The Federal Opposition mounts more pressure on Albanese over the Melbourne Synagogue attack

ABC NEWS (Australia)

While police persist to hunt down the suspects of the Melbourne arson attack. The opposition criticises the government for not addressing antisemitism in Australia.

Transcript

00:00Well, we know that this fire at the synagogue in Melbourne's southeast has certainly created

00:07a heightened amount of concern amongst the Australian Jewish community.

00:12Of course, we know that the motive of that fire is still under investigation by police,

00:17but the Prime Minister has said that this is clearly an act of anti-Semitism.

00:22We have heard from the opposition in the last little while, from the Shadow Home Affairs

00:28Minister James Patterson.

00:30Now, he has certainly ramped up the Coalition's criticism of the government in regards to

00:36their response to this incident, but also to the response to anti-Semitism more generally

00:42in Australia.

00:44He says that this attack is one of the worst attacks against the Australian Jewish community

00:51that has ever been recorded.

00:54He says that the Prime Minister has some very serious questions to answer.

00:59One of those is whether or not the National Security Committee of Cabinet has been convened

01:04following this fire, but also he says that this incident needs to be declared an act

01:09of terrorism.

01:10Here's what he had to say.

01:11Why has he and his government so far refused to categorise this act as an act of terrorism?

01:19Certainly the Australian Jewish community feels like this was an act of terrorism.

01:23They feel terrorised, they feel like this was an act of terror and it is very difficult

01:28to understand what else we should call two men in the middle of the night seeking to

01:33set on fire a synagogue while there were Jews praying inside as anything other than an act

01:38of terrorism.

01:39But if the Prime Minister is in possession of information that leads him to a different

01:43conclusion then he should stand up today and he should explain why he thinks this is not

01:47an act of terror.

01:50Now also James Patterson says that the opposition has requested a briefing from the Australian

01:55Federal Police following that incident in Melbourne, but he says that that request for

02:02that briefing hasn't been accepted by the Federal Government at this stage.

02:06And Monty, this incident is also getting some international attention.

02:10We've heard from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

02:13What's he had to say about it?

02:15Yes, certainly these comments from Israel's Prime Minister overnight have certainly created

02:23a bit of a buzz here in Canberra.

02:27We have seen him link this Melbourne synagogue fire to Australia's vote at the United Nations

02:35earlier this week.

02:36Now we saw of course Australia vote with 156 other countries around the world demanding

02:43Israel rapidly end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

02:49Now Benjamin Netanyahu says that this attack in Melbourne is impossible to separate from

02:57what he calls an extreme anti-Israel position held by the Labor Government here in Australia.

03:05The opposition, through James Patterson, says that the relationship between Australia and

03:12Israel has been trashed by Labor.

03:15But this morning we have seen senior members of the government out reaffirming the relationship

03:21between the two countries.

03:23We saw Federal Cabinet Minister Murray Watt say that he respectfully disagrees with those

03:29comments by the Israeli Prime Minister.

03:32Also we heard from Mark Butler, the Health Minister.

03:36He says that he is very proud of the relationship between Australia and Israel.

03:41Here's what he had to say.

03:43This firebombing of the synagogue is only the most recent of a long chain of anti-Semitic

03:49acts that have been happening here in Australia that I and other members of the government

03:53have called out.

03:54I will point out that our Prime Minister spoke with the Israeli President, President Herzog,

03:59yesterday and they had a very productive discussion about the shared values we have to combat

04:06this appalling rise in anti-Semitism.

04:11We've already got a range of things that we've been doing since the 7th of October attacks.

04:16In response to this criticism from the opposition, the government says that their position and

04:22the Australian position is very clear.

04:24There is a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism here.

04:28So certainly we'll see how the debate continues to unfold.

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