Opinion
7 October 2026
I can still picture the homes at Kfar Aza.
The gunfire that scarred their walls. The buildings destroyed by fire. The devastation left behind where families had lived.
I visited Israel with parliamentary colleagues two months after Hamas carried out its October 7 massacre. Three years on from that attack, those memories remain with me.
For the families who lost loved ones, the survivors and those who endured captivity, the consequences are far more profound. An anniversary cannot put their lives back together.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas terrorists murdered approximately 1,200 people and abducted more than 250. It was the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Families were attacked in their homes. Young people were hunted at a music festival. Hostages were dragged into Gaza.
We must remember those victims as people, with names, families and futures. We must also resist every attempt to excuse the deliberate slaughter of civilians.
There can be no qualification in our condemnation of October 7.
Yet the past three years have exposed a disturbing failure to confront the antisemitism that surged in its aftermath, including here in Australia.
Jewish Australians have faced abuse, intimidation and attacks on their places of worship. Students have faced hostility on university campuses. Families have questioned whether they can live openly and safely in the country they call home. Antisemitism has risen to extraordinarily alarming rates in Australia over the past three years.
In Parliament, I have spoken about Jewish Australians who told me they were considering leaving Australia because they feared for their families. Some believed they would be safer in Israel.
Think about what that says about us as a nation.
Australia should be a country where a Jewish child can attend school without fear, where a family can worship in peace and where nobody feels compelled to conceal their identity.
The Bondi Beach terrorist attack brought terrible grief to our country and to a community already living with fear. It strengthened the obligation on every Australian institution to take antisemitism seriously.
For too long, the Albanese Government’s response was marked by delay and denial. Jewish community leaders raised the alarm. The Coalition pressed for action. Recommendations were available, but urgency was missing.
Dragged kicking and screaming, the Government eventually established a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. That scrutiny matters. So does the work of the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism.
But governments cannot treat the production of a report as the completion of their duty. They must deliver the changes needed to protect people.
That means practical security support for Jewish institutions. It means universities taking responsibility for messaging and the safety of Jewish students and staff. It means police and prosecutors responding firmly to threats, intimidation and violence.
It also means teaching young Australians about the Holocaust, antisemitism and the consequences of allowing hatred to become normal.
Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies must have the powers and resources they need to prevent attacks. Parliament must scrutinise those powers carefully and ensure they serve their purpose.
Political leaders have a responsibility too. We must confront antisemitism wherever it appears, including among our own supporters. The test of leadership is whether we act when doing so is uncomfortable.
I am not Jewish. My responsibility to stand beside Jewish Australians does not depend on sharing their faith.
As Chair of the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus, I will continue bringing parliamentary colleagues and faith leaders together to confront hatred, strengthen understanding and rebuild the friendship between Australia and Israel.
I support Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and to defend its people against terrorism. I want innocent Israelis and Palestinians to have a future in which their children can grow up safely. Terrorism cannot be permitted to dictate that future.
Today, we honour the victims of the October 7 attacks and we stand beside those still carrying its pain.
Tomorrow, and every day after, we must demonstrate that solidarity through our actions.
Jewish Australians should be able to count on their country. We must give them reason to do so.
Andrew Wallace MP is the Federal Member for Fisher and Chair of the Australia-Israel Allies Caucus.
[ENDS]
Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
