PM says reports of latest antisemitic attack ‘an outrage’
Anthony Albanese is speaking with ABC RN amid reports of an antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight.
Sunrise reported that two cars were allegedly torched in the area just before 4am, with red paint thrown across a nearby house. We’ll bring you further details on this as we learn more. The prime minister said:
This is an outrage, another attack that is against everything that we stand for.
Albanese also welcomed reports the AFP has charged a man with allegedly making death threats to members of a Jewish organisation, as we flagged earlier in the blog. The PM said:
This is the first charges that have arisen from Special Operation Avalite that I established last month. That continues to work to identify prolific antisemites causing high harm in the community. That is why we set it up. And it is good that these charges have been laid.
Key events
Australia’s record on asylum seekers ‘stain on international reputation’: Asylum Seekers Centre
As Sarah Basford Canales reports, Human Rights Watch’s latest report has lashed Australia’s “diabolical” treatment of asylum seekers, condemning the treatment of those transferred to detention facilities on Nauru and noting Australia “continues to evade its international obligations”.
Asylum Seekers Centre CEO Frances Rush has responded to the report, saying it “lays bare Australia’s shameful record and attitude towards people seeking asylum.”
Setting a global example for inhumane and dehumanising policy and rhetoric is a stain on our international reputation and how we see ourselves as a nation.
Labor went into the last election promising a ‘compassionate’ and ‘humane’ approach to refugees and people seeking asylum. They go into this election year having codified cruelty through a trio of brutal immigration bills and a cynical shift to harsh and degrading rhetoric.
We must heed the warning and follow the guidance of Human Rights Watch before we do even more damage to the lives of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Antisemitic attack a case of mistaken identity, Dover Heights residents believe
AAP has more details on the antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight.
Residents told the newswire they believe the attack to be a case of mistaken identify as Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin used to live there.
President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said he was “profoundly disturbed and sickened to wake up to news of yet another antisemitic attack”.
Criminal acts like these, perpetrated by masked cowards and thugs in the dead of night, are intended to menace and intimidate the Jewish community and further fragment our social cohesion.
Paterson says ‘campaign of terror’ targeting Australia’s Jewish community amid latest antisemitic attack
The shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, has responded to the antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight. He wrote in a post to X:
It is clear we have a campaign of terror targeting Australia’s Jewish community. Every law enforcement and intelligence resource must be deployed to combat it. This will continue until the terrorists responsible are arrested, convicted and jailed.
Chalmers says Australia achieving ‘trifecta’ of inflation down, wages up and unemployment low
Moving to the economy: Jim Chalmers was asked about the prospect of a rate cut ahead of the election, and said “I try not to give free advice to the independent Reserve Bank or predict or pre-empt the discussions they’ll be having towards the middle of February”.
They’ll take the job numbers into account, take the quarterly inflation numbers that we’ll get in a couple of weeks into account as well … But what we have seen … is we have been able to keep unemployment low at the same time as we have got inflation down in a very substantial and a very sustained way.
Chalmers said other countries had “paid for progress on inflation with recessions or with negative quarters of growth or with much higher unemployment.”
In Australia, we have been achieving the trifecta … inflation coming down very substantially and in a sustained way, wages up, and unemployment low. We have shown that combination is possible.
So the Reserve Bank when they meet, they will consider all of those things and come to a decision independently about interest rates.
Chalmers says Dutton should stop trying to ‘politicise these disgraceful acts of antisemitism’
On the antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight, Jim Chalmers was asked if there is more the government should be doing to prevent these attacks from happening, amid criticism from Peter Dutton over a lack of leadership.
Chalmers said Dutton should “stop trying to politicise these disgraceful acts of antisemitism.”
It is completely and utterly unacceptable, these antisemitic acts that we’re seeing. There has been a troubling rise in antisemitism and it is the responsibility of leaders to try to bring people together, not to try and exacerbate the divisions that exist in our society or politicise them.
He credited the prime minister for “appointing the envoy to advise us on these issues, extra funding for safety, particularly at Jewish sites, [and] funding the Holocaust Museum to inform the people about the history here.”
There’s been a disgraceful unacceptable rise in antisemitism. We have seen a bit more of that in Sydney overnight. We need to stamp it out wherever it exists and the government is playing a role in that.
Treasurer says ceasefire agreement needs to stick, all sides ‘need to adhere to terms’
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, spoke with ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning, where he said Australia, “like the rest of the world”, was monitoring the Gaza ceasefire situation “very closely [and] very carefully.”
