ECAJ statement on the report of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs committee looking at options for examining antisemitism at Australian universities.

The Senate Legal and Con­sti­tu­tion­al Affairs committee has now published its report and has rejected the proposed judicial inquiry widely supported by the Jewish community and many others.

The committee has instead recom­men­ded that the Attorney General refer an inquiry to the Par­lia­ment­ary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Like many in the community we are shocked and dismayed by this recom­mend­a­tion, an idea that was never put to the Aus­trali­an people, including the hundreds of people who made written sub­mis­sions to the Senate inquiry, and those who gave oral testimony to it. They had no oppor­tun­ity to express their views about this idea.

The recom­mend­a­tion for yet another par­lia­ment­ary inquiry goes against the over­whelm­ing weight of the written and oral evidence that was presented to the recent inquiry, and is contrary to the findings and con­clu­sions expressed in the report itself.

The gov­ern­ment has not listened to the hundreds of Jewish students, staff and community members who told their stories to the committee and urged it to call for a judicial inquiry, or under­stood the depth of their concern.

An inquiry conducted by a senior judge would take the politics out of the issue, whereas another par­lia­ment­ary inquiry will put the politics back in.

It is in the interests of the whole country, not just the Jewish community, to get to the whole truth about the nature and extent of antisemitism at Aus­trali­an uni­ver­sit­ies.

The Par­lia­ment­ary Joint Committee on Human Rights simply does not have the remit or the com­puls­ive power to deal with the issue more broadly.

The presence of a Greens and former Greens senator will also raise trust issues and may deter Jewish students and staff members from coming forward a second time.

We will continue to press the gov­ern­ment to establish a full judicial inquiry and to advocate for much needed change to address antisemitism at our uni­ver­sit­ies.