James Campbell: Hard not to wonder if Minister Ingrid Stitt’s heart is with protesters or Jewish community and public
Listening to the Multicultural Affairs Minister Ingrid Stitt avoid criticising pro-Palestine extremists for shutting down the NGV, one wonders if her heart is with protesters rather than the public.
Opinion
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It’s hard to know what is more frightening – that a state government minister won’t criticise a protest that caused the closure of Australia’s greatest art gallery or a state government minister won’t condemn protesters for targeting a gallery because it accepted money from Jews.
For more than a year, Victorians have wondered why despite clear evidence the Premier gets it, her government is taking so long to crack down on the anti-Semitic protests that have blighted the city.
Listening to the performance of her Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ingrid Stitt on Monday as she went out of her way to avoid criticising protesters for shutting the NGV, as well as their decision to target the institution because of its connection to the Gandel family, that inactivity became easier to understand.
Because hearing it, it was hard not to wonder if Stitt’s heart is not with the protesters rather than the public or the Jewish community who feel the state has deserted them.
Stitt told reporters: “We want to make sure people can move around the city with confidence and safely.”
Ask yourself if that is what happened on Sunday.
Then ask yourself why can’t our government say what happened is acceptable.
It is unfortunate for Stitt – and by extension Allan – that the closure of one of the symbols of our city should have come at the same time as the NSW Premier Chris Minns has made it clear that he is not going to allow pro-Palestinian protesters to shut down the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
And make no mistake the symbolism is important.
The “rally” on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in the days after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 sent a powerful message around the world.
Not only that, the failure of the NSW police to intervene after the crowd started
anti-Jewish slogans (the nature of which is disputed) sent a message that anything goes, a message that Premier Minns has struggled for almost two years to underdo.
It has been said before and unfortunately still needs saying that it is long past
time for the state to intervene to stop these protests that have long since morphed into anti-Semitism.
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