When the going gets tough, who you gonna call? Tony Burke, political hitman.
The ALP operative is the pure distillation of politics, with a genius ability to argue that white is black if you look at it a certain way. And there he was yesterday, pressed into service to damp down the controversy surrounding the Albanese government’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, set off by revelations that her husband John Roth was a financial backer of the right-wing division machine called Advance, a political organisation which attacks the likes of, err the ALP and (oh dear) Palestinians. Advance does much more nastiness besides, much of it is anti-immigrant and nearly all of it socially divisive.
Burke is masterful in these situations. Step one is to mercilessly denounce Advance, just in case you thought the government agreed with Advance’s anti-government vitriol. Step two is to argue it’s an act of misogyny to assert that Segal should be punished for her husband’s deeds and views. This is not the 1950s, pronounced a now puffed-up-with-righteousness Burke.
Advance notice
There is nothing like a politician taking the moral high ground when under attack. Burke does it exceptionally well. The only problem is that Albanese’s man dodged the central issue: that his government had failed to do the basic checks on Segal’s links and associations to ensure there would be no nasty surprises. Indeed, Burke had no idea of the donation before reports emerged over the weekend. Or so he told 7.30.
Segal denies she is influenced by her husband’s politics and says she had no involvement in his donations (of which here are many, mainly to the Liberal Party stretching back to the late 1990s). Burke said he believed her. We should all move on.
The likes of Labor luminary Bob Carr aren’t so convinced. For the former NSW premier who has also been a Labor foreign affairs minister, it’s all about transparency rather than straw arguments on misogyny and 1950s values. Yesterday he said the government’s antisemitism pick had a duty to disclose the connection to Advance when she was appointed last year. He argued, too, that the $50,000 donation should have been made public.
Identity politics
The Lebanese Muslim Association and Australia Palestinian Advocacy Network both say Segal should be stood down. The association’s spokesperson told Nine newspapers:
“This isn’t about dictating a spouse’s politics. It’s about credibility, accountability, and public trust.”
Burke has built a career as an effective advocate for causes of all stripes. His political apprenticeship was with former senator Graham Richardson, the original “whatever it takes” practitioner. As a young organiser with the socially conservative Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (the SDA) in the late 1990s, Burke led attempts to halt voluntary ethananasia in the Northern Territory with a successful lobbying campaign aimed at having Labor parliamentarians back Howard government legislation. He has, in short, been nothing but a politician.
Burning questions
As The Politics wrote yesterday, the controversy surrounding Segal is so regrettable because it damages efforts to slay the awful phenomenon of antisemitism. The Albanese government should have ensured there could be no questions surrounding its envoy.
The appointment of Segal might have had bipartisan support and got News Corp off Labor’s back. But it appears there was no due diligence and no transparency. it is an Albanese government screwup and a test of Albanese’s claim to moving on from the politics of the past. The last thing the government should do is give it the Tony Burke treatment.
I agree!
And the comments from Right Wing Nut Jobs is of NO INTEREST to me. Any chance they have to Attack Labor
It seems Albanese is not a good people-picker (Pezullo is still on the government payroll).
Segal and her report must go.
Why wasn’t the Race Discrimination Commissioner allowed to do his job. He had a plan. Why was he excluded and cut out?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-26/race-discrimination-commissioner-releases-plan-to-end-racism/104648822
Segal and Burke using the argument that her husband’s business is his alone, and it’s a long time since women were ruled by an intimate partner’s action – or even misogynistic for others to suggest it. BUT – in this case Segal proposing that there should be controlled from independent thinking and opinion. How disengenuous by Burke and Segal. Pure hypocrisy!
There also is the choice of Commissioner of the NACC.
Totally agree. Another terrible appointment that should be rescinded.
What? Pezzullo was officially sacked on 27 November 2023.
