I commence by acknow­ledging the presence of community leaders: Pamela Huppert, Dr Michael Briner, and David Paratz AM Life Governor, Queens­land Jewish Board of Deputies. I thank Jason for the oppor­tun­ity to come here and spend a few days with you all. I am so grateful for the work that the Queens­land Jewish Board of Deputies does. It is easier in Melbourne and Sydney, where there are larger com­munit­ies, funding, resources and staff. It is so much harder in a smaller community, and I recognise the extraordin­ary work of the Queens­land Jewish Board of Deputies in leading the Queens­land Jewish community.

When com­men­cing the role as national President (in November 2023), I said that the ECAJ has to go to the community and not the other way around. One of my roles has been to visit Jewish com­munit­ies around Australia, to listen and to learn from them. No single person has all the solutions. We can all learn from each other.

It is in that context that I am delighted to celebrate 160 years of Jews con­trib­ut­ing to, and being part of, the State of Queens­land.

Why is that milestone important to celebrate? Why is it not just a date? The answer lies in the way I described it – “con­trib­ut­ing to, and being part of.”

Jason gave me a list of famous Jewish Queenslanders. Perhaps that can be cir­cu­lated later. But I want to give you a personal obser­va­tion. It will be inter­est­ing to hear your thoughts on what I am about to say. It concerns the con­sequence of those very many con­tri­bu­tions and involve­ment.

Last night, I saw something special, something unique to this place. Something I guarantee you will not see in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra or Perth (I still have to visit Hobart and Darwin in this role, but I will).

What I saw was a fun­drais­ing event for the Queens­land Holocaust Museum. Full house. Animated audience. Joyful occasion. This is the dif­fer­ence to your southern col­leagues: about 90% of the attendees – sup­port­ers of the Holocaust Museum – were not Jewish. Leaders in the fields of judiciary, politics and commerce. I spoke to many people in the room. They told me of their love for Israel – not tolerance, not appre­ci­ation, love. They told me of their respect and admir­a­tion for, and friend­ship with, the Jewish community – friend­ship. And they told me that the antisemitism we were exper­i­en­cing in Australia now, par­tic­u­larly in Melbourne and Sydney, was a disgrace.

They were not sorry and quietly sup­port­ive, as we sometimes hear from non-Jews down south. My impres­sion was that they were angry – angry that their country of Australia, was exposing their friends and col­leagues to dis­crim­in­a­tion and hatred simply because of who they are. I probably heard some of the strongest comments against the Federal government’s failure to protect Aus­trali­an Jews, as I have heard anywhere.

As a national President, I want to tell you what I saw. A Jewish community – small, but so integ­rated into its broader community that the General Queenslander community was vocal in its backing. One question came from the floor: “we are all here tonight to support the Museum. But how can we do more more?”. Note the plural: “we”.

I want to hear more from you, from inside the community. But let me tell you, from initial impres­sions, your 160 years has worked a miracle of integ­ra­tion, and a model, that I have not seen elsewhere in Australia.

Be proud of that. Be proud of who you are. Queens­land Jews. 160 years strong.

I toast the Queens­land Jewish community.