SA premier ‘fundamentally opposed’ Randa Abdel-Fattah appearing at Adelaide writers’ week, letter to board shows | Peter Malinauskas
A letter sent by the South Australian premier to the Adelaide writers’ week board criticizing the inclusion of Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 program has been made public.
The three-page letter, first published in full by Adelaide’s Sunday Mail newspaper, was signed by Peter Malinauskas and dated January 2.
The Prime Minister states that he does not believe it is “in the public interest” to include Abdel Fattah in the 2026 program “in light of the Bondi terrorist attack”, citing comments attributed to the author in the news media.
“His appearance is contrary to society’s current expectations of unity, healing and inclusion,” Malinauskas said in his letter.
The Prime Minister said his involvement would “likely incite division”, citing “various public statements and actions that have been widely interpreted as antisemitic” to support his view.
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“I am of the view that the statements and actions attributed to Dr Abdel-Fattah go beyond reasonable public debate and are, at worst, anti-Semitic and hateful, and at best, extremely offensive and insulting,” he said.
The statement said that “behavior and speech that encourages derogatory, racist, religious discrimination or hate speech in any way is never acceptable” and continued: “My government condemns and rejects all racist or anti-Semitic behavior, statements or sentiments, including the above words and actions attributed to Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah.”
Abdel-Fattah was invited by the festival’s artistic director, Louise Adler, to take part in the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week before the Adelaide festival board intervened and overturned the decision. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Adler is a respected figure in Australian broadcasting and a leading progressive Jewish voice. He publicly resigned over the interference after writing an opinion piece published by the Guardian.
The new Adelaide festival board has since issued an “unreserved” public apology from Abdel Fattah – which he accepted – and promised to be invited to Adelaide writers’ week in 2027.
Prime Minister was ‘surprised’ by the invitation
The release of the prime minister’s letter came after Abdel Fattah threatened to sue him for defamation over public comments he made about Malinauskas.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Abdel Fattah accused the prime minister of making damaging public statements about him and said he refused to be a political punching bag.
“We have never met and he has never attempted to contact me,” she wrote.
On Tuesday he accused Malinauskas of “going further” than his previous statements supporting his exclusion from the festival by linking him to the Bondi atrocity, and allegedly suggesting by analogy that he was an “extreme terrorist sympathiser”.
In his letter, Malinauskas claimed the board had concerns about Abdel-Fattah’s involvement ahead of the Bondi attacks, and pointed to the resignation of Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce governor and businessman Tony Berg in October over concerns about the programme.
Typically, boards do not interfere with arts organizations’ editorial or production decisions, which are considered operational matters.
Although the letter acknowledged that “the Adelaide Festival is independent of the government” and that the prime minister is legally prevented from giving ministerial instructions regarding the programme, Malinauskas emphasized that the government “fundamentally opposes the inclusion” of the author in the 2026 program and “reserves the right to make a public statement to this effect”.
“I am surprised by Adelaide Writers’ Week’s decision to give this writer a platform and I am deeply concerned that the Board is not prepared to remove him from the programme, particularly given the current circumstances, the national mood and the need for social cohesion in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack,” he said.
