Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring:

(1) private Members' business order of the day No. 27 relating to the Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024 being called on immediately;

(2) debate on the second reading of the bill continuing for a period of no longer than one hour, with the time for each speech limited to 10 minutes;

(3) questions then being immediately put on any amendments moved to the motion for the second reading and on the second reading of the bill;

(4) if required, a consideration in detail stage of the bill, with any detail amendments to be moved together, with:

(a) one question to be put on all government amendments;

(b) one question to be put on all opposition amendments;

(c) separate questions then to be put on any sets of amendments moved by crossbench Members; and

(d) one question to be put that the bill [as amended] be agreed to;

(5) when the bill has been agreed to, the question being put immediately on the third reading of the bill; and

(6) any variation to this arrangement being made only on a motion moved by the Manager of Opposition Business.

Last sitting week, I sought to bring this bill on for consideration by the House and it was voted down. This week, I'm again seeking to bring it on for consideration, because the situation on university campuses has deteriorated even further and we must have a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus up and running before second semester begins in July.

There have been two major developments since this House last met. Firstly, we have more evidence of the increase in antisemitism on campus since the 7 October terrorist attacks. We know campus antisemitism is not new. The problem of campus antisemitism before 7 October was identified by an Australian Jewish students' survey released in August. It found that 64 per cent of Australian Jewish university students experienced antisemitism on campus and that 19 per cent stayed away because of antisemitism. The massive increase in campus antisemitism since 7 October has included Jewish students being spat on and taunted with swastikas, the office of Jewish staff members being urinated on, academics saying Jews don't deserve cultural safety, and academics denying that the rapes on 7 October even occurred. The failure of university leaders to deal properly with antisemitism include: not dealing with encampments; vice chancellors implying that hate-filled protests are just the price Jews have to pay for free speech and a collective statement from 39 university chancellors that was so weak it didn't even mention the words 'Jew' or 'antisemitism'.

Last week, a new Monash University report, Australian Jews in the shadow of war, found that in the five weeks after the 7 October terrorist attacks, more than two-thirds of Australian Jewish university students experienced hostility from other students on campus. It found 43 per cent of Jewish Australians aged 18 to 29 said they'd personally experienced insult or harassment because they're Jewish and, disturbingly, that 71 per cent of those surveyed said they had not reported an antisemitic incident to any authority.

As we know, it has got much worse since November last year. The second major development has been the capitulation by Sydney university, Australia's oldest university, to a group led by Hizb ut-Tahrir, who were involved in organising the encampments. Hizb ut-Tahrir is an extremist Islamist organisation; it's an organisation which praised and celebrated the 7 October terrorist attacks. Their supporters organised gatherings in Australia the day after 7 October and said that 7 October was a day of pride. One of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisers, a regular at the University of Sydney encampment, wrote that Muslims should continue resisting until Israel is completely wiped off the map from the river to the sea. Hizb ut-Tahrir is listed as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, Germany and several Muslim nations, and the Albanese government should again consider its listing.

To get a sense of who we're talking about, let me quote the words of Tom Tugendhat, the British Minister for Security, in prescribing Hizb ut-Tahrir. He said:

I am a champion of freedom of speech, … Free speech includes neither the promotion of terrorism nor the celebration of terrorist acts. It is not acceptable to describe Hamas as the "heroes" of Palestine or the events of 7 October as a "long-awaited victory". It is not acceptable to refer to the killing of Jewish tourists by an Egyptian police officer as

"a simple example of what should be done towards the Jews".

It is not acceptable to call for so-called Muslim armies to rise up and carry out similar acts.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has antisemitism at its very core. It rejects democracy and engages in vile homophobia. As an organisation, it does not just reject British values; it seeks to undermine them. We will not let groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir abuse our freedoms. We will never tolerate the promotion or encouragement of terrorism. We have zero tolerance for antisemitism. Hizb ut-Tahrir must be proscribed.

To that, I say hear, hear.

Despite its status as an extremist organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir is now playing an outsized role at Sydney university. It was one of the organisers of the Sydney university encampments. Sydney university has known that Hizb ut-Tahrir has been on its campus since at least 6 May. When the university gave notice that it would shut down the encampments a couple of weeks ago, every other group, including Socialist Alternative, packed up. But Hizb ut-Tahrir refused to move. Boasting on Instagram, they said that resilience had worked in their favour across many fronts—most particularly being the catalyst for negotiations with the uni.

