Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. This is what is going on in our own backyard. Our values are being depleted, and people are turning their backs because they don't have the courage to stand up and stop it. That is where we're at in Australia in 2024.

This was at the University of Sydney's pro-Palestinian encampment. You did nothing. You allowed those encampments to sit outside your university and you turned your back. I don't know what you are selling in those universities, but you are not selling the values of Australians, nor do you seem grateful for the freedoms that you have been given through the blood, sweat and tears of our veterans.

Macquarie University has not condemned this academic. The New South Wales Co-President of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, Danielle Tischmann, said it's 'heartbreaking' to see the University of Sydney allow its campus to become a safe haven for preaching hatred, as she put it. She said:

It's incomprehensible that students are walking to class hearing young children chanting for violence—

in this country. There are boot camps out there for that. New Zealand is running them today. They said, 'We're going to do this.' By the way, those boot camps can be used for the deradicalisation of these kids. There's a wake-up call for you. Over on this side, for three months I've been discussing with you these boot camps, and the difference they can make to a young person's life. They have a 75 per cent success rate. They're not just about young offenders; they can be used for deradicalisation as well. Have a good look. New Zealand is onto it. Once again, you are behind. You don't want to deal with this.

A University of Queensland associate professor, Yoni Nazarathy, said he had serious incidents of antisemitism happening in front of him. These included the snatching of flags, pouring coffee on signs and using the word 'Zionist' in a 'derogatory and hurtful' manner. As he put it:

I think that the University of Queensland … is complicit with anti-Semitism … It does not mean that they're anti-Semitic, but they allow for anti-Semitism to go on campus unchecked …

Once again, no courage. So, yes, we clearly have a problem with antisemitism in our universities, because the universities do not want to deal with it.

Well, I say this to the universities: you've got to build some courage, because I can tell you now that, if I were in charge, this is what I would do. I would ask you to put the pressure on these universities. They get millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers' money, and they can't behave themselves. They need to be disciplined. They need to know that this cannot happen in this country. Because they have no courage to stand up against this, they're not carrying our Australian values, and it's probably time that your government and the minister get tough with them. I would suggest holding up their funding—their grants—until they can start coming into line with Australian values, leading by example and teaching our kids what our values are in this country. Do you over there have the courage to do that? Watch them jump up and down then, if they have no money coming in from Australian taxpayers. I can guarantee that Australian taxpayers do not want that money going in there at the moment.

I will say this time and time again: universities, you are supposed to be places of learning, you are supposed to be teaching our kids the right thing, and you are failing miserably to do so. Universities are supposed to be where the free and frank exchange of ideas begins, but they should never, ever be made safe havens for racists, and that's exactly what you are doing: you are making your universities safe havens for racists. My goodness!

So, yes, we do need a commission of inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities, and I'll tell you what: I wholeheartedly support this Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024.