Peter Dutton slams Queensland University of Technology over event that mocked him

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has responded to a Queensland university event that mocked him as the fallout continues.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has condemned a racially charged debate that mocked him at the Queensland University of Technology, labelling it a “disgrace”.

The university is conducting a review into last week’s three-day National Symposium Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action and related events, confirming it will finalise its terms of reference this week.

Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Brendan Radke

The event sparked national outrage and widespread condemnation from Australia’s Jewish community after attendees were shown an image titled “Dutton’s Jew” at a “comedy debate” by Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) leader Sarah Schwartz on Wednesday.

“What has taken place on the campus of the Queensland University of Technology is a disgrace,” Mr Dutton said on Saturday, claiming the JCA was “a hard left wing organisation”.

“Quoting extremists is not reflective of the 99 per cent of the Jewish people in our country who would condemn that individual,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Dutton said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had “sat on his hands”.

“Racism, anti-Semitism has no place in a country that I live, and I’ll make sure that is an absolute priority from day one,” he said. “It’s a disgrace what we’ve seen on university campuses across the country.”

When asked if vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil would publicly apologise to the Jewish community and Mr Dutton, a QUT spokesperson said she had apologised on Friday for any hurt and upset caused.

Sticker from ICRR given to patrons at QUT's Symposium event

“The vice-chancellor has also publicly committed to conduct a review into the symposium and related events and their alignment to the university’s policies and codes of conduct. The scope of that review will be finalised next week,” the spokesperson said.

Jewish University of Queensland associate professor Yoni Nazarathy said the shame he received as a result of sharing images and footage from the event publicly indicated it was not an academic conference.

Originally published as Peter Dutton slams Queensland University of Technology over event that mocked him