Dutton attacks Jewish Labor MP over party response to synagogue firebombing
Josh Butler
Returning to Peter Dutton’s press conference in Melbourne earlier, the opposition leader launched an extraordinary attack on Labor MP Josh Burns, claiming the Jewish politician had failed to “speak up” about antisemitism in the community.
Burns is member for the seat of Macnamara, which has a high Jewish population, and is host to the Ripponlea synagogue which was set alight in an arson attack on Friday. Burns’ own office was also targeted in a serious vandalism attack earlier this year, with windows smashed and fires set in the street outside, and photos of him defaced with antisemitic graffiti.
Dutton in his press conference claimed the Jewish community was “rightly” critical of Burns and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan. Burns appeared at a press conference with shadow home affairs minister James Paterson – who was alongside Dutton at the Melbourne event – just hours after the synagogue fire.
Asked if it was “fair” to criticise Burns, considering his heritage and the fact he appeared alongside Paterson shortly after the arson attack, Dutton further doubled down, claiming:
Josh is a nice guy, but Josh lost his voice long before the weekend. Josh hasn’t stood up to a weak prime minister, and the job for a Labor MP is to stand up to a prime minister who has put political interests of the Labor party ahead of our national security interests.
When people were brought in from Gaza, people who hadn’t had the security checks undertaken on tourist visas, that’s when Josh Burns should have been speaking up. Josh Burns should have been speaking up when the protest took place at the Opera House. So I don’t doubt Josh Burns’ intent, his passion, but he’s part of a political party here, which is the problem.
Burns has released numerous statements and made numerous speeches condemning antisemitic violence, as well as being a constant presence in the media, including this morning.
As Guardian Australia has revealed, despite Dutton’s claims about Palestinian visas being approved in just 24 hours, the Department of Home Affairs’ median processing time for Palestinian visitor visas in the period October 2023 to August 2024 was four months.
Key events
Benita Kolovos
Josh Burns dismisses Dutton’s barbs at Labor on antisemitism
Josh Burns said he needs to have a closer look at Dutton’s policy before commenting on it more broadly:
Obviously what happened last week on Friday was completely unacceptable and send shockwaves throughout the community. People, I think, of all faiths, look at a synagogue being burned down and go, I don’t want that happening to my community, and I don’t want that happening to anyone in Australia or anywhere around the world. So we’ve just got to be open-minded. We’ve got to work through these issues in a sensible way, not do it in a haphazard way, and actually support the community, and that’s my focus right now.
The Labor MP dismissed Dutton’s suggestion that the Labor government did not have the political will to tackle antisemitism.
Burns said:
Since last Friday, all I have done is spend as much time with my community, to listen to them, to engage them and support them and represent them and get things done. Yesterday, the prime minister made an announcement around increased security funding. That’s a really important thing was turned around really quickly. But it doesn’t end there. I wish it didn’t have to come to security funding for the Jewish community. Who wants that? I never went to synagogue behind bars when I was younger, but that’s the reality we have right now, that our schools and our synagogues have to be fortified. The work doesn’t end there, because we also need to look to the medium and long term about how we return to that vibrant, multicultural Australia.
Burns says he’s leading a taskforce to tackle antisemitism in universities. He says he is hoping a definition of antisemitism for universities will be introduced:
There are lots of different aspects of campus life – what happens in lectures, what happens in classes, what happens in the university grounds – that a lot of people, frankly, have dismissed it as not being anti semitic, and that’s why it’s important to have a benchmark to be able to say these things are, and we want to protect freedom of speech and we want to protect freedom of academic thought.
Benita Kolovos
Jewish Labor MP responds to Dutton’s antisemitism policy
Joining assistant minister Josh Wilson in Elwood is local MP Josh Burns, who has spent the weekend responding to the firebombing of a synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne.
He’s asked about opposition leader Peter Dutton’s policy – announced this morning – to tackle antisemitism, which includes a special taskforce.
The taskforce would include the Australian federal police, Asio, Acic and Austrac, and Dutton said they would be directed to refer any visa holders involved in acts of antisemitism to be investigated and potentially deported.
Burns says authorities already have the power to deport visa holders.
He says:
Well, there’s already powers to deport people or to cancel someone’s visas. The minister has that ability at the moment, and I would hope that anyone who is vilifying, discriminating or acting in a racist way in Australia, if they are here visiting, enjoying our country, then that would be looked at anyway as a matter of course. So I don’t think that’s particularly new on that point.
