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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
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Motions

Anti-Semitism

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (11:30): I move:

That this house—

(a) notes—

(i) that although nearly 70 years have passed since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, anti-Semitism still exists;

(ii) the work of the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism and its purpose in drawing global attention to the resurgence of anti-Semitism, in old and new forms, in politics, international affairs and society; and

(iii) that the declaration has been signed by parliamentarians in Australia and abroad;

(b) recognises the vast contributions made by the Jewish people to South Australian society;

(c) condemns any form of racial discrimination and anti-Semitism; and

(d) encourages all members of this house, regardless of party or politics, to sign the declaration and so assist to combat anti-Semitism across the globe.

Today I speak on a joint motion that the member for Morialta and I put before this 53rd Parliament. It is a motion I first raised in late 2013 and that fell off the Notice Paper at the end of the last parliament due to timing.

Jointly, the member for Morialta and I are founding the South Australian Parliamentary Friends of Israel, with the kind assistance of Mr Norman Schueler, who is in the gallery today. We will shortly host a function with members of the South Australian Jewish community and our parliamentary colleagues to mark our commitment to fight against anti-Semitism in our state and our nation by signing the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism.

Today's motion asks the parliament to note: that although nearly 70 years have passed since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, anti-Semitism still exists; the work of the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism and its purpose in drawing global attention to the resurgence of anti-Semitism, in old and new forms, in politics, international affairs and society; that the declaration has been signed by parliamentarians in Australia and abroad and recognises the vast contribution made by the Jewish community to South Australian society; condemns any form of racial discrimination and anti-Semitism; and encourages all members of this house, regardless of their party or politics, to sign the declaration and so assist to combat anti-Semitism across the globe.

Since 2009, leading parliamentarians from around the world have signed the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism and I look forward to signing this document in the coming weeks, signifying my own deep personal commitment to the cause. Anti-Semitism did not end at the conclusion of the Second World War. Indeed, the hated seeds of anti-Semitism were sown centuries earlier in the bloody pogroms and the libels against the Jewish people long before the formation of the modern nation of Israel. It is as real today as it was 70 years ago in the dreadful gas chambers in the Holocaust.

Only last October in Bondi, Sydney, a Jewish family was walking home from their Sabbath dinner and they were assaulted by eight young males. The family assaulted included four men—66, 48, 39, 27—and a 62-year-old woman. The men were wearing skull caps and the attackers yelled anti-Semitic insults during the assault. After their release from St Vincent's Hospital, a hospital spokesman said, 'You certainly don't come to Bondi and expect that. Maybe in Germany in the 1930s and Russia in the 1970s, but certainly not Sydney Australia.' That was in 2013.

The victims later released a statement saying, 'We are concerned about the need for education of future generations about the importance of goodwill and tolerance and the need for society to embrace these concepts.' This attack united 20 unlikely groups such as United Muslim Women Association, Lebanese Muslim Association, groups from the Indian, Italian, Greek and Chinese communities, Cricket Australia and the Australian Rugby League to produce a joint message of solidarity and support for the victims of this hate crime. They wrote:

It attacks our overall way of life. Therefore such incidents, while generally isolated in our society, need to be taken very seriously and need to be used by all of us to demonstrate a commitment to Australia's generally successful multicultural model.

Mostly, Australian society has been a welcoming country for Jewish immigrants and whilst anti-Semitism has always existed, it has only occasionally been aggressive and acidic to the foundation of a truly harmonious tolerant multicultural Australian community where freedom to practice one's faith freely is paramount.

Australia’s first convicted terrorist, Jack Roche, was gaoled for conspiring to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Canberra in 2000, and in 1975 ASIO documents revealed a terrorist plan to kill high-profile Jewish figures, including the Israeli ambassador Michael Elizur and Zionist spokesmen Isi Leibler and Sam Lipski. Former prime minister Bob Hawke was also considered for the attack. In the early 1990s in Adelaide I attended a rally against the racist group National Action that were active in promoting anti-Semitism at the time, and it was a frightening day on Prospect Road. I know the member for Torrens’ husband was there, as a councillor at the time.