Love you Tony but you’ve picked the wrong horse to back – deal is an apologetic lobbyist for Israel
Albo will once again prove how piss-weak he is by sweeping this under the carpet and insisting we all move on. He should do us all a favour and move to the back bench where he can continue to do bugger all and see out his time before retirement. Let someone who wants to lead be the leader (as long as it’s not that dead-shit Marles)
Wow. Some anti-Albo comment on The Politics. Wonders will never cease.
I would trust Marles as far as the proverbial … there is something significantly slimy there. We can hope his ladder to ‘success’ fails very quickly.
Albanese has Stockholm Syndrome where the LNP is concerned. He makes decisions to appease the unappeasable. And every choice he has made bites him on the bum. Paul Brereton and Jillian Segal the most glaringly obvious of his choices.
If you added “and Murdoch” after “the LNP” I think you would have landed the most precise and accurate possible description of the reliably disappointing Albanese.
I agree with your comments. Paul Brereton is asleep at the wheel. Remember the great National Corruption Commission, what has it achieved, where is the transparency? As for Gillian Segal just change the words of her report from Antisemitism to ante Islam and the powers that be would go crazy.
The old “albo must resign ” shtick rears it’s ugly head again. After winning a momentous victory it just isn’t going to happen. Get over it.
My sentiments entirely. Strange how dodgy people like Pezzullo and Marles prosper. Who says grime doesn’t pay?
I am all for transparency etc. but do we all believe that Segal knew about the donation from a family trust with which she is not involved. She is not a director of the company which is trustee of the trust. Are we just a little too ready to condemn?
if you look at her background and connections she is clearly a wrong choice for a position that should never have been created. The Government needs to recognise it created this problem by backing israel in it’s genocide for far too long due to the small Zionost lobby in Australia
Exactly
I have a bridge to sell…
What is this with Jewish organisations and the racist organisation that is Advance?
It seems David Adler (Australian Jewish Association President) was a foundation member of Advance Australia ( now known as Advance).
If there is a positive marriage relationship then it is inconceivable that this would not be discussed. Does she have no interest in reading the company’s reports even as a leader in finance and as a lawyer. I don’t buy the I didn’t know frame, and the report reads more as a far right political statement belonging to Advance and the IPA
Its called conflict of interest. As an elected local government member not only do I have to disclose my interests but also those of my wife including political donations. She should never have been appointed and more importantly the term Semite refers to common language from the Palestine area, it is not exclusive to Jews.
Lets support freedom of all religion and condemn the Israeli sancioned genocide ongoing in Gaza
Thinking that some sort of forensic proof ( a counter-signed cheque, an email, a recorded conversation)is required to demonstrate a conflict if interest is only an indication of how far standards of probity have declined. I thought we were to avoid the mere appearance of a conflict of interest.
Are you suggesting that they have a family theme song … “We don’t talk any more”?
This whole thing about Segal’s husbands donations is a distraction. It wouldn;t even had come up if the envoy were male and his wife had done something similar. She should have been unsuitable as envoy due to her own position as the past President of the very pro-Israel Executive Council of Australian Jewry. At the very least, there should be far more queries raised (by the media, as well as the government) about who she consulted with and whose views she incorporated into her report – it certainly seems not be be supported by all Jewish organisations.
Everyone forgets about Peacock and his wife’s sheets ad!! A shame that politicians now are not so honourable.
I think Segal must go I don’t accept she didn’t know what donations her husband made. Rubbish! And Burke try as he might he can’t wash over this outrageous report
Not only should Segal go but so should the idiotically conceived position
Segal’s appointment was a political fix which has turned very sour. Was it driven by some of the 50 spin doctors in Albo’s office? The “antiseminism problem should have been handled by the Race Discrimination Commissioner.
Totally agree! Both Burke and Siegel should resign but that assumes both have a semblance of moral integrity.
Huge credit to Anthony Klan for scooping the legacy media and its scores of salaried reporters. How come they never thought to ask the questions that the government’s appointments panel and the polis should have raised? Does anyone apart from Mr Klan use Google, search public documents and persist? Whatever they teach in uni journo courses now, it’s no good.
