Fighting hate needs leadership and unity
"This is a battle we must fight, but one I believe we will win."
Since the horrors of October 7, we have seen the ugly resurgence of antisemitism in Australia begin to tear away at our precious social fabric. As the two ends of the political horseshoe seek to dismantle our successful, hard-won multicultural society, it is time for governments to show leadership.
Whilst good, decent and sensible Australians from all walks of life have avoided the politics of division in the wake of Hamas’ attack, the responses of the extreme left and right have unmasked their horrifying alignment on Israel and Jews.
Even before Hamas’ attack, neo-Nazis desecrated the home of Victorian democracy by performing Nazi salutes on its front steps. Now, these vile thugs have felt emboldened to march through Flinders Street Station, take over train carriages, and even harass people they thought might have been Jewish.
This brazen mob mentality is shared by their newfound strange bedfellows on the left. Rallies supported by the Greens and promoted by groups like the Socialist Alternative have provided a platform for people glorifying the leader of proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah, praising the murder of 1200 Israeli civilians as “justified resistance” and chanting unfathomably disgusting things that I refuse to repeat.
Weeks ago on Shabbat, antisemites marched into Caulfield and terrorised our local Jewish community. They forced the evacuation of a shule and hurled rocks, punches and antisemitic slurs at local community members who came out against their hate.
Under current laws, Victoria Police are largely powerless to move these groups on until after the situation descends into violent chaos.
Whilst Victoria’s bipartisan moves to ban the Nazi swastika, salute and other associated symbols are important steps forward, the past two months have shown us that those with sufficient rage have little regard for the letter of the law in the heat of the moment.
That is why we need to go further a give law enforcement the power to move on and de-escalate threatening groups, before they erupt.
Such laws were introduced by the former Liberal Victorian government in 2013 but have since been repealed. Despite currently seeking to strengthen anti-vilification laws, the Victorian government voted down the Liberals and Nationals’ attempt to bring them back.
So, if we are serious about anti-vilification reform, I urge the government to work with us, restore move-on laws and ensure our Victorian community is not subjected to further scenes of violence, anger and division.
But we cannot stop there.
In the past two months, we have seen hatred leave the radical flanks of protest politics and infect our institutions.
Merri-bek and this week Dandenong Council passed divisive motions endorsing the antisemitic BDS movement, a reckless departure from their statutorily designated role as a key local service and infrastructure provider.
Meanwhile, the Federal Greens’ so-called “Anti-racism Spokesperson” posed proudly in front of a sign saying that we could “keep the world clean” by throwing the Jewish state in the bin.
In doing so, she wilfully endorsed not only the eradication of Israel, but the school strike violating Department of Education guidelines, taking students out of classrooms, and manipulating them in pursuit of hateful ends.
In our public schools, members of the teachers’ union now want to indoctrinate kids as young as five with their personal, anti-
Israel agenda – bereft of objective analysis or educational value. Not only is it immoral, but it is also a blatant violation of both the Victorian Public Service and Victorian Institute of Teaching codes of conduct.
So, my second recommendation is simple: our government can stop vilification by simply enforcing the clear standards we already have for councils, school strike absences and unprofessional teachers.
Finally, there is one more piece to this reform puzzle.
On the eve of the new Holocaust Museum being opened, we saw Jewish businesses in Balaclava plastered with antisemitic boycott stickers. For the survivors present, it must have conjured horrifying images of the Judenboykott to which they and their families would have been subjected all those years ago.
This cements my third recommendation for the Victorian government’s anti-vilification reform: make Holocaust and genocide education mandatory for Victorian schools in primary years, not just at the end of high school.
For the sake of defending all multicultural groups, every student must walk through these halls, hear the stories of survivors, and understand how the Shoah began with bigotry not dissimilar to what we are seeing now.
This is a battle we must fight, but one I believe we will win.
As you light your menorahs, sing songs and revel in the company of family, friends and community, I ask you to reflect on the spirit of Chanukah in light of what we face today.
Just as good triumphed over evil then, it will do so again in the modern day. But our community must remain united, and our governments must lead the way.
David Southwick is deputy leader of the Victorian Liberal Party and the state MP for Caulfield.
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