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

by leave—I move:

That the Senate—

(a) deplores the appalling and unacceptable rise in antisemitism across Australia, including violent attacks on synagogues, schools, homes and childcare centres;

(b) unequivocally condemns antisemitism in all its forms; and

(c) resolves that all parliamentarians will work constructively together to combat the scourge of antisemitism in Australia.

The antisemitism going on in this country has got to stop. It is not just hateful and hurtful; it's un-Australian, flat out. Seriously, this is not who we are. This is not who Australians are. Having a go at anybody because of the colour of their skin or their religion is totally unacceptable. The Jewish community have been living in fear for months in their own backyards. Their kids are afraid to go to school, and our Jewish communities and businesses feel like they are under siege. It is not fair. To the people who are doing this—spray painting hateful things on our childcare centres and on our cenotaphs, not to mention the vandalism of property that is going on in the Jewish community—I say: you people are at the bottom of the barrel. You seriously are Australia's scum, and I will call you out for that today. You are scum! All politicians in this Senate and the House need to work together and stand up against antisemitism and racism in all its forms. All politicians and leaders need to resist the urge to use these attacks for political purposes. We need to say in one voice, 'This behaviour is not on and we will not put up with it, not in this country, not in this nation.'

Antisemitism has a 3,000-year history. Many of the Jews who came to Australia came here after World War II to build new lives for their families and to help us build this country to where it is today. They come here to be safe, to safely follow their religion, to safely raise their families and to safely prosper, like the rest of us. Some of our greatest Australians were Jewish, including General Monash, one of my heroes, who fought against antisemitism his whole life. Monash was born in Melbourne in 1865 to German Jewish parents. He went on to be a civil engineer, and when world war broke out in 1914 he became an officer in the Australian Army. At the time, some members of the military tried to block his appointment just because he was Jewish. I thought we would have learned the hard way, but some Australians apparently have not. In July of 1915 Monash was promoted to brigadier general, a move that was met with another antisemitic backlash. This antisemitic backlash was spearheaded by Charles Bean and Keith Murdoch, who conspired amongst themselves to see the dismissal of Monash. They said:

We do not want Australia represented by men mainly because of the ability, natural and inborn in Jews, to push themselves forward.

Eventually these lines reached the ears of Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who became convinced that Monash should be relieved of command. Thank God he wasn't. He went on to conduct himself with extraordinary bravery and become known as one of our greatest tacticians, not to mention one of our greatest military members.

Following the war, Monash was appointed director-general of repatriation and demobilisation and became one of the principal organisers of the annual observance of Anzac Day. In short, Monash is now recognised as one of our greatest Australians. I can only imagine how horrified he would be that over 100 years later we still have people that think the way they thought about him.

I hope every senator in this place votes for this motion. We need to send a strong message to the Australian Jewish community that we have their backs and will not tolerate this behaviour on our streets. We won't tolerate it with the Jewish community and we won't tolerate it with any community, because it is un-Australian. That's it. It's as simple as that.

I would like to leave you with the words of Yvonne Engelman: 'The most important message I have to tell is not to be a bystander but to stand up and voice your opinion. Be a decent human being. And if you keep that in your mind you will always benefit from it.' This will only be a great Australia if we all stand up and we all put in. We've all got to do the heavy lifting. But being a coward and doing things out in the streets that are un-Australian is not Australia. It is not Australia. People are going through really hard times and tough times at the moment, and I can tell you they are not putting up with your nonsense anymore. There is only a small minority out there that's doing this. You are disgusting. Like I said, you are the scum of not only this country but the earth. There is no more tolerance. We have had enough. We will stand together as one. We will stand for the Jewish community and any other community that has this inflicted on them now and in the future and we will stop this, because it's not the Australian way and it's not Australian behaviour.