Notwithstanding the tenacity of Klan, I’m afraid that what remains of the mainstream media is either an aggressive reactionary propagandist (Murdoch & Stoke’s Seven) or a neutered platform for Footy, Gambling and Clickbait (Nine). None would have the gumption or the desire to dig beyond what their paymasters require of them.
Any decent reporting is now outside of the mainstream, apart from the occasional piece that slips through the Pearl-Clutching net at the ABC.
Given that she considers part of her role to police and enforce anti-Semitism in the media, of course she means public owned media, any criticism of her appointment would be judged, by her, to be blatant anti-Semitism.
The central problem is not even the donations to Advance, which are bad enough. If you want to have an inquiry into something you cannot have it looked into by someone who has an unshakeable bias against it. Such a person will never seek to understand why the other side exists.
Exactly. Segal could never be a balanced evaluator on questions of antisemitism.
“Bias against it ( antisemitism “!……..” the other side exists”.
Are you seriously referring to the other side as Antisemite, and being understood! Are you seriously referring to opposition too antisemitism as a “ bias”?
If so, this country is in real trouble.
The problem here is the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, which attempts to preemptively neutralise any examination or criticism of the behaviour of the settlers in the West Bank, supported by the IDF and the police, or the IDF in Gaza.
This is simple humanitarianism, NOT anti-Semitism. The original Zionists who created the state of Israel would be horrified by the corruption of their vision for Israel, and the repurposing of the concepts that underpinned that vision.
No one seems to be aware of (well, they don’t mention it here…) of the Zionism that is fundamentalist Christianity driven and that ‘their Rapture’ requires that Jews be re-united with their Holy Land – Israel – before the second coming and the Rapture can be fulfilled. That pushes much of the current Christian alignment with Jewish Zionism, but for a different reason and a selfish (and deluded!) aim. The truth is that the West cares little about the Jewish people and even less about the Arab people and antisemitism is actually a non-sequitur (as described above) as it reflects ill-feeling toward Semites, which comprises both Jews and Arabs (and both Israelis and Palestinians). If the truth be told Brits especially were brought up to regard both with disdain for generations and this problem won’t be eradicated until we use a humanitarian lens to view the wider picture. For heaven’s sake, we’re all human and should have each other’s backs, not behave like spoiled cruel brats. Our young ones are watching us with incredulity and shame, much as many of us viewed those who allowed the Vietnam slaughters in our name. How about we tell some home truths and insist on an immediate ceasefire and commit to proper aid reaching those suffering in this horrific war? Many Jews are anti-Netanyahu and many worldwide see him for what he is – a crook who’s using this holocaust against Gaza (a similar proportion of lives taken and limbs lost) to maintain his power and to fend-off criminal charges.
The abduction of a Palestinian grandmother the morning that Segal’s findings were announced worries me even more.
The allegation of “bad character” seems more political than substantiated.
Burke was in Melbourne with Segal when it happened.
As a person whose surname goes back to Genesis in the Old Testament, I am sceptical of Israeli Zionists and their broad, self-serving definition of anti-semitism.
Free speech is at risk.
Burke need not pile on.
Like most of the Western political, cultural, academic and business ‘leadership’ Labor is truly awful and contemptible on the issue of the continuing occupation and slaughter. (Yes, so is the Coalition, but it’s Labor that is in charge of this country right now.) And like others, they simply don’t know when to stop and think. It seems there is no depths they wouldn’t sink to in defence of the indefensible.
All those genocide experts, legal experts, humanitarian organisations, Jewish activists, and other people of conscience…
And yet here is Burke backing a woman who’s history of unconditional support for Israel and its anti-Palestinian policies indicates that she likely disagrees with Ehud Olmert who said of the ‘humanitarian city’ Israel proposes to build on the ruins of Rafah in Gaza: “It is a concentration camp. I am sorry.”
And where is our ‘fearless leader’, Anthony Albanese on this?
