Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has warned that as people become braver with antisemitism, words will translate to action, and called for communities to make early interventions when they see bigotry.

His comments made outside the East Melbourne Synagogue on Sunday followed three separate incidents over the weekend, including an arson attack on the synagogue, protests shouting “offensive chants” inside an Israeli restaurant on Friday night, and vandalism of the offices of a military-linked engineering firm early on Saturday morning.