Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Berowra proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government's continued failure to deal with antisemitism and keep Australians safe.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this matter of public importance as an Australian who watched his country's safety be degraded by a government that never, ever gets it right. They never, ever get it right. They always need to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing. For more than two years, the government ignored warnings from the Persian community, from the Jewish community and from the coalition about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and about Iran more generally. Firebombings and terror were the result. In the last 28 hours, the government has finally admitted what Jewish Australians, Persian Australians and the opposition have warned of for years: the Iranian regime is a criminal, wildly antisemitic regime that is targeting Australians in Australia.

I wish I could give the Prime Minister the praise he is looking for for his work on antisemitism. I really do. But I can't. I wish the government had demonstrated the leadership of the Labor premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, who but for his slowness to act on the Sydney Opera House protest has since that time always been on the front foot in dealing with antisemitism and community safety. He is an example of a Labor leader who gets it right.

I am sad that, every time I raise questions that reflect the views of my electorate, where I represent the fourth-largest Persian community in the country, or the Jewish community, of which I'm a proud member, I get accused of playing politics with this issue. It is our duty as the opposition to hold the government to account. It is my duty as a member of this parliament to represent the views of my electorate. It is my duty as a Jewish Australian to stand up for the Jewish community and for the safety of all Australians. I wish the government would get on the front foot when it comes to these issues, but again and again and again they've had to be dragged kicking and screaming to get things right. Their failure to take action on the IRGC and on the Iranian embassy has led, sadly, to firebombings, to arson and to widespread fear in our community.

It is the first duty of government to protect its citizens. That means acting to keep threats at bay before they become a problem. That means looking at what some of our like-minded partners around the world are doing—places like Canada and the United States—and challenging our own thinking. That means listening to your agencies but being prepared to exercise independent judgement and being prepared to change the law when the law needs to be changed.

When we look at the IRGC and we look at Iran, we see everything changed in 2022 with the murder of Mahsa Amini. The murder of Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement brought protests to our streets in Australia, with Iranian Australians and Australians of other backgrounds demanding reform, justice and human rights following the violations that occurred in Iran.

Those protests led to an inquiry by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, led by my extraordinary colleague Claire Chandler, who did a fantastic job standing up for the Persian community in this country, standing up for law-abiding Australians and drawing the attention of the country to these issues. It's worth having a look at what that committee report said about the Iranian embassy:

The committee received evidence that Iranian embassies around the world have been used to facilitate a range of illegal behaviour including terrorism activity. The inquiry also received a number of submissions outlining the credible fears that Iranian embassies are used to facilitate the monitoring, surveillance and intimidation of critics of the … regime. The Australian Government should have no hesitation in expelling any members of the Iranian embassy deemed to be involved in or facilitating such behaviour.

For more than a year we have called for the Iranian ambassador to go, because of his extraordinary antisemitic comments and the fact that he has been part of the degradation of social unity in this country. While we've been doing that, Labor luminaries like former foreign minister Bob Carr have been lining up for happy snaps and photo ops with the Iranian ambassador.

On the IRGC, the committee said this:

The committee acknowledges the body of evidence on the IRGC's support and facilitation of terrorism. It also acknowledges that there is significant fear of the IRGC in the Iranian-Australian community—a fear which is founded in the clear evidence that the IRGC operates well beyond Iran's borders with the express purpose of threatening, intimidating and committing acts of violence against individuals it believes threatens its ideology. The IRGC is a terrorist organisation and should be recognised as such. Doing so would not just send the right message—

This is the important bit—

it would better empower agencies in Australia to place a greater focus on the IRGC's activities and operations …

So we should have been listing the IRGC two years ago. In February 2023, when I was last shadow Attorney-General, I stood at this dispatch box and offered the opposition's support to make any changes to the criminal law of Australia to facilitate the listing of the IRGC. That was 2½ years ago. My colleagues wrote to the government offering our support in written form, and the government rejected those offers.

Yesterday we heard the extraordinary news that the Iranian regime has attempted to commit criminal terrorist acts on our own soil, targeting Australians, firebombing a synagogue and blowing up and burning down the Lewis delicatessen in Bondi. Australians could have been killed. There were Australians praying in the Adass Israel synagogue at the very time the firebombing went on. This is extraordinary.