This is a very important development. It’s got a lot of possibility, but we need the agreement to stick and that means that all sides need to adhere to the terms of the agreement.
Too many innocent lives have already been lost, too much blood has already been shed and so we need this agreement to stick. It will be a nervous couple of days as we monitor the situation very closely.
We want peace in the Middle East to be enduring, not fleeting. We don’t want the announcements of the day before yesterday to be a sort of a glimmer of hope which is quickly dashed.
Photos from scene of antisemitic attack in Dover Heights
AAP has filed some photos from the scene of the alleged antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight:
NSW multiculturalism minister says antisemitic attack in Dover Heights ‘cowardly, despicable acts’
The NSW minister for multiculturalism, Steve Kamper, says the alleged antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight “were cowardly, despicable acts that have no place in our society.”
In a statement issued this morning, he said “these antisemitic attacks are appalling, and must be unequivocally condemned.”
They seek only to create division and disharmony in our community.
These acts of cowardice only strengthen our resolve to protect our multicultural society and support the communities they aim to intimidate. These acts do not reflect the values of our community or the spirit of our multicultural state.
If you have any information please pass it on to authorities to ensure these perpetrators face the full force of the law. We will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure our community is protected.
Shorten takes final crack at Dutton on last of their Friday morning show appearances
Peter Dutton spoke alongside the outgoing NDIS minister, Bill Shorten, on the Today show – the last of their regular Friday morning appearances, before Shorten resigns from politics (although we already had to watch them hug it out on the program last year).
Asked about Dutton’s calls for local councils to be forced to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January, Shorten took one final crack at the opposition leader:
One of the things I’m going to miss about you is how you predictably lose your mind just before Australia Day every year.
Last year you were doing the one-man comedy-show boycott of Woolies. This year, now you’ve gone to war with the sandal-wearing inner-city mayors. I don’t know, next year, are you going to make it a law that the Big Issue salespeople have got to wear an ‘I love Australia’ badge?
Shorten said “the only fight we should be having is the fight against cost of living”, criticising the Coalition’s nuclear plan:
The culture wars don’t help reduce the price of goods or help people get into housing … And just last bit of free advice, Pete … is this gold plated, nuclear taxpayer-funded fantasy yours? I’ve been doing the maths in my head last night. There are children not yet born … who are going to have to pay taxes for the next 50 years to pay for [this].
Dutton hit back: “how many goodbyes to Bill do we have to have?”
Dutton says there is ‘understandable frustration’ in Australia’s Jewish community
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has weighed in on the alleged antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight.
Speaking on the Today show, he argued that “every suggestion” made by special envoy Jillian Segal so far “has been ignored by the prime minister.”
So I think there is an incredible frustration and anger within the Jewish community, and I think it’s completely understandable.
He echoed earlier arguments that the PM is walking “both sides of the street” on this matter and that “there just hasn’t been strong enough leadership that’s required”.
And I think as a result, we’re seeing these sort of incidents again and again and again, and it continues to escalate.
In a speech last weekend, Dutton made the claim that “every incident of antisemitism can be traced back to the prime minister’s dereliction of leadership in response to the sort of events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House [after 7 October 2023]”.
Anthony Albanese responded to this, saying it was an example of Dutton being “just plain nasty” and that he is “horrified by antisemitism” and “we call it out each and every time.” You can read more of his response in Monday’s blog here.
Wayne Swan predicts rate cut ‘will happen reasonably soon’
ALP national president, Wayne Swan, was on the Today show earlier, where he discussed the prospect of a rate cut – which he thinks will happen “reasonably soon”.
Swan said the markets were factoring a 66% chance of a cut, and that inflation had come down “dramatically over a two or three-year period.”
It used to have an eight and then a six, and now it’s got a two in front of it. We’ve seen spectacular jobs growth over the last couple of years, and particularly the past year. And at the same time we’ve seen pretty solid wages growth. So that’s a pretty good outcome.
Swan said he wasn’t “going to give [the RBA] too much direct advice this early in the morning,” but added:
The numbers really do indicate that that a rate cut will happen reasonably soon.
Clare says alleged antisemitic attack in Dover Heights ‘sickening’
The education minister, Jason Clare, has described the alleged antisemitic attack in Dover Heights overnight as “sickening”.
Speaking to Sunrise earlier, he said there was “no place for antisemitism in this country [and] no place for any sort of violence or any sort of hate”.
This is the absolute opposite of what Australia is all about. I condemn it, absolutely. You know, the most important thing here is that the police arrest the criminals that are responsible for this. That’s what the AFP taskforce that’s been stood up is all about.
