University lecture goes ahead despite protests
Around a hundred demonstrators chanted anti-Israel slogans outside the Law Faculty.
A Jewish MP was able to give a lecture on human rights to law students on Tuesday evening despite threats of disruption from pro-Palestinian groups.
Macnamara MP Josh Burns gave the Alan Missen Oration about the proposed national human rights act for Australia in-person to a group of around thirty students at the University of Melbourne.
Others were able to join the lecture remotely.
Around a hundred demonstrators chanted anti-Israel slogans outside the Law Faculty, apparently unaware that Burns was speaking in a different building across campus.
One speaker accused Burns of hypocrisy for giving a speech on human rights when he is part of a government “that has been supporting the genocide that has been going on for 279 days”
A university spokesperson said the day before, “Regrettably, a small number of individuals have made it clear that they plan to cause significant disruption with the intention of forcing an event cancellation.
Despite the threats and calls for the event to be cancelled, the Oration will now be a hybrid event.”
Efrat Eilam, co-chair of the Australian Academic Association Against Antisemitism said “The Oration has nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East, and everything to do with the law of Australia and what will be of the most benefit for the Australian people. However, Burns happens to be Jewish”
He referred to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s remarks after the attack on Burns’s electoral office recently that “This has got to be seen as an attack on someone who’s a Jewish MP”.
“It is a sad day when a democratically elected member of the Federal Parliament cannot have an uninterrupted face-to-face discussion with members of the public on legal developments. Academic freedom and freedom of speech are not promoted if a vocal minority dictate the terms upon which guests belonging to a particular religious or ethnic minority may speak on campus” Eilam said.
Burns thanked the university and Federal Police for ensuring the event could go ahead safely, saying he would not cower.
When asked if his Jewishness was the reason he was targeted by the pro-Palestinian demonstrators he said he’d been targeted before, with horns drawn on his head when his office was vandalised.
“Clearly some people were motivated to come in protest against a lecture on human rights today, even though it had nothing to do with the Middle East or policy in the Middle East. So it clearly had something to do with something else” he said.
Burns said while he fundamentally supports the right to protest, the threat to his speech was potentially severe, putting the safety of him, his staff and participants in jeopardy.
“As long as people [protest] peacefully, then I’ve got no problem with it. If people want to try and intimidate or disrupt or even act violently, we need to be very careful about … safety and security” he said.
Member for Wentworth Allegra Spender, who alongside Burns is a co-chair of the federal Parliamentary Friends of IHRA, said it was unacceptable to curb people’s ability to talk about important issues in public forums.
“Universities must be places where debate can flourish, and ideas can be contested safely,” she said. “Josh’s speech had nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East. I am deeply concerned that these protesters were targeting him as a Jewish MP.”
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