Government slams conservative group after donation by antisemitism envoy’s husband

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has slammed conservative campaigning group Advance and its donors after it emerged that antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal’s husband’s family trust gave $50,000 to the controversial organisation.

But Burke defended Segal, a lawyer and businesswoman with a long career of high-profile roles, saying that claims she should be held responsible for her husband’s actions were outdated and misogynistic.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke with antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week.Credit: Dylan Coker

Australian Electoral Commission donation records lodged on behalf of a trust called Henroth, which is named for the father of Segal’s husband John Roth, show it gave $50,000 to Advance – formerly Advance Australia – in 2023-24, making it one of the group’s largest donors.

“Advance is an appalling organisation, and those who fund it are not acting in the cause of social cohesion,” Burke said. “But another of the forms of bigotry that we are fighting is misogyny, and there is no way I am going back to the 1950s and blaming a woman for the actions of her husband.”

Segal distanced herself from the donation on Sunday, saying she had no involvement. “No one would tolerate or accept my husband dictating my politics, and I certainly won’t dictate his,” Segal said in a brief statement. “I have had no involvement in his donations, nor will I.”

This masthead does not suggest otherwise. Segal delivered a plan last week to tackle rising antisemitism in Australia, which called for widespread education on the issue, monitoring of media reporting and funding cuts to organisations that fail to tackle hatred of Jews.

Jillian Segal with her husband, John Roth.Credit: Facebook

In media interviews, Segal described it as a good-faith proposal to advance social cohesion.

Advance, a conservative campaigning group, has previously accused left-leaning politicians of being “mostly on the same side as Hamas” and compared Labor to the Chinese Communist Party while advertising against the Voice to parliament referendum and immigration.

Former NSW Labor premier and foreign minister Bob Carr, who has become an advocate for the Palestinian cause, said the donation should have been publicised when Segal was appointed to the role last year.

“Ms Segal had a clear obligation when she was appointed to this job to declare that her husband’s family trust funds a group called Advance, notorious for vilifying Palestinians and immigrant communities, even running a campaign against Welcome to Country,” he said.

Segal’s office declined to comment. Roth, a successful property investor, was contacted for comment.

Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, said Carr’s criticisms smacked of “conspiratorial thinking” and accused him of trying to discredit Segal and her report. “[Carr] also seeking to tarnish her on the ridiculous basis of something her husband is alleged to have done,” Rubenstein said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley backed Segal’s appointment and described her background in law, across executive boards and the public service, as exceptional.

“We welcomed her appointment and stand by her appointment,” Ley said. “She is an eminent Australian and she has done outstanding work as the antisemitism envoy.”

Her report also recommended that all Australian public institutions adopt a definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

The definition has been embraced by Jewish groups and some parts of the Australian government, but attacked by critics who argue that it stifles free speech and conflates criticism of Israel and its government with antisemitism.

Burke later told ABC 7.30 the report was intended to be about punishment but preventing antisemitism before consequences became necessary.

“I think the objective here is not to [be] stripping funding, is not to be cancelling people, the objective is actually to never fall foul of the need to make sure that we’re combatting antisemitism,” he said.

“This is where a lot of the discussion, and I respect why, has gone straight to the edges of ‘well, what would the punishment be, what would the penalty be.’ The objective here is that you don’t end up in that world.”

A Labor backbencher said on the condition of anonymity to avoid speaking out of party ranks that this report creates “a potential nightmare” politically, as people would wonder why one group was receiving particular treatment.

“We have to wait and see what the anti-Islamophobia envoy has to say, I guess it’s going to be a balancing act,” the MP said. “These latest revelations cast a bit of a shadow on Jillian Segal’s report, no matter how much she tries to distance herself from it.”

The Lebanese Muslim Association and Australia Palestine Advocacy Network both said Segal should be stood down from her role as envoy because of what the network called her “proximity to Advance”.

“This isn’t about dictating a spouse’s politics,” the association’s spokesperson said. “It’s about credibility, accountability, and public trust,” the association’s spokesperson said.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, of which Segal was formerly president, declined to comment.

With Mostafa Rachwani.

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