Steve Hutchins (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I intended to make a contribution later this week in relation to some historical events. Unfortunately, due to a number of circumstances, I am unable at this stage to do that, but I do intend to at the next sitting of parliament.

During the break, I read a book by a lady called Lynne Olson entitled Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England. As a result of that, I inquired of the Parliamentary Library as to what was happening in the Australian parliament in that period between 1935 and 1939. I cannot go into detail this evening as a result of the shortage of time, but I do want to refer specifically to the responses within the Australian parliament in that period in relation to the persecution of Jews in Germany. And I am particularly disturbed by an article in the Australian today by Victor Davis Hanson, which outlines again the insidious anti-Semitism that is about in the Western community, particularly amongst the intelligentsia and probably on my own side of politics.

It was disturbing to look at the responses in the Australian parliament in that period. As I said, I will comment on them later, when we come back. But it is also concerning that here we are on 17 September 2007, and only 72 years ago, two days earlier, the Nazis stripped German Jews of their rights with the Nuremberg race laws. As a result of that, going in chronological order, on 9 and 10 November 1938 there was an infamous event called Crystal Night, where murder, harassment and other terrible things were done to people of the Jewish faith.

I inquired as to what the Australian parliament was saying in that period. I must say that I am not very proud of the contribution of my own party in highlighting the events that occurred. Indeed, the non-Labor parties also have a bit to answer for. I thank Ms Janet Wilson from the Parliamentary Library for assisting me in this. She cannot be held accountable for my interpretation or the use of documents that I refer to. Only on 17 and 18 November 1938 did a member of parliament ask a question about the treatment of Jews in Germany. He was a non-Labor member of parliament, a Mr Francis.

To the credit of our side, the Labor Party, there was a very old member of parliament who I think was born in 1850 or so, Dr Maloney, the member for Melbourne—who Arthur Calwell succeeded—who made an impassioned speech on 18 November 1938 imploring all of us to treat fairly people of the Jewish faith, or Jews, if we want to call them that, and to look after them because of the persecution that they were suffering in Germany. They were about to suffer the same fate in Poland. But there were no other instances of parliamentary contributions on this. On the same day, 18 November 1938, a Mr Hutchinson asked a question of the Prime Minister in relation to the treatment of Jews in Germany. He would have been well aware of Crystal Night—which was, as I said, on 8, 9 and 10 November—which was clearly highlighted in the press at that time. The only other time that this issue was mentioned in the Australian parliament in that period before the outbreak of war in 1939 was on 17 May 1939, by Senator McLeay. He was from your state, Mr President—South Australia. In his speech as the Minister for Commerce he said, ‘Also, the organised ill-treatment of the Jews and the violent turn of public utterances and officially inspired press articles indicated the strong influence of extremists in the councils of the Reich.’

As I said, I well intended to make a more detailed contribution in relation to this area because I believe that we as members of parliament should always be conscious of the fact that in our lifetime and in our period here in parliament these events may be occurring—and we should also comment on them. I should also say that Sir Charles Marr, who was a member of the House of Representatives, on 9 May 1939 referred to the atrocities being committed against Jews. To my concern, a member of the Labor Party—Mr Jack Beasley, who was also known as ‘stabber Jack Beasley’, a member of the New South Wales Labor Party—thought that this was no different to the way the British were treating people in India and Palestine.

I say all this because, as I said, it is only 72 years ago that the Nazis passed these laws in Germany and the Australian parliament said very little about it. We saw in today’s Australian an article by Mr Victor Davis Hanson. He outlines again, to my concern, the insidious anti-Semitism that is about. Mr Hanson quotes the former Prime Minister of Turkey and his anti-Semitic comments. He quotes a former US senator and his anti-Semitic comments. He quotes a current member of the British parliament, a Labour member, Clare Short, and her anti-Semitic comments. Let me finish by quoting this article. It says:

This new face of anti-Semitism is so insidious because it is so well disguised, advanced by self-proclaimed diplomats and academics, and now embraced by the supposedly sophisticated Left on university campuses.

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