Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I don't know what more it's going to take for government to wake up and understand that we have a crisis of antisemitism in this country and they, by their lack of action, are enabling it.

Let's have a look at what the Prime Minister of Israel himself, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has said. This is what he said in relation to the attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne:

Unfortunately, it is impossible to separate this reprehensible act from the extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia …

That is the Prime Minister of Israel. Israel's deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, has also criticised the Albanese government in the wake of the recent antisemitic attacks in Sydney. This is what she said:

I note, however, that the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and other Australian ministers are refusing to accept any responsibility for the shocking recent surge in anti-Semitic terror in Australia. There is no doubt the rise in anti-Semitism in Australia has been caused in part by the Australian government's ongoing campaign against Israel.

We see that campaign in the United Nations.

This is what the chief rabbi of Perth Hebrew Congregation in Western Australia, Dan Lieberman, said in relation to the graffiti that I referred to previously: 'It's a turning point for the Jewish community of WA. People will get sick of this nonsense very quickly and they will make plans to leave. Jewish people have moved around for 2,000 years, and we will do it again. Australian society has to decide whether the people of Einstein, Salk, Freud and Monash are worth keeping around. If they decide that they are not then all they need to do is continue down this path and allow incidents like this to go unchallenged and unpunished. The Jewish community will move on, and Australian society will be the poorer for it. We have contributed and will continue to contribute so much to this country and to Western society, and we will continue to do so—but not if the society that we are attempting to benefit rejects us, either explicitly or implicitly, by way of silence and inaction in the face of antisemitism.'

It's no wonder that Jewish Australians are feeling let down. Journalist Sharri Markson has said: 'Vulnerable is an understatement. This isn't the world any of us want to live in. Jewish Australians have only ever contributed in a wonderful way to this country, in every area of life, to help make Australia a better place to live.'

The coalition completely supports the motion put by Senator Lambie today. But what I fear more than anything is that, even though the Leader of the Opposition told the Prime Minister in 2023 that we would work with the government to tackle the rise of antisemitism in Australia, it is very clear in February 2025 that the Jewish people of Australia have been let down. This motion will pass the Senate, but, based on the government's track record to date, it's going to be mere words. Words, quite frankly, are not what the Jewish community or Australians need. They need leadership and they need action.