Introduction
Today, 14 September marks 24 years and 3 days since September 11.
Those attacks which occurred on that day were not only an assault on the United States; they were an assault on the civilisational idea that free peoples can live in security and dignity.
The line between the attacks of September 11 and October 7 2023 is straight and unbroken.
The same death-dealing jihadi ideology.
The same contempt for human life.
The same determination to shatter the confidence of an open, free, pluralist and just society.
The line for our community, for Jewish Australians, with the unprecedented rise of antisemitism on our shores – turning Australia from one of the best places to be Jewish, to a country with an international reputation for the failure of our governments and leaders to deal with antisemitism.
And on 26 August this year, Australians heard the news that the Iranian Regime directed two attacks on our soil.
These were deliberate attacks by a foreign power on Australians in our own country.
Frankly, it doesn’t get any more serious than this.
The Jewish community had warned this government about Iran. The Persian Community, of which I am pleased to be the representative of the fourth largest Persian community in the country, had warned this government about Iran.
The Coalition had warned this government about Iran but it failed to heed the warning.
The fact is Australians could have been killed, and there were Australians praying in the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne at the time it was firebombed.
It was further proof that violent hatred occurring abroad had in fact infiltrated our shores, and it was not limited to verbal abuse and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
We meet today all holding grief, resilience and purpose following the rise of antisemitic attacks across the world and indeed here in this country.
Nearly two years after October 7, our community is still calling for government to act.
While the Albanese Government has been consistent in being slow to act on every issue affecting the Jewish community and it holds the record of being Australia’s most hostile government towards our friend ally and security partner the State of Israel – funding UNRWA, changing the capital of Israel and moving away from Australia traditional position at the United Nations – it is the people in this room who continue to do the heavy lifting that should be the responsibility of government.
Correcting the misinformation about Zionism.
Protecting our synagogues, schools and places of worship.
Calling out universities and other institutions for failing to stamp out the antisemitism in their ranks.
And we in the Coalition have been steadfast under both Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley in backing the Jewish community and holding Labor to account.
The Albanese Government wants a standing ovation for its performance on antisemitism, but the truth is it stands condemned for its failures to act.
We meet here today not only as Jewish Australians, but as law-abiding Australians who deserve the full protection of the law.
Reflect
Since October 7, the reverberations for Jews around the world have been profound.
Let me say something about Zionism and the Zionist federation.
The term “Zionist”, a word that means nothing more than people who believe the Jewish people have a right to a secure homeland in the land of Israel, a movement of national self-determination, has been turned into a slur by the left.
In the space of two years, a word that should be as seen as standard as “American,” or “Australian” has been twisted into an insult.
“Zionist” is spat with force by people in public and online as openly anti-Jewish abuse.
Governments and institutions have let this become acceptable behaviour.
Today I stand here to tell you all that we must stand strong and take this word back.
I am a Zionist.
We are Zionists.
All of us in this room should make no apology for it.
When we allow the word Zionism to be delegitimised, we risk Jewish safety and we risk the Jewish people being delegitimised.
When “Zionist” is used as a playground insult, it is very often a proxy for “Jew.”
Our standards already recognise that racial and homophobic slurs are not “political speech.”
We should be equally clear that the weaponisation of “Zionist” to harass Jewish Australians is targeted harassment.
And although the far-left have attempted to turn the meaning of Zionist into a word of disrespect, there have been moments of clarity.
We have seen non-Jewish Australians, leaders in public life, speak plainly about Jewish security and Israel’s legitimacy.
In Josh Frydenberg’s excellent documentary, Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism, The most extraordinarily powerful moment for me was when non-Jews – the likes of Peter Cosgrove, Julia Gillard and Dennis Richardson – declared themselves to be Zionists.
This is the support and allyship that is so strongly lacking from today’s current leaders.
And this support which we desperately need.
It’s needed because it matters when respected voices say, without hedging, that Zionism is a normal, moral, democratic aspiration.
It’s needed because it matters when leaders stand up and reject the propaganda that seeks to turn the word into a synonym for evil.
Last week I spoke at Jewish Care and I took a moment to thank the non-Jewish staff who work at Jewish Care. Not only for the work they do for our community and the wonderful car they provide but for the act of solidarity at a time when it comes with real risk.
Before I was a Parliamentarian I worked at Australian Catholic University. The Catholic brand is forever part of my CV and I am grateful or the opportunity. But I was not taking any sort of career or personal risk in having Catholic on my CV.
Today I want to thank those non-Jewish staff who work for organisations with the name Jewish or Zionist or which are prima facie identifiable with our community whether it be our schools, our social services and organisations like Jewish Care, and indeed the Zionist Federation.