On Friday night the Hizb ut-Tahrir group announced the terms of their negotiations with the university. They said it was 'a new opening which will allow us to continue forwarding the cause in more effective ways'. Most disturbingly, they managed to extract a concession from Sydney university to set up a working group to review its defence investments and research and grant the protesters a seat at the table.

Remember, this is the group that had been the key organiser of the Sydney university encampments, designed to intimidate Jewish staff and Jewish students and disrupt learning and teaching on campus. These were places where chants like 'intifada' and 'from the river to the sea' were spouted while the university sat on its hands, saying this was just the price Jewish students had to pay for free speech.

That's bad enough, but this is now a major national security issue at our oldest university. It's an extraordinary capitulation. At a time when the AUKUS agreements require the focus and attention of our best and brightest minds, Sydney university is allowing an extremist group—an organisation listed as a terrorist organisation by our oldest ally—to run the ruler over every defence agreement. In such an environment, why would any defence organisation or anyone engaged with AUKUS have anything to do with Sydney university? This would be a massive loss for our oldest university and for the city of Sydney, just to appease a few Jew-hating extremists.

But the appeasement hasn't worked. Hizb ut-Tahrir have already announced that they're planning future activities to put pressure on the university and have not ruled out a further encampment. Instead of exercising their powers to move on the encampments weeks ago, Sydney university has set a terrible precedent. It's a signal to anyone that the more intimidatory your conduct the better the outcome you'll get from the university.

Sydney university's actions have destroyed their relationship with the Jewish community. The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies president, David Ossip, has said:

Despite assurances to the Jewish community that any offer to the encampment was off the table and that the university would be pursuing alternate options to clear the encampment, the university instead reopened negotiations with a group dominated by Hizb ut-Tahrir.

…   …   …

… the university … sought to bury the story on a Friday night (the Jewish Shabbat) and allowed the radical protesters to first announce the deal.

…   …   …

This deal is not just about 'transparency' as the university claims. It goes beyond the terms agreed by any other institution and effectively gives Hizb ut-Tahrir influence over the university's research and investment activities.

Be in no doubt—whilst the university may be enjoying its new collaboration with Hizb ut-Tahrir, the university's relationship with the Jewish community is in absolute tatters.

Now I'm hearing reports that Jewish staff are resigning from Sydney university, and Jewish students are seeking to transfer. In such an environment, the government cannot just sit on their hands and do nothing. They cannot proceed with their mickey mouse inquiry led by the Human Rights Commission, an organisation which has systemic racism problems when it comes to Jews. Peter Wertheim from the ECAJ has said that, sadly, the Jewish community cannot have confidence in the inquiry to be conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

That's why Jewish organisations are backing this bill—because it's the only way to deal with the unprecedented level of campus antisemitism. What happens on campus matters because it's where the next generation of leaders are formed. What happens on campus sets the tone for the rest of our society. The failure of university leaders and the government to take this issue seriously is leading to worse antisemitism in other parts of our country.

Despite the occasional condemnation from the government, it's now almost nine months since October 7. It's a time in which we've witnessed the unprecedented rise in antisemitism here in Australia. But, despite assurances to the Jewish community, we've seen no new directions to the police and law enforcement agencies to crack down on antisemitism, and no standalone inquiries established, no new laws and no new institutions to deal with antisemitism. Instead, we've seen the most disgraceful and inflammatory language from the Greens, and we've seen what amount to terrorist attacks on MPs' electorate offices—in particular, the disgraceful attack on the office of my good friend the member for Macnamara. These acts are a result of the antisemitism being left unchecked in our community.

But there's something every member of the House can do today. You can vote to consider this bill as a matter of urgency. We can vote to pass this bill. Semester 2 cannot start without there being a place where Jewish staff and Jewish students can bring their evidence of the antisemitism that is out of control on our campuses—on a confidential basis and free from the risk of reprisals—and a place where university leaders can be cross-examined and held to account for their repeated failures to deal with this massive problem and a complete attack on our social cohesion. I commend this motion to the House.

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