Let’s get two things clear right from the start.

Firstly, antisemitism is a real and significant issue, and there has been an increase in incidents of it in Australia in recent times.

Secondly, the coverage by our public broadcasters of events in the Middle East and the impact of those events in Australia has not been perfect. Many complaints have been made and, while most have been investigated and dismissed, some at the ABC in particular have been rightly upheld.

I accept both of those things without reservation.

Despite that, I believe the solutions proposed by Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, to these problems are ill-conceived. Worse than that, they are dangerous to the future of the kind of free, independent and rigorous news media that Australia needs more than ever right now.

The first proposal is that the public broadcasters should accept a specific definition of antisemitism developed by an international body and incorporate it into their own editorial standards. One of the key reasons proposed for doing this is that the Australian government has adopted it.

I don’t even want to get into the controversy around this definition, and why many groups question........

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