For anyone who has the opportunity to have roles in these organisations, the choice is a badge of honour; but we cannot deny that for some, in this political climate, it can also close doors.
To all who stand with our community in their professional lives, I say thank you.
You have chosen solidarity and principle over hate and division.
Remembering October 7
Friends it is now 708 days since the terrorist attacks of October 7.
There is the constant ache that sits behind every conversation: the hostages.
Their faces and names are not abstract.
Every day that passes is a fresh cruelty to them and their families, and a reminder of the stakes.
The hostages must be front and centre of any conversation about the Middle East.
Nearly two years on, dozens still remain in Gaza.
The case for their release is moral and universal.
You don’t need to be Jewish to demand it.
You simply need to be human.
The message is simple, but the media no longer emphasises the importance: bring them home.
When a school student in my electorate this week asked me what is my yellow ribbon for, I said it is because I want peace in the Middle East, and this ribbon is a reminder that peace in the Middle East begins by bringing the hostages home, hostages who have been held in Gaza for nearly two years; hostages that I don’t want the world to forget.
Condemning Iran
In a fortnight, the UN General Assembly will meet for what is known as Leaders’ week.
The Albanese Governments flawed foreign policy will be on display as the name of our country is added to a resolution on the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
There will be much back slapping and self-congratulation.
The achievement of those in the political left who have conducted a 50-year struggle to delegitimise the State of Israel will be celebrated by the Prime Minister and Penny Wong as an achievement.
But an Australian Prime Minister and a Foreign Minister who go to the UN obsessed with lecturing Israel are selling out Australia and our interests at a time when we need Israel’s support more than ever.
We need Israel’s support to deal with Iran after Iran attacked Australian’s on Australian soil.
So, when Anthony Albanese mounts the podium at the United Nations, I want him to look the Ayatollah in the eye and condemn his regime for its attacks on Australia and its people.
I want to see a condemnation of Iran, not Israel.
That should be the focus of Anthony Albanese’s speech on the world stage.
Instead of resolutions against Israel, Australia should be proposing resolutions condemning Iran: for its attacks on our country on the Jewish community and the Persian community, for its state sponsored terror around the world, and for its human rights abuses at home.
For a long time the Persian community has warned us about the IRGC.
Its intimidation; its reach; its methods.
My colleague and friend Senator Claire Chandler did wonderful work highlighting this issue, leading an Inquiry by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee following the murder of Masa Amini in.
In February 2023, last time I was Shadow Attorney General, I stood on the floor of Parliament and said that the Coalition was ready to work with the government on any legislative changes that were required to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
In May 2023, held a community meeting with Senator Chandler for the Persian community to discuss their concerns.
Many people from that community were too afraid to attend for fear of being spied on by agents of the regime in Australia.
This was 2023.
In October 2023, following the events of October 7, I called on the Federal Government to reconsider our diplomatic relations with Iran.
And in 2024 following antisemitic comments by the Iranian Ambassador, the Coalition called on him to be expelled.
Of course, none of this stopped Labor luminaries like Bob Carr lining up to have happy snaps with the Ambassador.
Finally, last month after ASIO linked the attacks on the Addas Israel Synagogue, and Lewis’ Continental Deli, we saw the Albanese Government expel the Ambassador and commit to listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, two and a half years after this had been raised with them.
I welcome the commitment, although as with every action of the Albanese Government, it took far too long.
This is not an attack on the Labor Party. Not every Labor leader behaves like the Prime Minister.
The contrast is NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns who faces all the same political realities and challenges that Mr Albanese faces, but after the Opera House protests, and with few exceptions, he is never missing in action and has put the safety and security of all his citizens first even when that has come with a political cost.
Chris Minns deserves credit for this.
But sadly, the Albanese Government either ignores the concerns of the Jewish community, or it takes far too long to address them.
The Coalition proposed laws banning nazi symbols and salutes. Labor voted against them and then finally introduced their own, and Labor continues to oppose a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses.
Lets hope that whoever ANU appoints to replace Genevieve Bell, the new Vice Chancellor actually takes the issue seriously and deals fairly with Jewish staff and students.
Labor took nearly a year to propose legislation banning doxxing following the doxxing of Jewish creatives and artists and when they did produce legislation, they packaged it up with sweeteners for their mates in the class action law firms.
Labor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to adopt mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes and terrorist offences.
Labor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to hold a national cabinet on antisemitism, and rather than adopting tougher measures and stronger laws as proposed by the Tasmanian Liberal Government, Labor produced a hate crimes register that mirrors one which the ECAJ has kept for decades.