The contribution the Jewish community has made to our state and nation is well established. We have had many influential Jewish contributors to our nation’s public life, such as General Sir John Monash GCMG KCB VD, a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War; and governor-general Sir Isaac Isaacs. Notable for their successes in business and philanthropy are Sidney Myer, John Gandel, Peter Abeles, the Smorgon family, Marcus Besen, Frank Lowy, Richard Pratt and Joseph Gutnick.

We have only recently heard of the outstanding contribution of our own Mr Allen Bolaffi in this chamber with his untimely and sudden death. As the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce director Rilka Warbanoff said, Mr Bolaffi was a compassionate friend and family man committed to the state and, 'Nothing compared to his qualities as a human being, he was involved in the community and passionate about South Australia.' Members, anti-Semitism cannot be tolerated in a modern multicultural nation such as ours. Our role as leaders and citizens must compel us to act against it, naming it for what it is: hateful, ignorant, divisive, insidious and unjust. This is why the London Declaration is so important.

Together, we can clearly say ‘never again’ by signing it; that we do not forget; that we will teach our children not to forget or deny a historical fact, or stand by as mute witnesses as the plague of hatred grows again, via the anonymity of the internet with putrid words or the violence of the October night in Bondi in 2013; that South Australia values the fight against discrimination in its laws and public discourse; and that as a parliament we actively stand side by side against the insidious nature of discrimination and the hatred that is anti-Semitism. Once, in the 1930s, other leaders were tested and failed; let that not be our fate.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (11:37): I am very grateful to the member for Taylor for moving this motion, and it gives me great honour to be able to second the motion. The member for Taylor and I worked together to get this motion drafted last year and I am pleased that we are able to approach it now. We are looking forward to the opportunity to have a function in this building to acknowledge the introduction of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel in the coming weeks and months, and I hope all members will take the opportunity to consider signing the London Declaration at that event, at which we will also further honour the life and work of Mr Allen Bolaffi, which has already attracted some comment in this parliament and in this debate this morning.

The member for Taylor has already, in a well-articulated fashion, described the motion. I will go through it step by step. To begin with, the motion notes:

(i) that although nearly 70 years have passed since the end of World War II and the Holocaust, anti-Semitism still exists;

(ii) the work of the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism and its purpose in drawing global attention to the resurgence of anti-Semitism, in old and new forms, in politics, international affairs and society; and

(iii) that the declaration has been signed by parliamentarians in Australia and abroad;

The motion also states:

(b) recognises the vast contributions made by the Jewish people to South Australian society;

The member for Taylor has identified some of those contributions already. Can I say that the South Australian Jewish community has made an enormous contribution, going right back to the beginning of the establishment of South Australia as a colony, particularly in the areas of politics, philanthropy, commerce and entertainment.

We note prominent early members of the Jewish community, such as Emmanuel Solomon, who opened the colony's first theatre; Vaiben Louis Solomon, briefly Premier of the State of South Australia, who contributed to our constitutional convention and played a part in Australia's federation and served in the federal parliament; and Daniel Baruh, who arrived in Adelaide in 1849 and was Australia's first Jewish surgeon. There have been eight mayors and lord mayors of Adelaide who have been of Jewish heritage.

The member for Taylor identified Sir John Monash, who I note that a number of military historians have identified as somebody who probably, if they had been in America, would have been remembered in such terms alongside people like Dwight D. Eisenhower and other great generals of modern history. There is Isaac Isaacs, the former governor-general, and I also want to acknowledge the work of Norman Schueler, who has contributed so much to the South Australian community and continues to do so through a range of roles, including on the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission. It is a privilege, Norman, to have you with us in the gallery today. The Jewish community's contribution to South Australia and Australia's life and culture is significant.

