Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Community safety

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (15:02): I want to draw the attention of the house to the indulgent weakness of Labor and the universities in tackling antisemitism on campuses and the ongoing issues that we are facing. I also want to draw attention to the failure of the Minister for Skills and TAFE Gayle Tierney to deal with this, as she has clearly got the power to do under the University of Melbourne Act 2009, the Monash University Act 2009 and all of the individual university acts that she is the responsible authority for.

We have seen now, today even, the Lions’ Den group, a listed terrorist group in the United States but not listed in Australia – and I think it is urgent that that group be listed in Australia as a terrorist group. Arin al-Usud is the name of it, as I understand it – a secular, armed resistance group, a nasty group, that is actually pulling strings inside many of these demonstrations. It is leading people in certain directions. It has clear political motives, which are much broader than the motives of many in our campuses here, but it is regarded by many as an inspiration for participants. It is an extremist organisation, and it has been behind many of the attacks and much of the damage – for example, at the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne. But the weakness of our governments, the weakness of our universities and the weakness of our minister have been behind the growth in antisemitism. (Time expired)