‘Dutton’s Jew’: Anti-racism seminar at Queensland uni

A Queensland university has been blasted for a “revolting” presentation at an “anti-racism symposium” on Wednesday.

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has been slammed after an “anti-racism” conference was shown an image titled “Dutton’s Jew”.

Sarah Schwartz, executive officer of the pro-Palestinian Jewish Council of Australia, slammed Peter Dutton during a speech at QUT’s National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action on Wednesday, accusing the opposition leader of hiding behind the Jewish community to promote a right-wing agenda.

“For Dutton and his ilk, us Jews are the perfect avatars for peddling racism, Islamophobia [and] anti-immigrant sentiment,” Ms Schwartz told the audience.

“I present you with Dutton’s Jew. Dutton’s Jew has really helpfully provided a human shield for him to talk about some of his favourite topics — hating on migrants by arguing that Palestinian refugees are a threat to Jews, just generally hating on Muslims, protecting everyday Aussies from left-wing anti-war protesters, and of course bolstering support for Israel as it commits a genocide. His party no longer needs to defend the right to be bigots because Dutton’s Jew can do this for him.”

The speech took aim at opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: @DrewPavlou/X

Anti-CCP activist Drew Pavlou posted images and footage from the panel on X, calling it “an absolute farce”.

“This is legitimately insane,” he wrote.

He shared a slide from another speaker showing a collage of images of pro-Israel right-wing political figures including Mr Dutton, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, US President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

“They are now complaining that Elon Musk and Trump are too friendly with the Jews,” Mr Pavlou said.

“I like how this is indistinguishable from a Nick Fuentes groyper conference — complaining that right wing politicians are all controlled by ‘ZOG’. Seriously if you didn’t know that it was a leftie ‘anti-racism’ conference you could be forgiven for thinking Nick Fuentes made this slide.”

In a statement, Ms Schwartz said the clip from the “comedy debate” had been taken out of context and that she was pillorying “Peter Dutton’s racist, ignorant and monolithic conception of Jewish people”.

“In my presentation, I referred to Dutton’s racist conception of Jewish people as ‘Dutton’s Jew’ — Dutton’s racist conception of Jews, not actual Jewish people,” she said.

“Against this conception, I spoke about how Jewish people are diverse and about how the Jewish community is not a monolith. Only opportunists could wilfully misrepresent my point, which is that Peter Dutton is exploiting the rise in anti-Semitism for political gain.”

Jewish groups slammed the event as ‘hateful’. Picture: @DrewPavlou/X

Ms Schwartz said Mr Dutton “has a long history of racism, including against the African community, against First Nations peoples — including walking out of Parliament’s formal apology to the Stolen Generations — and against immigrants and refugees”.

“Now, for political gain, he is claiming to be an anti-racism warrior in support of the Jewish community,” she said.

“To that end, he has falsely painted all Jews as having particular attitudes and characteristics. Dutton and the LNP vilify any Jew who does not fit into their racist mould, as evidenced by their disgraceful and disrespectful treatment of a Jewish colleague and myself during a Parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism last year.”

She continued, “Dutton’s reduction of the Jewish community into a single stereotype, and silencing Jews who don’t fit that typology, only serves to make Jews less safe. This is particularly grotesque amidst a very real rise in anti-Semitism.”

Ms Schwartz accused “far-right social media accounts” of sharing the slide from her speech “without any of the context”.

“These groups promote dangerous disinformation, which no one should take at face value,” she said. “My speech was part of a comedy event making fun of racists. If we didn’t laugh we’d cry.”

A QUT spokesperson said the university had “robust policies around academic freedom and freedom of expression, but similarly on anti-discrimination and any form of racism”.

“In an event separate to the symposium, a slide shared by an academic and human rights lawyer from another university, who is also a member of the Jewish Council of Australia, has caused significant concern,” they said.

QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil said seeing the slide, “I understand why the presentation has caused significant offence, and I am sorry for the hurt caused to anyone within, and outside, the QUT community”.

“I will undertake to review the circumstances of this presentation and take any action necessary,” she said.

“As for the appropriateness of speakers on the main program, it is important that universities continue to engage in rigorous discussion and debate about the issues so important to our time. It is equally important that this is done in a way that is respectful and safe. I expect that this event will be subject to further scrutiny in the upcoming parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism in Australian universities and we will fully cooperate with that inquiry.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) slammed the QUT event.

“The image is clearly intended to stigmatise as evil and racist any Jewish person who might support the Coalition,” ECAJ president Daniel Aghion KC told news.com.au in a statement.

“It is ironic that such an obvious and disgraceful racist trope has been used at an event that billed itself as an anti-racism symposium.”

Mr Aghion said QUT’s leadership “have much to answer for”.

“We warned QUT in advance that this symposium was likely to be abused to promote a hateful and extremist agenda that would include anti-Semitic discourse,” he said.

“We also put them on notice that such behaviour would give further impetus to the spate of violent anti-Semitic incidents that have recently shocked and disgusted our country. QUT leaders responded with a combination of astonishing ignorance, reckless indifference to consequence, and the usual vacuous platitudes about freedom of expression.”

The EJAC has referred the incident to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, which is conducting an inquiry into anti-Semitism at Australian universities.

“We expect the inquiry to require those responsible at QUT for allowing the event to proceed, to attend before the committee and account for their actions,” Mr Aghion said.

“A steady drip feed of events like these are slowly turning swathes of our universities into propaganda factories instead of places of learning. Freedom of expression does not permit freedom to hate others. That is a simple and basic proposition which the QUT leadership has failed to grasp. People will be forgiven for wondering how much intellectual depth and maturity they can expect from future QUT graduates and how much a QUT degree will be worth.”

Pro-Palestine protesters at the University of Sydney. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The right-leaning Australian Jewish Association (AJA) branded it a “revolting anti-Semitic display”.

“The Albanese government has refused the pleas from the Jewish community to hold an independent judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses,” AJA wrote on X. “It is clear that the universities cannot govern themselves … Anthony Albanese, enough with the talking. Start doing something.”

Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, told a Senate inquiry last year there was “systemic anti-Semitism” which was “embedded” on university campuses and that there was a “degree of self-denial” as to how bad the situation was.

“Cultural change is therefore incredibly important, and needed,” she said.

“It is a special form of racism, it is different. A generalised approach doesn’t work. You need to have a focused approach to anti-Semitism.”

Jewish students and staff at Australian universities have alleged months of harassment and abuse from pro-Palestine campus protesters in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Palestinian terror group Hamas, which runs Gaza, killed at least 1200 people in the attacks, inflicting the worst loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. The ensuing Israeli assault on Gaza killed at least 47,000 people.

In October, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced the surge in anti-Semitism at universities would be the subject of an inquiry and report from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, after a recommendation by the earlier Senate inquiry which received hundreds of submissions from Jewish students and staff.

Liberal Senator and shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson said the move was “shockingly inadequate”, and the opposition wanted to see a Commission of Inquiry with Royal Commission-like powers as recommended by Ms Segal.

The committee has been asked report to parliament by March 31, 2025.