E&OE
Rabbi – thank you very much. It’s a great honour to be here with you today.
Thank you to my many friends and colleagues who are here today.
Rabbi Glasman, to you, and to the other distinguished Rabbis and community members who are here today.
Thank you for your outstanding leadership in a time of great need.
Your leadership has a particular resonance with me because through thick and thin, you have stuck with your people, stuck with your community, stuck with your country, and the work that you do on a daily basis is quite remarkable.
So, thank you for what you do.
Thank you very much to Janice and Silviu for hosting us here in your capacity as President and Vice President, and congratulations on your success.
More generally, ladies and gentlemen – thank you for being here today.
This opportunity comes at the right time because it is time for a frank conversation.
It is time for many Australians to hear more about what the Jewish community is suffering through at the moment.
I want to say thank you very much to my loyal friend and Deputy Leader of our Liberal Party, a remarkable woman, Sussan Ley.
I say thank you very much Katie Allen, to Tim Wilson, to Theo Zographos, for being here as well. Again, wonderful supporters of this community.
To David Southwick and James Newbury, for their unwavering support of the Jewish community.
To my dear friend James Paterson. Thank you, James, for your earlier words. You’re a man of great morals and you have been absolutely steadfast in your support over many, many years for the state of Israel, and the wonderful people of our country who share this faith.
Vasily Grossman was a Jewish Ukrainian writer – many of you would have read his work. He became a war correspondent for the Soviet army and came across the Nazi death camps.
He described anti-Semitism as a ‘unique phenomenon’ which ‘can take many forms’.
He wrote that anti-Semitism ‘has been as strong in the age of atomic reactors and computers as in the age of oil-lamps, of sailing-boats and spinning wheels.’
Another journalist, the great Christopher Hitchens, called anti-Semitism ‘the godfather of racism’.
The two writers illustrate the sinister nature of anti-Semitism:
Anti-Semitism, as we know, is age-old, it’s shape-shifting, and it’s enduring.
Wherever the Jewish people have walked in history, there has been anti-Semitism.
Therefore of course, in our society, the anti-Semitism exists here – as much as we don’t want it to.
But what is truly shocking is the magnitude and the intensity of anti-Semitism which has emerged on our soil, here in Australia, since Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7 and the ghastly protests at the Sydney Opera House on October 9.
These events have laid bare an anti-Semitic rot afflicting our country, our nation, our society, and our institutions.
Two days after that seething anti-Semitic mob gathered at the Sydney Opera House – and regardless of what people want to interpret what they were saying, they were there with hate in their hearts and in their words – I joined a crowd of 10,000 people at Dover Heights for a Jewish community vigil.
Jewish people were fearful then – I could see it in their eyes as I spoke that afternoon.
Jewish people are fearful now, in our country, in the 21st century, and it’s unconscionable.
I know that many of you share that same apprehension, not just for yourself , but for your children and grandchildren and for your community at large.
As you know better than me, the Jewish character is remarkable – one of strength, one of solidarity, and one of survival.
That character has seen the Jewish people overcome every ordeal they have faced in history – be it subjugation, persecution, dispossession, exile, and massacre.
That same character will see the Jewish people prevail over present ordeals.
But in the battle against anti-Semitism in Australia, I want to emphasise this point:
You are not alone.
The fight will not be yours alone.
The Coalition I lead will continue to call out and condemn anti-Semitism wherever and whenever we see it on our soil.
There is no acceptable level. There is zero tolerance.
We know that anti-Semitism is not purely a threat to one segment of the community, and all Australians should be reminded of this.
Anti-Semitism is a threat to the Australian achievement and to our democratic way of life.
To again quote Christopher Hitchens – anti-Semitism is not ‘the enemy of the Jewish people alone’, but ‘the common enemy of humanity and of civilisation’.
So, how, then, do we turn the tide of anti-Semitism that we see now?
Well, first and foremost, the laws need to be enforced readily – not reluctantly – against those inciting hatred and violence.
Had the law enforcement response been stronger to the events at the Sydney Opera House, had the leadership, the political leadership, been provided it may have prevented subsequent incidents.
We know what happened in Caulfield – only a few kilometres from here.
We know what happened, shamefully, at the Crowne Plaza hotel, where Israelis were staying.
But we need solid, strong and predictable, and unwavering leadership.
We need to make sure that we are clear in our condemnations.
As we’ve been clear in relation to the events that we’ve seen in Australia in the last week, we need to make sure that the message against anti-Semitism is heard from every level of the Government.
Not clouded by instances of moral equivalence and moral ambiguity.
The result has been a national moral fog which has regrettably made anti-Semitism permissible.
The Coalition again will continue to speak up with moral courage and moral clarity to clear that moral fog.
We will continue to work with you to demand consistent standards of leadership from those who govern.
As you know, central to Australia’s social cohesion is a social contract.
Whatever our background, our faith, or our cultural traditions, we do not allow the problems, the tensions, or the animosity of other parts of the world to manifest in our communities or on our streets.
