Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged to convene national cabinet to plug racism loopholes

The Prime Minister is facing pressure from all sides to convene an urgent national cabinet meeting to address rising anti-Semitism, after his own handpicked special envoy warned the scourge would gain further momentum without a coordinated response.

As a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas inches closer, Anthony Albanese has sidestepped suggestions he should summon every state and territory leader, after Jillian Segal called for him to do so to plug gaps in the country’s “patchwork” of laws that allow anti-Semites to go largely unpunished.

Mr Albanese on Tuesday met with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, acting NSW Premier Penny Sharpe, and AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw, after a spate of hateful incidents against Jewish Australians over the summer — including the terror attack on Melbourne’s Adass synagogue, an arson attempt and vandalism at Sydney’s Newtown synagogue, and incidents of cars and homes being torched and vandalised with anti-Semitic language.

In a statement, the three leaders said their governments were sharing more information between law enforcement agencies and updating legislation to deal with the increasing incidents.

Ms Segal said Tuesday’s meeting was a “very good first step”, but that the “near daily anti-Semitic incidents currently terrorising” the Jewish community required the issue to be escalated to national cabinet and a coordinated legal response devised.

“I think it needs to continue, and obviously at some stage, to broaden with the other premiers, because we are seeing concerns in other states,” she said.

While Victoria and NSW recorded the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents reported to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for their 2024 report, the peak body found there had been an exponential increase all around the country.

Between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024, anti-Semitic incidents in the ACT skyrocketed to 118, up from four in the previous reporting period.

In Queensland, the tally climbed from 47 to 70; while incidents in WA more than quadrupled from 25 to 116.

There was a 10-fold increase in South Australia from five to 54, and incidents in Tasmania rose from four to 16.

Among the reported incidents, a neo-Nazi leaflet titled “The Holocaust was a Lie” was placed in Brisbane letterboxes in September; a Hobart synagogue was vandalised last May; a Perth park was graffitied with anti-Semitic profanities and a swastika last June; and an Adelaide structure was graffitied with “Free Palestine. Oct 7… Do it Again” last June.

ECAJ, who wrote to the Prime Minister at the beginning of December calling for a National Cabinet meeting be convened to “address the national anti-Semitism crisis, including through uniform policing guidelines, law reform and public campaigns”, said Mr Albanese needed to make it a priority.

“We are calling for a national cabinet of federal, state and territory leaders so that we can get ahead of this anti-Semitism crisis in a consistent manner across the entire country. This is urgent. We cannot wait for someone to be injured, or worse,” ECAJ president Daniel Aghion said.

In an oped, published in The Australian on Wednesday, Ms Segal said her office had undertaken a “desktop review” of the “patchwork” of state and federal laws, and found they were “not easy to navigate”.

In calling for a national cabinet meeting, she warned a lack of enforcement and judicial punishment had allowed anti-Semitism to “gather momentum” and criminals to go virtually unpunished.

She called for better coordination for prosecuting incidents and tougher sentencing for anti-Semitic crimes, including mandatory sentencing for attacks on synagogues.

Labor MP Josh Burns, whose office was firebombed last year in an anti-Semitic attack and who represents the Adass community, acknowledged there were legal loopholes and said there needed to be unified response to anti-Semitism.

“There are clearly gaps in our legal framework. Clearly we have a crisis in anti-Semitism in this country. But . . . we need to tackle it together in a unified way . . . where political parties come together and not squabble over discrimination in this country.” he said.

Asked at two separate press conferences on Wednesday, Mr Albanese downplayed suggestions he would convene a full national cabinet meeting with all state and territory leaders, saying he had “responded with the states that were involved”.

“What we want, and what people want to see, isn’t more meetings. They want action,” he said, pointing to the establishment of Joint Operation Avalite.

“We’ve had a meeting to coordinate in the two states where there have been major incidents to make sure that there’s increased coordination.

“When National Cabinet meets, we meet about the full range of issues, particularly about cost of living, about health, about education, about housing.”

Government sources said the issue being discussed at national cabinet had not been completely ruled out, but the PM’s focus for now was primarily on NSW and Victoria.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition remained steadfast in calling for the PM to convene a national cabinet meeting.

“We have called for a meeting of National Cabinet. What Anthony Albanese needs to do is focus on the policy that works, not on just handling the politics and mumbling that he’s had some conversations with state premiers here, there and everywhere, but actually demonstrate to our wonderful Jewish community that he backs them, and we’ve just never seen that,” she said.

Meanwhile the Albanese Government is hopeful that the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas will eventuate, which could help bring down the domestic temperature.

US officials said on Tuesday (local time) that negotiations for a deal were “right on the brink” in Qatar.

Israel wants 33 hostages released in the first phase of the deal, and could free up to 1000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange, subject to Israel’s security cabinet agreeing.

Hamas has reportedly accepted the draft agreement.

Mr Albanese said his Government was “hopeful” it would bring an end to violence.

“We want a ceasefire in the interests of both Israelis and those in the occupied Palestinian territories,” he said.

“So we are hopeful of a ceasefire. That would be a good thing.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said his party also hoped for a ceasefire.

“Certainly we support a ceasefire and we need to make sure the hostages are released and make sure that the terrorist organisation is not being rewarded,” he said.