Australia’s foreign minister has delivered a message urging unity “across political difference” from Auschwitz, where a delegation is marking the 80th anniversary of the concentration camp’s liberation.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the site of 1.1 million murders by the Nazis, about 960,000 of them being Jewish. It was liberated by the Soviets on January 27, which has since been commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Senator Wong, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal are in Poland for the anniversary, as the federal government at home contends with a series of antisemitic attacks that occurred over the summer.
“We are here to say, Never again,” Senator Wong said.
“I would say at this time, we have to stand together across beliefs, across political difference, across politics, we have to stand against prejudice and hate and antisemitism in all its forms.
“When we say never again we have to not only mean it, but bring that to what we do as political leaders.”
Mr Dreyfus, whose great-grandmother was among those murdered at Auschwitz, said the delegation was attending to condemn antisemitism in all its forms and to condemn it in Australia.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said it was “grotesque” to attempt to politicise the Holocaust. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Attempts to politicise ‘grotesque’: Dreyfus
The federal government has faced criticism over its response to several antisemitic attacks in recent months, including a terror attack at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, an attack on a synagogue in Sydney, an arson attempt at a childcare centre in Maroubra and several cases of anti-Jewish vandalism of cars and homes.
Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of national cabinet at short notice, several weeks after being called on to do so by Jewish lobby groups, and more than a year after the Coalition had first demanded a meeting of the nation’s governments.
But the Coalition was unsatisfied with that meeting’s outcome, which was an agreement to establish a register to track antisemitic incidents.
On Friday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton added that he did not think Senator Wong should be leading the delegation to Auschwitz because of the federal government’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza.
He suggested Senator Wong was “the most inappropriate” person to represent Australia, saying Australia’s relationship with Israel had been “trashed” and Senator Wong had “real issues in relation to this issue”.
Mr Dutton did not specify which comments by Senator Wong disqualified her, but said Senator Wong had taken positions in conflict with Australia’s ally the United States in relation to Israel’s war.
Asked about Mr Dutton’s criticism, Senator Wong said it was not a day for politics.
However, Mr Dreyfus noted it had been “grotesque to see attempts being made to politicise either commemoration of the Holocaust or combating antisemitism”.
“We need to get politics out of this,” he said.
“It is a joint effort by all of humanity, to remember the Holocaust, to remember the murder of six million Jews, to say … never again.”
The federal government has committed $6.4 million to build a National Holocaust Education Centre in Canberra and to deliver an upgrade to the Holocaust Institute of WA’s Education Centre in Yokine.