We know from the director-general of ASIO that this is just the beginning. There are more actions that Iran has been involved in. The point here is that the government took 2½ years to act. It took ASIO to drag the government, kicking and screaming, to act. We offered support 2½ years ago to make the changes to the law that were necessary in order to make sure that the IRGC was listed, and we called repeatedly for the Iranian ambassador to go.

The sadness of what has happened under this government's watch is that this is part of a pattern that we've seen again and again from this government. It has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do things to protect law-abiding Australians—in particular, the Jewish community. And I'm fed up with it. I'm fed up, as a Jewish Australian, with being served the crumbs from the table of this government. Again and again, this government has let law-abiding Australians down.

The Prime Minister boasted about the appointment of Jillian Segal as the special envoy. We'd never had an envoy before, but we'd never had to have an envoy before the extraordinary increases in antisemitism—increases of over 700 per cent that occurred under this government. It's just extraordinary. It's one thing to appoint the envoy, but again and again and again this government has ignored the recommendations of the envoy. It ignored the recommendations of the envoy to have a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus. What happens on campus today, as I've said many times in this place, is so important. It's not just important for Jewish Australians; it is important for all Australians, because universities are the place where the next generation of leaders go to be formed. If we say to the next generation of leaders that antisemitism is acceptable and it can go about unanswered, then we are setting our country up for a very bleak future.

Just this week, this government voted again against measures to deal with antisemitism on campus. The special envoy presented her report two months ago. It wasn't a report full of government actions; it was a work plan for the special envoy. And the government has not committed to adopting this report. The government has not committed to supporting every single one of those recommendations, despite having it for two months. Surely, the events of yesterday, in hearing the way in which the Jewish community has yet again been targeted in antisemitic attacks led by the Iranian regime, its thugs and criminal proxies in this country, should wake this government up to do something about the antisemitism in this country.

This isn't the only example. The Prime Minister boasted about the Nazi symbols and salutes bill. We in the opposition put forward the Nazi symbols and salutes bill before the government, and they voted against our bill and they put their bill up. This government at the beginning of the year had to be dragged, again, kicking and screaming to adopt mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes in this country. It's just extraordinary that this government would have to be dragged kicking and screaming for mandatory minimum sentences. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to hold a National Cabinet on antisemitism, again, despite it being a recommendation from the special envoy. What did the National Cabinet do? It found that they merely should set up a database—a database that the Jewish community had been keeping for years.

On every occasion when this government has been tested, on every occasion, this government has been found wanting. They have had to be dragged kicking and screaming, again and again, and the Australian people are fed up with it. We want our streets back. We want our country back. We want the rule of law to be maintained, and we want law-abiding Australians, whatever their background, to enjoy the full benefits of the law. (Time expired)

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for International Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do just want to take a moment to thank the member for bringing this MPI and for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. With respect, though, this, of course, is not the first time, and, sadly, I imagine it's not the last time that we will be speaking about antisemitism as well as other forms of racism in this place.

In fact, I am reminded of one of my very first debates when I was first elected to this House in 2016. For the new members on both this side and opposite, I thought I might remind people that that was the debate on the removal of section 18C from the Racial Discrimination Act. I'll remind those opposite, who were in government at the time, that they argued that people have a right to be bigots. I'll remind those opposite that they argued that offence was taken, not given. Some of the members who argued that back in 2016 are still in this House today—whether or not they continue to hold those views, I don't know.

It was this side of the House, the Labor members, including many who sit here with me today, who stood against their attempts to water down the very mechanism that today affords Australians protection against the serious harms and effects of racism, bigotry and antisemitism. It was us who stood up against the removal of section 18C from the Racial Discrimination Act. We did that, and we stopped them from watering down those laws.

I'm also reminded that not long after that debate, something happened, and it's seared in my memory because not long after that both sides came together to condemn the hate speech of a particular senator. I know the member for Berowra and shadow Attorney-General remembers that. We stood together to condemn the hate speech of a particular senator, which I won't repeat, and I won't repeat his name because he's not deserving of that. That was deeply offensive, not just to Jewish Australians but to anybody who has in their lives been a target of hate. That moment is seared in my memory because, as a new member of parliament at that time, as a person of colour and as a Muslim, it showed that we are stronger when we take a bipartisan stance against antisemitism and hatred—when we stand together. It showed me, as a new person in this place, that there are things that are above politics, and it confirmed to me that racism and hatred should never, ever be weaponised for political ends and that we can rise above that in this place. We saw a glimpse of that yesterday afternoon again, when the Leader of the Opposition associated her comments with the Prime Minister's remarks, particularly with regard to our moves to list the IRCG as a terrorist organisation and the swift actions that we took when those revelations were made yesterday. We saw a glimpse of it yesterday; sadly, it didn't last.

