Allan told to put money where her mouth is in antisemitism fight

Premier Jacinta Allan has become the latest Australian Labor Party leader to feel the heat as Australia grapples to maintain community cohesion while the war in Gaza rages on.

Allan was a guest on Wednesday night at an annual event in the city put on by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and Zionism Victoria to commemorate Israel’s 1948 declaration of independence.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan was criticised at a Jewish community event.Credit: Joe Armao

Joining the Jewish community dignitaries in the room was Opposition Leader John Pesutto and Allan’s immediate predecessor, Daniel Andrews, bestubbled and telling people he was fresh off a flight from China.

Everything was going all right until Allan was confronted by Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Philip Zajac. He told the premier that she might have talked – and tweeted – a good game on confronting antisemitism in the community, but it was time for action.

Not everyone in the room thought it such a great idea to directly confront a premier – it’s certainly not how things have been done in the past – in a room containing more than a smattering of journalists.

Zajac was unavailable to talk to us on Thursday, but his people told us the blunt comments were not meant as an attack on Allan, but rather a challenge to government to do more to protect the community.

The council, meanwhile, had a press release ready to go, calling for a five-point plan containing law reform, education, “moral clarity” and money to help pay for physical security measures.

Allan’s office was contacted on Thursday for comment but did not respond. As for what Andrews might have made of all this, we can only speculate. We could not reach him for comment on Thursday.

JOCULAR GINA

When you’re the wealthiest person in a country that drones on endlessly about “tall poppy syndrome”, you’ve got to accept a level of piss-taking as part of the job description.

So we’re delighted to note that mining billionaire Gina Rinehart – who has copped her fair share of, ahem, good-natured banter lately – appears to be taking some of it, at least, in good humour.

Rinehart’s official website has posted a piece by satirical website The Shovel – we’re big fans – reporting the mining magnate had been picked for the Australian Olympic swimming team, and an item from the Rear Window column of our stablemates, The Australian Financial Review, ripping the pee-pee out of Rinehart’s enthusiasm for the libertarian laureate, Ayn Rand.

Now, we know what you’re thinking. And, yes, you’d better believe we feel left out of the fun by Rinehart – not a sentence you get to write every day – and after all we’ve done for her over the years.

So we got in touch with Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, which administers the site, asking if there was any chance we might be making an appearance there. And, well, let’s just say no promises were made.

VAPES OF WRATH

When Health Minister Mark Butler went all-in on stopping the vapes, he probably didn’t imagine his task would get quite so Sisyphean.

After all, banning stuff is usually pretty uncontroversial in Australia, especially when the stuff in question is full of nasty chemicals, and keeps falling into the hands of children.

But Butler’s bill, to ban the import and manufacture of vapes and the sale outside of pharmacies, must get past a sceptical crossbench if the government is to meet its goal of passing it by July.

Butler’s vaping crackdown has prompted considerable back-and-forth between doctors on opposing sides of the e-cigarette debate, which is playing out in the footnotes of a Senate inquiry into the government’s bill.

Health Minister Mark ButlerCredit: John Shakespeare

Australia’s medical establishment mostly backs the crackdown, but there are dissenters, most prominently Double Bay-based doctor Colin Mendelsohn, who is bullishly pro-vaping as a smoking cessation tool.

In a submission to the inquiry written by leading public health experts Simon Chapman, Mike Daube and Matthew Peters, the authors pointed out that despite Mendelsohn’s opposition to the prescription vaping model, he was listed as a medical adviser to Quit Clinics, which is essentially a prescription mill for people trying to get vapes.

But in a right of reply submitted to the inquiry, Mendelsohn denied ever being an adviser to Quit Clinics.

“Interestingly, the complainants offer no evidence to support their false allegation,” he said.

But the complainants in question did indeed link to an archived webpage, where Mendelsohn is listed as one of Quit Clinics’ medical advisers. And he still appears listed as one on their websites.

So what’s the go? Colin told CBD he had never worked as an adviser for Quit Clinics, nor had any financial relationship with it. He had written an unpaid blog post for it, and suggested that might be why he was still on the website.

The Director of Quit Clinics, Dr Samuel Murray, said: “During a website update, an error occurred which meant that all blog authors were identified as ‘medical advisors’. Dr Mendelsohn has never been a ‘medical advisor’ to Quit Clinics, and has never received any sort of compensation”.

Still, CBD remains sceptical about the government’s chances of stopping the vapes for good. It’s been illegal to import disposable vapes since January, and any punter can walk into a local convenience store to buy a black market lung lolly cooked up in some dodgy Shenzhen factory.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.