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Comment by the Hon Bob Katter MP on Q&A program

Anton Block, ECAJ President

28 August 2018

On the Q & A program on ABC TV on 27 August 2018, one of the panelists, the Hon Bob Katter MP, was asked a question about the reason for his support for the call by Senator Fraser Anning for “a final solution to the immig­ra­tion problem” in his maiden speech. Senator Anning was calling for a popular vote on the issue, but his use of the words “final solution” in that context was widely condemned, including by our organ­isa­tion, which described it as “a chilling reminder of how the process of dehu­man­isa­tion begins”.
In seeking to justify his defence of Senator Anning’s speech, Mr Katter read out a sup­port­ing statement by a lone member of the Jewish community, a Mr Avi Yemini of Melbourne, who regularly publishes radical right-wing views on his social media page. Mr Katter then concluded: “That reflects the Jewish position in this country”.
The opinions of Mr Yemini which were read out by Mr Katter most certainly do not reflect “the Jewish position in this country”.
Mr Yemini is in no way asso­ci­ated with the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry, which is the elected national rep­res­ent­at­ive body of the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, or with the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, which is the roof body rep­res­ent­ing the Jewish community in Victoria, or with any other elected Jewish communal roof body or rep­res­ent­at­ive organ­isa­tion, and he does not in any way represent the Aus­trali­an Jewish community, or any State Jewish community or main­stream Jewish thought.
Contrary to the asser­tions of Mr Yemini, the use of the expres­sion “final solution” by Senator Anning, and his positive ref­er­ences to Aus­trali­a’s former White Australia policy, were as repugnant to the vast majority of Jews in Australia, espe­cially to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their des­cend­ants, as they were to the vast majority of
Aus­trali­ans generally. It was heart­en­ing to see the rare cross-partisan consensus in con­demning those aspects of Senator Anning’s speech.
We deeply regret that Mr Katter, who is well disposed towards the Jewish community, chose to highlight Mr Yemini’s views and to attribute them to the Jewish community.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au