Baillieu sold on Israel
PREMIER Ted Baillieu highlighted the importance of Australia’s trade relationship with Israel in a keynote address at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) lunch on Tuesday. Trade between the two countries, which yields up to $900 million annually, is one of Australia’s greatest assets, the Premier told the 1000-strong crowd at Crown.
PREMIER Ted Baillieu highlighted the importance of Australia’s trade relationship with Israel in a keynote address at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) lunch on Tuesday.
Trade between the two countries, which yields up to $900 million annually, is one of Australia’s greatest assets, the Premier told the 1000-strong crowd at Crown.
Speaking in opposition to members of the Victorian Trades Hall Council who back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the Premier reinforced Australia’s bipartisan support for Israel’s right to exist and denied the legitimacy of the BDS movement, describing the anti-Israel campaign as “anathema to everything we stand for in this state”.
“Freedom of expression is one thing but being bigoted, dangerous and shameful – which is what I think BDS should stand for – is quite another. That sort of behaviour has no place in Victoria, and that’s why we will continue to campaign and take steps to confront it.”
The Liberal leader also stated his support for a minute’s silence for the Munich massacre at this year’s opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, revealing that his brother had been a competitor at the games in the tragic year of 1972.
“It was an act of terrorism that showed again that the price of freedom is nowhere higher than it is in Israel. That’s why we joined in the call for a minute’s silence at the opening ceremony to remember those killed and to renew our collective response, for it must never happen again.”
In lauding the Jewish community in Victoria, which comprises 40 per cent of the Israel-born Australian population, Baillieu paid homage to successful Jewish figures such as Sir Zelman Cowen and Sir John Monash.
“Victoria has been blessed with numerous leaders from the Jewish community who have made a remarkable contribution across a wide range of endeavours, from business, law, medicine, education, science, technology and the arts.
“There are so many who started here as young spirited energetic people. I think – as many do – that in that context, Sir John Monash has been rightly regarded as one of the greatest Australians of all time.
TIMNA JACKS
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