Sack the anti-Semites: bipartisan push to end university hatred

Labor and Coalition MPs have united to call for tougher workplace laws so universities can sack anti-Semitic staff and researchers, in a bipartisan attempt to break the ‘toxic’ wave of anti-Jewish hate spreading from campuses to the rest of the country.

A Jewish student at the University of Sydney. Picture: John Feder

Labor and Coalition MPs have united to call for tougher workplace laws so universities can sack anti-Semitic staff and researchers, in a bipartisan attempt to break the “toxic” wave of anti-Jewish hate spreading from campuses to the rest of the country.

Amid escalating attacks and threats against Jewish Australians, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has caned some vice-chancellors for failing to punish “brazen misconduct’’, warning that a “toxic environment” in universities is stoking anti-Semitism.

Chaired by Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns, the committee blamed some university administrators for fuelling attacks on Jewish Australians, by failing to punish anti-­Semitic behaviour on campus.

It called on all universities to adopt a clear definition of anti-Semitism that aligned closely with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.

“The rise in anti-Semitism has been exacerbated by the reluctance of many university ­administrations to enforce ­meaningful consequences for ­misconduct,’’ the committee states in a report tabled in federal ­parliament on Wednesday.

“What the committee found was a disturbing prevalence of anti-Semitism that has left ­Jewish students and staff feeling unsafe; hiding their identity on campus and even avoiding campus altogether.

“The committee witnessed ­brazen incidents of anti-Semitism go without consequence or leadership by some of our university vice-chancellors. This needs to be addressed, with urgency.’’

Jewish MP Josh Burns, whose grandmother fled Nazi Germany to seek refuge in Australia, chaired the committee hearings into anti-Semitism at Australian universities. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The committee said the federal government should consider establishing a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus if universities fail to implement its recommendations to train students, staff and leaders in recognising anti-Semitism, to simplify their complaints processes.

But Coalition senators pushed for a harder line, insisting a ­judicial inquiry be established ­immediately.

Coalition and Labor lower-house MPs and senators agreed to a recommendation that the ­Albanese government consider amending the Fair Work Act to enable disciplinary action against staff – as well as Australian Research Council grant recipients – for hate crimes under the Criminal Code, or for breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Last week federal parliament amended the Criminal Code to provide mandatory jail terms for making a Nazi salute, displaying a Nazi or terrorist organisation symbol, and advocating force or violence through property damage. It is now a crime to urge or threaten violence against places of worship or groups, or members of groups, distinguished by race, ­religion, ­nationality, political opinion or ethnic origin, as well as disability, sex or sexual orientation.

A terrorist flag was on display at a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of Queensland in Brisbane in 2024. Picture: Liam Kidston

The parliamentary committee has also recommended that the federal government consider ­giving stronger powers to the ­Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to enforce ­universities’ compliance with ­student wellbeing and safety ­requirements.

Its warning of an “alarming and abhorrent” rise in anti-Semitism among students and staff at Australian universities came after more universities admitted on Wednesday that they were now providing segregated rooms for Jewish students who felt unsafe on campus. Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, the University of Western Australia and the Australian National University revealed they were providing “safe spaces’’ for Jewish students.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said that every part of a university campus should be safe for everyone.

“That Jewish students are being segregated in ‘safe rooms’ at a number of universities is disgraceful and reflects an appalling failure of leadership by the Albanese government,’’ Senator Henderson said.

The committee called on universities to fall in line with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews’’.

The definition states that “manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity’’.

The parliamentary inquiry heard evidence some Jewish students were too afraid to attend university, and felt fear on campus of being confronted by other students over being identified as Jewish through their attire, such as wearing a yarmulkes or jewellery containing a Star of David.

Coalition MP Henry Pike and senators Matt O’Sullivan and Ross Cadell made an additional recommendation that universities “review and amend their hiring policies and policies relating to employee conduct to prevent and address anti-Semitic behaviour among academic staff’’. They also demanded an immediate full-time judicial inquiry to “forensically examine and address the crisis’’.

Describing the committee hearings as a “masterclass in obfuscation from university leaders’’, they said the evidence demonstrated that universities had ­become “sanctuaries of anti-Semitic thought’’.

“The rise in anti-Semitism on campuses has been exacerbated by the reluctance of many university administrations to enforce meaningful and just consequences for misconduct,’’ they wrote. “Coalition members have been particularly alarmed at the numerous examples of university academics who have espoused anti-Semitic tropes, the inability of university leaders to appropriately deal with the spread of such rhetoric, the impact of this anti-­Semitism on Jewish students, and the broader failure to uphold a safe and respectful learning ­environment.

“The hesitation of certain universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism highlights a concerning lack of moral clarity among academic leaders. This definition, endorsed by the Australian government, should be universally accepted and uncontroversial.’’

Describing anti-Jewish sentiment as “inherently un-Australian’’, the Coalition members stated that “ancient hatreds like anti-Semitism should have no place in Australia’’.

“In the last century, nearly 40,000 Australians sacrificed their lives to bring an end to the evils of Nazism,’’ they wrote.

Greens senator David Shoebridge wrote that while the Greens strongly opposed anti-Semitism, they had serious concerns about the recommendation to change the Fair Work Act. “Given there are already legal protections to ensure that ARC grant conditions are complied with, and in fact all persons are obliged to comply with the Criminal Code and the Racial Discrimination Act, the committee has not explained how this recommendation would work in practice,’’ he wrote in additional comments to the report.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe wrote that, while she condemned anti-Semitism, white supremacy was a “real and escalating threat’’. “We are witnessing the state of Israel commit what can only be described as mass atrocities, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide against the Palestinian people,’’ she wrote.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe used the parliamentary report to accuse Israel of genocide against Palestinians. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said the committee should have used more forthright language.

The Zionist Federation of Australia welcomed the report as “a first step in fixing the systemic scourge of Jew-hatred on our campuses’’.“Under no circumstances can Jewish student and staff return to campuses where they are told to ‘f. k off’,” chief executive Alon Cassuto said.