Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Normally when I see Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld on TV, I'm full of trepidation that some terrorist incident has happened. This time, when I saw him a couple of nights ago, I was pleased to see that the process of justice for survivors of sexual abuse, Dassi Erlich, Nicole, Elly and others—constituents of mine—looks like it's making progress. Policeman Rosenfeld, on TV from Jerusalem, was announcing the arrest of Malka Leifer, who was accused back in 2008 of molesting students at her school in Melbourne.

The announcement was followed by Judge Winograd ruling that the former principal remain in custody. But, instead of returning her to prison, he ordered that she be sent to a Jerusalem district mental health facility where she could be closely observed. The judge said that he needed a new in-depth assessment before deciding if Ms Leifer was too ill to face a new extradition hearing. That's precisely the advice that the brilliant Melbourne barrister, Amanda Mendes da Costa, gave survivors in the lobby of the King David Hotel in October, when we were there for the Battle of Beersheba commemoration. Mr Speaker, I must disclose an interest: that barrister is my wife.

It's very pleasing to see that all the work of the Australian government, supported by the opposition, together with the support of Israeli MKs Hilik Bar, Merav Michaeli, Michal Biran and Sharren Haskel—a non-partisan group from across their and our political spectrum—has helped justice distil itself in a society, which, like Australia, has a justice system and where justice will out.

Dave Sharma, our very capable Australian ambassador, was lobbying all through those years, as was I. But I particularly want to pay tribute to Dassi Erlich and the young women who, from completely non-political backgrounds, lobbied the Australian Prime Minister and former Premiers, went to see the Israeli Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, and did an extraordinary interview with Israeli Channel 10, which I think was the key catalyst that changed the willingness of the Israeli police to take on Ms Leifer.

In any system like Australia's or Israel's, people who face extradition hearings appear before psychiatric panels, and sometimes a three-hour psychiatric panel won't give you a true evaluation of what's happening. That's why Justice Winograd's decision to put the accused person under long observation in a psychiatric facility so people can see how she behaves over a longer term and whether she is in a fit condition to participate in an extradition hearing is the right thing to do. It's the kind of thing that would be done in Australia, and it's exactly what Amanda suggested to the three survivors when we were talking about whether we should proceed with the apparently stalled Leifer case.

An Israeli court has said that Leifer should stay under psychiatric evaluation until further notice. The absconded principal should be returned to Australia, a country friendly to Israel, to face charges that were made against her in 2008. I'm very pleased that the survivors won't be left hanging and that this issue will not be left in the air. The rule of law in Australia and Israel is a very important thing. Fairness needs to be shown to this person, but fairness needs to be shown to the survivors as well.

I want to say one thing in conclusion about the community from which she comes: I don't want them to be scapegoated or stereotyped. They're a very orthodox, religious community. They have a perfect right, in Australian society, to practise their beliefs as they see fit. I notice that SBS TV did an excellent and very fair program on them, which screened as a documentary some months ago. We can have justice for the survivors of alleged sexual abuse. We can have it take place over there where Leifer will be fairly psychiatrically evaluated and observed over a period of time and then face an extradition trial to be brought back to Australia. (Time expired)

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