Thursday, 30 November 2023

Southern Metropolitan Region

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (12:45): (613) Southern Metropolitan Melbourne is home to much of Melbourne’s Jewish community, and so my question to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs is: what action is the government taking to combat antisemitism in our community? The conflict between Israel and Hamas following the terrorist attacks on 7 October has affected many in our community. There are deeply held views on all sides, and we have seen grief writ large. On 17 October I said, in the context of the condolence motion in this chamber, that in the maelstrom of conflict we cannot lose our shared humanity. Shared humanity was one of the things I spoke about yesterday with the families of the Israelis either killed or captured by Hamas. The terrible lack of humanity of those who protested in the hotel of these families yesterday was shameful. They are not the actions of those who accept our shared humanity, and those actions should be condemned.