And many of the security and other funding commitments the Prime Minister takes credit for were first proposed by the Coalition.
Labor took nearly a year to appoint Jillian Segal as the Special Envoy on Antisemitism and has consistently failed to back her recommendations.
Labor has now had the Segal Report for 66 days.
Education Minister Jason Clare said that they would respond to the Segal report once the Islamophobia Envoy had also delivered its report.
The Islamophobia report was released on Friday and still the government has made no commitment to any of Jillian Segal’s recommendations.
The Prime Minister says he condemns antisemitism and says he is doing all he can.
Now his honeyed words must be turned into enforceable law.
That means moving from glossy “anti-hate” brochures to measurable obligations.
It means adopting the IHRA definition which has multipartisan support for years.
It means institutions receiving government funding should have funding contingent on whether the funding will be used to promote hate and antisemitic sentiments through the projects being funded.
The standard should be simple: protect all communities, apply one set of rules, and make sure complaints are heard quickly and addressed decisively.
The law must keep pace with reality.
Police require the tools to respond to targeted harassment and intimidation, on campus, at protests, outside synagogues and schools, and online.
Prosecutors need laws that make it possible to convert charges into convictions when the evidence supports it.
We also need the government to act on sound advice, particularly when it is provided by their self-appointed Special Envoy.
Jillian Segal has provided an authoritative framework for action.
The plan is detailed, it’s practical, it’s national.
The Government should adopt it in full and get on with implementation.
This is so important because the most dangerous habit in public life is to believe that a press release is the same thing as a policy.
Sadly, as the last two years has born out the problem is that too many on the Left don’t take antisemitism seriously.
Now, don’t believe me, a politician of the centre-right. I want to quote the wonderful Mindy Sotiri, in a beautiful chapter in the recently released book Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post October 7. Miri spent her life going to protests. She is a figure of the left, and she writes:
“Nothing much counts as antisemitism anymore for my friends on the left. Suddenly, everybody who has never thought about antisemitism knows how to say stop weaponizing antisemitism”
Every time I point out the Government’s failures the Prime Minister accuses me of playing politics.
I make no apology for standing up for the Jewish community.
I wish more members of Parliament that represent electorates with significant Jewish populations stood up for the Jewish community, as I have done and will continue to do
Moving forward
Friends, this is not a time where we can afford to be silenced or retreat.
When we let a loud minority hijack and turn words close to us into a slur, to push us away from spaces that we should be included in, it creates hostility and division.
We need to tell our story.
Australians are fair-minded.
They respect courage and clarity.
They are prepared to hold two ideas at once: that suffering is real and demands compassion, and that Israel has the right, and the obligation, to defend its people from threats to its existence.
We need to speak to that centre.
Support the next generation.
We need to equip our young people to continue to be proudly Australian , proudly Jewish and proudly a Zionist.
We need to stand tall in difficult spaces.
There will be rooms where the easy thing is to slump the corner and wait for the moment to pass.
Don’t.
Correct the record and keep thanking our allies.
Culture changes when a vice-chancellor, a union leader, a mayor or a former Prime Minister says, clearly and without qualification: “Jews are safe here. Zionism is legitimate here. One standard applies to everyone here.”
Every time that happens, the civic weather changes, and our children breathe a fraction easier.
Conclusion
Sadly, life as it was on October 6 2023 is further from reach at this point than it ever has been.
Like all of us, I want to see all the hostages returned home.
I want to see the suffering end.
I want to see aid reach those who need it.
I want Hamas removed from Gaza, ensuring that Israel and Palestinians can finally progress on seeing a two-state solution eventuate.
I want an Australia where a Jewish kid can wear a kippah to school without fear, and a Jewish patient can be admitted to hospital knowing that their level of care won’t be any different because of who they are.
I want universities with one set of rules, police who act quickly, prosecutors with the tools to make cases stick, and social media companies that take responsibility for the harms they amplify.
I want a politics that protects all law-abiding citizens.
I want a government that turns commitments into laws, plans into implementation, press releases into measurable outcomes.
I want institutions that understand that antisemitism is not a Jewish problem to be managed; it is a national problem to be solved.
As a member of the Liberal Party, I stand before you and restate that although we lost the election, our values have not changed.
In opposition, as in government, our support for the Jewish community and the state of Israel is constant.
We will always argue for consistency, for security, for civility, and for a national life in which Zionism returns to what it always was: a straightforward affirmation that the Jewish people have a right to their homeland.
I am proud to be Jewish.
I am proud to be a Zionist.
I am proud to be Australian.
And I am honoured to stand with you, both in Parliament and in public, fighting for our community to be safe, and our place in this country is unquestioned.
Thank you.