Federal Budget adds $68.7 million in new Jewish community support

In tonight’s federal Budget, the Albanese government announced $68.7 million in new Jewish community-specific funding.

This is made up of an additional $22 million for communal security and $46.7 million for Jewish community support projects. Together with the previously announced $102 million for Jewish community security, the Jewish community-specific funding referenced in the Budget totals $170.7 million.

Together with the previously announced $102 million for Jewish community security, the Jewish community-specific funding referenced in the Budget totals $170.7 million.

The new funding includes $22 million for ECAJ to strengthen Jewish community security and $46.7 million for Jewish community security, infrastructure and priority projects, including support for the new Hakoah, Chabad of Bondi and the National Jewish Memorial Centre.

ECAJ, Australia’s peak national Jewish organisation, welcomed the additional $22 million, saying it would help meet the sharply increased cost of protecting Jewish schools, synagogues, community centres and other institutions.

ECAJ will receive the grant and act as the conduit for allocating funds to Jewish communal organisations, placing it at the centre of the distribution of the new security support.

President of ECAJ, Daniel Aghion said the extra funding would help the community meet the cost of heightened security.

“The extra funds will greatly assist our community in meeting the massively increased security expenditure which Jewish community organisations have been obliged to incur to address unprecedented threat levels,” Aghion said.

“The additional funding will be made available to the ECAJ over the next three years and will be in addition to the three-year $102 million in security funding that was already announced in December.”

Aghion said the Bondi terrorist attack on 14 December 2025 had changed the Jewish community’s security needs.

“The loss of so many lives on December 14 and the trauma inflicted on the community fundamentally altered our security environment,” he said.

“At this stage, the level, duration, and intensity of security services that will be required by the Jewish community over the coming years cannot be quantified with certainty.

“However, a total of $124 million in security funding over three years will undoubtedly go a long way, and we thank the government for acceding to our request and acting on our need.”

Aghion said the community would prefer not to need such funding.

“Of course, we would prefer to live in an Australia where we did not need this sort of assistance,” he said.

“The overwhelming sentiment in the Jewish community is that we would prefer to live without antisemitism and without the security funding it has necessitated.”

He said evidence before the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion showed the problem had to be addressed beyond security grants alone.

“Based on the truly distressing evidence which has emerged from the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, it is clear that antisemitism needs to be attacked on a broad front by both government and major sectors of our society,” Aghion said.

“Only then will it be possible to live in an Australia where there are no targeted communities and security funding programs can be a thing of the past.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government’s decisions carried a clear message.

“All of these decisions send the same message. Antisemitism doesn’t belong here. Jewish Australians do,” Burke said.

The measures form part of the government’s broader $604.2 million Budget response to the antisemitic Bondi terrorist attack. That larger package includes funding for victims, mental health support, law enforcement, online counterterrorism, education programs, social cohesion work, migration law changes and the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

The additional $22 million for the Jewish community will be provided over three years from 2026-27 through the Confiscated Assets Account under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. It is in addition to the $102 million already committed for Jewish community security.

The separate $46.7 million Jewish community support package will be provided over four years from 2026-27. It includes $22 million over two years for security and infrastructure upgrades at the Hakoah Club, $17.2 million over two years for an open competitive grants program for priority Jewish community projects, $4.4 million over two years for priority projects at Chabad of Bondi, and $3.1 million over four years for infrastructure improvements at the National Jewish Memorial Centre.

The Budget papers state that the overall $604.2 million package will be delivered over five years from 2025-26, with $8.1 million a year ongoing, to combat antisemitism, violent extremism and hate in Australian communities.

A total of $218.9 million will be provided over four years from 2025-26 in immediate support for those injured in the Bondi attack, families of victims and the broader community.

That allocation includes the previously announced $102 million for Jewish community security, $68.8 million for Australian Federal Police National Security Investigations teams, and $42.9 million for mental health support for the Jewish community, the wider Bondi community, first responders, children and young people.

Jewish House and JewishCare will receive $4 million in 2025-26 to support victims and their families.

The package also includes $500,000 for enhanced security at Jewish youth camps in Victoria, $500,000 to support the business recovery of Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Bondi, and $200,000 for Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club and North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club to support community and water safety.

A further $207.4 million over five years from 2025-26, with $8.1 million a year ongoing, will be used to combat antisemitism and violent extremism by countering terrorism threats online, preventing youth radicalisation, running public awareness and social cohesion campaigns, and implementing migration law changes.

The migration measures include new visa refusal and cancellation grounds and character test provisions under the Migration Act 1958, following the passage of the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Act 2026.

The Budget also includes $80 million over two years to counter terrorism threats online and prevent violent extremism and youth radicalisation, $32.6 million for public awareness campaigns on national security and social cohesion, and $20 million over four years to expand the Together for Humanity program in schools.

A further $10 million will support education initiatives, including expanding the Special Envoy’s UNESCO teacher training program, continuing the My Mind Check tool for schools, supporting the Monash Initiative for Rapid Research into Antisemitism, and conducting a focused review of the Australian Curriculum and Early Years Learning Framework.

The government will also provide $6 million over four years to establish an online teacher resources hub focused on social cohesion and antisemitism in schools.

The Budget includes $131.1 million over four years from 2025-26 for the Attorney-General’s Department to establish the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Budget Paper No. 1 states that the Royal Commission delivered its interim report to Governor-General Sam Mostyn on 30 April 2026, making 14 recommendations and five confidential recommendations.

The government has accepted all recommendations relevant to the Commonwealth and said it will work with states and territories on a nationally consistent response.

The Budget papers also state the government has moved to strengthen hate crime and gun control laws, establish the National Gun Buyback Scheme, accelerate the National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database, and implement a Prohibited Hate Group Listing Framework.

The Budget also names the Jewish Community Foundation, associated with the Jewish Communal Appeal, and Australian Jewish Funders in a ministerial declaration enabling them to seek deductible gift recipient endorsement as community charities from the Australian Taxation Office. The government said this would allow those organisations to provide direct assistance and ongoing support after the Bondi attack.