Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will not be lectured on how to tackle antisemitism in this country. The Albanese government thinks it has been on the front foot in listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. It thinks it has been strong. It has the gall to suggest the coalition has politicised this issue, while they have politicised it.

But Australians aren't falling for this ruse. This government hasn't been on the front foot; it's been on the back foot. This government hasn't been strong; it's been weak. From its first day in office, this government has politicised foreign policy issues to grandstand to a domestic political audience. The crisis of antisemitism afflicting our nation started with the Albanese government's supine response to the sordid scenes on the footsteps of the Sydney Opera House. Its weakness in the wake of that intolerable incident created an atmosphere of permissibility for more intolerable incidents.

As recently as 3 August some pro-Palestinian protestors gleefully carried a photo of Iran's oppressive dictator during the rally across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The Prime Minister astonishingly described this event as a 'peaceful demonstration'. When we hear the calls of 'bring down genocide' and 'stop genocide', let me tell you, Iran is for genocide. Iran is for the genocide of Israel. When we hear Australians, including those who sit in this chamber, chant 'from the river to the sea', they are calling for genocide and they are calling for terror, yet the Albanese government has failed miserably to attack these sorts of calls for genocide within this country.

Iran is a totalitarian state run by the odious, revolutionary and antisemitic Iranian regime. The regime oppresses its own people. The regime funds terrorists—Hamas, the Houthis and everybody else involved that wants to see harm come to not just Israel but the West. I suggest that the Prime Minister, if he hasn't already, views the footage that I have viewed from Israel of October 7. I can never erase that from my mind—seeing children, little boys as young as nine or 10, run into a shelter while Hamas hurls a bomb. Their father comes after them, only for his body parts to be blown to smithereens. This is what Iran seeks. They sit gleefully and watch as hordes of Australians wave flags that support their symbols.

The Albanese government has been weak, and the Australian people need to stand up once and for all against antisemitism— (Time expired.)