. We added to that, within 24 hours of being requested, $32.5 million for security measures for schools and synagogues. We passed legislation to criminalise hate speech. We provided $250,000 towards the replacement and restoration of Torah scrolls in that Adass Israel synagogue, $1.2 million for security upgrades to current buildings and $30 million to restore the synagogue and community centre. I was the first prime minister to visit the school there at Adass Israel. We provided $8½ million to upgrade the Sydney Jewish Museum, where I went with the member for Wentworth, with funding to also go towards the Centre of Jewish Life and Tolerance. We announced $100 million for countering violent extremism.

We provided an additional $4 million to expand the social cohesion work of Together for Humanity in schools. We've provided $4.4 million to establish the National Holocaust Education Centre here in Canberra. This will be accessible to the more than 160,000 school students who visit Canberra each year. I myself was able to welcome Enfield Public School here about an hour ago. They might be in the gallery somewhere during question time. It is important that when people visit the centre here, just like they visit the National Gallery, the National Museum or the Australian War Memorial, part of that itinerary for young Australians is raising the issue of antisemitism and education, which we will do. We committed $18 million to the Jewish Arts Quarter in Melbourne.

I'm asked also in the original question about the response of the Jewish community. Jeremy Leibler, from the Zionist Federation of Australia, said:

the Government's actions today send a powerful and principled message that terrorism, foreign interference, and hate have no place in Australia.

AIJAC, the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, said:

The government has acted promptly and appropriately in response to ASIO's confirmation of this Iranian aggression against Australia.

The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies said:

The Government has taken the right and appropriate steps in proscribing the IRGC and expelling Iranian diplomats based in Australia.

The Iranian community has responded as well. AUSIRAN said, 'We welcome the Australian government's decision to expel the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran following ASIO's confirmation of the regime's direct involvement in attacks on Australian soil.' The Australian Iranian Community Organisation said: 'We commend Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government for their clear and resolute actions. By taking this courageous stand, Australia is not only safeguarding its own national security but also upholding justice, diversity and the protection of all its citizens regardless of faith or heritage.'

We on this side of the House and, I would hope, people across the parliament understand that there are times when the nation should just come together. I would have thought that yesterday was one of those times, and it was. It's a pity it hasn't lasted till today.

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