OPINION – Courier Mail – 1 January 2026
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.” Martin Niemöller.
As Australia confronts the alarming scourge of antisemitism, most tragically culminating in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, this famous passage attributed to Martin Niemöller is painfully relevant. Often recited as a familiar slogan, it was in fact a confession and, more importantly, a warning about the cost of silence and inaction in the face of antisemitism, one that now confronts us with renewed urgency.
Niemöller spoke from painful experience and a place of deep repentance. A conservative German pastor during the Nazi era, he initially welcomed Hitler’s rise, believing the regime would restore order and national pride after the instability that followed the First World War. Like many institutional leaders and ordinary Germans, he remained largely indifferent as early warning signs mounted and Jews were discriminated against and violently targeted, a trajectory that culminated in the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust.
Antisemitism had become normalised and tolerated over many years, including within the Church itself. That normalisation of bigotry, and the apathy that accompanied it, had catastrophic consequences. History shows what happens when antisemitism on the streets, in public discourse and within institutions is allowed to fester unchecked, as it has today in Australia.
It was only when the Nazis began interfering directly in Church affairs that Niemöller and others, eventually forming the Confessing Church movement, became outspoken critics and resistors. The Nazis had even promoted efforts to subordinate Christianity to Nazi ideology, including attempts to “de-Judaise” the Bible and present an Aryanised image of Jesus. These perverse efforts, and the broader interference in Church life, were a line too far for Niemöller and the Confessing Church. The Nazis had already come for the Jews. Now, they were coming for the Church.
For his resistance, Niemöller was arrested in 1937 and spent the final years of the Nazi regime in prisons and concentration camps. After the war, he did not present himself as a hero. Instead, he lamented his failure to act when Jews were targeted. The warning signs and alarm bells had been there. Niemöller’s words acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: silence is not neutral; it enables evil and ultimately consumes those who choose their own comfort over courage.
Niemöller’s warning reflects a deeper historical pattern. Antisemitism never ends with Jews alone. Jewish people are the canary in the coal mine – often the first target, but never the last. How a society treats its Jewish population is a measure of its moral health. Those who remain apathetic may believe they are insulated, but history demonstrates otherwise.
That lesson matters now. In the face of rising antisemitism in Australia, too many voices, including within government and public institutions, have remained indifferent or equivocal. More troubling still is that repeated warnings were raised for over two years before the Bondi tragedy, yet decisive action was not taken, and resistance to meaningful accountability continues.
This is a grave mistake. History shows that those who choose indifference will be judged harshly for it.
But history also shows that silence is not inevitable. Non-Jewish figures such as Oscar Schindler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Corrie ten Boom and even Australia’s own William Cooper, an Indigenous leader who led a protest in Melbourne after Kristallnacht, chose courage during the Holocaust, acting to defend Jews when it was costly and dangerous to do so. They were not the majority, but they should have been. Now, courage like theirs must become both the example and the majority.
We cannot simply carry on as normal while Jewish Australians mourn and live in fear. What harms Jewish communities ultimately harms us all. Non-Jewish Australians, particularly institutional, political, multicultural and faith leaders must learn from history, speak up and act rather than retreat into comfort or political calculation.
Governments are not exempt from this responsibility. Political expediency is no excuse for failing to do the right thing. At a minimum, the Albanese Government must act now, immediately establish a Commonwealth Royal Commission and recall Parliament as a matter of urgency to take the legislative action required to confront antisemitism with the seriousness it demands.
I also call on community, institutional and political leaders across Australia to join these calls and to stand openly and unequivocally with Jewish Australians.
The lesson of Niemöller’s confession is clear: there is a cost for apathy and failure of moral leadership. We study the Holocaust and ask how so many people could remain silent, and we swear we would never repeat that mistake.
That question is no longer abstract. Antisemitism never ends with Jews alone. When it is tolerated, it spreads outward, corroding the moral fabric of society and endangering those who believed they would remain untouched. History will judge not only the hatred itself, but the inaction that allowed it to take root.
Andrew Wallace MP is the Shadow Attorney-General and Federal Member for Fisher.
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Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
