James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of Senator Lambie's motion relating to antisemitism. Words are important. Words carry weight. Words do matter. But I foreshadow that I'm also proposing to move an amendment to this motion, because even more important than words is actions, and what the Jewish community has been asking of state and federal governments in this country for 15 months now is for action to accompany the words of condemnation. The amendment has been circulated in the chamber, but, for the benefit of senators, I'll read out the words:

At the end of the motion, add:

(d) calls on the Government to support:

(i) strengthening the penalties for those who urge or threaten attacks against places of worship,

(ii) strengthening the sentencing regime for terrorism by legislating for a mandatory minimum term of 6 years' imprisonment for all acts of terrorism under Commonwealth law, and

(iii) the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences of 12 months' imprisonment for the display of prohibited antisemitic and terrorist organisation symbols and related behaviour in public, and increase the maximum penalty to 5 years' prison.

I firmly believe that Australia is the best country in the world. But, if we are being honest, we have not been at our best over the last 15 months. Ever since the 7 October atrocity perpetrated by Hamas against the people of Israel, it has been clear that we may have a problem in this country. If there were any doubt in our minds that we have a problem, I think it should have been removed on 8 October, when an impromptu rally was held in Western Sydney. The rally was addressed by Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun, an extremist preacher. At that rally he said it was a 'day of pride, a day of elation, a day of victory'.

It can't be said that this rally in Western Sydney was held to commiserate with the tragic loss of innocent Palestinian life, which of course has occurred in the war in Gaza and which all decent people deplore, because, at that point, no Israeli defence force response had been organised; Israel was not in Gaza. This rally was a celebration of death, a celebration of hatred. This was a celebration of antisemitism. The following night, at the Sydney Opera House—again, before any IDF response was organised—a mob of young people were chanting hateful slogans about the Jewish community, in shameful and embarrassing images that were broadcast around the world and which besmirched our reputation as a country.

At that point there were no excuses. At that point there could be no doubt that antisemitism had reared its ugly head in Australia and that strong action and leadership were necessary to tackle it. The Jewish community has been warning state and federal parliaments around the country that unless action were taken this would get worse and that, unless we quickly and decisively moved to address these issues, then real harm could come to the Jewish community.

The coalition has been proud to stand with the Jewish community in echoing and amplifying those words, those warnings, and calling for action—like on 14 November 2023, when the opposition leader, Mr Dutton, wrote to the Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, and first called on him to hold a national cabinet to confront and deal with the scourge of antisemitism and extremism. The Prime Minister, to this day, 15 months later, has not had the decency to respond to Mr Dutton's request, and, for those 15 months, he was full of excuses as to why a national cabinet wasn't necessary, why it didn't need to be called and why everything else the government was doing was sufficient to address antisemitism. He even said that one of the reasons he didn't call a national cabinet earlier was that 'people were on leave'. He said that people don't want more meetings; they want action. Finally, the Prime Minister agreed to call a national cabinet. He did so after the firebombing of a childcare centre in Maroubra. It shouldn't have taken the firebombing of a childcare centre for the Prime Minister to realise how badly out of control antisemitism had become on his watch and why coordinated national action, from his office down, was necessary.

Regrettably, despite his admission that a national cabinet was necessary—after dismissing calls from Jewish community leaders like the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and his own hand-picked antisemitism envoy—the only action which emerged from the National Cabinet was a new database on antisemitism. Well, we already have databases that collect antisemitic incidents. The ECAJ publishes data every year, and it's shocking if you read it: there was a 700 per cent increase in antisemitism over the last year.

A new database at the Commonwealth level is not going to change anything. It's not going to deter any of the people who think it's acceptable to firebomb a synagogue or a childcare centre or a car or someone's business. Being a line on an Excel spreadsheet is not keeping these people up at night. What might deter them are real consequences for their actions—real penalties for their behaviour. That's why the action which I propose in this amendment to this motion today is necessary; that's why mandatory minimum sentences are needed—to send a clear signal that what has happened in our country over the last 15 months is not acceptable.

At a time when we needed moral courage, at a time when we needed moral clarity, at a time when we needed tough action, we have had anything but. We've had equivocation, we have had weakness and we have had ambivalence. And now is the time—it's not too late—for the government to act. They can agree to our proposal for mandatory minimum sentences and other strong measures to deter whoever is behind these attacks and ensure that, when we catch them, they face very serious consequences.