Victoria is reeling from a troubling pattern of hate fueled attacks, with the latest incidents targeting the Shree Swaminarayan Temple I think it is, and two Asian run restaurants in Melbourne’s eastern suburb of Boronia. Now the temple is a cultural hub, central hub for the local Hindu community and was defaced with racist graffiti just days after racially motivated assault on an Indian student in Adelaide. Now these attacks follow the very disturbing rise in anti semitism across not just Victoria but the whole of Australia and the world, including the recent fire bombing of a synagogue and the trashing of that Israeli restaurant in the CBD by pro Palestinian protesters. Now, as these incidents continue to unfold, questions are being asked about how governments and leaders are responding to the rise in hate crimes, and what action is needed to be taken to protect everyone, all Australians, from bigotry and violence and hatred and anti semitism. I can’t believe we’re talking about it in 2025 but we are Shadow Minister for Immigration. Paul Scarr is on the line now. G’day.
Senator Scarr
G’day. Tim, great to be with you and like you, it’s hard to believe that we’re talking about this in 2025.
Tim Webster
It is, isn’t it? How concerned should we be about this apparent rise, well, it’s an obvious rise in hate crimes targeting, well, religious and ethnic communities all over the country.
Senator Scarr
I think we need to be concerned. And I think we all share a vision for Australia, where everyone can live in peace and harmony, and it doesn’t matter what your religion, it doesn’t matter what your ethnicity, it doesn’t matter what your race, we can all live and build lives in peace and harmony in Australia. And that’s to me, that’s a core, foundational principle of what Australia is. So when these sorts of events occur, I think it’s absolutely vital that leaders, both political leaders, community leaders, broadcasters, we speak about these events and say this does not represent the Australia we believe in, and we also provide support to the communities, in many cases, minority communities, who are under attack from these sorts of crimes.
Tim Webster
Yeah. Look the government’s response to this so far, tackling the hatred, and that’s exactly what it is. It stopped short of implementing any change, and the minister, Jason Clare, stalling on implementing recommendations that should be said from the special envoy from Jillian Segal’s plan to address anti semitism. Why? Why are we waiting?
Senator Scarr
Well, it’s a good question, Tim. And just in relation to the report from the special envoy on anti semitism, just to give you an example of some of those recommendations they applied to the university sector, and I actually sat on an inquiry where we received evidence from hundreds and hundreds of members of our Jewish community who spoke about the toll on their children and themselves in relation to the rise in anti semitism. And a lot of that testimony, a lot of those submissions were given anonymously because people are fearful. And coming back to our original point, it’s hard to believe that this is happening in Australia in 2025.
Tim Webster
Yeah. And according to the minister too, He says he’d be looking at recommendations from the envoy on Islamophobia, and wants to investigate racism towards indigenous people too. Given, I mean, racism existed a long time ago, and it’s still there, which deeply troubles me at universities, all in all its ugly form. So I mean this to me, sounds like it’s going to take way too long to crack down on this type of hatred, and now it just seems to be escalating.
Senator Scarr
I agree. I agree, and we need action, not words. And the recommendations were made by the Special Envoy in anti semitism, I don’t see any reasonable basis on which to wait, get on with it. Actually take the action now and start addressing these issues. People in our community are hurting. They’re really hurting and suffering.
Tim Webster
You know, we’re asking government, and I’m talking to you to do something about all of this government at state and federal level, to just to ensure places of worship, for goodness sake and cultural gathering spots are protected from hate fueled attacks, but now we’re seeing them perpetrated against well, all sorts of religions and ethnic groups and anti semitism and Islamophobia can go on and on and on and on. I I just wonder if we can both ask the question, What’s What’s got into Australians, what we never used to be like this and perpetrating these sorts of attacks, physical, violent attacks, fire bombings, just simply because we what we hate somebody because of their religion, because of their ethnic group. I just I’m staggered.
Senator Scarr
Look, I think it’s a good question. Tim, and I, if I can turn it around and say one of the things that’s come out of these attacks particularly in Melbourne, over the last week, and I read very carefully the words from the owner of the Chinese restaurant that was subject to a vile racist graffiti attack. And one point he made was the number of the people in the community who contacted him and actually wrapped their arms around him and said, This is not our Australia. We want to support you. We want to come and eat at your restaurant. We want to do whatever we can to to assist you. So I think we need to see more of that. I think all of us have an obligation, when these sorts of things happen, to wrap our arms around those who are impacted. And that does make a difference. And each and every one of us has an opportunity to lead by example, and just talking about this issue today on your program is a great way to do that, because people need to know this is happening and the people are suffering. The owner of that Chinese restaurant described what it was like to arrive at his restaurant on Monday morning with his six year old son and see that vile graffiti on his restaurant. Now that is unacceptable, and when things like this happen, we need to rally as an Australian community and support the people impacted.
Tim Webster
I just remember the owner of that Israeli restaurant, well, we’re just a restaurant, let’s not even call it Israeli. And he just said, Look, this is a place where we love the fact that people come to eat and enjoy themselves. And, I mean, there’s nothing else. And you know, all of a sudden you’ve got people protesting and turning up tables and throwing stuff around and creating havoc. I mean, it’s, this is very, this is very disturbing to me that we can even have that sort of thing in Australia, and simply because, we’re bringing old enmities and old hatreds across from somewhere else. I mean, it’s, it’s, I shake my head ,Paul, I really do.
Senator Scarr
Conflict overseas should never lead to division at home. Conflict overseas should never lead to division at home. And this week, we had the opening of of our Parliament. Parliament provides the democratic opportunity for all of us to have our say through the election process, through selecting candidates, through running for parliament. I mean, that’s the that’s the Australia that I think we all believe in, almost the vast majority of Australians believe in. We’ve got to protect that fiercely.
Tim Webster
Yeah, we do. We do have to protect that fiercely. And I just hope we can turn it out. So can I ask you this, what reassurance can you give to you know, my listeners, communities who now feel genuinely unsafe simply because of their faith, their skin color, their cultural background, it’s extraordinary.
Senator Scarr
What I’d say is, please, if incidents like this happen, reach out. Reach out to your political representatives, reach out to the police service. Reach out and make sure that we’re aware of it, and people will come to your support. People will come to your support. Australians are great people. Are good people, and we’ve seen that in relation to the incidents in Melbourne. So please reach out for support.
Tim Webster
Now let me ask you too about you’ve got a podcast which is called Canberra Conversations, which is out now, is that all about unpacking the events behind all of this, or just about parliamentary behavior? What’s your podcast about?
Senator Scarr
Well, the first, the first podcast we had, Tim was discussing some of the behind the scenes issues in Canberra. So we spoke about the makeup of Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate after the last election, we spoke about some of the changes which the Prime Minister unfortunately made to staffing arrangements, which really substantially cut down on the number of advisors that the opposition and the crossbench has in this Parliament. And from my perspective, I think that was a terribly negative thing for the Prime Minister to do. And we talk about some of the issues behind the scenes that occur, and I’m looking to continue those podcasts and actually get some interesting people in where we can have those longer conversations, and I think it’s important to have those longer conversations, to bring ideas to light into and to help educate everyone. And I learned many things from the first podcast myself.
Tim Webster
I’m going to do my, you know, my radio voiceover, voice, Canberra Conversations, where all good podcasts have come from. Yes, Paul?
Senator Scarr
I love it. I’ll send you a contract.
Tim Webster
Thanks for the chat. Good to talk to you. That’s Paul Scarr, our Shadow Minister for Immigration on the program, yeah, Canberra Conversations is his podcast.
