Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on and support the Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024. I thank Senator Henderson for bringing it before us in this way, and I hope that it receives the support that it needs to. I 100 per cent endorse this private senator's bill. Let me be crystal clear: there is no room in Australian society for antisemitism, period—no ifs; no buts; zero tolerance. Antisemitism is not new, but since the terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas on 7 October there has been a gradual increase in antisemitic behaviour across this country culminating in the disgraceful behaviour seen recently at our university campuses. Jewish Australians no longer feel safe in their homes, in their places of worship or indeed at their educational settings. Jewish students right now are being harassed and verbally abused at Australian taxpayer funded universities as they make their way to classes. Meanwhile some Jewish schools are resorting to hiring security guards to ensure that their students feel safe in class.

As a conservative I believe in free speech. I support free speech and, of course, freedom of assembly. But with free speech comes a duty and a responsibility. It is not to be misappropriated. The right to protest must not be a cover for intimidation. It shouldn't be a cover for racism or indeed for religious discrimination. Free speech and the right to protest are not to be used to stir up hate and spread division, but that is exactly what is going on. That is exactly what we're seeing at university campuses with these encampments.

With a sense of the incredulous, I have watched the Left search for its moral clarity on antisemitism in Australia—the manoeuvring and the hesitation, the ambiguity and the self-doubt. This is not a time for such moral indecision. Now is the time to call out antisemitism when we see it and to call it out when we hear it. As observed by Greg Craven in a column in the Australian on 11 May:

Why are people who endlessly propound human rights—

that's what we hear from the Left all the time—

revile racism and foster gender diversity so negatively obsessed—at best—with one of the smallest, historically most persecuted minorities in the world?

Why indeed.

Where has the university leadership been during this time of crisis on their campuses? Why have they been so silent and so quiet? Why have they been so slow to act and call out and condemn the antisemitism that's occurring on the very campuses that they administer? By way of example, on the St Lucia campus at the University of Queensland, the flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was flown at the Gaza solidarity encampment. The PFLP has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States Department of State. It's been that way since 1997. It's also considered a terrorist organisation in the EU and in Canada. But there, at the St Lucia campus, the PFLP flag is proudly flying alongside the Aboriginal and the Palestinian flags. This was on the same day a rally locked down two buildings at the university after the protesters stormed the buildings. Meanwhile, over at the University of Sydney, the Gaza solidarity encampment has school aged children chanting 'intifada' against Israel and calling Israel a terrorist state.

These institutions are supposed to be settings of academic enlightenment and educational attainment, centres of critical thinking and beacons to society representing the pinnacle of higher education. Yet the silence of university administrators in failing to condemn these antisemitic activities can only draw one conclusion: they condone the radical actions of their students by allowing these protests to go on in the way that they are. It needs to be called out. This bill needs to be supported. Is it any wonder why Jewish Australians are increasingly feeling unsafe and isolated in their own country? The activists' behaviours on campuses, like those that I have highlighted, only fuel a heightened sense of concern and insecurity. I note that, at long last, at least one university has decided to take action. Deakin University in Melbourne has committed to taking action and clearing the encampments. Other universities must do the same. The time for being idle has passed—it's long passed. There needs to be more respectful debate on matters currently unfolding in the Middle East. Chanting slogans such as 'intifada' and 'river to the sea' while conducting other provocative activities at university encampments is not the way forward.

During recent Senate budget estimates, I spoke about having met several Jewish students who had come to see me to express their deep concern about what was happening on their university campus. These students were from the university just down the road here, at the ANU. The ANU has a proud record.  It has nearly 7,000 residential students, many of whom are Jewish and Israeli. The ANU has one of the largest percentages of residential students of any other university in Australia. But, over the past few months, it's become a site of pro-Palestine and anti-Jewish encampment.

Each morning, students walk out their front door only to be confronted with protesters camped out on their front lawn. This isn't just any place for them; this is their home. They don't have the benefit of being able to go home to retreat to the comfort or protection of their family and their household. This is where they live. They are putting up with this encampment and these protests and racial taunts every time they walk out their door. The administrators of the National University have a responsibility to ensure that those students are cared for. Every student should be protected, particularly those young students who are in their homes. They live on campus and can hear the taunts. The encampment is just outside their door! It's unbelievable! It needs to be called out.

This bill needs to be supported so that we can properly examine this issue and so that an inquiry can be set up to properly engage on this issue to see the extent of this happening. These stories should drive us to support this bill. We need an inquiry. This is not the Australian way. Our Jewish and Israeli students deserve much more. These students are 18, 19, 20 years old. They're just kids, basically. They shouldn't have to deal with this kind of horrible racial and religious rhetoric.

The ANU showed it was able to move the encampment from where it was. The encampment was in the hub of the campus, where the tavern and the student services are. They moved it from there, but they didn't move it because that's where Jewish students interact and that was where they were going to be confronted by this social and emotional harm; they moved it because there was a fire risk. That's right; they should move it if there is a fire risk—absolutely, move it on. But why didn't the ANU consider the safety of those students living on campus during the weeks this was going on? They weren't just there for their contact hours. It was their home! Where was the consideration of their emotional, social and mental safety? None of that was considered. Come on, administrators of universities. You need to take this issue seriously. Students should not have to put up with this.

This bill will establish a commission of inquiry to examine instances of antisemitic activity on campuses both before and after 7 October. It will consider whether the response of university leaders, regulators, representative organisations and others has been adequate. I am pointing out to you today that it hasn't been. Let's have an inquiry and check that.

In closing, when laying out the cornerstone for the future site of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in October 1988, which I was fortunate enough to visit in Washington, President Ronald Reagan said:

We must make sure that from now until the end of days all humankind stares this evil in the face, that all humankind knows what this evil looks like and how it came to be. And when we truly know it for what it was, then and only then can we be sure that it will never come again.

The ongoing persecution of Jewish students on university campuses across Australia cannot be tolerated, and I urge every senator in this place with every fibre of my being to please support this bill. Let's do the right thing. Let's ensure that protests are able to occur but not in the way that they are. We shouldn't be seeing what we're seeing on our campuses. Please support this bill.