Ley takes fierce personal swipe
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has taken a swipe at Foreign Secretary Penny Wong for not attending the Bondi memorial site or shooting victims’ funerals, claiming the senior Labor Secretary “did not shed a single tear” over the Bondi terror attack.
In a deeply personal rebuke of Wong over the Bondi massacre, Ley became emotional at a press conference on Monday morning, hitting the podium while criticizing the minister’s behavior and absence from Sydney since last Sunday.
“I didn’t see Penny Wong on the streets of Bondi. I didn’t see Penny Wong at the memorial service for the 15 innocent Australians who were murdered,” he said.
“Last night, on the eighth night of Hanukkah, I didn’t see Penny Wong at Bondi. I didn’t see Penny Wong attend a single funeral. I didn’t see Penny Wong shed a single tear.
“So maybe if more members of government had come to the streets of Bondi and listened, and not just listened, but heard, heard the pain, heard the suffering, heard the call to action, we wouldn’t have the ridiculous statements he’s made recently.”
Ley made the comments after a reporter asked whether the opposition leader agreed with comments Wong made earlier in the morning, in which the foreign minister said the tone should be “lowered” in political debates.
“As foreign minister, I have said many times over the last two years that we need to reduce temperatures,” Wong told ABC radio.
“I have argued that we should not bring the conflict to Australia. You have heard me say that and that has always been my position.”
While the coalition was deeply critical of the Albanian government’s response to the Bondi terrorist attack, it was hounding the prime minister for acting too slowly on antisemitism; The Jewish community has warned for the last two years that they fear for their safety.
Former prime minister John Howard last week accused Albanese and Wong of allowing antisemitism to grow in Australia.
Ley visited the Bondi memorial several times last week, where he spent time speaking to grieving community members angry at Labour’s approach to antisemitism.
He also pointed out that Albanese was not on the Bondi site. The Prime Minister was booed by the crowd on Sunday night when he attended a ceremony to mark one week since two gunmen killed 15 innocent people at an event celebrating Hanukkah.
On Monday morning, Wong outlined the measures the government has taken to tackle antisemitism – such as cracking down on hate speech, criminalizing the sharing of personal information and banning Nazi salutes – while also admitting it needed to do more.
“Last week I said we need to do more, and we are, which is why we’ve announced a stronger package of legal reforms to crack down on those spreading hatred, division and radicalisation,” he told ABC Radio National.
“Of course the Prime Minister has said that although we have done a lot to tackle hate speech and antisemitism, we recognize that we need to do more and we take responsibility for that.”
Asked whether it was time for the government to apologize, Wong said: “Look, I think we all wish we weren’t where we are now. We all wish that the ISIS-inspired terrorist attackers would be stopped. We all wish that antisemitism would not continue in this country.”
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: excitement or email.
