Special Envoy calls for urgent National Cabinet meeting in wake of rising antisemitic attacks

Anthony Albanese is under pressure to convene a National Cabinet meeting on antisemitism, over the rising number of hate attacks on Jewish people and buildings.

The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Antisemitism Jillian Segal has called for the highest levels of all governments around the country to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

The call comes in the wake of recent attacks on synagogues in Sydney and Melbourne, cars being vandalised with anti-Jewish graffiti, and a rise in hate abuse against individuals.

Mr Albanese has met with Ms Segal, two state government leaders, and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw this week, but Ms Segal says that’s just a ”very good first step”.

She said wider, coordinated national attention must be directed towards the crisis.

“I think it needs to continue, and obviously at some stage to broaden with the other premiers, because we are seeing concerns in other states,” Ms Segal said.

“[The attacks] are not just pieces of graffiti damaging a building and being assessed on that basis.

“They are designed to send a message of fear into the community.

“The law does provide that there is this aggravated hate crime overlay on top of a normal sentence, but we need to make sure that the judiciary, including judges and magistrates, understand that and understand that this is stoking fear and concern amongst a portion of the community.

“If we don’t stop it, we are really undermining democracy.”

The PM wouldn’t commit to a National Cabinet meeting over the issue when asked by journalists on Wednesday (15 January), but said his government was taking antisemitism seriously.

“I actually spoke with Jillian Segal yesterday a couple of times. We convened a meeting yesterday with myself, the Premier of Victoria, the Acting Premier of NSW and the AFP Commissioner to coordinate activity,” Mr Albanese said.

“We have Operation Avalite that is in place. What I want is to ensure that any act of antisemitism, that it stops. That it stops.

“And I want people who are responsible for these acts to be prosecuted fully because they are crimes and people should be held to account with the full force of the law.”

Special Operation Avalite was set up late last year to respond to rising incidents of antisemitism threats and attacks across the country.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also wants a National Cabinet called and said the Australian Government should be “very, very supportive” of the Israeli Government.

He blames the rise in antisemitism in Australia on Mr Albanese.

“… the Prime Minister and the dereliction of his leadership has led to the level of antisemitism, which is up by 700 per cent over the course of the last couple of years,” Mr Dutton said.

“I think we should remind ourselves that that is an important relationship. We should seek to nurture and grow it.

“As I’ve said, one of my first calls after the election will be to the Prime Minister of Israel and it will be a priority for our government to mend that relationship quickly because it’s in our national interest to do so.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong was asked on ABC Radio about the need for a National Cabinet meeting on antisemitism.

Without agreeing that such a meeting should be convened, the Minister said Australia’s response to hate crimes against Jewish people should be unequivocal.

“I think Jillian Segal is absolutely right to make the point that this is not just an issue for the Jewish community, this is an attack on all of us and this is an attack on who we are,” Senator Wong said.

“This sort of prejudice and hateful actions and criminal behaviour we are seeing is an attack on Australia. It’s an attack on Australian values.

“This requires, as she said, discussions between governments and it was very pleasing yesterday we saw the Prime Minister engaging with the two premiers of the two states where we have seen the most egregious action.”

Jewish federal Labor MP Josh Burns said calling a National Cabinet meeting over the issue made sense and was a move he would welcome.

Ms Segal was appointed in July last year as Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in Australia, as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to preserve social cohesion in Australia.

The role was created as tensions grew in Australia over the conflict in the Middle East, which the Prime Minister said had deeply affected communities across the country.

In October, he also appointed public servant and academic Aftab Malik as the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia in Australia.