‘Absurd’, ‘shameful’: Leeser, Kelly slam AEU claim

The Australian Education Union (AEU) has called for clearer national guidance on teaching the Holocaust, claiming discussions have become more challenging since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

AEU president Correna Haythorpe told The Australian this week that teachers needed “more guidance” from education ministers due to the “diverse lived experience” of students.

But speaking to The AJN, federal opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser called the AEU claim “absurd”, arguing that it is precisely when there is war in the Middle East that we need Holocaust education the most.

“Antisemitism is not like other forms of racism. It is uniquely conspiratorial, because it is built on lies about Jewish coercion, hidden power, control and oppression, all of which allow antisemitic conduct to be dressed up as justice,” he said.

“It is not enough to teach only about the ways Jews have been murdered … The best way to fight this is through education about who the Jewish people are, what they believe and what they contribute. Ideas like human dignity, equality and the rule of law are fundamental to Jewish thinking and have shaped Western culture for millennia.”

Former Labor minister and National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre president Mike Kelly was equally critical of the claim, calling it “shameful” and a “double standard”.

“It’s really disingenuous of the union to try and hide behind the Middle East conflict … Part of the dynamic of antisemitism is to blame all Jews for every conflict. They seem to have no problem with teachers introducing misinformation and support for Hamas into the classroom,” Kelly said.

The AEU claim comes after a PhD dissertation published in 2025 recently surfaced exposing an unwillingness of some Sydney teachers to teach the Holocaust in their classrooms, despite Holocaust education being mandatory in New South Wales.

History teacher Gregory Keith’s dissertation found that teachers would often face racism and antisemitism when teaching the Holocaust, citing some Sydney teachers who were worried about “heightened tensions” following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

Keith’s research revealed the over-representation of antisemitic behaviour in southwest Sydney schools where Arabic was a major language and noted that most of the behaviour was attributed to boys.

The research also highlighted the role that teacher professional development can play in preventing and responding to antisemitism in the classroom.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Daniel Aghion told The AJN that the obligation of teachers is to see that Australian students learn how to discuss difficult issues and how to disagree well.

“This is a problem across the world that we’ve taught the Holocaust as a history lesson and we stop teaching the message at 1945 … We haven’t thought about the continuation of hatred and how it not only can pop up again, but has, and the importance of being on our guard against that,” he said.

“The government, both state and federal, has a role in empowering teachers with proper materials and education of the teachers themselves.”