The motion goes on to condemn any form of racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. One would have thought that today, in the 21st century in the year of 2014, this should not be necessary, but it so clearly is. The member for Taylor identified some examples and across the world this is a significant problem, and it is not just confined to examples where some leaders of countries have said that they want to push Israel into the sea. It is not confined just to that; it is also in the Western World. The Washington Post earlier this month reported that French Jewish leaders were feeling:

…the worst climate of anti-Semitism in decades...Among the multiple attacks reported this month include a June 23 incident in which 20 assailants beat up Jewish students wearing yarmulkes at a Paris library...two of the Jewish students were stabbed as they fled...On June 19, a rally in support of the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers came under attack by protesters who threw at least one flare or Molotov cocktail at the marches...Stars of David [have been] spray-painted on houses belonging to Jews in Gradignan in south-western France.

In Paris on 26 January, when we were celebrating Australia Day this year, thousands of Parisians took to the streets in a 'Day of Anger', when the slogan was shouted, 'Jews, France is not for you.'

In Greece, in recent weeks the Holocaust memorial in Athens has been sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti including threats against the Jewish community. In Thessaloniki, just in the last month vandals desecrated the Jewish cemetery. The people have been staying up to watch the World Cup, and it is a great shame that SBS reported on 26 June that there was a Neo-Nazi pitch invasion during the Ghana versus Germany match. There are other reports of groups of spectators with anti-Semitic and Neo-Nazi symbols in the stands during some games.

This is not just happening around the world; it is happening in Australia as well. The 'Report on Anti-Semitism in Australia' last year reported that the total number of reported anti-Semitic incidents in Australia last year was the second highest on record—a 21 per cent increase over the previous 12-month period. The situation is also concerning in South Australia, and I have been provided with recent examples in Adelaide. A Star of David was pulled off the neck of an individual in Adelaide very recently, swastikas were painted on the fences at the Hackney synagogue, and hateful and threatening messages have been left on answering machines of people identified as being part of Adelaide's Jewish community.

At Adelaide University, it was reported in March that the campus sign was vandalised with a crudely-drawn Star of David with the number 666 and the words 'No Jew world order'. In recent years, 20 textbooks on Israeli law in the Barr-Smith Library were defaced with anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli slogans. Just in the last month, there was an auction in Adelaide of Nazi memorabilia—people making money from Holocaust survivors' misery, including a gas cannister, Nazi flags, swastika-emblazoned SS officer swords and Nazi volunteers' badges.

I note that Norman Schueler, the president of the Jewish Community Council of South Australia at the time, identified it very well. He said:

I would not like to think that people are trying to profit by trading on other people's misery. These articles are a manifestation of what is an abhorrent part of history and will cause to those people who are affected—

Of course, we are talking about Holocaust survivors here—

many sleepless nights. We must continue in schools and universities to make people aware of the worst crime perpetuated on man ever and not allow its memory to be dulled by time.

I note that the firm involved has identified that it is unlikely that they would ever sell items like this again, given the strong reaction it has provoked, but how extraordinary it is that they had to see a reaction before it occurred to them that that was abhorrent behaviour. How extraordinary!

That is why this motion is important because it is important that we as parliamentarians and community leaders continue to make this point, to lead the debate and lead the community reaction to this because, frankly, I am sure that many people would not have expected that such an idea would have happened in the first place.

One of the manifestations in the 1930s of the Nazi takeover in Germany was the boycotts. I note that in April 1933 when the Nazis took power Joseph Goebbels delivered a speech in the Lustgarten urging Germans to boycott Jewish owned businesses. He described it as a legitimate response to the anti-German 'atrocity propaganda' being spread abroad by international Jews. The boycott was followed by anti-Semitic laws, followed by deportation, work camps and the Holocaust.

