Albanese’s actions ring hollow as anti-Semitic outrages continue

The latest anti-Semitic outrage, the firebombing of a childcare centre, renders increasingly hollow those voices asserting this is not who we are, that racist hatred and violence have no place in Australia.

For here it is, in our nation.

It has taken this attack on a place for our most innocent and vulnerable, to shift Prime Minister Albanese into finally acting on the advice of Australia’s anti-Semitism envoy, Jillian Segal, to convene a national cabinet on anti-Semitism.

The government must lead the nation in a bipartisan push against this enormity and ensure it does not and cannot take root and entrench itself. To this end, the words of Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, are pertinent: “We who are not like them (the hate perpetrators), we have to form a united front” and, “as a nation”, articulate “what we stand for and what we oppose”.

Let us hope it is not too late. That there will be action. That this abhorrent anti-Semitism will be corralled and expunged; that the safety and security of Australia’s Jewish people, and all who love this nation and call it home, will be ensured.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

I stand with Australian Jews and I stand with Israeli Jews.

Several weeks ago, my nomination for this newspaper’s Australian of the Year was for all those who make up our wonderful Jewish communities. Those communities of peace-loving, hardworking, productive, well-educated and cultured people who, for generations, have made enormous contributions to this country’s prosperity. They are proven, fair dinkum, true-blue Aussies. Onya, cobbers.

Stephanie Millar, Cremorne, NSW

Defence ‘deceptions’

While Greg Sheridan explains that the logistics of the Virginia-class submarine shipyards in the US indicate that AUKUS would never have a concrete outcome for Australia, he finds a positive for our nation in a strong strategic commitment under President Donald Trump (“It turns out that AUKUS is really all about symbolism”, 21/1).

However, it does not excuse the Albanese government from using AUKUS as a smokescreen for neglecting Australia’s overall defence needs.

ADF numbers continue to dwindle and aircraft orders have been scaled down, along with mechanised equipment for the army. Sheridan has long despaired over the shambolic state of our defence, but the deceptions played by this government over national security are a disgrace.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn, Vic

Questions for PM

I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in Albanese’s opinion of Peter Dutton.

I would like him to clearly enunciate the following details: How does he intend to fix the energy and environmental mess he has created? What will he do to eliminate anti-Australian values? When is he going to apply the law to various protesters who are continuing their anti-Semitic diatribes and violence? When is he going to give sensible, real practical help to Aborigines?

When is he going to properly balance immigration and insist on Australian values being adopted? When is he going to go back to educating children instead of indoctrinating them?

When does he plan to employ bureaucrats for their departmental knowledge and experience, not their ideology?

Marian Hinwood, Elsternwick, Vic

Green aluminium

You are right to highlight the challenges facing the aluminium industry and the government’s $2bn announcement (“The power politics of aluminium”, Editorial, 21/1).

Low-carbon Australian aluminium is vital as we compete with other countries, future-proofing and decarbonising our economy by supplying this critical component of in-demand technologies like solar panels, electric vehicles and batteries.

As the US aluminium industry increasingly relies on scrap recycling to achieve its green credentials, other countries are boosting green production, while our neighbours, Japan and South Korea, are buying.

But with only 25 per cent of global aluminium production currently classified as green, there is an opportunity going begging, and Australia is well-placed to step up and benefit.

Karen Lamb, Geelong, Vic

Good sense blown away

Those demanding changes be made to old films, such as Gone With the Wind, as well as to grand old books, need to remember Gone With The Wind has nothing relatable with today.

It was made 86 years ago, aligned with the norms of the time, was brilliantly conceived, and 2025 wasn’t even a faint light on the horizon. To these would-be meddlers, please develop some common sense.

Rosemary O’Brien, Ashfield, NSW