The Prime Minister today in question time outlined the actions that this government has taken with regard to combating and addressing rising antisemitism. But it's worth repeating them, particularly now, and it's worth in particular repeating the Prime Minister's mention of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. I want to take a moment to thank Jillian Segal for the collaborative way in which she has worked, not just with me but with other relevant ministers in her role as the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism. Some of the other things that were mentioned by the Prime Minister and are worth repeating include that we are working with state attorneys-general to establish a national database to track antisemitic crime and other antisemitic incidences and behaviours. We need to know what we're dealing with here. I will say also that, whilst there has been a surge in antisemitism, antisemitism, as Jillian Segal often repeats to me, is an ancient hatred. Unfortunately, in this country we have seen sporadic increases in antisemitism and other forms of hatred throughout history. What is important is that we deal with them. What is important is not just that we set up the structures to respond to acts of antisemitism but that we set up strong foundations and structures to ensure it doesn't happen again. That requires us to really tackle the fragility of our social cohesion in this country.

I've long lamented the fact that there is a kind of gritted-teeth tolerance of difference in our nation, whether that is cultural and linguistic difference, whether it's a difference of race or whether, indeed, it's a difference of faith. We live in a pluralistic nation. Religious pluralism is inherent in our Constitution as well. And yet those of us who have been the recipients of hatred because of our faith or because of the colour of our skin or because of our background know too well that it is a very, very fragile tolerance that we have to live with. I hear the passion in the member for Berowra and shadow Attorney-General's voice, and I feel that passion too. We should not have to bear the burden of consistently having to stand up and educate people of the impacts of racism on our lives.

The Prime Minister also mentioned today our landmark legislation to ban the Nazi salute and the public display of Nazi symbols and, indeed, symbols of any terrorist organisation in Australia. That came into effect in January 2024. We've also criminalised doxxing. In terms of other measures that we have taken, we have provided more than $57 million to improve safety and security at Jewish community sites, including schools and synagogues. It's with great sadness that I say that we had to do this. People in this country should be able to freely worship and freely congregate in their faith communities and in their places of worship without having to worry about their security. But, sadly, we are in a position now where we have to harden schools, synagogues, temples, mosques and community centres against people who would be perpetrators of hatred and violence.

We provided $25 million to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for improved safety and security at Jewish sites across the country, including, as I mentioned, schools, preschools, synagogues and faith based community centres. We provided $32½ million to ECAJ for security measures in response to increased violence towards Australia's Jewish community; a grant of $250,000 towards the replacement and restoration of Torah scrolls housed in the Adass Israel synagogue; and $8½ million to upgrade the Sydney Jewish Museum, and that funding will go towards the Centre of Jewish Life and Tolerance.

It's with a heavy heart that I stand here and speak about this. There was a time when I thought that I would not have to do so again in this place and when I thought that we had come together in our condemnation of hatred, bigotry and racism in all its forms. That burden of having to consistently stand up against racism and hatred continues to fall on our shoulders. But I will end on this: the responsibility for strengthening our social cohesion in this country and for ensuring that generations of Australians in the future do not have to deal with a fragile social cohesion that is so subject to periodic ruptures, whether it be because of things that are happening overseas or things that are happening domestically, lies on all our shoulders. It lies on the shoulders of every single member in this place by way of how we model behaviour to those people who are watching. But it also falls on the shoulders of every single Australian. Hatred, racism and antisemitism are not things that we can handle alone. They have to be things that every Australian commits to combating. We commit to this for a better future for our children, for a better future for our nation and for an Australia that truly is the most successful multicultural nation in the world.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When we look at the Australian national flag and we see the Southern Cross, it's a reminder of how unique our geography is and the distance we have enjoyed over the years from many of the ancient hatreds in the Middle East and even Europe. But yesterday was a dark day in Australian history because we realised that those hatreds had come right to our front door.

