Anthony Albanese defends Labor's action against anti-Semitism after Melbourne synagogue fire

News.com.au

12 hours ago

Anthony Albanese has defended Labor's track record of working and responding to anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish community, amid attacks from the opposition that there have been too many 'talkfests' and not enough 'action'.
While quizzed by journalists in Hobart on Tuesday, the Prime Minister snapped back at a reporter who said Jewish community leaders had claimed the government's response was 'insufficient'.
The questions were in response to an alleged arson attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue on Friday night,
'Who is saying that?' asked in response, and said he had spoken to community leaders on Saturday.
'Every time there has been a request, it has been met, expeditiously,' he said.
'On Saturday, one of the reasons why this gentleman has been caught so quickly is because the CCTV that was in place there was as a direct result of Commonwealth Government funding.'
Mr Albanese also rejected calls for him to convene national cabinet in response to Friday's alleged arson attack.
'Every time an issue comes up, people say, let's have a national cabinet. Let's be clear. What people want is not a meeting. They want action,' Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese's comments comes after Executive Council of the Australian Jewry president Alex Ryvchin urged the government to adopt its 15-point plan to 'defeat anti-Semitism' in Australia.
The plan includes calls for anti-Semitism education in the national curriculum and urges Labor to declare a National Emergency and establish a Joint Counter-Terrorism Taskforce to 'fight against anti-Semitic terror before we have a major terror attack in this country'.
Speaking later on Tuesday following a visit to the East Melbourne Synagogue, Sussan Ley maintained the Albanese government was not doing enough to protect Jewish-Australians.
'What I hear from the community is there have been many task forces, there have been many talkfests, many conversations and many words. What they are really calling for is action,' she said, alongside shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser and finance spokesperson James Paterson.
Ms Ley also called for stronger state hate speech laws, which would prohibit people from chanting phrases like 'death to Israel,' and said calls for a national cabinet meeting to tackle anti-Semitism were a 'good suggestion'.
'There shouldn't be an ability for people to chant the words 'death' and I won't complete the phase, on the streets of Melbourne, and it just be accepted,' she said.
'It is not a protest, it is hate – pure hate and we need to have laws and levers and I would respectfully ask the Premier of Victoria to consider how she might instruct law enforcement in a way that allows a stronger intervention.'