The Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (the ECAJ), the peak rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, has wel­comed the Fed­er­al government’s announce­ment of a new $40 mil­lion ‘Secur­ing Faith-Based Places’ Grants Pro­gram to replace the for­mer Safer Com­mu­ni­ties Fund.

“The ECAJ has been mak­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tions to the gov­ern­ment since last year about the community’s need for assis­tance with fund­ing for our ever-grow­ing secu­ri­ty costs”, said ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim.

“Aus­tralia has not been immune from the glob­al surge in anti­se­mit­ic activ­i­ty in recent years, so the announce­ment is time­ly.”

Under the new pro­gram all Jew­ish insti­tu­tions will be eli­gi­ble for fund­ing not only for secu­ri­ty infra­struc­ture but also for the recur­rent costs of secu­ri­ty guards.  “Fund­ing for recur­rent costs was pre­vi­ous­ly only avail­able for Jew­ish schools, but now syn­a­gogues, muse­ums and oth­er Jew­ish com­mu­nal insti­tu­tions will also be able to apply for this when grant appli­ca­tions open in July”, Mr Wertheim said.

“The full details have not yet been finalised and we are hope­ful that the gov­ern­ment will accept the rep­re­sen­ta­tions that we have made, and con­tin­ue to make, about the need for oper­a­tional secu­ri­ty fund­ing to extend to our cen­tralised secu­ri­ty organ­i­sa­tions, the Nation­al Coun­cil for Jew­ish Com­mu­ni­ty Secu­ri­ty and the Com­mu­ni­ty Secu­ri­ty Groups. These organ­i­sa­tions have a “whole of com­mu­ni­ty” man­date to pri­ori­tise and stream­line secu­ri­ty across all com­mu­nal organ­i­sa­tions and facil­i­ties.”

Con­tact:
Peter Wertheim AM | co-Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au