EDITORIAL: Chalmers’ slip betrays government’s true feelings

If you needed any proof that the Labor Government simply doesn’t get the depth of fear felt by Jewish Australians as anti-Semitic attacks escalate in frequency and violence, there it was.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the quiet part out loud when, making his tour of the morning television and radio programs on Thursday, he said that the detection of an explosive-laden caravan north of Sydney apparently part of an anti-Semitic terror plot, showed that such fears were “not always unfounded”.

The implication being that sometimes, the Jewish community was putting a bit of mayo on their fears.

Dr Chalmers made the awkward selection of words not once, but twice, on Nine’s The Today Show and again on the ABC’s AM.

He later apologised, and said his intention had been “to share and acknowledge the very real and understandable fears and concerns in the Jewish community in light of recent events”.

Whether the Jewish community will accept that apology or will see it as an illuminating Freudian slip which reveals the Government’s true feeling about the anti-Semitism emergency gripping the nation remains to be seen.

What is clear is that the Government’s lethargic response has fuelled the crisis, emboldening anti-Semites to ratchet up their despicable campaign of hate and violence.

NSW Police say the amount of Powergel explosives found in the caravan left at the side of the road in Dural, on Sydney’s north west fringe, was enough to create a 40 metre blast zone. Alongside those weapons of destruction was a note with the addresses of Jewish people, and that of a synagogue.

The Albanese Government has been desperate not to be seen as taking sides as tensions inflamed by the war in Gaza spill over here, and in doing so, have abandoned common sense.

They appointed an anti-Semitism envoy, then an Islamophobia one too.

They condemn the murderous actions of Hamas and in the next breath chastise Israel.

But the hate here in Australia since October 7, 2023 has been a one-way street.

The attacks have become a weekly occurrence. Cars are set alight in suburbs with large Jewish populations with disturbing frequency.

A synagogue and childcare centre have been firebombed.

Homes and buildings graffitied with swastikas and the most vile of anti-Semitic slurs.

These aren’t isolated incidents, but the continuation of millennia of persecution faced by Jewish people, which reached its tragic crescendo with the crimes of the Holocaust. Now, hate is building again.

Jewish Australians have been pleading for months with the Government to take their deeply-held fears for their safety and the safety of their families seriously.

It’s taken the threat of a mass casualty event for ministers to concede that those fears are “not always unfounded”.

Let’s pray it doesn’t take a loss of life for them to take action.