MOTIONS

Mr LEESER (Berowra) (12:01): I move: That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Berowra moving the following motion immediately—That the House: (1) notes that: (a) the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion was established following the Bondi terrorist attack, which was the inevitable result of an unprecedented rise of antisemitism in Australia; (b) the Royal Commission was supported by the Jewish community and prominent Australians from all walks of life to provide for a full and forensic examination of antisemitism that led up to that attack; (c) the Government was initially opposed to the Royal Commission but relented after public pressure; (d) the Government determined both the Royal Commission's terms of reference and the timetable within which it must complete its work; (e) that timetable has imposed severe constraints on the Commission's capacity to investigate the causes, perpetrators and enablers of antisemitism in Australia; (f) many significant Australian voices will have been left unheard and critical players not put on the stand, including: (i) senior figures from Australia's arts and cultural institutions; (ii) university leaders who were in leadership positions during key periods; (iii) organisers of antisemitic protests and other activists and social agitators; (iv) representatives of the Australian Human Rights Commission; (v) senior public servants and Commonwealth Ministers; and (vi) other prominent Australians; (g) Australians are entitled to know how antisemitism spiralled so badly, who was responsible and what must change to ensure that it can never happen again; and (h) a Royal Commission cannot fully answer those questions if key people are never required to account for their actions; (2) is concerned that the Royal Commission is not set up to deal adequately with those who mask antisemitism as anti-Zionism; (3) calls on the Government to immediately extend the Royal Commission's reporting date to allow the Commission to hear and test evidence from key witnesses and properly investigate the individuals and institutions responsible; and (4) calls on the Prime Minister and his Ministers to keep faith with Australia's Jewish community by appearing before the Royal Commission and accounting for the decisions of the Government on antisemitism in the years leading up to Bondi.

I note today the presence in the chamber of representatives of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students and in the building today of Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of Reuven Morrison, who was murdered on that day in Bondi. This week is the final sitting week of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The royal commission is, for many Australians, the only chance we will have as a nation to properly expose and address the antisemitism which has become so prevalent in this country and which diminishes us all.

But it is a royal commission that finishes in a matter of days and, as it stands, it is a royal commission with unfinished business. The window to debate this issue is closing. These issues deserve to be heard, and urgently.

This is the royal commission that the Albanese government didn't want. That's a statement of fact; it's not a political statement. The Albanese government did not want this royal commission.

In the days after 15 Australians were murdered in cold blood on our most famous beach, at Bondi, merely for the crime of being Jewish, the government said a royal commission wasn't necessary—that it would be unhelpful or even harmful. They were forced into it by the weight of public outcry. Initially, they failed to see what many Australians saw: that the Bondi attacks were the inevitable outcome of years of building antisemitism in this country and that we needed to address that antisemitism comprehensively and decisively if we were to avoid a repeat occurrence.

Well, that was a failure of judgement. The government now risks repeating that failure. The Prime Minister set the timeframe for this royal commission, he set the terms of reference, and he has the power to change them.

Instead of spending 14 December scouring the royal commission's recommendations, let that be a day when Australians remember the victims and comfort the bereaved. Give the commission more time. This royal commission has three tasks.

The first is to allow stories to be heard about the rise in antisemitism in this country from Jewish Australians in particular. On this task, to date, I must say the commission has done well. The second is to make recommendations for law and policy reforms, and we'll have to wait until the final report to see the recommendations.

The third task is to hold individuals to account. Being held to account, being accountable, means being in a position where you are asked questions about your decisions and actions and required to answer them. This critical third task is where the commission has more work to do.

In the child abuse royal commission we saw bishops and religious leaders long retired rightfully brought out of nursing homes to account for their conduct, just as they should have been. But that has not happened here. So today we say to the Prime Minister: give the royal commission more time.

If leaders and decision-makers are not held to account by the royal commission, the antisemitism that has run rampant in our institutions will only continue. The risk is that, rather than rooting out antisemitism, we send a very different message. For those who are not called and not asked to answer for their decisions and actions, the message will be that they are not responsible, that there is no consequence for the failure to lead and that there are no findings or recommendations in relation to their conduct.

