Migration rules to be tightened after Bondi massacre
Labor will review migration laws as it comes under fire from coalition and Israeli politicians over claims the government failed to take enough action on antisemitism before the Bondi attack.
The government will look to strengthen migration laws to ensure people with anti-Semitic views cannot visit or emigrate to Australia after the Bondi massacre.
Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said the response to Sunday’s attack would be released in the coming days and weeks, including a review of migration policies.
“(We’ll) make sure that they’re appropriate and that they can weed out and stop people who have anti-Semitic or racist views, that may incite violence into Australia and ensure that people like that can’t migrate to our country,” he told ABC TV on Thursday.
Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli earlier said slogans shouted in a massive pro-Palestinian march on Sydney Harbour Bridge in August fomented a climate that led to the Bondi Beach attack, which targeted Jewish Hanukkah celebrations.
At a memorial dedicated to the victims of the attack, during which 15 people were killed, Chikli said the massacre was not a surprising turn of events.
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“The writing was on the wall in big letters, the warning signs had been flashing for the past two years,” he told a congregation of Jewish-Australians at Chabad Bondi late on Wednesday.
He particularly took aim at phrases such as “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to sea” from pro-Palestinian activists.
Former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has called for a royal commission into anti-Semitism, adding he wanted “accountability and action” from the government.
“We have a right to live in this country free, free of that intimidation and hate and harassment … and if the prime minister is not going to take actions to rectify the situation, who will, who can?” he told Sky News.
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Senior Labor figures have said the priority is investigating the attack and ensuring it did not happen again.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the last thing the nation needed was the delays associated with royal commissions.
Jewish Labor MP and former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus echoed the sentiment, saying accelerating the implementation of anti-Semitism envoy Jilian Segal’s recommendations were a higher priority.
Burke said the government has continued to “act and act and act” on combating rising anti-Semitism, including outlawing hate speech and symbols.
“It matters that I’ve been cancelling visas in ways that previous ministers had not because I’ve just not been particularly fussed about the freedom of speech argument,” he said.
“When someone is vilifying a section of the Australian community, those things matter.”
Police said they found two home-made Islamic State flags in a car registered to one of the shooters, 24-year-old Naveed Akram, who was born in Australia.
The other shooter, his 50-year-old father Sajid Akram, arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa before transferring to a partner visa in 2001.
-with AAP