Petra Stock
Coalition accuses Labor of failures on antisemitism in wake of synagogue attack
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, and shadow minister for home affairs, James Paterson, said the Albanese government had failed to act on antisemitism, following the attack on a synagogue in Melbourne.
Paterson said:
It is extraordinary to me that we are now in the fourth day following this crisis, and we have not seen [home affairs minister] Tony Burke. He’s not stood up, he’s not done a press conference, he’s not done a media interview. He has not visited the synagogue.
Do you think this would have been his response if it was a mosque that was fired on instead of a synagogue?
James Paterson questioned the home affairs minister, Tony Burke’s commitment to act on antisemitism: “How many visas has he actually cancelled?”
“The problem is a lack of will, a lack of desire to act,” he said.
Dutton and Paterson said if elected, the Coalition would create a dedicated antisemitism taskforce led by the Australian federal police.
This would include a ministerial direction to address outstanding complaints and unsolved crimes against the Jewish community since 7 October 2023, including “doxing, public display of terrorist symbols, incitement, harassment and other offences”.
Any visa holders involved in acts of antisemitism would be referred for “immediate cancellation and deportation”.
Dutton attacks Jewish Labor MP over party response to synagogue firebombing
Josh Butler
Returning to Peter Dutton’s press conference in Melbourne earlier, the opposition leader launched an extraordinary attack on Labor MP Josh Burns, claiming the Jewish politician had failed to “speak up” about antisemitism in the community.
Burns is member for the seat of Macnamara, which has a high Jewish population, and is host to the Ripponlea synagogue which was set alight in an arson attack on Friday. Burns’ own office was also targeted in a serious vandalism attack earlier this year, with windows smashed and fires set in the street outside, and photos of him defaced with antisemitic graffiti.
Dutton in his press conference claimed the Jewish community was “rightly” critical of Burns and Victorian premier Jacinta Allan. Burns appeared at a press conference with shadow home affairs minister James Paterson – who was alongside Dutton at the Melbourne event – just hours after the synagogue fire.
Asked if it was “fair” to criticise Burns, considering his heritage and the fact he appeared alongside Paterson shortly after the arson attack, Dutton further doubled down, claiming:
Josh is a nice guy, but Josh lost his voice long before the weekend. Josh hasn’t stood up to a weak prime minister, and the job for a Labor MP is to stand up to a prime minister who has put political interests of the Labor party ahead of our national security interests.
When people were brought in from Gaza, people who hadn’t had the security checks undertaken on tourist visas, that’s when Josh Burns should have been speaking up. Josh Burns should have been speaking up when the protest took place at the Opera House. So I don’t doubt Josh Burns’ intent, his passion, but he’s part of a political party here, which is the problem.
Burns has released numerous statements and made numerous speeches condemning antisemitic violence, as well as being a constant presence in the media, including this morning.
As Guardian Australia has revealed, despite Dutton’s claims about Palestinian visas being approved in just 24 hours, the Department of Home Affairs’ median processing time for Palestinian visitor visas in the period October 2023 to August 2024 was four months.
Benita Kolovos
Wilson pans Dutton on nuclear costings
Asked what he makes of opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan to reveal his nuclear costings this week, the assistant minister for climate change and energy, Josh Wilson, replied:
Why would you wait to release something in the shadows of Christmas, unless you thought that it was going to be utterly ridiculous, unless you were concerned that it would show that everything you’ve said about nuclear has been a lie, that it’s been a common trick to try to cover up the fact that this is the outfit for nine years that couldn’t be bothered to have a national energy policy, that saw energy generation in the Australian energy sector reduce.
They haven’t been able to have an energy plan in government. They don’t have an energy plan in opposition. They’ve announced this nuclear fantasy six or seven months ago without a shred of factual information or detail.
We wait to see what next bizarre excuse they can come up with for trying to perpetrate this fraud on the Australian people.
Almost 110 charged as NSW police target alleged ‘dial-a-dealer’ networks
More than 100 people have been arrested and charged under the latest operation run by NSW police against “dial-a-dealer” networks.
Strike Force Northrop, operating since 2017, undertook a targeted operation over three consecutive weekends, with a total of 108 people arrested and charged.
Of these, 64 were charged with supply a prohibited drug, 44 were charged with drug possession offences, and one person was also charged with domestic violence-related offences.
More than $20,000 worth of drugs were seized, including 560g of cocaine, 78 MDMA caps, weed, ketamine and ice.
Almost $99,000 of cash and several cars were also seized.
