Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) has welcomed the release of National Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism, announced at a press conference this morning, and called on the Government to adopt the plan in full and implement it “urgently and vigorously”.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “National Antisemitism Envoy Jillian Segal’s new plan to combat antisemitism would be welcome at any time, but events of the past week have highlighted how serious the antisemitism problem in Australia remains, and the urgency of strong and determined government action to do more about it. Ms Segal has now provided the program needed to structure such action, offering concrete ideas for tackling this grave threat to Australia’s multicultural cohesion through reforms targeting policing, the tertiary sector, the media, the arts, online hate, and migration policy. It now should be adopted and implemented vigorously as a matter of urgency.”

Dr Rubenstein added, “The Albanese Government deserves credit and gratitude for both creating the role of Antisemitism Envoy and appointing Ms Segal to it, as well as the strong words about the antisemitism crisis in Australia by the Prime Minister and Minister Burke in this morning’s media conference announcing Ms Segal’s report. Hopefully, the Government will consider the report as quickly as possible and adopt its recommendations in full. The heightened antisemitism crisis in this country has now persisted for some 21 months, at terrible costs to national social cohesion, so there is no time to waste. The recommendations in the Envoy’s report should not only be adopted in full, but then acted on with all possible vigour by the Government.”

Dr Rubenstein concluded, “We thank Ms Segal for her invaluable work on this report and the Government for facilitating it. We trust its release, with the participation of both the Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister, will be a major watershed in the vitally important fight against antisemitism in our country.”