‘Appalling’: Jewish MP slams ‘Albanazi’ poster at CFMEU rally

An “appalling” image seen at CFMEU protests has been condemned as “unacceptable”, with one MP calling for laws to be strengthened in response.

An “appalling” image seen at this week’s CFMEU protests has been condemned as “unacceptable”, with one MP calling for hate speech laws to be strengthened in response.

Tens of thousands of CFMEU members protested in unauthorised rallies across the country on Tuesday, chanting “hands off our union” after the scandal-plagued organisation was forced into administration by the government.

One image circulating on social media depicts Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with a Hitler moustache and the words “Albanazi”. The poster was seen displayed in at least one rally in Brisbane.

“It’s just appalling the fact people would stoop so low to be able to use this imagery to attack people,” David Southwick, Victorian Liberal state MP for Caulfield, told Melbourne’s 3AW.

Host Jacqui Felgate said the image was “unacceptable” and exposed a “really nasty undercurrent”.

CFMEU protesters in Brisbane on Tuesday. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“We just see it time and time again and these individuals, they don’t care about anyone else except themselves, this is unfortunately the kind of thing that we would expect from many in the CFMEU,” Mr Southwick said.

“That’s what were seeing in terms of bullying and intimidation. But to start depicting somebody with a Hitler moustache and calling them a Nazi, whether it’s the Premier, Prime Minister, anyone, it’s just appalling, and I don’t think anyone should accept that.”

Mr Southwick pointed to the Victoria’s landmark laws against Nazi symbols, which came into effect in last October, making it illegal to publicly perform the Nazi salute.

The federal government followed suit, passing a similar ban in January on the Nazi salute and trading or displaying imagery such as the swastika.

“I think there needs to be consequences for this type of behaviour,” he said.

Caricatures depicting someone as Hitler are not covered under the legislation, but the Jewish MP said that was not good enough.

“Well it should,” he said.

“And the problem is that the government has fallen short in passing the remainder of this legislation. That has meant that things like this [have been used] in many of the pro-Palestinian protests, using awful imagery, [the protesters] have been able to kind of get away with it.”

He accused the Victorian government of talk with no action.

Victorian Liberal Party MP David Southwick. Picture: David Crosling/NCA NewsWire

“Certainly I would be hoping there’s full police investigation an there are consequences for people using these images,” he said.

“I think people have had enough of it, and these people that are using imagery like this, they’re bullying, they’re thugs, they’re causing division and hate and no one should put up with this type of behaviour.”

Mr Southwick said Victoria had the “largest Holocaust survivor population anywhere in the world other than Israel”.

“I know that every time this kind of imagery is used it triggers a whole lot of people,” he said.

“This is very triggering and hurtful and frankly just had no place here, no place anywhere, and I think we need to call out this behaviour. Let’s do something about it. Let’s ensure that there are consequences for people that use these images.”

Mr Southwick said the Jewish community had been “calling for a long time” to strengthen laws so you don’t have hurtful imagery to target and divide and incite violence and hate”.

“We’re seeing anti-Jewish imagery used time and time again every week in the city,” he said. “The government stand up and say how horrible it is but do nothing, and the police say we don’t have the powers. The government is all talk and no action.”

The Victorian government cracked down on Nazism after a group of neo-Nazis appeared at a Melbourne rally in March 2023 and performed the salute on the steps of the state’s parliament.

The government had initially flagged its intention to criminalise public displays of and trading in Nazi hate symbols, but late last year extended the legislation to include public displays of the salute.

There is no suggestion that any of the CFMEU protesters were neo-Nazis.

Tens of thousands of tradies walked off the job on Tuesday. Picture: William West/AFP

Construction workers, rallying in support of their embattled union, walked off the job and took to the streets on Tuesday despite warnings from the PM and the workplace watchdog that they could face punishment.

The federal government last week passed a bill giving it powers to force parts of the union, which has been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption and links to organised crime, into administration after securing a deal with the Coalition.

In Sydney the crowd chanted “f**k Albo” and “hands off our union”.

Sacked CFMEU NSW secretary Darren Greenfield, addressing the rally outside state parliament, slammed the Labor Party and called Mr Albanese “a dirty rotten bastard”.

Similar scenes unfolded in other capital cities across the country.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) on Monday warned that if a worker “fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the [Fair Work] Act”.

Mr Albanese earlier defended the government’s move to clean up the CFMEU.

Echoing the FWO, the PM warned there would be “consequences” if people walked off the job for the rallies and defended his government’s action on the CFMEU as being “in the interests of all trade unionists”.

“We respect the work that construction workers do,” he told reporters from the Western Sydney Airport construction site.

“It’s a tough job and they do magnificent work, including here at this wonderful airport. What we want to do, though, is to make sure that their union is free of corruption.”

Pressed on whether forcing the CFMEU into administration cut back the ability of workers to unionise, Mr Albanese said the goal was “proper trade unionism”.

“You need to have unions in the building industry, it’s a dangerous industry,” he said.

“But what we want to do is to make sure that they have a union that’s worthy of the incredible work that construction workers do. If there is unprotected industrial action, then there are consequences for that.”

— with NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Appalling’: Jewish MP slams ‘Albanazi’ poster at CFMEU rally