The Taskforce, to be led by David Gonski, will bring together representatives from across Australia’s education system to strengthen how schools prevent, address and respond to antisemitism, while reinforcing mutual respect and inclusion.
It is among a host of measures announced by PM Anthony Albanese today, including the significant strengthening of hate speech laws – including the targeting of religious preachers – and the creation of new powers to cancel or reject visas of people who spread “hate and division”.
The measures announced follow days of intensifying pressure for the Federal Government to do more to stamp out anti-Jewish hate following Sunday’s terrorist attack on a Hanukah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi beach.
Fifteen people, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed in the attack and 41 people were taken to hospital.
Seventeen patients continue to receive care across several Sydney hospitals.
“I want to thank David Gonski for agreeing to lead this work,” Education Minister Jason Clare said in a statement.
“He is a towering Australian, a leader in the Jewish community, and has dedicated his life to public service.
Clare said Gonski knows the nation’s education system inside out and knows how powerful a force for good it can be.
“We need to make sure our children are learning about the evils of antisemitism and the horrors of the Holocaust. And we need our universities to do better to stamp out antisemitism,” Clare said.
Education Minister Jason Clare said David Gonski, pictured above, knows the nation’s education system inside out and knows how powerful a force for good it can be. PHOTO: AAP
ISA CEO Graham Catt said Independent schools educate students from a wide range of cultural, faith and linguistic backgrounds.
Seventeen Jewish schools educate around 9000 students nationally and have a strong commitment to ensuring schools are safe and inclusive for every student.
“Independent schools are deeply committed to ensuring every student feels safe, respected and valued,” Catt said.
“Education plays a critical role in confronting hatred early, building understanding, and strengthening social cohesion across our communities.”
Catt said the national response must be thoughtful, evidence-based and focused on student wellbeing; and support practical, school-based approaches that help young Australians learn and thrive together.
“ISA welcomes the establishment of the Taskforce and looks forward to supporting efforts that strengthen inclusion, understanding and respect across Australia’s school communities,” he said.
In a joint press conference with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett, and Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke, Clare said children aren’t born antisemitic.
“Children aren’t born racist. Children aren’t born with hate in their hearts. This is something that’s taught, this is something that’s learned,” he said.
“There’s lots of things that we need to do to tackle and weed out antisemitism, but what we do in education is an important part of that.
“In preventing it, in tackling it, in responding to it. That includes work that we do right across the system, from early education, to our schools, right through to universities.”
The Minister said the work ahead will include teacher training, with support from his department and the states and territories, from the start of next year.
“But in addition to that, extra resources for teachers, more investment in the sort of programs that we know that work in schools, like Together for Humanity – that’s run by Rabbi Zalman Kastel, a dear friend of mine – and also the work we can do on the National Curriculum.
“The Curriculum already has in it Holocaust education, but there is more that we can do here to make sure that we embed in it an understanding the evils of antisemitism, of the horrors of the Holocaust, and the importance of Australian values.”