It never ceases to amaze me how those you don’t expect much from, if anything at all, still manage to disappoint.
Burke and Watt and Marles are not fit for purpose. They have all refined their political skills against the Liberals. The lobbyists are a lot smarter than Ley, Lesser and Hattie and Leibler et al have been ‘running rings’ around both the Government and Opposition from even before the election.
The Jewish lobby and big political donors went over the top in pressuring the ABC to remove Ms Latouf who had two days left on her contract.
Labor has been far too timid in calling the criminal Israeli regime to account. Any other country would have been sanctioned long ago.
Correct weight, here we are again with a political duopoly totally beholden to the lobby industry.It’s particularly galling that Burke and his other Labor mates keep making the same stale moves that belong in a past era.Most of them are the products of a reactionary political bubble that are unable to see beyond the self induced dramas of the day,trembling in the shadow of what the Murdoch trash might throw at them,aided by an unbroken run of shit decisions.
Timid, visionless, and full of shit.All past their use-by date.Little wonder they collaborate to suppress the Independents.
Well said, Harry.
not to mention Segal’s (past?) involvement with the ECAJ lobby – no chance of existing prejudices influencing approaches.
no worries – all above board. lap dogs doing the bidding, paymasters getting what they need.
Anti-Semitism is definitely a vile good thing and I’m definitely against it but what about anti immigrants,,and anti Indigenous people and anti Muslims and anti women and anti those who are for Palestine or for the environment.. and all the other groups that are pilloried and persecuted. Yes, we definitely need more transparency and accountability into selection processes and the way that many harmful and destructive decisions are made and who’s responsible for them. Who is going to make sure all this happens though??
Spot on, Ariel.
Is Burke taking the fall, or being being scapegoated to save Alabaneze’s arse?
I think the greater problem than spousal donation is the report itself and its recommendations. Before I read anything about donations to that diabolical Advance, I was appalled by the vagueness and simple stupidity of what Segal is proposing. It’s typical rightwing nonsense of which the likes of Tony Abbott would be proud – motherhood statements of outrage about things that cannot be directly controlled, managed or punished, except by someone given bureaucratic and unaccountable weaponry in a culture war. That is certainly what Segal wants for herself and she should be immediately dismissed and her worthless report binned. In fact we all know that’s what happens with most government reports anyway so Albanese should just kill it right off the bat.
Couldn’t agree more with your position Craig B. I voted for the Voice, and what I seem to have got was a report recommending a Jewish Voice to Parliament instead.
Absolutely agree with both Craig and Cate – this is the essence of the real problem with Segal and her report.
Is this an Albanese faux pas like the Voice referendum when, in an showy effort to take the high ground and promote a very worthy cause he has all but destroyed it?
Albanese’s Voice faux pas was a process faux pas. He chose a political process instead of a dialogic process. Ireland after centuries of repression from the Catholic Church got through into the constitution two matters of radical sexual change without a drop of blood. Albanese, like a politician, used a political divisive method. Sad choice.
The real political mastery in all this has been to conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism or being against what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza and the West Bank. Any criticism of the psychopath Netanyahu, his criminal administration or the awful genocide being perpetrated by the IDF is labelled antisemitism, which of course is total horse-shit. There are plenty of Jewish people, both in Israel and elsewhere who are appalled by what the Israeli Government is doing. Are they antisemites too? (leaving aside of course that the Palestinians are also semitic people). Our Government has fallen completely into this paradigm, and appointing an envoy with links to a fascist organisation just proves it.
Ditto that analysis, Paul!
Yes, I find it shocking and frankly ironic how the supposed defenders of Jews vilify Jews who oppose Israel’s policies towards Palestinians and just the general aggressive stance towards all neighbours. Germany is an extreme example where it seems the majority of those who are being arrested, lost their jobs, had prizes, commissions and invitations revoked seem to be Jews. But I’d say that even if not one Jew opposed Israel’s actions those actions would still be wrong and criminal and illegal and if you’re a human being with a heart, a conscience and a moral compass you can’t but call them out and demand that your government do so too.