Among those arrested included a 22-year-old man allegedly found driving in Sydney’s CBD with 14 bags of cocaine and thousands in cash, and a teenager from Cronulla allegedly found with 18 bags of cocaine.
A Korean national was also arrested in Sydney’s CBD allegedly with 21 bags of cocaine and 60 MDMA caps.
Assistant commissioner Peter McKenna of NSW police said operations targeting the distribution of illegal drugs in the Sydney area would continue.
He said:
Whether they are major drug suppliers, mid-level or street level, I will continue to put resources into disrupting their operations and prosecuting them for their true criminality.
We opened 2024 with a significant operation targeting major dealers and have continued to put pressure on illegal drug distribution, with these three weekends of action focused on street-level distributors.
Benita Kolovos
Labor MP swipes at Coalition nuclear plan after CSIRO report
The assistant minister for climate change and energy, Josh Wilson, is holding a press conference in Melbourne on the expansion of the federal government’s national Australian built environment rating system (Nabers) to include schools.
He’s asked whether the latest CSIRO report, which found that “firmed” solar and wind are the cheapest new electricity options, would draw a line the sand on the opposition’s argument nuclear energy could be cheaper than other options over time.
Wilson replies:
Well, I would hope so, but I’m not sure whether that that hope will be met by the kind of sensible response I think Australians would like to see from the Coalition. The work that the Gen Cost Report represents from both Aemo [the Australian Energy Market Operator] and CSIRO is the latest instalment in a series of reports that have been saying the same thing.
It’s the obvious thing, it’s the truth, which is that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of new generation … I would love it if Ted O’Brien and Peter Dutton would wake up to the reality, which is that there’s no future for nuclear in Australia because it costs so much, because it takes so long, because it’s inflexible and uninsurable and uncommercial.
Coca-Cola workers vote to strike, saying Pepsi pays more
Factory workers at Coca-Cola are set to walk off the job, claiming the global giant pays staff significantly less than major rival Pepsi.
About 150 workers from Coke’s Northmead factory, in western Sydney, have voted to take industrial action which the union said could impact Christmas supply of the soft drink.
The decision comes days after Woolworths’ distribution centre workers secured a pay rise following a 17-day strike.
Electrical Trades Union NSW secretary Allen Hicks claimed the Coca-Cola workers would be better off at Pepsi.
“Despite doing the same work, workers in Coca-Cola’s Northmead factory are paid significantly lower than those working for Pepsi,” he said.
Coca-Cola has a two-tiered wage system which sees some employees paid significantly less than their co-workers, even though they’re doing exactly the same job.
In response, Coca-Cola Europacific said it was still in negotiations with workers at the Northmead manufacturing and logistics site on a new enterprise agreement.
“We continue to take a constructive approach to negotiations and have proposed an EA that we believe offers rates that are competitive to the market and above the award wage with greater benefits,” a spokesperson said.
Some of our employees at Northmead have made the decision to take action and we respect their right to do so.
Coca-Cola workers also have issues with rostering and the company’s progression structure.
Hicks said it was a new take on the age-old “Coke vs Pepsi” debate.
All these workers want is to be paid in line with industry standards … when it comes to treating its employees with respect, Pepsi is winning hands down.
– Via AAP
Coalition to reveal nuclear plan costings this week – Dutton
Petra Stock
Peter Dutton confirmed the Coalition would reveal its nuclear power plan costings this week at a press conference in Melbourne.
The opposition leader criticised the CSIRO draft GenCost report released today, which again found “firmed” solar and wind remained the cheapest new electricity sources.
Dutton said:
They haven’t even seen our plan yet. Blackouts and brownouts have become a feature of our energy system under Labor.
Dutton said there was already bipartisan support for nuclear energy as part of the Aukus program, and that Labor’s opposition to nuclear energy was about trying to please the Greens.
Nuclear would “bring prices down”, he said, and enable Australia to meet its international climate commitments.
Canberra man dies in freak road accident in southern NSW
A man has died in a freak road accident along Burley Griffin Way at Galong, about 50km west of Yass.
A 49-year-old man from Canberra was struck in the head by an item that fell off a caravan being towed westbound, penetrating the windscreen.
He died before emergency services arrived.
Three women aged 48, 16 and 13 who were travelling in the vehicle with the man were uninjured.
The 32-year-old male driver of the vehicle towing the caravan was not injured. He was taken to Harden hospital for mandatory testing.
A crime scene was established, which was examined by officers from the Crash Investigation Unit.