Some people in this day and age still call for boycotts. Some may have high-minded motives and I urge them to look at who your fellow travellers are, contemplate history and ask whether there is a more suitable way to air your political views. Anti-Semitism did not begin or end with World War II. As the member for Taylor identified, the issues are as real today as they were 70 years ago, which brings us to the fourth part of the motion that this house:

…encourages all members of this house, regardless of party or politics, to sign the declaration—

the London declaration—

and so assist to combat anti-Semitism across the globe.

I will conclude by reading some notes which I think summarise what the declaration stands for. In the preamble the declaration describes that:

We note the dramatic increase in recorded anti-Semitic hate crimes and attacks targeting Jewish persons and property, and Jewish religious, educational and communal institutions. We are alarmed at the resurrection of the old language of prejudice and its modern manifestations in rhetoric and political actions against Jews, Jewish belief and practice and the State of Israel.

The declaration is much broader, though, than just the State of Israel and, in fact, item 2 defines that:

Parliamentarians should speak out against anti-Semitism and discrimination directed against any minority, and guard against equivocation, hesitation and justification in the face of expressions of hatred;

The preamble concludes by stating:

We call upon national governments, parliaments, international institutions, political and civic leaders, NGOs, and civil society to affirm democratic and human values, build societies based on respect and citizenship and combat any manifestations of anti-Semitism and discrimination.

I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (11:47): I commend the member for bringing this motion to the house and I congratulate other speakers. I completely agree with the motion and observe that it was not until I went to live in the Middle East in 1993 that I came to fully understand the depths of discrimination, the damage it can do and the very personal context of it. I think the spirit of the motion is to condemn discrimination based on race wherever it may be, but with a particular focus on anti-Semitism which is an aspect of discrimination that has been with us, particularly those of us of European origin, for centuries.

It is a hard thing communicating with Jewish families when you visit them because you do not quite understand, because you are not part of their suffering, the stories that they have been brought up on. It is a hard thing to imagine being a young person in Israel, or anywhere for that matter, knowing that your parent was probably the child of a Holocaust victim and had been brought up in that context, that your grandparent may well have had a number tattooed on their arm as a survivor, that you may have a family history where you have lost most of your extended family through what can only be described as an inhumane genocide, and then there are the deeper discriminations that went back long before World War II; in fact they go back centuries.

You have been brought up in a culture where you have this sense that at any time you could be purged or expelled. History is full of examples of Jewish peoples being expelled from their villages, expelled from their towns, moved from one place to another, not accepted, denied freedoms, and abused; it is just an endless story of discrimination.

It is hard to pin back in time exactly when it started. Everyone has a different point of view on that; some base it on religious texts, some base it on social and cultural origins. It is a mysterious thing, but it has hardened the hearts of many, because there is this sense that you are here today but you could be gone tomorrow. That discrimination does colour the flavour of the nation of Israel, in that there is this sense that it could all be gone in a moment because of this history of discrimination.

It hardens hearts. Of course, that is what discrimination and racial vilification does: it hardens hearts. People who would otherwise be free to live a happy and joyful life like most of us find themselves living under this dark grey cloud of racial discrimination and vilification. It is an awful thing. That is why I think this motion correctly observes that this is something that all parliamentarians should condemn.

The motion rises above politics. This is really about human values. People listening to this debate will have different views on the politics of the Middle East. They might have views on the policies of many of the nations in the Middle East, including the state of Israel, but those are political views. They are views of differences of opinion and of politics between nations. That should never transform itself into racial vilification.

One might take exception with the policies of the state of Israel. That should never be reinvented as hatred of Jewish people, any more than one might take exception with any country in the Middle East, be it any of the Middle Eastern nations, and suddenly start to discriminate against people of Arab origin or of Muslim faith or of any particular ethnicity in the region purely because of that ethnicity.

I think this is the great evil that this motion seeks to identify and condemn, that people can vilify someone purely on the basis of race. I think that is where the politics and the culture of history need to be separated from the racial issues and we all need to stand together, to rise above this great evil of racial vilification.

