Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our government, since the October 7 attacks on Israel, has consulted widely and across communities. We have consulted across the Palestinian, Muslim and Arab communities. We have consulted widely with the Jewish community, and the measures to address community needs identified closely by community members after the attacks are designed to address the short-term as well as the long-term impacts felt across communities in Australia. Our approach supports both short- and long-term impacts of the conflict, enables funding to be distributed rapidly to communities most in need while also building capacity in affected communities. Our priority is to provide support to those communities that have been impacted, and to enhance and foster community connection during these challenging times. That is the priority of our government—taking action, supporting communities and delivering the funding that is needed.

I want to be clear in the final moments that I have that the Australian government has a zero-tolerance approach towards violence and expects all students to act respectfully towards each other. Antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of harassment, racism, discrimination or intimidation must not be allowed to threaten the safety of students and staff in Australian university campuses or anywhere else. Any incidents on university campuses that contravene the law should immediately be reported to police. Universities must uphold their obligations under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021. This includes having policies in place around freedom of speech, fostering a safe environment and ensuring the wellbeing of students and staff. It also includes having effective grievance processes to enable complaints to be made without fear of reprisal.

Our committee heard so many times about the universities not being able to deal with complaints or respond to complaints in an agile way. That was the evidence in our committee. But our government is working to strengthen the student ombudsman—we passed a bill last year—to make sure that students do have someone to go to when they need assistance.

There will always be a place for peaceful protest, but it must be peaceful. There will always be a place for respectful debate, but it must be respectful. Upholding freedom of speech does not extend to protecting or tolerating discriminatory or hate speech, including antisemitism or Islamophobia.

With the final moments I have, I intend to go through some of the work that our government is doing. A bill like this is about an inquiry that will take some time. Our government is delivering on the ground right now. The government has developed a social cohesion package, which includes $25 million to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to immediately improve safety. I have spoken to the Jewish community in my community in Far North Queensland, and they are very appreciative of these efforts. We are also making sure that we are providing funding for a series of measures to support the Australian community—$3 million for targeted mental health supports, $6 million for mental health and wellbeing support to students in Jewish and Islamic schools and for students of Jewish and Islamic faith—