James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'Antisemitism is being expressed more openly than at any other time in my lifetime': a phrase reportedly uttered by Prime Minister Albanese while addressing the Labor caucus yesterday. No level of mental gymnastics can possibly reconcile this statement with the Labor government's decision to vote to support Palestinian statehood, to recognise a contested state at a time when it is run by a fascist terrorist organisation—a state that believes in the eradication of the Jewish people and the LGBTQ community and a state that has used rape as a tool of attack. It is simply incomprehensible that the Prime Minister wraps himself in the pride and women's flags yet takes such action. Antisemitism increased by 700 per cent from October to November in Australia last year following Hamas's terrorist attack and is only becoming more prevalent.

Recently, in my home state of Queensland, at the University of Queensland, a Jewish lecturer's office was ransacked, with the perpetrator urinating on the floor and posting signs saying 'resign'. Again, just days later, a group of pro-Palestinian supporters, spoken to by Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather by megaphone, later stormed a building on campus, with one student smashing a classroom window with a bollard. Australian students fear going to university. An antisemitic curtain of fear is smothering Jewish students. We ought to condemn this action of the Albanese government and have a proper inquiry into antisemitism. Though the Prime Minister may call out antisemitism as a problem in this country, it is the weakness of his government that is to blame for the rise of antisemitism.