University of Melbourne event with Labor MP Josh Burns to go ahead despite protests
Josh Burns says protesters are trying to prevent him from having a safe space to discuss an issue which has ‘nothing to do with the Middle East’.
Federal Labor MP Josh Burns says the pro-Palestine student protesters orchestrating a campaign to derail his upcoming lecture at the University of Melbourne about the need for a national human rights act are acting against what they are preaching.
Uni Melb for Palestine, the mouthpiece for pro-Palestine students at the university, has asked its more than 21,000 Instagram supporters to demand that Melbourne Law School cancel its Alan Missen Oration, to be delivered by Mr Burns on Tuesday.
The student group has instructed its followers to call and email vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell and Melbourne Law School dean Alison Duxbury to influence them to axe the event.
The federal member for Macnamara, who acted as chair of a parliamentary joint committee on human rights, will deliver an address titled “The Time has come for a National Human Rights Act” in which he is expected to speak about the justification for an act and the recommendations handed down in the committee’s report.
The protest group is opposing the presentation because it “refuse(s) to be lectured on human rights by a politician who openly supports genocide”.
The Jewish MP said the event was about improving the considerations of human rights in Australia, not the Middle East.
“I’ve been targeted before because I’m a Jewish MP, and yet again these protesters continue to try to prevent a Jewish MP from having a safe place to discuss an issue which has nothing to do with the Middle East,” Mr Burns told The Australian.
“Attempting to cancel a lecture on how we can improve the considerations of human rights in Australia does nothing to help those most impacted by human rights failures, especially marginalised communities. How does it help human rights in Australia by preventing the rights associated with having freedom of speech? It’s insane. It’s the exact opposite of what these people pretend to be preaching for.”
Mr Burns said he would like the event to go ahead. “Australia has a missing piece. That’s what this is about and it’s about the consideration about what that would look like, how it would work, how to improve human rights considerations in legislation. That’s what I’ll be talking about,” he said.
“My family came to Australia without human rights being recognised and without their rights being recognised, not only the right to be free from discrimination but also some of the social and economic rights we enjoy in Australia.”
Protesters have targeted Mr Burns in the past, with a small group of radical activists smashing the windows in, and painting the words “Zionism is fascism” on, the MP’s inner-city Melbourne office in St Kilda in June.
University of Melbourne provost Nicola Phillips said the university would not be cancelling the event. “A fundamental objective of the university is to promote critical and free enquiry, informed intellectual discussion and public debate within the university and in the wider society,” Professor Phillips said. “As such, we regularly invite a diverse range of speakers on matters of public interest.
“We understand people will have opposing views, but we expect respectful debate and discussion.”
She said the safety of staff, students and visitors was “paramount” and university security would follow protocols to respond to “disruption and activities” on campus.
Uni Melb for Palestine called for the event to be cancelled immediately and shared its list of grievances with the MP online. The group also took issue with trips Mr Burns made with former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and federal opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham to Israel.
Victoria Police confirmed it was aware of next week’s event and its officers would have a visible presence to ensure public safety.
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