Bang-on, Paul. The mainstream media in this country is supine in the face of the Zionist lobby. The appointment of Segal is equally gutless.
So Jillian Segal was chosen to appease the Opposition and Newscorp? Just like that waste of space, Paul Brereton. Just like Bowen crowing about using Tony Abbott’s climate mechanism. When is this iteration of federal Labor going to stop being smart arses and actually make decisions that do not appease the unappeasable?
Besides that, Jillian Segal is the worst possible choice. Louise Adler runs rings around her, and is no Zionist apologist.
Albanese could mimic ScoMo’s collection of Ministeries by following the appointment of an anti- semitism commissioner with a brace of commissioners to hunt down every other ism. Or, he could pronounce multiculturalism is superseded in Australia by Jewish exceptionalism and that, in turn, accepts the definition of Jewishness embraces Zionism. It’s as though the government wanted to inflame the whole debate by not only appointing an anti- semitism commissioner at all but a person who seems a perfect fit for the Mar a Lago crowd. Then, just as Albanese thinks he’s deflating the anti- semitism issue, an entire generation has its moment of political waking through social media with the Gaza tragedy and the government suddenly looks shifty, heedless and simply uncaring.
Very well put, James A
I subscribed to The Politics because I thought it was going to focus on what is important rather than be yet another carbon copy of the main stream media. I’ sadly disappointed : the issue here is not Albo or Burke or Advance nor the husband nor, even, the envoy herself. It’s the report, stupid, it’s the report ! Go and read the actual report, there’s enough in it to to destroy its credibility itself without the need to go down all these other rabbit warrens, scandalous though they might appear. There have been some very good critical analyses of it, not the least the one by Louise Adler that destroy its value without resort to a mob-like reaction.
It seems that I can’t post links to Adler’s article, so here’s where to find it. Just put https:www. in front of the following in your browser : theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/12/the-special-envoys-plan-is-the-latest-push-to-weaponise-antisemitism-as-a-relentless-campaign-pays-off-ntwnfb
I think it’s both.
Reviewing the report itself is indeed sufficient to utterly discredit it.
But looking at the selection of Segal and her total background, along with the subsequent apologistic rhetoric of the likes of Burke discredits the government.
I think we need to recognise the full scope of this stuff up.
Thank you for the link. An excellent article by Louise Adler in the Guardian. She quite pragmatically hits the nail on the head. People are just sickened by what is happening in Israel and Gaza because it is sickening. And people would feel exactly the same if it was any religion. The fighting just needs to stop. Israel’s relentless revenge has only dug two graves tragically. And it is the innocents on both sides who only pay.
It is a distraction from the main story – the graining anti Semitism in Australia fueled by the War in Gaza but morphing from opposition to the policies of the Netanyahu Government to anti Zionism which is anti Semitism by any reasonable definition – accepting 150 predominantly Christian countries and 50 predominantly Muslim countries but rejecting the 1 country that is predominantly Jewish? That’s anti Semitism. Only be anti the 95% of Jews who are Zionists, that’s anti Semitic. And that includes the anti Zionist Jewish Council of Australia. Yes, Jews can be anti Semitic. Anti Semitism. That’s the main game – the rest is a distraction
Onya Warwick. So much
Setting up an envoy position was always a dumb idea, designed to get the government out of a hole when they were too scared to condemn the state of Israel for its appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
I do think it’s time for Albo to announce his retirement plans so that Chalmers, O’Neil or Clare can take over the reins. And definitely not Marles or Burke.
I stand by what I said yesterday – Segal is hopelessly compromised, and has to go; her “report” isn’t worth the paper it’s written on; and “antisemitism” isn’t confined to criticism of Israel.
And I agree with Judith -Louise Adler would have been a much better appointment to the position, if indeed there was a need for the position at all. At least we would have been given a balanced view …
How rich do you have to be to give away $50,000 without mentioning to your spouse?
