Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Southern Metropolitan Region

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:56): (886) My question is for the Minister for Police. The Southern Metropolitan Region is home to the largest Jewish community in Australia, and many of my constituents are living in fear with the dramatic rise in antisemitism since 7 October. Mount Scopus Memorial College is the largest Jewish day school in Victoria, with a majority of the school community living in my electorate. On the weekend Mount Scopus was vandalised with the words ‘Jew die’ on its front gate. Parents are afraid to send their children to school, and students have been told to avoid wearing their uniform and Jewish symbols in public. This is utterly unacceptable. So the question I ask is: can the Minister explain why Victoria Police have said that if the perpetrators of this abhorrent hate crime are caught they will be charged with criminal damage and not under Victoria’s hate speech laws?