Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. After the tragic events of the violent, antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach last month, how is the Albanese government working to combat antisemitism, extremism and hate, and to keep all Australians safe?

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

I thank the member for Isaacs for his question and his commitment not just as a member of the Australian parliament but also as someone who is very committed to helping his fellow Jewish Australians. He travelled to Sydney in the hours after this terrible attack on the first night of Hanukkah where 15 Australians were murdered at Bondi Beach. They wounded dozens more—men, women and children. It was an antisemitic terrorist attack aimed at Jewish Australians, inspired by ISIS, the deadliest that has ever occurred on Australian soil. It was also an attack on every single Australian because it was an attack on our way of life, in which the Australian covenant is that, if people have any prejudice or hate, that is left in the customs hall. Here in Australia we respect each other, people of different faiths and backgrounds, and we treat each other properly.

Since the horror of that day, our priority has been to keep Australians safe, to combat antisemitism, extremism and hate, to bring an end to violence, to bring the nation together, to wrap our arms around the Jewish community and to be with them in their profound grief. We've announced a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion so people can tell their stories to inform meaningful action. Today we have passed through this House laws to address both the motivation and the method of the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi, because the terrorists had hate in their hearts but they also had high-powered rifles in their hands. We're taking action on both—we're tackling antisemitism and hate and we're getting dangerous guns off our streets.

On Thursday, we will come together in a national day of mourning, honouring the victims and all those impacted by the violence at Bondi. The theme that the Chabad community have chosen is 'light will win: a gathering of unity and remembrance'. That is what the local community, led by their spiritual leader Rabbi Ulman—whom I have spoken with again this morning—really want to see: a fitting moment for our grieving nation to come together and reaffirm our commitment that in Australia light triumphs over darkness.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is the Prime Minister. After Australia's deadliest ever terror attack, in Bondi, the families of victims wrote to the Prime Minister and said:

… we have endured more than 2½ years of relentless attacks.

Our children feel unsafe at school … Our homes, workplaces, sporting fields and public spaces no longer feel secure. It is an intolerable situation that no Australian should have to endure.

Prime Minister, I ask again: will you apologise to Jewish Australians because you and your government did not listen?

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

I certainly acknowledge very directly the pain that Jewish Australians are feeling and that they have felt for some period of time. The idea that antisemitism began with the election of the government in 2022 is just not right. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, on 25 November 2018, said that the 12-month period ending 30 September 2018 saw a 59 per cent increase over the previous year in total antisemitic incidents in Australia involving threats or acts of violence. Josh Frydenberg, the then treasurer, said on 10 May 2019, 'Antisemitism is on the rise here in Australia, and the number of incidents has increased quite dramatically.' The member for Berowra said on 6 May 2019:

… I find it hard to believe that in 2019 we are witnessing anti-Semitic incidents on an unprecedented scale.

Senator Andrew Bragg said in the same year:

I believe anti-Semitism is a rising problem …

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! We don't need those sorts of commentary. The member for Berowra is entitled to raise a point of order.

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

Point of order, Mr Speaker, on relevance: the Prime Minister wasn't asked about the history of antisemitism in Australia; he was asked whether he apologised for his government's failures to do enough to deal with the antisemitism.

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

The Prime Minister—

Opposition members interjecting—

Order! As all members know, I can't direct any member to give yes or no as the answer you would like. The Prime Minister is being directly relevant, giving information to the House about the exact topic he was asked about. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

Let me be very clear: all governments should have done better. That is my point. The idea that antisemitism began two years ago with the change of government is false, and it's declared to be false by the comments of those opposite in senior positions. Despite the surge in antisemitism on their watch, did the Morrison government appoint a special envoy to combat antisemitism? No. Did they establish a joint operation, bringing together the AFP and ASIO to combat acts of antisemitism? No. Did they introduce Australia's first ever hate speech laws? No. Did they legislate a crackdown on preachers and leaders that promoted violence? No.

We also enacted a landmark ban on the Nazi salute and hate symbols; we criminalised doxxing, something that those opposite voted against; we've appointed Australia's first National Student Ombudsman; we've created and launched a national hate crimes and incidents database; we've imposed counterterrorism financing sanctions on the white supremacist terrorist network Terrorgram; we expelled the Iranian ambassador for their interference in Australia; we directed the eSafety Commissioner to tackle the proliferation of hateful online content; and we have now established a Royal Commission—

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition has asked her question.

