They are by any measure an unlikely trio. Ned Mannoun, the mayor of Liverpool in Sydney’s south-west, is a Muslim. William Nemesh, the mayor of Waverley in Sydney’s east, is Jewish. Both Liberals, they are joined by Labor’s Darcy Byrne, the mayor of Inner West Council and a close ally of Anthony Albanese.

The group of Sydney mayors is hosting a roundtable on Thursday about how to foster social cohesion in the face of a spate of antisemitic attacks including the discovery of explosives in a caravan at Dural, possibly destined for a mass casualty attack.