Anyone found guilty of terrorism would face a minimum of six years in prison, and anyone caught displaying banned terrorist organisation symbols or performing a Nazi salute would be subject to at least a 12-month sentence, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced on Jan. 20.
He would also amend draft laws currently before Parliament to make it a hate crime to urge or threaten violence towards a place of worship. This would be punishable by five years imprisonment or seven years in the case of an aggravated offence.
Dutton said, if elected, he would convene a national cabinet to combat anti-Semitism and extremism, something he had asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to do in November 2023.
“Last week, I again wrote to him requesting a National Cabinet on this most pressing matter, yet he still evades his responsibility,” he said.
The announcement follows cars being torched and graffitied with anti-Semitic phrases in Sydney in recent weeks, along with graffiti that included red swastikas being sprayed on multiple synagogues.
In December, the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne’s south was firebombed, and MPs offices have been graffitied and attacked.
In October, Labor MP Peter Khalil’s Melbourne office was left with an unbearable “stench” after an unknown liquid was pumped inside and a Hamas symbol painted on an outer wall.
In June, Labor MP Josh Burns was targeted by activists in what the MP called a “politically motivated attack.” Windows were smashed, “Zionism is Fascism” was painted on the St Kilda building and fires were lit in telecommunications pits.
“Anti-Semitism has created this national crisis, and it requires a national response,” Dutton told reporters at a door stop in Bondi Junction.
“The announcements that we’ve made today should send a very clear message to those people who are preaching hate, those people who are up waving flags and glorifying terrorist leaders, that they have no place in our country.
“If they want to conduct themselves in that way and target Jewish schools and synagogues and people online, then they can expect to face the full force of the law.”
Asked by reporters whether the Coalition planned to address the loss of social cohesion of which the attacks were a symptom, Dutton said: “We do want social cohesion; we want the rule of law to be enforced; we want people, regardless of their religious belief, or no religious belief at all, regardless of their political inclinations, regardless of their heritage; we want every Australian to be treated equally.
“This is not just an attack on the Jewish community; this is an attack on every Australian, and it’s the Jews today; who next?
“If we look back through the course of history when good people don’t stand up and provide support to those who are in need, then the downward spiral continues.”
About 100,000 Jewish people live in Australia, with large congregations in Melbourne and Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
He accused Albanese of “playing politics” but the prime minister rejected any assertions the government’s action on anti-Semitism had been inadequate.
Albanese rejected legislative reform on the basis that it was impossible to “legislate the behaviour of 27 million Australians.”
“Anti-Semitism has been horrific, something that needs to be stamped out. My government has taken every action that we could,” he said.
“These instances of hate that we have seen aimed at the Jewish community are crimes, and they should be prosecuted to the full force of the law.”
He pointed out that his government had established Special Operation Avalite late last year to respond to incidents of anti-Semitism. It had appointed Jillian Segal as the country’s special envoy for anti-Semitism and Aftab Malik as the special envoy to combat Islamophobia.
Executive Director of Islamophobia Register Australia Nora Amath said graffiti was found on a Muslim-owned business at Wiley Park in Sydney’s southwest earlier in January.
She said the vandalism was a “dangerous and growing trend of anti-Muslim sentiment” and was filled with unfounded stereotypes, racial slurs, and inflammatory statements.
