Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this incredibly important bill. It's a bill that I hope will pass this parliament, and with the amendments that we have suggested to improve it even more. I don't think there is a greater issue which is confronting the nation at the moment than in this bill when it comes to ensuring a cohesive society going forward. If there is anything that will drive division, if there is anything that will destroy the social fabric of this nation, it is antisemitism, and we have to do everything we can to stamp it out.

It is a sad reality that we are where we are in this nation when it comes to dealing with antisemitism. There is no doubt, sadly, that the time to act, immediately after 7 October, didn't see the action that this nation required. That has meant we have got to the stage now where antisemitism in this country is occurring far too often, and in the most draconian of ways. That is a sad reality, and it is why we need to act, immediately, with strength and with unity, to stamp it out, because it has no place in our nation. One of the things that I think the coalition can be incredibly proud of is that immediately after 7 October we saw and understood the potential changes in antisemitism rising in this country and we sought to act immediately. We have sought to do it on a daily basis ever since, and that is why we're here now, still offering very constructive engagement with the government to make sure that we can get this bill through, and through in the right way so that we can begin to finally ensure that we have unity of purpose in ridding this nation of antisemitism.

Why is this bill necessary? It's necessary because of the repeated failures of the government to prevent this predictable rise following inaction after 7 October. Why do we need to act? It's very simple why we need to act, because an attack on a Jewish Australian is an attack on every Australian. It's quite simple. If we don't act against those attacks on Jewish Australians, the question that everyone will ask is, 'Who will be next?' Will it be a Hindu? Will it be a Catholic? Will it be a Muslim? Will it be an atheist? Attacking people because of their faith and their ancestry is purely and simply wrong, and that is why we have to deal with this issue. We are a proud nation, and rightly a proud nation, because we always act against racial attacks and we always act against those who target people because of their faith, and we have to keep doing that. It goes to the heart and the essence of the values that underpin our great nation. We have to make sure that we protect those values because, without them, we're a divided nation. The last thing we need to be is a divided nation, because it's been the strength of those values that have underpinned us and kept us united.

The 7 October attacks were heinous and carried out by a listed terrorist organisation. That's why they deserve to be outright condemned from the very start. We're still seeing today the impact that they've had globally, the impact that those attacks have had on Israel, the impact that those attacks have had on Israeli families and the impact that those attacks have had on the hostages. As someone who went to Israel not long after those attacks, I can say that the scars and the legacy of what I saw and the testimonials that I heard are still with me today and will never leave me. It's why I've been so strong in supporting the position that the coalition has taken in our defence of Israel's response to those attacks. I've always, always said, 'Put yourself in the place of Israel.' Say those attacks had occurred here in Australia. Say Australians had been taken hostage. Say those hostages were still being held and hadn't been released. No government in its right mind wouldn't do everything it could to get its citizens returned. No government in its right mind wouldn't do everything it could to get its citizens back, especially when they are being held by a listed terrorist organisation.

That is what Israel has been trying to do. We have to remember what occurred on 7 October. What was perpetrated by Hamas against those Israeli citizens was nothing short of heinous. It was a day of murder, torture, kidnapping, brutal sexual violence and sadly much, much more. It was designed to be cruel and barbaric. It was designed to send shockwaves. It was designed to strike at the heart of Israel in the most heinous way to cause maximum pain and maximum anguish and to basically try to destroy the absolute core of Israel's society. The way the Israelis across the divide responded with such strength and such unity showed that they were not going to be intimidated or defeated by Hamas, a sad, sad listed terrorist organisation. As a matter of fact, what they did was unite and make sure that they would do everything they could to get their citizens back. It's taken too long for that to occur.

We're only seeing part of that occur at the moment, but all of us hope—and I'm sure it is the hope of everyone in this parliament, even, I hope, the Greens—that we will see those hostages returned. The best way that we can ensure that we start to get on a pathway to peace is if we can get all of those hostages returned. Then we have to do the very hard task of trying to work out how we can ensure that the Palestinian people aren't governed by a listed terrorist organisation in Hamas. That is the next step, which is absolutely required, to bring about the lasting peace that we need to see in the Middle East. But that should not distract us from our task here. That task here is to make sure we're doing everything we can to deal with the antisemitism that has arisen as a result of 7 October.

What I think we all hope for is to see the Prime Minister step up and set the tone for what our national response should be to this antisemitism crisis in this nation. That could have been done from the very beginning. It could have been done in how those terrible actions that occurred on the steps of the Sydney Opera House were dealt with, but it wasn't, sadly. But that doesn't mean that we can't act now and begin to repair the damage which has occurred as a result of the Prime Minister's initial response to what happened in this country in the days after the 7 October attack. That is my hope for what we will see with this bill, because the time of false equivalence is over. What we need to see immediately is the government acting on stamping out antisemitism.

I didn't think that we would see synagogues set on fire in this nation in my lifetime, but that is what we have seen, sadly. I didn't think we would see increase after increase after increase of antisemitic graffiti across our cities, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. I didn't think we would see Jewish shops being vandalised. I didn't think we would see Jewish Australian citizens being harangued by roaming gangs. We need to put an end to all of this.

Sadly, we allegedly nearly saw a major terrorist strike against Jewish communities, which would have been the largest terrorist action we have ever seen on these shores. If such actions had been undertaken against the Jewish community here in Australia, the government would have acted and it would have acted unconditionally. That is the time that we have come to now, where we have to act unconditionally. This bill will help in that regard, but if we fail to continue to take the decisive action that is needed then the sad reality is we're going to see antisemitism continue to increase in this nation. As I said at the start, we cannot allow that to happen, because an attack on a Jewish Australian is an attack on all of us.

Some of the things that we're going to need to do will require a complete and utter change in the way that some of our institutions, especially, deal with antisemitism. I think the universities, beyond every other institution, need to be the ones that have a good hard look at themselves and act immediately. If they're going to allow some sort of academic pretence for antisemitism, that is sending the completely wrong message to young Australians. Of all institutions, they are the ones that need to have a good hard look at themselves.

I hope that, as a parliament, we can come together and support this bill. I hope that we can come together and make sure that all the amendments that will strengthen this bill are agreed to. There has never been a more important time for the unity of this country, for us to come together and defeat antisemitism. We need to act and we need to act now.

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