There must be an accounting when the music stops |
After Bondi, public anxiety, political pressure and rising criticism of Israel have collided. As definitions of antisemitism are contested, government judgement, media influence and social cohesion are under strain.
Anthony Albanese is an old-style politician who nurtures his grudges with more attention than he gives to his constituencies. It takes him a long time to forget grievances and political drubbings, and he is rarely one to dispense favours by accident. Especially when he has a record majority, and an opposition still in such complete disarray that he can ignore Labor principles about who its friends are, public principles about sound and accountable government, and as can be witnessed from recent expenses issued, even the good old pub test.
The clash after the massacre became very personal, and words that were said will be remembered by players, particularly active politicians, long after the temperature has fallen. The general population, as much as its Jewish and Muslim Australian components, is very interested in what occurred at Bondi in December and how it came about, and what we must do to avoid recurrences. For some, of course, arguments about antisemitism or Islamophobia are fundamental and never to be forgotten. But it will probably not be causing many Australian votes to switch between the major parties at the May 2027 elections.
I am not suggesting that Albanese would be (argh) antisemitic in his doling out of public money. But he probably figures, correctly, that he owes no one in the Jewish lobbies anything, and that he will get better political value for his dollar by dispensing it elsewhere. In the terms that would be used by a Graham Richardson it would not be so much as what have you done for us ever, but what have you done for us, lately? (I would never, of course, hold up Richo to Albo as any sort of honest broker were it not for the sickening Albanese eulogy for the old crook at his funeral.)
But Albanese will not forget. He may have been bested by those lobbying for a commission. But it did not put him in their pocket. He, and Labor, had invested a lot of money and energy in having manageable amity between ethnic groups. In recent times, things may never have been as matey as they were when Bob Hawke and Julia Gillard were prime ministers, but a good deal of an amicable – if still somewhat at arm’s length – relationship with Jewish Australian and Muslim Australian community groups – had stemmed from events in the Middle East rather than any domestic problems, including terrorism. That was at least until the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s response with war upon Gaza.
The big increase in the noise came from rising criticism of Israel, not antisemitism.
This immediately led to an increase in the amount of commentary, its importance on the political agenda, the strength and volume of criticism of Israelis and Palestinians by Australian supporters, and the willingness of ethnically uninvolved Australians to have strong views too. The sheer increase in discussion of events must be distinguished from the extent to which comments were antisemitic. This is something we can expect the royal commissioner, Virginia Bell, to focus on. She will take some convincing that an increase in the noise meant a sudden increase in anti-Jewish feeling that can be characterised as antisemitic. Though Bell is not in the least antisemitic, the fact that she has had to judge balances between freedom of speech and necessary restrictions upon it has inspired some of the criticism of her appointment.
But however Albanese spins it in arrears, public confidence in his judgment and his governance has taken a major hit over the past month, particularly among his colleagues, who have hitherto given him considerable........