I support the comments made by the mover of the motion and by the member for Morialta about the wonderful work done by the South Australian Jewish community. We have all learned of the sad loss of Allen Bolaffi. Norman Schueler and many others in the Jewish community have made fantastic contributions to our state and to this nation. They are fantastic South Australians and for that reason alone shine as representatives of the South Australian Jewish community, of whom we can all be proud.

I think the London declaration was a great step forward. It called on parliamentarians to do certain things. It called on governments to do certain things. It called on the UN, the European Union, and leaders of all religious faiths to do certain things, as indeed they are. Members may not know that there is a law in Israel that prevents the destruction of any place of worship, and when you go there you will find mosques, Christian churches and synagogues everywhere, unable to be destroyed.

I saw an amazing example of that when I was taken to a remote settlement in the middle of the Sinai called Yamit. The township of Yamit is in a DMZ. Most members of the public will never go there. I remember Palestinians and Egyptians saying to me, 'Martin, you are the deputy chief of staff of the peacekeepers. You are the number three, you are a senior person, you must come to Yamit. You must see,' the Palestinians and the Arabs would say, 'what the Israelis did at Yamit.'

I would go to meetings. I got in a helicopter and I flew down to Yamit. Yamit was a town that had been settled during the occupation by Israel and they had turned a desert into a wonderland. They grew some of the biggest fruits and vegetables and they took them off to Europe. They presented them and they won awards. It is just a brilliant settlement.

After the Camp David accords, when there was the withdrawal from the Sinai, a decision was taken that these towns would be destroyed and settled as the Jewish communities left. The only building still standing in the township was the synagogue, which could never be destroyed. The point the Palestinians were making was: ‘Well, why did the Israelis destroy this town? We could have moved there, we could have had settlements there, we could put families there.’

It was only when you talked to the Israelis that you got the other side of the story, which was, essentially, that if they had left the town there it would have become a refugee camp, it would have been used as a base to attack across borders, and people would have lost their lives. You realise the complexity of the political issues. They had to destroy the town or it would have become a thorn in the side of peace in the region, and so on.

There is no right or wrong answer with any of this; these are complex issues, they are political issues, and should never be confused with the ultimate truth, and any discrimination based on race is to be condemned. We should rise above the politics of whatever is going on in the world and never let it devolve down into a hatred of anyone based on their faith, their ethnicity or race.

That is a message for us all, not only in regard to anti-Semitism but to any form of racial discrimination wherever it may come from, because proponents of it do not necessarily confine themselves to anti-Semite discrimination. They have a habit of spreading it to others, and it is a great evil that must be combated by all good men and women. This is a wonderful motion and I commend it to the house.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:56): Unfortunately, I have to be more brief than I would choose to be because I have to get to a commitment in a few minutes. Compared with the rest of the world, we are relatively fortunate with regard to dealing with these issues. That is not to say that we do not have discrimination in our nation—we do and it is disgraceful. There are other racial discriminations that take place in South Australia and Australia more frequently than anti-Semitism, and I am pleased to say that all of it, I think, is improving in South Australia.

I particularly want to make a contribution to this motion and thank the member for Taylor for bringing it forward and thank the member for Morialta for his support on this as well and in working with this. I am the great grandson of a Holocaust victim, and one of my very strong family memories is hearing from my grandmother some of her memories about her family. I take this very strongly, but I would also like to add that any member's support for this motion in this chamber is in no way an effort for any of us to buy into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I know that the member for Taylor is not involved in that or suggesting that in any way. I know that from the bottom of my heart and I know that no other members are either.

Because a motion supports one particular group of people and stands up against discrimination against them does not put you on one side of an argument. I would—and I know that every other member of parliament here would—support just as passionately this principle if it had been brought on behalf of any other group that is unfairly vilified. I will always fight against discrimination based on race, based on age, based on sex or based on any other unacceptable descriptor whatsoever. I thank the member for Taylor for bringing this forward. I thank all members in this chamber for their support of this motion, and I commend it to the house.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (11:59): I am very happy to be able to support this motion today, and I am very much looking forward to being able to sign the declaration at the appropriate time, when arrangements are made to bring it into Parliament House. I think they are doing it in a ceremony, and I would encourage all members to be present at that ceremony and to put their name on that bit of paper because it is tremendously important.