The Jewish community have been exemplars of this principle.
The events of the Sydney Opera House have shone a light on the fact that there are people in our country today who do not subscribe to our democratic values.
We’ve seen some of them opposite the gates here today.
People who have torn up the social contract.
People who do not want to change for Australia, but want, instead, for Australia to change for them.
This cannot and will not stand.
We need a societal wide effort – from parents, from educators, from community leaders, and parliamentarians – to reassert our cultural values.
None more important than respect for the law; and respect for freedom of belief and association.
As a result of the terrible events of the past week, communities across the nation are even more on edge.
This is a critical time for our country for all faith and community leaders to come together.
To take the temperature down.
To stand united against those malign forces which threaten our cohesion.
To make it clear that acts of violence are completely unacceptable.
To reinforce that voicing opinions in a different way must be done in a respectful way.
So, I want to be very clear about my message here today for you.
We are here to join with you.
We are here to work with you.
And to celebrate the wonderful story of your lives and journey.
Australians who incite or choose violence over that message, should face the full force of the law.
Non-citizens who incite or choose violence should have their visas cancelled and be deported.
We will, in government, have a zero-tolerance approach for the intolerable behaviours of the few who threaten the Australian achievement for the many.
We must also tackle the root causes of anti-Semitism.
Since October 7, Hamas’ cause has regrettably found its champions and cheer squads in many democratic nations – not just in ours.
As recently as Monday night, the community-organised mural only one kilometre from here with the words, ‘Bring Them Home Now’, was vandalised.
Painted over in black and white was the slogan ‘Free Palestine’ – with red smears for blood dripping from the letters.
A message about wanting to return children to their parents and wanting to return women and men to their communities and to their families. That was besmirched, shamefully.
There is something truly sickening about those who would graffiti a memorial – who would literally deface posters of the faces of hostages held still to this very day by Hamas. And we should never forget them.
These vandals uncritically accuse Israel of genocide but readily dismiss the depravity of a declared terrorist organisation.
What is most concerning is the number of students, impressionable young minds, who are there to talk about their aims, their objectives, their dreams in life.
They’re attending campuses now where rallies are being conducted and the anti-Semitism is barely hidden.
Young people are chanting anti-Semitic slogans and carrying anti-Semitic placards.
In our schools, on our campuses, and online, young people are being exposed to anti-Israel propaganda, which is, in turn, fuelling anti-Semitism.
Our education system needs to ensure that our students have a much better grasp of the horrors of the Holocaust – including the age-old, enduring and shape-shifting nature of anti-Semitism.
I want to see, and we pledge ourselves in government to making sure that every Australian school child visits a Holocaust museum, and understands the lessons of history so that they never be repeated again.
If we instil in our children the lessons of history, those lessons serve as a shield of knowledge to deflect anti-Semitic propaganda that they may encounter in life; that they may be even braver to stand up and to stare down the acts of those who have evil in their heart.
Let me conclude with a comment on Israel.
As you know, the Foreign Minister recently implied that the current Government is prepared to recognise a Palestinian state.
It was Hamas’ barbarity on October 7 which has set back the goal of a two-state solution.
Until Hamas is defeated, a two-state solution isn’t even conceivable because Hamas will always pose an existential threat to the state of Israel.
That’s why I characterised the Foreign Minister’s remarks as utterly illogical, as ill-timed, and inappropriate.
The Foreign Minister has significantly damaged our relations with our most important ally in the region, Israel. It was a reckless act of a Foreign Minister, that I have not seen in my 22 years in the Parliament.
A Coalition Government under my leadership will always distinguish the lawful from the lawless, always differentiate civilisation from barbarism, and always discern the good from the evil.
This is why the unequivocal condemnation of Hamas is right.
And that is why we must unambiguously denounce Iran’s military attack on Israel and the regime’s sponsoring of terrorist groups across the region.
Israel has every right to defend its territory and its people.
Any self-respecting society would expect that of their democratically elected government.
Israel has every right to respond militarily to thwart the existential threats that it faces.
Ladies and gentlemen:
I believe that the resolve of democracies are being tested around the world.
I believe our very civilisational values are under threat.
This is not a time for weak leadership.
This is not a time for weasel words.
This is not a time to try and walk both sides of the street.
The Coalition stands with our ally and our friend Israel.
And we stand with Australia’s Jewish community in fighting against anti-Semitism, in every setting.
I know October 7 will cast a shadow over Passover this year.
But if there was ever a year to celebrate the Jewish spirit, it is this one.
Thank you very much for being here today.
I hope you can hear our message to you.
Of our message of support, of admiration.
We stand with you to make sure that we see through these dark days.
To make sure that they never occur again.
To make sure that the message of unity is heard across the country.
To make sure that people hear on a regular basis the value we have and the acknowledgement we should make to the contribution of the people of Jewish faith to our country over many decades.
It is a great honour to be with you here today and I thank you very much for sharing this moment.
Thank you.
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