JENI O’DOWD: Australia Day is a mirror, politicians must reflect and unite on Bondi action

Australia Day is meant to be about who we are. But five days out, the country feels fractured, jumpy and defensive.

The clumsy attempt by the Albanese Government to deal with anti-Semitism has spiralled into something far uglier. The community is split, the Coalition is at war with itself and Jewish Australians are caught in the middle.

Many Australians feel both proud and uneasy about our nation right now. For Jewish Australians, there’s love of country mixed with anxiety. Feeling Australian, but very aware of being Jewish first in the eyes of some others.

Australia Day is about mateship and shared values. But here we are, heading into it arguing over whether hate should be policed, tolerated or excused as political expression.

What does Australia Day even mean when some people are less protected than others? What does a fair go look like with a blurred line between protest and intimidation?

The debacle over the Government’s hate speech legislation — which followed the debacle over a royal commission — is one of the biggest political failures I’ve seen in years. It has been a spectacular stuff-up at every stage.

And the Coalition’s response has been no better, using the debate as yet another chance to attack Labor.

Strong leadership is imperative because the cost of failure will be measured in lives

During the condolence motion in Parliament on Monday, while MPs were visibly emotional and mourning, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley took the moment to score political points, saying: “But I say to the families here today: you are owed an apology for how long it (a royal commission) took.”

How tone deaf to the nation’s mood was that?

On Tuesday night, after late night Senate sittings, Parliament finally passed a diluted version of the Government’s hate speech laws.

After one of the most shocking acts of violence in Australia we have seen, it was apparently too much to hope that beforehand, both sides could get together, talk to religious and community leaders, and work out an acceptable response.

It should not have taken this long.

After the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, something extraordinary happened in Australian politics — agreement without theatrics.

Within days, governments of every political persuasion accepted that the system had failed and that pretending otherwise would cost lives.

Australia Day is a mirror

Today, the National Firearms Agreement remains one of the clearest examples of bipartisan action in modern Australian politics.

It was driven by former prime minister John Howard, but only worked because Labor governments across the States backed it.

Without Labor’s co-operation, the reforms would have died. They didn’t, because both sides accepted a blunt truth: after Port Arthur, doing nothing was no longer defensible.

This consensus was hard won with Howard facing fury from within his own base, particularly in regional Australia.

I still remember the photo of Howard in a bulletproof vest, front page news across the country, standing in front of angry crowds arguing for gun reform.

Labor didn’t exploit that moment or try to weaken the reforms for political gain. The legislation went through because our politicians chose responsibility over advantage.

That moment matters now. It shows something today’s MPs have forgotten: when the stakes are high enough, Australia’s major parties can put country before politics.

They’ve done it before. They could have done it again.

The lesson from Port Arthur was that agreement is not easy. It requires discipline, precision and a willingness to separate emotion from lawmaking. That is why leadership mattered then, and why it is missing now.

Strong leadership is imperative because the cost of failure will be measured in lives.

Port Arthur showed what happens when leaders actually lead. What we’re seeing now is leaders who talk about unity while celebrating compromise as victory and turning grief into political opportunity.

Australia Day doesn’t need cheerleading. It needs honesty. For many Australians, the flag still matters. But for Jewish Australians, feeling safe matters more.

Laws should target intimidation, threats and harassment, not opinions people dislike.

Employers, universities, sporting codes and platforms should be able to act fast when behaviour crosses a line. Lose your job. Lose your platform. Lose your sponsorship. That’s not censorship, that’s society deciding what it will tolerate.

We need security funding for synagogues, schools and community centres. Not as a temporary gesture after something awful happens, but as an ongoing reality.

The fact that Jewish Australians even need to think about guards at the door tells you laws alone aren’t enough.

As they celebrate Australia Day, our politicians should be honest about where they are failing and what they can do to fix it.

Australia Day is a mirror. This year, both Labor and the Coalition should have the courage to look into it properly. And right now, that reflection is ugly.