Iran has sponsored terrorist acts on our soil against Jewish Australians. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted operational activities to firebomb a place of worship in Melbourne and to firebomb a business in Sydney. To focus on that would be to miss the larger frame of the last two years which has occurred under this Labor government, and that is that we have seen a crisis of antisemitism erupt in this country. We've had a series of appalling incidents of vandalism and public displays of support for terrorists. It's left many Australians very shocked and troubled by this but particularly Australians of Jewish heritage and faith, who feel under siege, who feel like their country is disappearing before them and who have always considered themselves Australians but are now being targeted by the government of Iran.

But it's not just public displays of antisemitism. We have seen crime and hate spread across many parts of our community. Our universities have been transformed into nurseries of hatred, where students chant, 'From the river to the sea'. The phrase 'from the river to the sea' is, I'm guessing, not something they understand all too well. It's drawn directly from the Hamas charter documents as recently as 2017. It means that Hamas wants to see the Jewish people extinguished from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. It's effectively a call to violent action.

We've seen a shocking campaign of terror across our country as cars and homes have been vandalised. We've even seen a childcare centre set alight and graffitied with antisemitic messages. Just last week, we saw a Hamas flag flown at a protest in Brisbane. It is shameful. People are tired of it, and, under this government, we've seen inaction. We've seen a lack of political leadership. We've seen a lack of moral clarity. We've seen taxpayer funds go on to extremist community organisations that undermine social cohesion. Labor gave more than $1.5 million in funding to a group whose employee called October 7th 'a day of courage' and vowed that Islam would dominate. We've seen Labor funnel taxpayer funds to prop up its vote. Eighty per cent of organisations that shared in Labor's $30 million package to support Palestinian Muslim communities were groups in Labor held seats. This is not the sort of thing that this government should be doing. They should be fostering social cohesion.

On this question of listing the IRGC, for the last 2 ½ years the coalition has called on the Albanese government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. My good friend the member for Berowra made these calls in the House of Representatives as early as February 2023, stating that the opposition was ready and willing to work with the government on any legislative changes to amend the Criminal Code to see the listing occur. We called on the government 10 times in the last two years to make the listing. Senator Claire Chandler's Senate inquiry gathered compelling evidence from the Jewish community and the Persian community that the IRGC was operating as a terrorist organisation. I want to emphasise to the House what a fine line there is between bombing a synagogue and actually murdering people. We could have had a foreign government, through its military arm, murdering Australian citizens, effectively conducting assassinations against the Australian people. That's how significant this was. It's taken ASIO 10 months of painstaking work to get the government to a point where they can finally see the necessity of listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and we'll do that as fast as humanly possible because we think it needs to be done.

Today, we're calling on the Labor government to start showing moral clarity. It shouldn't take an envoy with a report and its neglected recommendations to bring them to action. Australians out in the streets can see very clearly that we have a serious problem with antisemitism and that Australians of Jewish faith and heritage feel under siege. Their places of worship are being bombed. Their businesses are being firebombed. There's vandalism. There are calls on the street for them to be extinguished as a people. This government needs to— (Time expired)

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm saddened by the terms of this debate, by the motion and the framing. This is not a partisan issue. Antisemitism is an ancient scourge. It's an ancient hatred that's existed for centuries or, indeed, millennia—thousands of years. It's spiked and receded over time and places, but the awful reality is that, since Hamas's murderous terrorist attack nearly two years ago, we've seen a spike in antisemitism here in Australia. It's as real as it is debilitating.

We see this in the Scanlon report on social cohesion that tracks these things over time, the world's longest longitudinal study in any country. We see it in the data on reported incidents from states and territories reflected in the special envoy's recent report, and we hear it in the lived experience of our Jewish friends and community members. Antisemitism, like other forms of discrimination, is a stain on our society. It has no place in Australia, whether its antisemitism or hatred and violence of any form. Every Australian deserves to feel safe and respected, be it in their community, their workplace, their school or their place of worship, no matter their race or their faith. An Australian, to me, is anyone who's committed to our country, its democratic institutions and that basic principle of mutual respect for their fellow Australians, who may be very different and believe very different things, be it about God or world politics. We need to disagree agreeably about some things.

