Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan defends no-show at synagogue vigil amid ongoing criticism

Jacinta Allan has defended her failure to attend a vigil at the firebombed Adass Israel synagogue on Sunday, saying she had visited the sight of the attack on Friday in the hours after the incident.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visits the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, where he met members of the local Jewish Community. Picture: Brendan Beckett / NewsWire

Jacinta Allan has defended her failure to attend a vigil at the firebombed Adass Israel synagogue on Sunday, saying she had visited the sight of the attack on Friday in the hours after the incident.

The Victorian Premier also said she would “support any action” when asked if she backed a national cabinet meeting being ordered at a federal level in response to the attack, and she confirmed the government was seeking legal advice on toughening laws to protect places of worship.

“I attended the Adass Israel synagogue on Friday in the hours after the attack, and I was there to provide support,” she said.

“I was also there to indicate to the community that my government was providing an initial $100,000 to support the rebuilding work. And also to meet with members of the community who have just experienced the most horrific incident on their place of worship to indicate that our support is there and we will continue to support and work with them.

“That is where my focus has been, on supporting the Adass Israel community in the immediate aftermath of the attack on Friday morning.”

Ms Allan said the declaration of a terror incident by Victoria’s top cop Shane Patton on Monday was an important step. “Can I also say very clearly … that our thoughts again today must be with the Jewish community here in Melbourne, the Jewish community around the Adass ­Israel Synagogue … and indeed across Australia,” the Premier said.

“This has been an awful, evil, anti-Semitic – and now we know has been confirmed as a terrorist attack.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, left, Anthony Albanese, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Martin Ollman / NewsWire

Ms Allan said she was getting legal advice about how to toughen laws to allow people to worship safely. “Vile, vilification, anti-Semitism … has no place in Victoria,” she said, adding the state government had “always been focused” on providing Victoria Police with the tools they need to support the community.

“There is no place in this state for this vile, anti-Semitic evil behaviour here in Victoria,” she said.

“One of the fundamental principles of this state is that you have the right to be who you are, to practise your faith, and to do so freely and safely.

“And if there is a change in law that strengthens that then I am absolutely open to looking at that.”

Ms Allan said it was “incredibly distressing” that since the October 7 terrorist attack that we have seen Jewish communities feel less safe as a result of “evil acts that have no place here”.

The firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue has officially been declared as a terrorist attack, with Anthony Albanese finally announcing a special taskforce to deal with rising anti-Semitism.

The synagogue in Ripponlea, in Melbourne’s southeast, was deliberately targeted by at least three thugs in the early hours of Friday morning last week, sending shockwaves through the Jewish community. Three suspects remain at large and police have refused to release any details or CCTV footage.

At a press conference on Monday, authorities said the decision to treat the blaze as a terror attack had been made by the Victorian Joint Counter-terrorism Team, which includes Victoria Police, the AFP and ASIO.

Mr Dutton speaks to members of the Jewish community outside the damaged Adass Israel Synagogue in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. Picture: AFP

The nation’s national terrorism threat level has remained at “probable” where there is a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore terrorist attack in the next year.

“Sadly, this appalling incident appears to embody the ugly dynamics that ASIO have been warning about,” ASIO chief Mike Burgess said.

Announcing the new Operation Avalite, AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said it would be “an agile and experienced squad of counter-terrorism investigators who will focus on threats, violence, and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and parliamentarians”.

Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton said three arsonists were believed to be involved in the attack, which gutted one of Australia’s busiest synagogues.

“We have had a terrorist attack on that synagogue,” Mr Patton said. “What concerns me is the callous nature of this attack. It’s quite clear it was targeted. It was callous and a horrific attack on the synagogue – but, by default, it’s an attack on the Jewish people.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan with Police Minister Anthony Carbines and Chief Commissioner Shane Patton. Picture: David Caird

The Prime Minister and Ms Allan both side-stepped requests from the media for them to directly respond to criticisms from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who linked the terrorist attack to Labor’s vote for a Palestinian state at the UN.

They instead responded by saying they spoke with Australia’s anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal.

“I’ll refer to comments that Jillian Segal has made,” Ms Allan said. “She made the comments that not all criticism of Israel by any means are anti-Semitic. I’ll be guided by those comments from Jillian, who is doing really important work.”

Mr Albanese did not answer the criticism from Mr Netanyahu directly and said he spoke with Ms Segal following the terrorist attack on Friday morning. “Australia has had for a long period of time a bipartisan position for a two-state solution in the Middle East,” Mr Albanese said. “That is still my government’s position

Peter Dutton was escorted inside the synagogue in Melbourne on Monday, saying it was an “abomination”.

“How do you explain to a seven or eight-year-old old Jewish child that the place of worship is ­attacked in this way,” the Opposition Leader said.

“How do you explain to them that there are armed guards at their school protecting them from a similar attack? I think we all need to come together, make sure we can call out evil when we see it. And this really is evil.”