Allegra Spender then asks Anthony Albanese:

The last summer was one of the hardest in memory for my Jewish community was terrorised by anti-Semitic attacks including on Lewis’s Continental Kitchen. Today we learned the Iranian government was behind that attack, Adass Israel Synagogue and potentially more.

The security concerns of my community are real and justified, will the government work with the community to keep them safe?

Albanese:

I think all Australians have been concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism and the rise of social division that has occurred and I have visited the synagogue in Bondi Junction there and spoken directly with the community. I have visited the Jewish Museum in the members electorate where we announced additional funding for an expansion and indeed met some wonderful survivors of the Holocaust who went through their personal experiences as well.

The information that ASIO has determined is quite shocking.

This is a perpetrated attack on behalf of a foreign government on Australian soil. The fact that the intelligence agencies as well as the Australian Federal Police have undertaken this work. They worked very closely with the Jewish community and with other communities as well. We informed the Jewish community leaders prior to the one o’clock press conference that was held this afternoon as well. So they could watch what the director-general of ASIO in particular Mr Burgess had to say because that was so important.

The attack on the Lewis continental kitchen of course occurred on October 20. There was another attack that we saw on a restaurant in Melbourne in more recent times as well. People can have different views about the Middle East and it is absolutely legitimate for people to put forward those views.

What is not right is to blame Jewish citizens or to blame Muslim Australians for the actions of Hamas. Or other people. What we need to do is to make sure we advance peace and security for people in Israel and Palestine.

What we certainly can have control over here is making sure that we do not bring conflict here, that we keep social cohesion and I congratulate them member because that is something I know she has been doing, undertaking as the local member for Wentworth.

We have a range of programs including increased security arrangements around schools, around synagogues, the increased support that we have put forward will continue to have dialogue with the community and to work with them in order to ensure that like other Australians, every Australian should feel safe and yesterday, I spoke with the Australian union of Jewish students who are here somewhere here again it, as I have every year for a long period of time.

They tell stories about harassment on campuses just like students in your area have been impacted and there is no identifiable because of their school uniform. It is not the Australian way.

The Australian way is to respect each other, regardless of people’s faith, regardless of their origin and to engage in constructive dialogue about issues not to engage in the sort of activity which we have seen. We have taken strong action against Iran as a result of this by government stands by, I know it received the support of the opposition and I’m sure the member for Wentworth as well and I would hope every member of this Parliament supports a strong action which we have taken which is entirely appropriate given the revelations and findings that the ASIO director-general and the Australian Federal police have found.