Anti-Semitism is never acceptable, and that is why that declaration is important. Just because the Holocaust happened more than 70 years ago does not mean that we can now forget it because it was a long time ago and that was that. The reason the Holocaust occurred is because of anti-Semitism, which was ingrained over centuries, and there was a period of time in the history of Germany which allowed that anti-Semitism to be really concentrated and to become the horrible thing the Holocaust was.

But the precursor to it, the thing that allowed it to happen and allowed it to gain that foothold, apart from the conditions in Germany at the time, was the prevailing anti-Semitism that singled out one group of people simply because of their religion. That is not acceptable, and that is also the reason we cannot allow anti-Semitism to go unchallenged, to be allowed to become part of the background noise. It was a part of the background noise for centuries, and then when the conditions arrived, it blew up and became the Holocaust, and that cannot be allowed to happen again, that tragic, disgraceful event that besmirches us all, really. Let's not gild the lily here, the West largely turned a blind eye to the Holocaust until the liberation of Germany from the Nazi Party.

There is a saying that bad things happen when good people stay silent, and that is why things such as the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism must be encouraged because we cannot remain silent. Remaining silent allows those conditions that brought on the Holocaust to be recreated, to regenerate, waiting only for the opportunity to rear its head to become the ugly event the Holocaust was.

We should not allow anti-Semitism to continue, and that is why we should sign the London declaration. We also have to be careful in this place and others to be very clear that we cannot allow the other conditions that allowed anti-Semitism to blow up into a Holocaust to happen. We cannot allow totalitarian states to rise, we cannot allow totalitarian states to do whatever they want. We should speak out against that, we should take action against that sort of behaviour.

We have an obligation as human beings to act to protect fellow human beings, and that means that there are actions we can take in this parliament and in our society to make sure that we do not become a totalitarian state ourselves, that we protect and value our democracy and that we value our respect for each other and our tolerance of each other and our differences, our different religions, histories and cultures. That is an important part of ensuring that totalitarian states do not rise and allow latent anti-Semitism to explode into something far more terrible than that.

It is not just about getting on top of anti-Semitism; it is about playing a more active role in our world to make sure that we do what we reasonably can to prevent the rise, and to encourage the prevention of the rise, of totalitarian states that allow the terrors of the Holocaust and like events to occur. The document has my complete support, and I look forward to signing it. I will be lining up with great eagerness to sign that document when it comes to the house, and I encourage all members to do so.

Mr SPEIRS (Bright) (12:04): It gives me great pleasure to be able to stand today to speak on the motion the member for Taylor has brought to the house. I thank the member for Taylor for taking the time to put this motion together, a motion which is of incredible importance not only to Jewish people living in South Australia and Australia but, really, to what I believe Australia stands for, the freedom for people to be able to practise one's beliefs, religion and lifestyle in whatever way they want to without fear of being discriminated against or having violent acts committed against them.

As part of preparing to speak on this item this morning, I undertook some research into the background to the London declaration and into anti-Semitism in Australia, and I was taken aback by the level of anti-Semitism that still exists here. In fact, the very concerning thing is that this is not something that is diminishing and disappearing into the history of the Western world but rather something that has grown in recent years.

Having done that research and looked at the latest report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Incorporated, there were 657 recorded incidents defined by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (known as the Australian Human Rights Commission) as 'racist violence' against Jewish Australians in 2012-13. So, 657 racist acts against Jewish Australians. These included incidents such as physical assaults, vandalism to their property, threatening phone calls, hate mail, graffiti, threatening leaflets, posters and abusive and intimidating electronic mail.

