Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell has met members of Queensland’s Jewish community in Brisbane to hear first-hand accounts of antisemitism in schools, universities, workplaces and public life.
The visit to Brisbane on July 26 followed an invitation from Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg, who urged the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion to give proper weight to the experiences of Jewish Queenslanders.
Steinberg said antisemitism in Queensland had affected people across many areas of daily life and should not be treated as secondary to incidents in other states.
He also raised concerns about community security, including an incident in February in which a vehicle allegedly attempted to drive through the gates of the Brisbane Synagogue.
Among those who met Bell was Queensland father Michael Klug, who said his daughter had been bullied at a state school because she was Jewish.
Klug said the school initially separated his daughter from other students rather than dealing adequately with the behaviour. After she was later followed by other children, the family decided to move her to another school.
Bell also heard from Michaela, a 19-year-old member of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, who described fear and exclusion among Jewish students on university campuses.
She said some students avoided wearing Stars of David or other Jewish symbols and felt unable to speak openly about their identity. Others had become reluctant to attend campus or had been excluded from social groups.
Brisbane resident Elinor Gofer, who moved to Australia from Israel four years ago, told Bell she had faced hostility because of her nationality after the October 7 attacks.
Gofer said she had been called a white supremacist and coloniser and had become afraid to tell people she was Israeli. She also said she lost her job because of where she was from.
As part of the visit, representatives from NCJWA Queensland met Bell and members of her all-women team for a detailed two-hour discussion.
They raised issues affecting Jewish women in Queensland and shared first-hand accounts of antisemitism and its impact on individuals, families and the wider community.
The NCJWA representatives shared the issues having the greatest impact on Jewish women in Queensland, along with firsthand accounts of the lived experience of antisemitism and its profound consequences.
Justice Bell asked thoughtful and insightful questions throughout, leaving with a deeper understanding of the realities facing Jewish women in our community.
The Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies has also made a submission to the Royal Commission calling for antisemitism to be treated as a distinct form of hatred rather than only through general anti-racism policies.
Its recommendations include stronger enforcement of codes of conduct in educational institutions, adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and greater accountability for social media platforms that allow hateful material to spread.
Bell’s Brisbane meetings formed part of the commission’s work examining the nature, extent and consequences of antisemitism across Australia.