Security funding gap

Jewish philanthropy can not be expected to carry the cost of protecting the Jewish community, as Commonwealth funding, despite significant, fails to keep pace with rising threats, the Royal Commission has heard.

ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim outlined a three-year, $124 million funding agreement between the Department of Home Affairs and the ECAJ, running from May 2026 to June 2029. But he said the community was always behind.

“The amounts that we’ve requested are always estimates based on what has occurred up to the point where we provide that estimate. So in a sense, we’re always playing catch up because the costs keep increasing and the level of need for security measures keeps increasing.”

Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster SC took Wertheim through the evolution of Commonwealth security funding since 2007, including a $25 million emergency grant after October 7, 2023, and a further $32.5 million following the Adass Israel synagogue firebombing in 2024. The current funding round has attracted 192 applications.

Wertheim pushed back against claims that ECAJ could spend the funds without oversight, saying the assertion that the organisation is at liberty to allocate the funds as it sees fit is an “outrageous falsehood” that has fuelled antisemitic commentary online.