The Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of Aus­tralian Jew­ry (ECAJ), the peak rep­re­sen­ta­tive body of the Aus­tralian Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, wel­comes the Fed­er­al Court judg­ment in the case involv­ing five Jew­ish stu­dents against their for­mer school, alleg­ing sys­temic fail­ure to deal with anti­semitism at Brighton Sec­ondary Col­lege.

“With mea­gre resources, they took on the might of the Vic­to­ri­an gov­ern­ment and Edu­ca­tion Depart­ment to stand up for truth and jus­tice, and they were suc­cess­ful. We know the per­son­al price all of them have paid in sweat and nerves, and the enor­mous finan­cial sac­ri­fice they have made,” ECAJ pres­i­dent Jil­lian Segal said.

“This deci­sion will stand as a warn­ing to any stu­dents who engage in anti­se­mit­ic bul­ly­ing, and to par­ents, teach­ers and Edu­ca­tion Depart­ments across Aus­tralia who fail to act respon­si­bly to curb and pre­vent such behav­iour. They will be held to account for their actions,” Ms Segal said.

Ms Segal added: “The time has come for a nation­al anti­semitism edu­ca­tion pro­gram across Aus­tralian schools to pro­vide resources and sup­port to teach­ers and par­ents to under­stand and defeat this form of hatred. Bland, gener­ic state­ments against racism are not enough.

“This case has sent a clear sig­nal that the cost of con­tin­u­ing inac­tion by gov­ern­ments in deal­ing appro­pri­ate­ly with racism will be far high­er than the cost of tak­ing effec­tive action.”