This was 69 per cent greater than the average over the previous 23 years leading up to 2012-13 and the second highest recorded tally in the history of keeping those records. This is not something that we can archive away into our country or the world's history; it is actually something which seems to have almost come back into fashion in recent years. The most disturbing thing about this is that while it is incredibly important to have something like the London declaration and have the opportunity for parliamentarians across the world to be able to sign a declaration like this, it is with huge sadness that we need to be in a position to do something like this and to bring the London declaration to the fore in the modern age.

The London declaration, by way of background—its full title is the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism—was signed on 17 February 2009 during an annual conference of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism. That conference brought together over 100 parliamentarians and NGO representatives from 35 different countries to discuss the uprising of contemporary anti-Semitism around the world; the uprising I have just outlined by way of statistics that we have also been experiencing here in Australia.

This is a worldwide problem and something that is growing in significance and we certainly need to work together at the international level, the national level and the local level to stamp it out. The group that came together for that inaugural conference noted the dramatic increase in recorded anti-Semitic hate crimes and attacks targeting Jewish people, property and institutions and proposed that the establishment of an international coalition was needed to confront and combat this issue.

The parliamentarians at this conference shared their knowledge, experience and recommendations and concluded with signing the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism. That declaration consists of 34 resolutions which are structured around six fundamental issues and I will just briefly run through them. The first is the concept of challenging anti-Semitism, which outlines that governments and the UN should resolve that never again will institutions of the international community and the dialogue of nation states be abused to try to establish any legitimacy for anti-Semitism, including the singling out of Israel for discriminatory treatment in the international arena.

The second of the fundamental issues looked to establish prohibitions against anti-Semitism. The third key issue looked at identifying the threat and sought that parliamentarians and leaders should return to their jurisdictions and establish inquiries that were tasked with determining the existing nature and the state of anti-Semitism in their countries, and develop recommendations for government and civil society action.

The fourth fundamental issue looked at working to increase education awareness and training in areas such as police, prosecutors and judges so that they had the instruments and the capacity to tackle the perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crime and ensure that they are successfully apprehended, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced. The fifth fundamental issue looked at community support and sought that there should be a public notification of communities when anti-Semitic hate crimes occur in those communities, to build community confidence in reporting and pursuing convictions through the criminal justice system.

The sixth of those fundamental issues, and one that I think is very important in this modern age, was the media and the internet and the keenness of those signing the declaration that an international task force of internet specialists comprised of parliamentarians and experts should be established to create common metrics to measure anti-Semitism and other manifestations of hate online, and to develop policy recommendations and practical instruments for governments and international frameworks to tackle these problems.

That really outlines what the London declaration is all about, and I think it gives us that very clear framework through which we can look as a parliament, as a state and as a nation at tackling anti-Semitic behaviour. The status of the London declaration around Australia is growing. In New South Wales and Victoria, large numbers of parliamentarians have been involved in signing the declaration, and the parliament of Queensland has also shown a great interest in it. Federally, our former prime minister and a constituent of mine (Hon. Julia Gillard) was the fourth prime minister in the world to sign the declaration, after Britain's Gordon Brown and David Cameron and Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper.

We have at a federal level as well that recognition that this is something we need to be looking to, tackling and bringing to the public attention. As I said earlier, and as the members for Taylor, Morialta and Newland have repeated, this is not something that is consigned to our nation's history or the world's history. It is something that has relevance, unfortunately, in the world today and something that parliamentarians, given our privileged position as community leaders, should be standing up and speaking about.

For me, it is incredibly troubling that any form of racism would be on the rise in Australia or in the world, but I think, given the huge impact that the Jewish people have had and their history of discrimination, hate and pain inflicted on their society and religion, it is something we need to be incredibly vigilant about. We need to be on the lookout for this in our society and continually look for ways to tackle it. I will be very keen to be one of the parliamentarians in this place who signs up to the London declaration when it is brought into the parliament for that to occur, and I will be happy to become a proud member of the Parliamentary Friends of Israel when the opportunity arises to do so.

