Anti-Semitism envoy backs Coalition judicial inquiry

The government’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism has come out in support of the Coalition’s calls for a judicial inquiry.

Special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal with Anthony Albanese. Picture: John Appleyard / NewsWire

The government’s hand-picked special envoy to combat anti-Semitism has backed a Coalition push to establish a judicial inquiry into campus anti-Semitism and openly questioned the government’s university racism inquiry by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Coalition figures have seized on the comments as public hearings are due to begin this coming week on a bill to establish a ­judicial inquiry into campus anti-Semitism.

Major universities that hosted pro-Palestine encampment protests earlier in the year are scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, including the University of Sydney, the Australian National University, and the University of Melbourne.

The Australian understands some university vice-chancellors will appear.

The special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, said in a submission to the Senate committee considering the legislation that anti-Semitism had become an “embedded part” of the culture of universities and that management was in “denial” about the gravity of the situation on campus.

Ms Segal, a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, questioned the ability of the AHRC to conduct effectively the campus racism study commissioned by the government. She said a judicial inquiry would “afford a much deeper interrogation of the nature and scale of anti-Semitism at Australian universities” than the AHRC study.

“Jewish students, academics, and staff … have no confidence currently in other institutions like the AHRC to approach their evidence with impartiality and appropriate respect,” Ms Segal’s submission reads.

“This calls into question the ultimate efficacy of the government’s referral to the AHRC to study racism at universities including anti-Semitism.”

Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson, who brought the judicial inquiry bill under consideration by the Senate committee, welcomed Ms Segal’s comments and lashed the Albanese government’s AHRC racism study as “woefully inadequate”.

“Education Minister Jason Clare’s response to campus anti-Semitism since October 7 has been appalling,” she said. “In the face of so much hate and incitement, Mr Clare has not shown the moral courage to hold universities to account for their failings. That is why a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism at universities is so important.”

When contacted for comment, a government spokeswoman said “there is no place for anti-Semitism on university campuses or anywhere else”, adding: “That is why the government made sure that it was a key part of the Race Discrimination Commissioner’s investigation into racism on university campuses. I hope the Senate inquiry treats every submission it receives with due consideration.”

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who initially tried to establish a judicial inquiry before being shut down by Labor, said Ms Segal’s comments meant the government now had “no excuse not to back the judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism” on campuses.

“All the major Jewish groups support it, none of the universities oppose it, and the government’s own hand-picked adviser on anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, is also supporting it,” he said.