Also where is Segal?s hard data?
Anybody who listened to Segal on the 730 Report would immediately assume the report was more than questionable. She couldn’t or wouldn’t answer Sara’s questions. If she had any honour she would resign following her family trust helping fund Advance (and a political party).
Such poor judgement on the part of the Labor government, which is also a worry.
We can but hope the report is buried as soon as possible, or just ignored. Dangerous ideas blaming universities for student protests that question a far right-wing government.
The Australian Israel lobby aren’t hitting home runs right now. They wanted Antoinette Latouff gone, and she’s back in the limelight, and more. They wanted Khalil Sabiabi gone and now he will be … in Venice. They championed the deeply right wing Segal and that will blow top like the last two.
Seems the Australian Israel lobby are about as good at picking targets as the Israeli Defence Force IDF. But less murderous.
The whole idea of singling out one ethnic group when there are so many minority groups in our society suffering from hate
( trans people particularly are at risk and blatantly so by politicians as well as institutions and the general community)
We have an anti Discrimination Commissioner who should be enabled to follow up on expressed hate. Women experience it daily in workplaces and classrooms ( refer Sundays Compass 13 July).
This idea of an anti semitic envoy is like a thought bubble out of panic because of the pro Israel lobby group similar to the panic from the ABC with the Lattouf issue and the Ken Williams saga with the Jewish entertainer. Hate, wherever manifested, whether against Aboriginals, Jewish people, gay, trans, Muslim, females, etc etc must never be condoned, and those political forces such as powerful lobby groups like Advance that promote hate and division must be exposed and attended to under the Anti Discrimination Act via the Commissioner
I wonder if the realisation is hitting Albanese, Burke and the entire Labor government, including its Jewish members, that they have completely misread the electorate’s views on the whole matter of anti-Semitism. No thinking person can like anti-semitism as it is generally accepted: a hatred of Jews. But the stridency of the Zionist lobby, its completely over-the-top demands for punishment of perpetrators or responses like Segal’s do not help the cause of anti-semitism. Rather they play into the hands of anti-semites, stoking both words and actions. Like some other commentators I think the donation to advance is something of a red herring, Segal’s report is the thing to concentrate on, the blatant over-reach, the clear evidence of bias and the fact she did not consult any of the Jewish groups opposing the Zionist lobby. Understandable from her point of view but a damning deliberate de-platforming of a large alternative voice. As I have said elsewhere and others advocate, this report should be quietly, or perhaps not quietly, shelved and Segal’s appointment terminated.. for those suggesting Louise Adler, can you imagine the howling, shrieking campaign of opposition that would have raised? Too late now but if there had to be an inquiry Into anti-semitism (something I believe is considerably over-exaggerated) it should have Ben done by someone authoritative but independent.
our prime minister should retire soon rather then later I hate cowards and people who grovel before others
Hey hey, ho ho, Jillian Segal’s got to go.
Definitely not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Flowing from this, it now seems that Israel and the Israel lobby (or should it be more correctly labelled the Israel puppet support industry, which is a new form of McCarthyism?), not content with having almost total control over American and puppet regime politicians, including Australian, British, Canadian, French and German, etc., politicians, educational institutions, and media outlets, but even now to our cultural institutions, and welfare and charity organisations, such as the cinema, MSO, the Sacred Heart Mission and many others, so that people who dare to even whisper even the slightest criticism of Israel have Israel and its supporters, stooges, and apologists screaming ‘ANTISEMITISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’, completely ignoring those courageous progressive, tolerant Jewish people such as The Jewish Council of Australia, Anthony Lowenstein, Daniel Barenboim (himself an Argentinian born joint Israeli/ Palestinian citizen, out of sympathy for the Palestinians), Noam Chomsky, Miriam Margolyes, Naomi Klein, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, and countless other humane, tolerant and progressive Jewish people, etc., who also criticise, rather passionately, the repressive. War crimes and genocidal ethnic cleansing are being committed by the apartheid regime that is Israel today.