As a personal comment, I grew up in Melbourne. I couldn't imagine my home city without Jewish Australians, without Jewish life, without Jewish culture and without their contribution to every domain of our national life for a century. I was the mayor of a council that covered half of the bagel belt in Carlisle Street and synagogues around east St Kilda and nearby. I attended a Shabbat dinner last Friday, just a few days ago, with my daughter. We spent hours with senior members of the Jewish community talking, eating, laughing, sharing, emoting and listening to each other. I'll say very clearly: Jewish Australians are not responsible for the actions of the Netanyahu government, whether they agree with them or not.

With respect to Iran, what's happened is abhorrent. We've had a foreign regime effect potentially murderous and deadly attacks, criminal attacks, on our soil. It's not just an attack on the Jewish community or a place of worship or a business; it's an attack on Australians and Australia. When one of us is attacked because of our identity all of us are diminished. The government has rightly taken action that we haven't seen in this country since the Second World War to expel the Iranian ambassador and diplomats and suspend the operations of the embassy. That will impact thousands of Australians—Iranian Australians, dual citizens and others in Iran right now. As we've heard, ASIO has done the painstaking work of uncovering the links with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. There are ongoing investigations.

I'll make one point in response to the hyperbole that we've sadly seen from those opposite. Their members who have spoken so far have been or are members of the intelligence and security committee. The member opposite was the deputy chair when I was a member of that committee. They well know that the government takes the advice of security agencies. They don't take the advice of the opposition or interest groups. We listen to it, but we act on the advice of our security agencies, as has long been the tradition in these matters, as was their action as the former government.

I'll say clearly that Iranian Australians are not responsible for the actions of the ayatollah regime. Most of them vehemently disagree with that regime. There are a couple of fringe-dwelling idiots who might carry a flag or a picture at a rally, but that doesn't represent the majority of the community and they shouldn't be tarred by it.

I'll finish on this point. The goal of these antisemitic attacks is to spread fear in the Jewish community and to divide Australians. I say to those opposite who want to bring this motion and frame the debate in these terms and weaponise this scourge of antisemitism, for whatever partisan reasons, however genuinely it is felt by all of us, this kind of debate is exactly what our adversaries want. Don't fall into their trap with this kind of motion and debate. It should be a moment for our nation to come together; it lasted 24 hours. The Leader of the Opposition's position yesterday was decent, but all the shadow leaders of the opposition—O'Brien, Cash and Hastie—have been out on TV talking out of both sides of their mouths, and they should know better.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As has been remarked in this place on innumerable occasions, a government's first responsibility is to protect and defend its people. In the comments of my good friend the member for Bruce, he talked about not wanting to weaponise this issue, but that is this government's go-to whenever something is raised that the government do not want to talk about. It is absolutely clear, as clear as the nose on the member for Bruce's face, that this government has been asleep at the wheel on the issue of antisemitism. It has walked a very dangerous fine line since 7 October 2023.

With your indulgence, Madam Deputy Speaker Claydon, I want to tell the chamber about a very unfortunate circumstance that happened to me. I proudly wear the Australian and Israeli flags on my lapel. I'm not Jewish, but I am the chair of the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus. I was at the LNP conference on the weekend. I was minding my own business. I was actually in the foyer, and a staff member of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre approached me and proceeded to berate me for what he perceived to be the offences of the IDF. This was a staff member of the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. I was initially stunned; I was quite taken aback. The staff member walked off, and I thought to myself: 'Expletive this! I'm not going to put up with this rubbish.' So I took off after him. I said, 'Mate, that conduct is absolutely not on,' or words to that effect. One of his supervisors came up to me because he could see that I was somewhat animated.

