Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I rise to speak on the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities. Coalition members of the committee support the report's findings but believe that stronger action is needed in key areas to drive real change on campus. Our addendum to the report outlines where we want to see further action. The evidence the committee received demonstrated that there has been an alarming and abhorrent rise in antisemitism among students and staff at Australian universities. Ancient hatreds like antisemitism should have no place in Australia. Antisemitism is inherently un-Australian. In the last century, nearly 40,000 Australians sacrificed their lives to bring an end to the evils of Nazism. A generation earlier, over 109,000 Australians served proudly under Sir John Monash, the Jewish Australian considered by many, including myself, to be our greatest Australian. It is a disgrace that antisemitism has now found a home in the very university he attended 130 years ago and where he served as vice-chancellor a century ago. It's a damning reflection on Australian universities that, despite all their rhetoric on diversity and inclusion, these institutions were more enlightened and more welcoming to Jewish students over 100 years ago than they are today.

While many vice-chancellors presented to the committee that their institutions were merely subject to broader societal pressures and are a microcosm of broader Australian society, coalition members have come to a different conclusion. We are deeply concerned, based on the balance of evidence presented to the committee inquiry, that Australian universities have become incubators of antisemitic thought in our country. Coalition members concur with the government's antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, that there is systemic, embedded antisemitism within our university campuses. We've been particularly alarmed by the numerous examples of university academics who have espoused antisemitic tropes, the inability of university leaders to appropriately deal with the spread of such rhetoric, the impact of this antisemitism on Jewish students and the broader failure to uphold a safe and respectful learning environment. Coalition members underscore the committee's finding that the rise in antisemitism on campus has been clearly exacerbated by the reluctance of many university administrators to enforce meaningful consequences for misconduct.

The committee inquiry has shone a light on the issue and highlighted some key failures. However, the committee's inquiry has demonstrated the limits of a parliamentary inquiry into such an important topic. Despite the best efforts of members to get to the truth and secure answers to our questions, our hearings were a masterclass in obfuscation by university leaders. Coalition members maintain our position that a properly constituted, full-time judicial inquiry, led by a respected and eminent jurist, is the only way to ensure the necessary powers, confidentiality and expertise required to forensically examine and address the crisis. Coalition members support the call of Jillian Segal and representatives of every major Jewish organisation across the nation, who strongly support the establishment of an independent judicial inquiry. Coalition members disagree with the position of the majority of committee members that the government should wait even further to see if Australian universities take appropriate action before establishing a judicial inquiry. While we are pleased to see the majority of committee members agree that a judicial inquiry should be given consideration, coalition members contend that the time for consideration has well and truly elapsed. After extended inaction, despite escalating instances of antisemitic violence across our cities, Jewish Australians deserve immediate and concrete measures from this federal government rather than continued delays that allow antisemitism to continue to fester within our universities. Coalition members continue our call for the government to immediately establish an independent judicial inquiry into the antisemitism on Australian campuses. Nothing else can get to the heart of the problem.

I want to thank the committee secretariat, who have undertaken a lot of extracurricular work this term—beyond their usual, enormous work rate in dealing with the committee's scrutiny functions. I'd particularly like to thank the committee chair, the member for Macnamara, for the approach he's taken during this inquiry. I trust we have done some good together.

All eyes are on our universities as a new semester begins. If university leaders continue to fail in their duties to protect students and staff, this parliament must act.

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