Universities and other institutions could lose funding for failing to act against discrimination under a landmark new plan to fight antisemitic attacks and speech.
The 20-page plan by Jillian Segal, the government’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, was released this morning by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Segal said antisemitic incidents have increased significantly since the outbreak of war in Gaza following the October 7 attacks, and by more than 300 per cent over the last year, and recommended the government take a range of actions to combat the hateful acts.
“It brings structure, priorities and accountability to our national response and it is not a symbolic document,” she said.
“It is an action plan and it addresses antisemitism in many places in our laws, classrooms, universities, media, workplaces, online spaces and public institutions.”
Among the recommendations are stripping government funding from institutions that fail to properly address antisemitism, barring people with antisemitic views from coming to Australia, and having the government support holding Jewish cultural festivals.
Segal also said improving education was crucial.
“It shapes not only what young Australians know but how they think and how they treat others,” she said.
“The plan promotes a nationally-consistent approach to teaching, about the history, harms and modern forms of antisemitism through the lens of democracy, social inclusion, shared civic responsibility in Australian values.”
Albanese said the government will review the plan, but that he wanted perpetrators to “face the full force of the law”.
“There is a number of things in here that we are doing, there’s a number of things that can be implemented quickly,” he said.
“There are a number of things that will require work over a period of time.”
Albanese said the report wouldn’t change the government’s support for a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.
“You can put forward those views respectfully,” he said.
“And those criticisms are also made, it might be said, by people in Israel… I will continue to support the right of Israel to exist within secure boundaries, and I will continue to support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for their own state.
“But I will continue to oppose terrorist organisations like Hamas.”
While the plan has been welcomed by some Jewish peak bodies, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and federal opposition, the Jewish Council of Australia rejected the report.
“This document reads more like a blueprint for silencing dissent rather than a strategy to build inclusion,” executive officer Dr Max Kaiser said.
“The report’s vague language around ‘antisemitic narratives’ or ‘affiliations’, coupled with its emphasis on (a) discredited… definition of antisemitism, make the actions recommended dangerously unclear…
“Antisemitism is real and must be taken seriously. But it does not exist in a vacuum.
“Any response that treats antisemitism as exceptional, while ignoring Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and other forms of hate, is doomed to fail.”
The plan to combat antisemitism will be reviewed yearly.