I move that the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) and the Minister for Indigenous Australians (Senator McCarthy) to questions without notice asked by Senators Cash and Paterson relating to antisemitism.
Both are very important questions, and I do want to again reiterate what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the attack on the Adass synagogue in Melbourne, as was raised by Senator Cash: Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israel position of the Labor government in Australia.
Senator Cash also raised the deep concerns of Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sharren Haskel, who said in relation to her meeting with Attorney-General Dreyfus:
I expressed to him my disappointment with the shift in the Australian government’s attitude towards Israel. I emphasised our deep concern regarding the shocking rise in antisemitism in Australia and the clearly ineffectual response from the Australian government and state governments. There is no doubt this has been caused in part by the Australian government’s ongoing campaign against Israel.
This is what it is: an ongoing campaign against Israel, which has fuelled antisemitic hate and division in our country through a weakness of leadership from this weak and incompetent Prime Minister. It is unbelievable that, since 7 October 2023, we have seen our country deteriorate.
As I say, the condemnation that we have seen from the Prime Minister of Israel and Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister is a shocking reflection on this weak Albanese Labor government. What are the consequences? The consequences are horrific. Over recent months, we’ve seen a synagogue firebombed, the former home of a Jewish leader vandalised, synagogues sprayed with hateful symbols, and even a Jewish childcare centre attacked in the middle of the night.
Jewish Australians are frightened. Jewish Australians are living in fear. Jewish Australians’ homes are being targeted with horrific antisemitic graffiti. High-profile Jewish Australians are waking up in the morning and seeing horrific slurs against Jewish Australians on their fences. It is shameful that this government has been so weak. This government could not even support the coalition’s senators’ bill here in the Senate or Mr Leeser’s private member’s bill to legislate a judicial inquiry into campus antisemitism.
The hate and incitement on university campuses is out of control, and we saw that again just last week at Queensland University of Technology, again fuelled by Labor’s weak leadership. The education minister, Mr Clare, has failed to call for the encampments to be shut down, failed to condemn extremists like members of Hizb ut-Tahrir protesting on university campuses and failed to take this seriously. The government have failed to listen to their own appointed antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, who backed the coalition’s call for a judicial inquiry along with every leading Jewish organisation, and the Zionist Federation of Australia have again backed this in.
This is, as I say, intolerable. Senator Paterson also raised very important questions about what the Prime Minister knew and when he was first briefed on reports about the discovery of the caravan in Dural. It is shocking that we know so little about this and that Australians were kept in the dark. Australians deserve answers on the handling of what could have been one of the most catastrophic acts of terror seen in Australia. A week on from the breaking of this report, we still remain none the wiser, and that is a disgrace.