Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is deeply dismayed by the decision of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee not to recommend a judicial inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “This decision is a slap in the face to the Jewish community, reflecting a refusal to listen to the personal testimony and submissions of countless Jewish students and staff, members of the community and Jewish communal bodies. Even the expert testimony of the Government’s own Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, was dismissed.

“The Senate Committee’s recommendation of an inquiry by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights cannot possibly substitute for the judicial inquiry that all Jewish community bodies recommended. The Committee does not have the necessary powers and its deliberations would inevitably be affected by partisan politics. On top of this, the presence of Greens representatives on that committee would likely deter some Jewish students and staff members from coming forward, given the almost complete identification of that party with the campus protests which are the main subject of the inquiry in the first place.

“Furthermore, it is obvious that universities are incapable of dealing with this issue themselves. leading to the recent Senate inquiry in the first place and the overwhelming community consensus in support of a judicial inquiry, specifically.”

He concluded, “A year after the horrific Hamas attack on October 7 and subsequent explosion of antisemitism across the world, including on and off campus in Australia, it is worrying that there remains a failure to acknowledge the depth of the problem being experienced by the Australian Jewish community or take appropriate action. This issue is of critical importance to the ongoing viability of Australia’s multicultural society and communal harmony and should not be politicised, minimised, or made a second-order priority.”