Fight ‘brainwashing’ on campus: Petter Dutton

Peter Dutton has urged students to vote with their feet amid soaring anti-Semitism on campuses, as he warned Jewish leaders the Albanese government has ‘lost its moral compass’.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attends the Central Synagogue in Bondi Junction, where he is greeted by Rabbi Levi Wolff. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

Peter Dutton has urged students to vote with their feet and parents to speak out against indoctrination amid soaring anti-Semitism on campuses, as he warned Jewish leaders the Albanese government has “lost its moral compass”.

In a closed-door speech at the Central Synagogue in Bondi Junction on Friday night, the Opposition Leader ramped-up calls by the Coalition, minor parties and independents for Anthony Albanese to order a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses.

Ahead of parliament returning on Tuesday and Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser putting forward a private members’ bill for a judicial inquiry, Mr Dutton said the key to fighting anti-Semitism and indoctrination is “addressing the crisis in education”.

Julian Leeser during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Weekend Australian can reveal a Monash University poll of 7,611 Jewish Australians conducted in November found 68 per cent of Jewish students at Australian universities personally encountered hostility towards Israel from other students and 46 per cent had experienced hostility towards Israel from university lecturers and staff.

Speaking at the same synagogue where the Prime Minister three-weeks ago dismissed pro-Palestine protesters encamped at universities as “Trots” who are ignorant of Middle East history, Mr Dutton criticised actions taken by university heads, the government and law enforcement as “woefully inadequate”.

“Nothing short of a societal-wide effort is needed to reject indoctrination and bring about a renaissance of education. Parents must speak out – because the disruption and brainwashing on campuses is affecting your children’s future,” Mr Dutton said.

“Students must vote with their feet – do not waste your time and money at institutions which don’t have your best interests at heart.”

Less than one-year out from the election, Mr Dutton flagged the need for a major refocusing of education standards in schools including re-prioritising reading, writing and maths curriculum.

“I believe that the federal government must be more willing to penalise taxpayer-funded institutions which are not enforcing their own codes or keeping people safe on campus. I believe the anti-Semitism taking place on campuses today is symptomatic of a wider crisis in education,” he said.

“Young people are increasingly being taught ‘what to think’ – not ‘how to think’. Places of education have increasingly become places of indoctrination. Critical thinking is being replaced by prescribed thinking. The interplay between propaganda on campuses and online is only entrenching ideologies, historical distortions, and untruths in young minds.”

Mr Dutton said reversing the education crisis must start with a “renewed focus on teaching our young children the basics through explicit instruction”.

“A Coalition government will ensure a prioritisation on reading, writing and maths – the bedrock for open minds and critical thinking. We also want to see every Australian schoolchild visits a Holocaust museum. The lessons of history serve as a shield of knowledge which helps to deflect anti-Semitism and other propaganda.”

Mr Dutton, a former home affairs and immigration minister, said a Coalition government would also cancel visas and deport “non-citizens who incite or choose violence”.

With the Prime Minister under pressure over his response to moves by the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese’s “silence is inexcusable and shameful … the chief prosecutor’s actions are an abomination and anti-Semitic”.

He attacked the government’s decision to back Palestine’s bid for full UN membership as “utterly inappropriate, illogical, ill-timed and immoral”.

“In supporting this bid, the government has sent a clear message that it tolerates the use of terrorism and barbarism to achieve political ends.”

“On both issues, the Albanese government has again displayed misjudgment and weak leadership, while treating our ally, Israel, with disdain.

“I would go as far as to say that the government has lost its moral compass.”

Former prime minister Scott Morrison on Friday slammed the ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant as “absurd”: “Any pretension that the ICC’s actions do not create moral equivalence between the actions of the sovereign nation of Israel in the current conflict and a recognised terrorist organisation in Hamas, is wilful blindness at best and potentially far worse”.

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Picture: AFP

In the first comprehensive study of Jewish Australians since the October 7 terrorist attacks, a Monash University-led poll of more than 7,600 people found 64 per cent believed anti-Semitism was “very much” a problem. This was ten-times higher than responses to a similar question in 2017.

The November survey, commissioned by Jewish Communal Appeal NSW and conducted by the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, revealed in the five-weeks following October 7, one-in-five Jewish Australians had experienced an insult or harassment because of their faith and 43 per cent of those aged 18-29 reported harassment. One-in-five respondents (22 per cent) said they had been less open about their Jewish identity in public.

“Behind the statistics are the hard facts that Jewish Australians have been threatened and harassed on university campuses, vilified on social media and on the street, and discriminated against at work,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said.

Mr Dutton said since Hamas’ “barbaric terrorist attack, anti-Semitic incidents in Australia have increased by 700 per cent”, with few arrests made. He said a Coalition government would “provide the moral and political leadership that makes it abundantly clear that we expect the law to be enforced readily – not reluctantly – against those inciting hatred and violence”.

“Let’s be clear about the sinister agenda of these self-proclaimed ‘pro-Palestinian’ protesters. Using the pretext of free speech, these protesters have engaged in hate speech to intimidate Jewish students and to drive them off campuses.”

The Weekend Australian understands Mr Albanese has not replied to a formal request from the Coalition, minor parties and independents to establish a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on campuses in response to verbal attacks, harassment and intimidation of Jewish staff and students.

Last Thursday, 13 prominent MPs and senators including Mr Dutton, Jacqui Lambie, Pauline Hanson, Allegra Spender, Zali Stegall, Bob Katter and Rebekha Sharkie wrote to Mr Albanese requesting urgent action.

The letter said “we believe that a judicial inquiry will provide the best way to achieve broader cultural change in the university sector”. The MPs and Senators said if the Albanese government refused to instigate a judicial inquiry, they would support a Senate inquiry as an alternative.

“We are seeking a judicial inquiry as the most authoritative form of inquiry. An inquiry led by an independent respected jurist with the powers to grant privileges and immunities,” the letter said.

Addressing the Adelaide Holocaust Museum on Friday, Mr Leeser laid out the terms-of-reference for his judicial inquiry and attacked Labor’s plan for a general inquiry into racism to be conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Announced earlier this month by Education Minister Jason Clare and due to report in mid-2025, the AHRC study was a response to the Universities Accord report and will address anti-Semitism alongside Islamophobia, racism and the experience of First Nations people in the university sector.

Mr Leeser said since the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas, the AHRC had said “nothing about the rise of anti-Semitism in our community.”

The terms of reference for Mr Leeser’s judicial inquiry were devised after consultation with the ECAJ, the Australian Academic Alliance Against anti-Semitism, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students and Universities Australia.

Mr Leeser said the judicial inquiry would report on anti-Semitic activity on Australian university campuses, including instances of “harassment, intimidation, violence, advocacy or glorification of violence and/or support for listed terrorist organisations” both before and after October 7.

It will also examine the response of university regulators, leaders, governing bodies, Vice-Chancellors, student and staff representative bodies, student clubs and organisations.