Liberal MP fights back tears describing son’s fear of antisemitism at royal commission
Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser fought back tears as he told the royal commission into antisemitism the impact of the Bondi terror attack on his own child.
Leeser, the federal Liberal education spokesman, told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion about her reaction to her eight-year-old son recently going to the synagogue for a bar mitzvah.
“His little hand grabbed mine pretty tight and he said to me, ‘Dad, how do you know we’re going to be safe?'” Leeser said. he said.
“I could see the police car there, I said, ‘Of course we will be safe,’ but of course I couldn’t guarantee it.
“If an eight-year-old doesn’t feel safe going to a place of worship, that’s not the Australia I know and love. It’s not the Australia I want for my children, or anyone else’s children.”
Commissioner Virginia Bell has spent the past week hearing evidence about the security implications for the Jewish community of the recent outbreak of anti-Semitism.
Leeser said his political posters were defaced with anti-Semitic tropes such as Hitler mustaches, swastikas and dollar signs drawn on his face. He said that it is normal to criticize politicians, but “even though sometimes you get hurt by thorns, this is not an immutable quality like my faith background.”
He said the nature of antisemitism had changed over the course of history: “In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the 19th and 20th century, they were hated for their race. Today, they’re hated for their nation state.”
Another witness stated that the community built a wall around itself to protect the garden of faith.
Tahli Blicblau, a former counterterrorism practitioner who works for the Dor Foundation, a Jewish nonprofit, said the garden is about “Jewish religion, culture and education… the things that enable a vibrant community to thrive.”
The wall was the security they had to build to protect it.
The commission heard this week: Armed guards were stationed at schools, synagogues, children’s camps and other events and built blast-proof walls and relied heavily on volunteer security troops to feel safe.
Blicblau told the commission: “In an ideal world we wouldn’t need a wall… Of course we don’t want that wall, but unfortunately it is needed.”
This comes at a high cost to the Jewish community, he said.
“And in a world where philanthropic funding is limited, there is a constant debate within Jewish philanthropy about the increasing need to invest in the wall at the expense of the garden – which could lead to the garden fading.”
“Jewish philanthropy could not and should not be expected to cover the cost of protective security,” he said.
Both Leeser and Blicblau said the threat to the community comes from far-right and far-left Islamic extremism.
Commissioner Virginia Bell asked Blicblau whether “some of the people involved in what I would call the pro-Palestinian movement” were from the dangerous far left.
“I can’t quite describe it in those terms,” Blicblau replied. “I’m talking about an extremely radical element, and that’s certainly part of the ideological drivers. But the people I’m talking about are anti-democratic, anti-Australian and anti-colonial, generally extending not only to Israel but also Australia.”
“You’re not claiming that people marching in protests about the Palestine cause are turning to violence against Jewish people, are you?” Bell said. he asked.
“I would say the vast majority of them are not,” Blicblau replied.
As for funding, the Home Office’s assistant secretary for law enforcement policy, Zadie Bow, said the Executive Council of Australian Jews had received two major government grants for security improvements.
The first, for $21 million, was awarded in 2023, and another for $120 million was awarded in 2025 over four years.
The royal commission has repeatedly grappled this week with the difficulty of getting accurate figures on hate crimes from the police.
Three Victoria Police witnesses said the LEAP system, which records crimes, did not include hate crimes as a box for the officer preparing the report to tick.
To question these figures, a researcher must take a “deep dive” into the “narrative.” Even so, it may not provide a complete picture because police officers are not required to record such information.
In Western Australia, by contrast, police Assistant Commissioner Jo McCabe told the commission that since last year they have had the ability to catch hate-motivated crimes under a range of categories including race, religion, gender and sexual orientation. An algorithm will then check this, McCabe said.
Bow told the commission that the federal government is also trying to create an accurate national registry of hate crimes.
Bow said the government hopes to record both hate crimes and “incidents” but has not yet defined what will be included.
“It’s much harder to catch incidents because they don’t rise to the level of a crime, so police often don’t get hold of that data,” Bow said.
Meanwhile, Australia’s health practitioner watchdog is facing mounting backlash over its decision. Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.
Last month, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency announced it would adopt the definition, which critics argue conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
On Friday, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners confirmed it had raised concerns directly with AHPRA and sought assurances that the policy would not lead to a rise in frustrating complaints against healthcare workers.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, which represents more than 256,000 workers, shared similar concerns.
The Federation was “particularly concerned” that members could face regulatory sanctions for “valid criticisms of the actions of the state of Israel”.
More than 3,200 healthcare professionals have signed a petition warning that the change to AHPRA “could target practitioners for legal advocacy.”
Healthcare workers will protest the changes in Sydney and Adelaide this weekend.
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Michael Bachelard is The Age’s senior writer and former deputy editor and research editor. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, written two books and won several awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.Connect with: X or email.