I want to commend the members for Taylor and Morialta for bringing this to the house today and thank them for the opportunity for parliamentarians in this place to put on the record that we will not accept anti-Semitic behaviour and discrimination in this country or this state, and we will work together as leaders in our community to tackle that.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:14): I rise to support the motion put in front of the house today and I support the comments made by all colleagues in this place. I refer to the member for Bright, the youngest member in this chamber, I believe, and me as, I think, the oldest member in this chamber.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr PENGILLY: Why I say that—and this is not about me—but I am a child born five years after World War II finished. I have had—

Members interjecting:

Mr PENGILLY: If you don't mind, I am serious about this.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Finniss would like to be heard in silence.

Mr PENGILLY: As a result of that, I have had a lifetime of the Jewish faith and things like that forever in the back of my mind. I was sent to an Anglican boarding school when I was 12½ and there were a couple of lads there who did not go to chapel and were not required to. I asked them one day why not and they said that they were Jewish. I went home and talked to my mother about it and she said, 'Somewhere in our past we have Jewish blood.' I do not know where; do not ask me and it is irrelevant in the scheme of things. I then took to reading about things to do with the Jewish faith and I read a number of books by Leon Uris (Exodus and others) which I found fascinating.

Then, during my time at boarding school, the Six-Day War happened, which was a unanimous success for the State of Israel. That got me to looking even further and I discovered—and members may or may not be aware of this—that after World War I the League of Nations was going to create the State of Israel in north-west Australia. It was actually going to happen there; not many people know that and I think it is something that we can be proud of even though, unfortunately, it did not happen. The League of Nations was designed to end all wars and it failed dismally and the Jewish state was never created.

I am an unabashed supporter of Israel and of all things Jewish. I can remember watching this amazing little country of Israel during the Six-Day War and what came out of it and I became an even greater fan. I am saying 'I', but it is my history following these particular issues and the fact that six million European Jews were slaughtered during World War II during the Holocaust.

This motion is very timely; it is most appropriate and if I need to remind myself from time to time about what has happened in the past and still continues to happen, as has been brought up by several members today, I read The Diary of Anne Frank. That is good reading for anybody. I suggest that everyone should read it. Then you can go on to read about Raoul Wallenberg, whose name came up again the other day, and what he did to support Jewish people during World War II.

I cannot for the life of me comprehend why anti-Semitism even exists (or anti-anyone else for that matter) but there is something seriously wrong with the human race having this craziness about people, in some areas. Look at the United States of America and what has happened over there, look at the music that Jewish people have created—the Gershwins, the Irving Berlins and whatnot—and what they have achieved in the arts and medicine, it goes on and on. If you look at the history of persecution suffered by the Jewish people over hundreds of years it makes the mind boggle.

I refer now to the input of Jewish people in South Australia since it started. If you research the name Benjamin Mendes da Costa (I am sure I am right but I stand to be corrected if not), he was a great Jewish philanthropist who settled in South Australia. Da Costa Arcade and whatnot were all named after Benjamin Mendes da Costa. More than that, look at Sir John Monash, an absolutely phenomenal great general from World War I who led Australian forces so brilliantly. He was taken to task for his military attributes because he was Jewish. It was ridiculous, crazy stuff, but he shone above it.

I could go on and on, but I do not need to. There may be others who need to speak. I am very happy to support the motion and sign the declaration when it arrives. Someone better remind me because I am getting old and I forget things. Quite aside from that, I applaud the motion and the support from both sides of the house and I look forward to it going through without any hesitation whatsoever.

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (12:20): I would like to thank all members present in the chamber and those who were here before for their contributions this morning to this important motion. It recognises that anti-Semitism is not acceptable in our state or our nation and recognises the contribution of our local Jewish community and our national Jewish community, with some of the leading Jewish people mentioned before in some of the speeches. I commend the motion to the house and look forward to having members join us to sign this important declaration shortly.

Motion carried.

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