QUT review: ‘Dutton’s Jew’ symposium not antisemitic

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has rejected the findings of an independent review into a controversial “anti-racism” symposium that featured a presentation titled “Dutton’s Jew”, saying the Jewish community “didn’t need a review to know how grossly offensive and insulting this presentation was”.

Former Federal Court Justice John Middleton’s review into the “National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action” held at the Queensland University of Technology’s Carumba Institute in January found “neither the content presented, nor the conduct of participants, were antisemitic when taken in the context of the event”.

However, the review acknowledged “some of the content was capable of causing offence and more careful consideration should have been given to the timing and potential risk in light of the broader social context”.

The controversy centred on a slide presentation by Jewish Council of Australia executive officer Sarah Schwartz that claimed Jews who support Opposition Leader Peter Dutton “hate Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims”, are “anti-immigrant”, and “think of antisemitism as the only form of racism”.

QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil said the university would adopt all of Middleton’s recommendations, including strengthened oversight of the Carumba Institute through new reporting lines to the Provost and adoption of Universities Australia’s agreed working definition on combatting antisemitism.