Antisemitism in this country flourishes when good people do nothing. It concerns me greatly when members opposite try to dampen down the debate by saying that we are seeking to weaponise this. I am absolutely saying that this government continues, in a surreptitious way, to promote antisemitism by its silence. It is absolutely true. This government continues to fail to call out what we have seen at universities. It has failed in every respect to call out antisemitism. It's one thing to make mealy mouthed expressions and comments. We had a group of Jewish Australian students in this building this week, and the reality is that they have faced the most appalling antisemitism over the last two years by academics, students and visitors alike. Despite repeated requests, this government has failed to institute a royal commission into the actions of those on university campuses. That is just one example of what we have seen over the last— (Time expired)

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Antisemitism has no place in Australia. I know this, the Albanese Labor government knows this and Australians know this as well. I do have some respect for the member for Berowra, and I appreciate his work in this House. He worked with me as the deputy chair of the health committee in the last parliament for a time. However, as a Jewish Australian of the ninth generation and a proud member of the Australian Labor Party, I am actually ashamed that the member for Berowra has brought this accusation forward to this House. I must remind him that our government has and is keeping Jewish Australians safe, and I draw his attention to the Prime Minister's remarks following the Adass Israel synagogue attack in 2024 and his comments that antisemitism is evil and there is no place for it here.

It is true that due to the sad and pathetic acts of certain individuals there has been an increase in unease and concern among Jewish Australians, and that's never okay. I must stress also that no government can entirely prevent what sad, crazed individuals will do. However, governments must react effectively and empathetically to these episodes, and I am proud to say that the Albanese Labor government has done just that. We have tackled antisemitism with decisive, not divisive, action, whether it's through enhancing legislation and security to protect Jewish Australians, through improving education and awareness regarding what antisemitism is or through many other supports for the Jewish community, including millions of dollars in enhancing security in Jewish synagogues and schools. We've also banned hate symbols, as well as referring antisemitic incidents—in which there has been an increase—on university campuses to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. We've done many things.

It's vital to try and prevent antisemitism. However, we will never stop it altogether. Our government continues to support the Jewish community, but we are never going to stop antisemitism, racism and other hateful crimes in Australia. They are crimes and must be treated as such. But they have existed since the Jewish community came to Australia—including my ancestors—as convicts in this country. They have created successful and flourishing lives and families through many generations, and I'm very proud of that.

Attacks on our social cohesion are dreadful and must be prevented. What's been presented to the House today as a matter of public importance is damaging our social cohesion, and those opposite must know that. We take this very seriously. I have many friends across many different communities in my electorate, from the Persian community to the Lebanese community to the subcontinental community, and we strongly believe and support social cohesion across all those communities, and they supported me in the most recent election and continue to support me now. What is happening with this weaponisation of antisemitism is shameful, and I believe those opposite should be ashamed of their actions. However, I'm not going to lecture them about that. I hope that we can help preserve our social cohesion.

Antisemitism has occurred throughout generations in Australia. There are crazy people doing crazy things; we know that. They're in the minority. We must act against them, but they have occurred for generations. I remember well the firebombing of the Bankstown synagogue in 1991, when it was destroyed. The antisemitism that occurred after the Second World War had supporters on both sides of parliament, but they were in the minority.

The Australian parliament in general has acted in a bipartisan way to make sure our parliament reacts against antisemitism and racism in all its forms. We will continue to need to be vigilant in this space. But, as has been suggested, the Persian community in Australia does not support the Iranian regime, and many in the Jewish community do not support the actions of the Israeli government. (Time expired)

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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)

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too would like to start off by saying there is absolutely no place in our nation, in this country, in Australia, for the kind of antisemitism, hatred and violence that we've seen recently, and there's also no place for racism in this nation. We're a multicultural nation that has been built—our foundation is—on multiculturalism. We've lived harmoniously and continue to live harmoniously in this country. Every single Australian deserves to feel safe in their communities, no matter what their race or religion is.

I'll start off by saying issues like this should be dealt with in a bipartisan way, not politicised and not with megaphone politics. Therefore, I am disappointed that the member for Berowra, who I regard and respect as a good member of parliament, has raised this issue in a way that politicises it. I say so because the member for Berowra was here in 2016. For our newer members that are here, I have a bit of a history lesson. In August 2016, there was a bill that was brought to this place to change the antidiscrimination law. It was to change section 18C.

This is what those on that side wanted to do— I'll read section 18C out for you. Section 18C makes it unlawful to commit a public act that is 'reasonably likely' to 'offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people' based on their race. This is what they wanted to take out of the antidiscrimination act of 1975 that was brought in by a Labor government. Can you imagine, had that been taken out or watered down, what the ramifications would have been today? It would have been their own doing. It would have made it much worse. These are issues that should be approached with level heads on a non-political basis, where things are discussed to better them, rather than with the megaphone politics being used at this point.

