Australian Federal Police have told a meeting of national cabinet they are investigating whether overseas actors have paid local criminals to carry out anti-Semitic attacks, including by radicalising young people online.
Commissioner Reece Kershaw said in a statement police were still “building evidence” about what was behind the spate of anti-Semitic hate crimes in recent months, but pointed to “intelligence” informing investigations, including whether Australians had been paid using cryptocurrencies.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the snap meeting of national cabinet on Tuesday after anti-Semitic graffiti was sprayed and arson attempted at a childcare centre in Maroubra. The meeting saw leaders agree to improve data collection.
A joint statement from the leaders following the virtual meeting said a new national database would track anti-Semitic crimes, incidents and behaviours “to better inform and co-ordinate responses.” The leaders also re-affirmed their intention to co-operate to “stamp out” anti-Semitism in Australia.
Mr Albanese had previously resisted calls from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and federal anti-Semitism envoy Gillian Segal to hold a national meeting, opting instead to meet the premiers of NSW and Victoria where the attacks had been concentrated.
But he changed his position after the childcare centre attack, which he called “reprehensible.”
“The idea of targeting a childcare centre. Childcare centres are places of joy,” he said in a Seven News interview. Our young Australians don’t see race or religion or anything else, they just engage with each other. It is beyond belief that it occurred.”
The federal government pledged to pay childcare subsidies for families whose children could not attend the damaged centre, and the NSW and federal governments will jointly fund its repair.
Mr Albanese said while there were actions political leaders and police agencies could take, “it’s also a matter of the community as well saying enough is enough”.
AFP says 15 investigations underway through anti-Semitism taskforce
The childcare centre attack is one of a series of anti-Semitic hate crimes in recent months, including an arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, declared a terror incident, vandalism at the former home of a Jewish community leader, and several incidents of anti-Jewish graffiti on homes and cars.
Following the Adass Israel attack, the federal government set up a dedicated anti-Semitism taskforce called Operation Avalite, bringing together counter-terrorism investigators from the AFP and ASIO. That had also been urged by Mr Dutton prior to its establishment.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said Operation Avalite was investigating 15 serious allegations and had received 166 reports of crime, although some were duplicates and others did not meet the threshold of a crime.
“Anti-Semitism is a disease in our community, and it needs to be aggressively attacked because history shows what happens when action is not taken against those who fuel fear and terrorise others,” he said.
“I know many people feel they want more action to go with words… We are building evidence, and I want to reiterate, more charges are expected soon by the AFP.”
Mr Kershaw said the taskforce was considering whether overseas actors had funded attacks using cryptocurrency, targeting young people.
“Regardless, it all points to the same motivation: demonising and intimidating the Jewish community.”
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told the ABC’s 7.30 she could not rule out the string of offences being related “copycat type offences.”
“Whatever the motive, they’re all serious matters.”
She said the woman arrested over damage caused in Woollahra in November was also charged with participating in a criminal network.
“We will allege that she’s participating with other people in a common purpose, in a criminal enterprise … People don’t often act alone.”
Loading…
Coalition calls for tougher sentencing
The leaders made no mention of tougher bail and sentencing laws for anti-Semitic offences, something Ms Segal and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry had wanted considered.
The opposition said on Monday it would impose mandatory minimum six-year sentences for all federal terrorism offences and one year for displaying hate symbols.
It also proposed a new offence for urging or threatening violence towards a place of worship, a variation on a hate speech bill the Albanese government already has before the parliament.
On Tuesday, Mr Dutton said the national cabinet meeting was welcome but overdue, saying there needed to be “tangible outcomes”.
“There’s no sense holding a meeting for the sake of ticking a box,” he said at a campaign rally in Sydney.
“If the prime minister thinks that he’s going to get the Australian public off his back and that he’ll have some reprieve from the media by holding this meeting, he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.
“This is a national crisis. We are having rolling terrorist attacks in our community, and the prime minister is being dragged kicking and screaming to hold a meeting of our nation’s leaders.”
Mr Dutton also called the childcare centre attack a terror attack.
Formal terror designations, like the one made after the Adass Israel attack, are a matter for state police forces and unlock greater involvement from federal authorities.
Mr Albanese said he would let NSW police “speak for themselves” on the question of whether it was a terrorist incident, but added the attack was “designed to create that fear and that social division as well, which is why we can’t let it succeed.”