A few days ago, the former Federal Court judge and royal commissioner Ron Sackville said that one of the reasons the commission exists and has such 'formidable powers' is the following: The process would vindicate the experiences of the targets of vile antisemitism; pierce the veil of secrecy behind which many perpetrators operate; hold at least some of those perpetrators accountable for their despicable conduct, and; reveal to the wider Australian community the kind of people who were prepared to act in this hateful way.

The powers of a royal commission exist for a reason. They should be used. But the list of witnesses who have not appeared is long.

First are the arts institutions and the cultural sector—the sector that doxxed and deplatformed Jews. There are Clementine Ford, Matt Chun, John Menadue and so many others. Why aren't they asked about their public contributions?

There are Wesley Enoch and Adrian Collette, the chair and CEO of Creative Australia. Why weren't they asked about their decisions to give grant after artistic grant of taxpayer money with a clear preference for artists who propagate an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish message? Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Second are the universities, and the House has heard me speak on the universities many times. In the universities, Jewish students were targeted relentlessly over the years. They were spat on, harassed, targeted, excluded and occasionally assaulted.

Jewish staff had their offices urinated on. Jews on campuses were targeted by protests and activism, with week after week of encampments. Why haven't we heard from all the key vice-chancellors who were in positions of power at the time—from people like Genevieve Bell at the ANU and Duncan Maskell from the University of Melbourne—from the NTEU, which did not stand up for its Jewish staff, or from the presidents of student bodies who encouraged antisemitic activity on campus and excluded and ostracised the Jewish students they were meant to represent?

Why haven't we heard from academics like Randa Abdel-Fattah, who refuses even to be quoted in an article alongside anyone she deems as a Zionist and encourages children to support an intifada? We saw an intifada at Bondi. It means more dead Jewish bodies.

Third are the protests. Recently we saw the grotesquery in the royal commission of protest organisers crossexamining an Australian Jewish communal leader in Australia about the actions of a foreign government, the government of Israel, as if he were responsible for Israel or as if Israel's actions justified the targeting of Jews here. Why weren't the protest organisers on the stand?

Where are the organisers of the Land Forces protests, where so many were attacked, or of the Neo-Nazi protest in Melbourne? Where are Wisam Haddad and Sheikh Ibrahim Daoud, who was elated by the murder, rape and torture of Jews on 7 October and immediately set about whipping up hatred of Jews here in Australia? Where are the organisers of the protest on 9 October, who occupied the opera house chanting, 'Gas the Jews,' or, 'F— the Jews'?

Where are people like Josh Lees, Nasser Mashni, Jenny Leong, Senator Faruqi, the executive of APAN and all those who organised and supported the weekly protests in Sydney, in Melbourne and in our other city centres? Fourth is the Human Rights Commission, who, under this government's terms of reference, have not been asked in any serious way to account for the failure to stand up for Australian Jews or even to account for the antisemitism that is endemic in their own organisation.

We've seen the Race Discrimination Commissioner repeatedly refuse to denounce the phrase 'From the river to the sea' as an antisemitic phrase. Fifth are prominent Australians who have provided much-needed moral leadership—people like Nova Peris, Mike Kelly and Josh Frydenberg, good people whose voices deserve to be heard. Finally are the government ministers.

Through you, Mr Speaker, I say to the Minister for Home Affairs and the Arts, to the Minister for Education, to the Attorney-General, to the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister: keep the faith with the Jewish community and with all Australians. Show the courage and the commitment to front the royal commission and be accountable. Answer questions, explain your decisions and actions in the two years leading up to Bondi.

Let the commission and the public be the judge. We know where we ended up: 15 dead bodies on Bondi Beach. Let us hear from them under oath.

Let us hear from them what went wrong from the very top. Show that they are serious about fixing the antisemitism here in this country into the future. Take the opportunity to show that they didn't use their power as those who wrote the commission's terms of reference to shield themselves.

There will not be another opportunity like this one. Through you, I say to the Prime Minister, the royal commission cuts its cloth according to the measurements you give. It needs more time.

It needs the terms of reference to hold more people to account. Give it the time and terms to do its job properly. Fifteen people were murdered on Bondi Beach.

Their memory deserves that we get this right. The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?