I represent a seat like many of us on this side and many around me here—I have over 85 different ethnicities and nearly 200 religions within my electorate. Every weekend I am attending a different community, and I see the harmony. We're a harmonious country. We are a country that respects people's diversity and we are a country that has done so for many, many years. We're a shining light, a model, for the rest of the world. Of course there are people in our communities that have hatred, that have issues for whatever reason, but they're only a minority. They're a very small minority. Many of them have a loud voice and are heard over the majority. But they are a minority.

So to raise issues like this—and I know that it's been dreadful for the Jewish community in the last couple of years. I have a Jewish museum and synagogues in my electorate, and certainly we've seen the government put things in place like more security. I know that the Jewish museum in Adelaid—and those all around Australia as well—has received funding for better security. But we must ensure that racism is taken out of our community, that we discuss it in a reasonable manner when it does occur and that we do everything we can on both sides to be able to nip it in the bud and get rid of it, and not use it as a political football as we've seen. As I said earlier, had section 18C been taken out, where would we be today with the issues that we hear about and see?

Certainly, the attack on the Jewish community has been dreadful and horrendous. Not only was it an attack on the Jewish community; it was an attack on the whole of Australia. That's why the government has acted. We saw the Prime Minister yesterday ensure that the Iranian government was directed out of Australia, in terms of their ambassador. Certainly ASIO has determined that the Iranian government directed at least two attacks that we're aware of on two Jewish interests in Australia since late 2024, and many more are being investigated. But we need to have the facts. You need to get the facts. We have received the facts. The Prime Minister has received the reports from our intelligence agencies and has acted on them, unlike the other side, who screamed for us to jump and do things without us having had the facts in front of us. (Time expired)

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion is of paramount importance, and I congratulate the member for Berowra for bringing it to the parliament's attention. There is a simple reality. In the two years since the October 7 attacks, we have seen an unprecedented rise in antisemitism in this country. It is an absolute tragedy that, of course, stains the history of our nation. But the reality is in the lived experiences of Jewish Australians, many of whom live within the federal electorate of Goldstein, the neighbouring federal electorate of Macnamara and, of course, throughout our great country. They have seen firsthand—and lived firsthand—the consequences of a failure of leadership that we have had, which started in this federal parliament and the Prime Minister's chair and so often through our state governments as well.

We heard these stories directly from members of the Jewish community recently at the launch of the book Ruptured at Glen Eira Town Hall. I was privileged to be at the launch and to have been given a copy of the book by the Union of Jewish Students during their recent leadership retreat in Canberra. In doing so, it goes through the stories and trauma of many of the local women in Goldstein and throughout Australia talking about their experiences since 7 October and how that trauma is not over. The tragic reality of antisemitism that started immediately after 7 October has not stopped. From the steps of Sydney Opera House, where we had this absurd debate about whether people who were supporting Hamas were saying 'Gas the Jews' or 'Where are the Jews?' The solution from this parliament, this government, this Prime Minister wasn't simply to condemn antisemitism, which is an absolute disgrace and a stain on our nation. It has led to a prolific outburst and outbreak of antisemitism that Australians are still living with today.

It then escalated and continued. We saw violent protests out the front of Central Shule Caulfield South, in the Goldstein electorate. We have seen graffiti, firebombing and, of course, the most explicit example of that at the Adass synagogue. We have seen it in east Melbourne as well as, of course, Miznon, in the city of Melbourne, where there have been attacks on restaurants, as there have been in the federal electorate of Wentworth as well.

At every point, the Jewish community has been screaming out about the rise of antisemitism, and their expectations have been that they want their government on their side. That is not an unreasonable expectation of any Australian. Yes, they want moral support and they want people to stand by them. Where there is an issue with the law, yes, of course there is a reasonable expectation to make sure that there is a change in law. But, more than anything else, they wanted the government to call out and show leadership, to know that the standard the Australian government, our Prime Minister and the rest of the government of the Commonwealth of Australia was prepared to walk past was a standard we were prepared to accept. We know the standard they were prepared to accept, and it's the reality that people are living with today.

