Federal Budget 2025: boost to Australia’s social cohesion as Israel-Hamas war rages

The government will make one of the largest ever investments in Australia’s social cohesion to restrengthen fraying harmony amid the Israel-Hamas war with almost $180m earmarked across five years.

Alexi DemetriadiNSW Political Correspondent

A council worker cleans anti-Israel vandalism from an apartment block after an anti-Semitic graffiti attack in Woollahra, Sydney, in November. Picture: Tim Hunter

2 min read

7:30PMMarch 25, 2025.

Updated 11:15AMMarch 26, 2025

The government will make one of the largest ever investments in Australia’s social cohesion as the Israel-Hamas war rages, with Jim Chalmers earmarking almost $180m to bolster harmony, including multimillion-dollar funding to support both the Jewish and Muslim communities.

The conflict’s reverberations across Australian society has prompted Mr Chalmers to dip into the nation’s coffers to the tune of $178.4m over five years from 2024-25, spanning multiple portfolios, with a particular focus on places of worship.

See more of The Australian’s federal budget coverage here.

Speaking in parliament on Tuesday to lay out his pre-election budget, the Treasurer conceded that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was “breaking down”. The $178.4m, which also includes funding for Australia’s African, Chinese and other diverse communities, is one of the largest ever budget commitments to strengthen social cohesion, with $60m earmarked for projects in the next financial year, predominantly within the home affairs and attorney-general portfolios.

It includes the previously announced $31.4m to restore Melbourne’s firebombed Adass Israel Synagogue – the Coalition has pledged $35m – and $2m to upgrade WA’s Holocaust institute.

The figure also includes $60.4m to increase security at Jewish and Muslim places of worship. This has been partially funded and will be met from within existing resourcing in the Home Affairs department.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea which was destroyed when fire bombed last week. Picture: Instagram

Rozana – a Melbourne-based health charity working in the West Bank and Israel whose cross-faith leadership recently met with Anthony Albanese at The Lodge – secured $4m. Over the five years from 2024-25, the government will provide $44.8m for projects that “critically support” multicultural communities, including $15m for the development of a sports and education hub in Melbourne, run by former Richmond star Bachar Houli’s foundation.

Mr Houli was the first devout Muslim to play AFL at the highest level. His foundation is a partner of an annual Jewish-Muslim football cup.

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There is also $10m to support independent multicultural media – organisations akin to the Voice of Islam radio station or Jewish Independent newspaper – and will go to improving technology for the transition to sustainability.

There is also $300,000 for the Attorney-General’s Department to start building a national database to track and co-ordinate hate crimes, a vow made at January’s national cabinet convened as NSW’s anti-Semitic attacks reached a zenith.

The database was the key pledge from that hastily convened national cabinet, which Anthony Albanese called only after increasing pressure from Jewish leaders as NSW’s anti-Semitic attacks began to escalate with the firebombing of a Maroubra childcare centre and discovery of a “hoax” explosive-laded caravan, allegedly orchestrated by fugitive Sayet Erhan Akca.

The government will also provide $1.6m to “provide mental health support” for Australians affected by the Israel-Hamas war.

Sacked Bankstown nurses Rashad Nadir and Sarah Abu Lebdeh vowed to ‘kill’ Israelis if they presented to their ward. Picture: NewsWire Handout

It comes after funding for certain Islamic bodies had threatened to become a new political front, with the Coalition demanding the government rescind or halt grants to any groups that supported two sacked Bankstown nurses who vowed to “kill” Israelis, or employed preachers allegedly spouting hate speech.

There is also new funding for Australia’s other diverse communities, including $20m to support African-Australian groups and $2m to redevelop Melbourne’s Museum of Chinese Australian History and Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum.

The government prepares to spend $156.7m to crack down on the burgeoning illicit tobacco trade, with multimillion-dollar funding for law-enforcement and security agencies.

About $50m will go towards bolstering the Australian Federal Police’s task force, $40m towards state and territory governments, and $7m towards border officers for “rapid non-intrusive tools” in international cargo.

There is also $4.7m for the Northern Territory government to deliver more high-visibility policing in Alice Springs and about $38m over the next four years for the AFP to fit out security facilities at the new Western Sydney International Airport.