Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday, at Princes Park in Caulfield South, in my electorate of Goldstein, my fears were realised. The unfolding conflict in Israel and Gaza had reached the streets of Melbourne in a frightening way, on a Friday, Shabbat, when members of our Jewish community were at worship in a synagogue nearby. A fire in a nearby Palestinian-owned store drew protesters into a heavily Jewish neighbourhood, at a time when residents were walking the streets to and from shule with their families. This was the kind of face-off that I had been actively trying to prevent, repeatedly urging that social cohesion must be at the centre of all our concerns and that actions and language must be measured and careful. No-one was seriously hurt, thankfully, but the anxiety among the Jewish community after the terror attacks of 7 October in Israel affecting, in many cases, people who they know, has been magnified.

Antisemitism is on the rise. Many Jewish people are fearful and anxious when outside their homes. Some students from Jewish schools are avoiding wearing uniforms and Jewish businesses are facing protests and boycotts. At the same time, Palestinian Australians and others are traumatised by events in Gaza. I am too. I am desperately concerned about those in the Jewish community in Goldstein and across the world. I am also heartsick at the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza, especially children. The two feelings can coexist—indeed, they must.

What happened last Friday in Goldstein is the leading edge of what could escalate, and we in this place must all understand and operate under the principle that every word we utter has a consequence. We cannot allow distress to turn into hate and anger in a way that divides us. Australia has limited ability to influence the course of events in Israel and Gaza. What we can do, and have a responsibility to do, is to articulate multipartisan calm, to encourage empathy and, at all costs, to take the politics away.

The risk of cataclysmic global conflict is higher now than at any time since the height of the Cold War or the Cuban missile crisis. Now we're confronted with a conflict in Israel and Gaza which directly affects our own communities and threatens to tear apart the hard-earned gains of Australian multiculturalism—the envy of the world. As parliamentarians, we have a responsibility in these circumstances not to pointscore. The Director-General of ASIO has been sufficiently alarmed himself to warn:

… words matter. ASIO has seen direct connections between inflamed language and inflamed community tensions.

He said:

… it is important that all parties consider the implications for social cohesion when making public statements.

I'm sure that most of my colleagues in this place will have been alarmed at the tone of the communications from constituents to their offices in recent weeks: threats, anger and hatred from all sides. I can only imagine what Jewish and Muslim members of this place are receiving. I raise this not to call attention to the welfare of MPs but to point to it as a social barometer. Personally, on that level, having seen the aftermath of conflict around the world, and, as a reporter, having been amid deadly civil unrest myself, I have spent recent weeks experiencing sickening and stomach-churning anxiety about what happens next.

The Jewish community is justified in feeling that the events of 7 October bring back real memories and fears of the Holocaust—that it's happening again. Last Saturday I met with the Premier, along with my colleague the member for Macnamara, state MP David Southwick, senior Victoria Police officials and representatives of the Community Security Group, along with Jewish organisations, to review what happened and to determine the next steps to prevent it from being repeated. I have engaged with Jewish organisations and institutions in Goldstein, including several of our rabbis, to check on their welfare and that of their members. I have also met with members of the Australian Palestinian community and have listened to their grief and their pain. I have appealed to them to put social cohesion at the centre of all that they do as they express those things.

Australia, I believe, is facing its greatest test since multiculturalism was instituted by Malcolm Fraser and Petro Georgiou in the 1970s. It has stood the test of time until now. Let it not fail. We must pull this up here, in Australia; we must pull back from this tipping point, where hate and anger become so dominant that any nuance, any capacity for reasoned conversation or empathy for others, is lost.

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