The consequence is now clear. As the member for Berowra, shadow Attorney-General and my dear friend has outlined, it has led to a situation where, two years after the coalition called for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organisation, finally, on the advice of ASIO, the government has been dragged kicking and screaming to listing them as a terrorist organisation. But it's important to understand—while this is an important step two years too late, don't think it ends here. So many people are still living with the consequences of antisemitism—and will. I was speaking about this only recently, the other day at St Kilda shule. In particular, we often see that, in the outbreak of extremism that validates or gives a permissive environment for antisemitism, we see other types of degradation of other sections of the community. The expression so often used by the Jewish community is that they are the canary in the coalmine. We have seen extremism tolerated against the Jewish community. We have increasingly seen, particularly in Melbourne, a rise in homophobia as well. Unfortunately, we've seen come into the Goldstein office the twins of antisemitism and homophobia, but we are now seeing attacks of other sections of the community too.

This is the lived reality of what happens when we tolerate extremism and see a failure of leadership. It spreads. This is why good people need to stand up. We've continued to see it, from what happened in Juniper Salon in Bentleigh, in the electorate of Goldstein, sadly, where people simply seeking to get a haircut experienced antisemitism. We have a choice. We can be a country of harmony, respect, dignity and stability or continue to pay a price as a nation.

Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the last few years, I have lived the change and the targeting of my community. I have lived and woken up to pictures on my phone of my own office being set alight. There isn't a day that goes by that doesn't have images of either me, my colleagues or my community online with the worst connotations and the worst sort of bigotry and blood libels attached to our community. This is a complicated and wicked problem that for too many people has risen to the surface of our society due to tensions that are going on on the other side of the world. It is difficult to manage; there is no doubt. What is required is diligence and a focus on the issues to try to work through ways in which we can combat them in the best way forward. That is a difficult task, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. It does nothing, though, to bring motions into this place to try to sow doubt in the minds of the people that we are seeking to protect and have taken unprecedented steps this week to protect in the interests of not just the Jewish community but all Australians. To then somehow say that this government isn't taking seriously the scourge of antisemitism, what does that achieve in this place right now?

When we take the unprecedented step, for the first time since World War II, of expelling the Iranian diplomatic representation in Australia and we announce our intention to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, that is not the end of the matter. There are Iranian Australians who are thinking about their families in Iran right now. There are people from the Iranian community who I was on the phone to when Israel and Iran were at war who were so frightened for their families seeking to leave that country, and I had to tell those people, 'We are trying, but it is very hard because we just don't have enough resources on the ground.' Imagine what we are telling that community and those people right now, today—that we have pulled Australian representation out of that country. The things that we are doing are not just for the political benefit of the House of Representatives to go and put it on a media release or on a social media platform. These are real and hard decisions that we have to weigh up—all the different things that affect so many different communities and Australians that we seek to protect.

I would say to those opposite: imagine if, today, you came into this place and said, 'Actually, we are here to support the government; we're not going to try and pretend that a Senate committee recommending to list an entire military operation connected to the ayatollahs of Iran which has 125,000 members is somehow an adequate piece of advice for the Australian government to list the IRGC.' No. It takes security advice compiled by ASIO and other security agencies for the Australian government to reach that threshold, as is appropriate. It is not appropriate that we would take the advice from a Senate committee that's not set up by or invested in government security agencies. It is appropriate that we do it with the full cooperation of people who have information that is not privy to every single member of this House.

I would also say to those opposite that in somehow diminishing that and making this about the Prime Minister—for goodness sake!—how transparent are your intentions? What did that achieve at the last election? For two years, while October 7th happened and the consequences that were felt by the Jewish community were real and were devastating, instead of trying to sow doubt, you could have been constructive. Be constructive. Come to us with ideas that you think will work, and, if they aren't feasible, then we will give that feedback as well. But don't pretend that just because you say something it means that that has to happen, and don't pretend that there aren't serious considerations that mean you would do exactly the same thing. In nine years, those opposite didn't list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. They did not do that.

The final thing I would say in this debate—and the member for Berowra knows this—is that you only have to walk down the streets of Glen Eira Road and Hotham Street to see the Adass community walking. It is an amazing amalgamation of tradition and modernity walking on the streets. The way that that community has behaved with dignity, class and resilience is exactly the sort of example that I seek to have followed, not making this a cheap political contest, which it should never, ever be.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this discussion has now concluded.