Labor defers debate on judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism

Liberal Party MP Julian Leeser has been pushing for a probe into anti-Semitism on university campuses but his attempt to bring on a vote failed.

Liberal Party MP Julian Leeser. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The government has shut down a parliamentary debate on a Coalition push to establish a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses after NSW Liberal MP Julian Leeser attempted to suspend standing orders on Thursday morning to bring on a vote.

Mr Leeser said a Commission of inquiry with Royal Commission powers led by a current or former judge to investigate anti-Semitism on university campuses – both before and after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas – was needed before the commencement of the second semester.

The parliamentary debate was effectively shelved by the government which voted to adjourn the debate, removing it from the agenda. But Labor frontbencher, Mark Butler, paid tribute to Mr Leeser’s response to the “appalling rise of anti-Semitism” since the October 7 attack on Israel by terror group Hamas.

Addressing the parliament on Thursday morning, Mr Leeser said that a judicial inquiry would be able to consider whether the response of university leaders, regulators, representative organisations and others to rising anti-Semitism had been adequate.

Listing instances of anti-Semitism, Mr Leeser said Jewish students had been spat on and taunted with swastikas; the office of Jewish staff members had been urinated on; academics

had denied that rapes on October 7 occurred; university leaders had failed to deal properly with anti-Semitism and vice-chancellors had suggested hate-fuelled protests were “just the

price Jewish students have to pay for free speech.”

The speech from Mr Leeser came one day after Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton united to condemn and politically isolate the Greens, ­accusing the minor party of ­exploiting the unfolding conflict in Gaza to fuel division and undermine social cohesion.

“Unfortunately, the government’s plan is not to have a stand-alone judicial inquiry to deal with anti-Semitism on campus but to have a general anti-racism inquiry running for two years dealing with racism against First Nations peoples, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” he said.

“Can I say as a Jewish Australian I am so sick and tired of his government, the human rights commission, universities and other bodies in Australia being unable to say anti-Semitism without saying Islamophobia in the same breath.

“To fail to singularly identify and call out the particularity of anti-Semitism and indeed the largest increase in anti-Semitism in our history in and of itself anti-Semitic.”

Mr Leeser said there was only one community that was targeted in the “vile” Opera House protests on October 9, only one community that had its artists and creatives doxxed, and only one community that had its students spat at.

He said the Jewish community could not be blamed for having no confidence in the Human Rights Commission given its record, arguing that for more than six months it said nothing

about the largest increase in anti-Semitism in the history of Australia.

Invoking the words of the Prime Minister who told the parliament on Wednesday there was “no place for anti-Semitism” in communities, universities or outside electorate offices, Mr Leeser said all members could “give effect” to those words by supporting his private member’s bill.

Manager of Opposition Business, Paul Fletcher, told the parliament the Coalition was seeking to “provide leadership on this issue when leadership has been lacking from the government.”

Mr Fletcher said the bill proposed by Mr Leeser had met with “silence and equivocation” by Labor.

Responding to the comments, Mr Butler said there was a “very significant moment” in the House on Wednesday when both major parties united in question time to condemn the “hatred, the disinformation, the misinformation, the toxic division that is being sown out in the community – including by some members of this parliament.”

He said it broke the hearts of Jewish Australians along with all reasonable thinking Australians to see the “appalling hatred” that was now evident in society – including the open contemplation of the destruction of the state of Israel.

Mr Butler said he understood the frustration of Mr Leeser, and echoed his concerns. But he said it was not appropriate for the bill to debated in an hour

“This is not the way we are going to deal with a bill,” he said. “There is no way any government is going to agree to a motion that seeks to bring on legislation, to deal with it in an hour (with) absolutely no notice given to the government.”

“This is not a motion the government could ever support.”