Interestingly, those hypocritical idiots, SUCH AS SIMPLE SUPERSTITIOUS SUS(S)AN AND HER CHEER SQUAD, AND OF COURSE, INCLUDING MOST OF THE RANKS OF THE LITTLE GREY DORMOUSE CANARY COLOURED LABOUR JELLYFISH. WE ALL KNOW WHO THEY ARE WHEN THEY REVEAL THEMSELVES, and the rest of her toxic totalitarian LNP Mobsters, who bleat about Anti-Semitism being out of control and on the rise, have nothing to say about the underreported but increasing incidents of Islamophobia and racist attacks on ethnic minorities, including Indigenous Australians. Anti-Semitism is just as revolting and despicable as Islamophobia, Homophobia, Racism, and all other forms of hateful thoughts, bigotries, and hate crimes, and are equally unwelcome and have no place anywhere in the world, let alone Australia. Yet to accuse those of us, who have genuine concerns regarding the shockingly genocidal Israeli abuse of the Palestinians’ human rights, which more and more Jewish people, including Israelis, are speaking out and demonstrating against (as we have concerns regarding human rights breaches of the Rohingyas, Uighurs, Jewish minorities in Egypt and Iran and other persecuted nations and peoples too) as being anti-Semitic, is revolting, despicable and an insult to the nearly 6 million Jewish people, along with the 2.5 million Romany and 10s of millions of others, who were slaughtered at the hands of the Nazis.
1. Making COI declarations is standard and expected in most industries and sectors (e.g. R&D, Pharma, Finance, Academia). It is inconceivable that an applicant or appointee to a “Special Envoy” role with the government was not asked, or not expected, to make a comprehensive COI declaration that extended to partners and family members. We must declare all COI’s – actual and potential.
2. Our government has been very timid about criticising the implementation of a program of ethnic cleansing, if not actual genocide, in Gaza by the Netanyahu government. God knows why. Don’t we still have bi-partisan support for a two-state solution? Didn’t many of our great and great-great uncles die in Palestine in World War I (have a look at your local war memorial).
3. The media and some politicians seem to be unable to distinguish between anti-semiticism (a form of racism) and anti-Zionism (criticism of a political movement that embraced ideas of a Master Race or Chosen People in the 1930’s). Some lobby groups and media moguls with apparent Zionist leanings exploit this confusion or conflation. A notable and welcome exception is the Jewish Council of Australia.
4. Judaism is OK. Zionism is not OK. Ethnic cleansing and Genocide are never OK. “Never Again”.
Old hand Bourke may be, however that’s his and Albanese’s downfall.
Labor are a real disappointment. Can’t stand their weak self-serving capitulation to the aggression of LNP/News. Albanese & Burke often lack good judgement in serious matters. I’ve stopped listening to a thing they say about Segal or antisemitism.
I wish some correspondents, who are quick to attack, would learn how to spell. Albaneze? Lesser? Please get a grip.
Tony Burke’s defence of Jillian Segal—that it would be misogynistic to question her over her husband’s donation to Advance Australia—is not just illogical, it’s insulting.
In a misogynistic household, the husband doesn’t consult his wife about how the family’s money is spent. He acts alone. He controls. But if the Segal–Roth household is one of mutual respect—as we should assume—then surely such a major donation would be discussed. Especially one going to a group as politically aggressive as Advance.
Advance is not a harmless charity. It is a culture war machine. It spreads racial panic, vilifies trans people, undermines Indigenous recognition, and fuels fear about immigrants.
A $50,000 donation to such an outfit isn’t loose change. It’s a political act.
Segal may not have signed the cheque, but to suggest she bears no moral or intellectual proximity to that decision, in a marriage of equals, stretches credibility past breaking point.
This isn’t about policing women. If anything, using feminism to shield Segal from scrutiny is the real insult.