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

on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. What is the Australian government's response to combating antisemitism, and why is a bipartisan approach important?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Back in May of 2024, I visited Mount Scopus Memorial College, a Jewish school in Melbourne, with the member for Macnamara, who is indeed an honoured old boy. We attended there because the day before there had been a horrible antisemitic slogan spray-painted on the school's wall. It was a clarifying experience for me. It's obviously terrible that kids have to look at that hate directed at who they are. But, actually, life at the school was an eye-opener. Security there is not unlike security here, but whereas we are adults who have made the choice to be an adult life, these are kids who have no choice. The idea that children are receiving their education—that they are learning to experience the world behind large walls protecting them from the world—is just so sad. That's not a reflection on the kids; that is, of course, a reflection on the world that is outside. That is a reflection on Australia today.

Antisemitism has been around for a while, and in truth that kind of security on Jewish community facilities has been there for many years, but antisemitism has become much worse since 7 October 2023. The way in which life for Jewish Australians has been compromised is profound. It is not okay that Jewish students at universities feel uncomfortable wearing the kippah. It is not okay that Jewish artists have effectively been cancelled. We understand that there is much more to do, but our government has acted against antisemitism. We have made criminal more forms of hate speech, we have appointed an envoy to combat antisemitism, and we've now committed to implementing her report in full.

We would have liked to have done more in that regard this week, but we are grateful for whatever we can do this week amongst all of us, because it takes all of us, which is a point that is well made by the American Jewish Committee in its call to action against antisemitism. It says:

When considered only through a partisan lens, antisemitism is not being countered, but instrumentalized. Antisemitism must not be a partisan issue used as a wedge within the Jewish community. Especially in advance of elections, we encourage Members of Congress to be mindful of politicization and reach across party lines to address antisemitism.

These are wise words. We are only going to rid the scourge of antisemitism in this country if we all rise above our parties and do it together.

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Radical extremism, Islamist and other forms, is a threat to Jewish Australians and all Australians, as we saw so devastatingly in Bondi on 14 December. We have had deradicalisation programs in place for many years, but extremism is still taking root. How does the government measure the current effectiveness of these deradicalisation programs, and how effective are these programs at all? We have the Richardson review and part of the royal commission coming up, but is the government planning to take any other actions in terms of deradicalisation in particular before then?

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

I thank the member for Wentworth for her question, and I praise her unreservedly for her role as a local member in what has been a devastating time for her local community—not just the Jewish community. Of course, Bondi is such an iconic place, and the local member has shown extraordinary leadership and capacity in my view, and I thank her for that. I will ask the minister to supplement, but I would say that radical Islamic extremism is a major problem. We know that that is the case. We know that hate preachers can cause a real problem in distorting Islam and creating a circumstance where people are full of hate, and we saw an expression of hate motivated by ISIS, an ideology that isn't about any state. It is about an Islamic caliphate around the world. Often this is difficult, as the examples come from what is a father and son—it's much more difficult to detect. As the ASIO director-general has reported, a big threat is sole actors—an individual actor. In this case, a father and son discussing these things over the dinner table or in private quarters—not engaging in electronic measures, communication that can be detected—means that it is much more difficult. But the government has a range of programs. That is certainly something, as well, that the Richardson review will look at. I'll ask the minister to supplement.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Prime Minister. The counterterrorism and violent extremism strategy was released again last year, where we reviewed the different programs that we run. They're important programs, and there is regular measuring of them. The challenge we have is that terrorism itself is changing as well.

If I give, simply, these statistics: as of a couple of days ago, since 2014, we've had 189 people charged as a result of counterterrorism operations. Right now we have 35 people who are currently before the courts. Eighteen of the 35 are children. So what we used to have to monitor in terms of organised cells of people, often in their 20s and 30s, is very different now. In terms of the ideology, we are getting mixed ideologies. We're getting seriously mixed ideologies. You'll have someone, for example, whose ideology will be a mixture of Nazism, the sort of radicalisation that you've just described, and environmentalism. This will all be mixed up where the only common theme is violence. That does mean that, for our agencies, the threat now is more complex. People are radicalising younger and faster and predominantly online.