1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,360 Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. 2 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: It's Friday, November twenty two. Australia has no capacity to 3 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: make wind turbines on shore thanks to cheap Chinese imports 4 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: which have destroyed the local industry. That's the claim from 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: Manufacture at Kepel Prince, which is mothballing its plant because 6 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: it says it can't compete with heavily subsidized foreign steel imports. 7 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: That exclusive is live now at the Australian dot com 8 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: dou A heartfelt plea to tackle anti Semitism from the 9 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: nation's most prominent judge, Michael Lee of the Federal Court 10 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: has shared his family's deeply personal story in a powerful 11 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: call to action delivered on Thursday night. That's today's story. 12 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 1: Justice Michael Lee is a titan of Australian law. He's 13 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: the erudite, funny, razor sharp judge who presides over the 14 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: biggest Federal Court defamation trials. Today, we're bringing you something 15 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: a little different from the judge a thoughtful, deeply personal 16 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: speech he made on Thursday night to a dinner hosted 17 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: by the charity Jewish House. Jewish House in Sydney's BONDI 18 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: started as a drug and alcohol crisis service, and now 19 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: it serves the whole community, not just people of the 20 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: Jewish faith, with crisis accommodation and support for people experiencing homelessness, 21 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: domestic violence and mental illness. The judge started by HARKing 22 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: back to a speech he gave twelve years ago at 23 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: one of Sydney's synagogue'es, we've used a voice actor to 24 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: bring you his words. 25 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 2: I remarked that when I was a boy learning public 26 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 2: speaking at a Marris Brother's school, I was confident that 27 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 2: there were a number of opening words of a speech 28 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 2: that I would never utter. One form of opening words 29 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 2: was I proudly accept your nomination for President of the 30 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 2: United States. Another equally unlikely were the words I opened 31 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 2: with on that occasion, being welcome to my son's bar 32 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 2: Mitzvah for justice. 33 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: Lee raised a Catholic in the western suburbs of Sydney. 34 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: The story of Jewish experience is now deeply personal. 35 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 2: I was introduced to the richness of the Jewish lived 36 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 2: experience through my wife's family. When I came into Penny's family, 37 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 2: I was accepted immediately and was welcomed into the light 38 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 2: and richness of a cultural and spiritual heritage I have 39 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 2: grown to love. Incidentally, Penny was also welcomed with open 40 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 2: arms and love. And when I told my father I 41 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,239 Speaker 2: had fallen in love with a girl who was Jewish, 42 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 2: his response was to say, well, thank goodness, she is 43 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 2: not a Methodist. 44 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: Penny's family were the Landers, a Sydney Jewish family of 45 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: long standing. Her grandfather, Abraham Lander, was born in Belfast 46 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh two to a family of Russian Jews 47 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: who'd fled the Pograms that is a wave of terrifying 48 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: persecution that swept Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century. 49 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: After coming to Sydney with his widowed mom, Abe Lander 50 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: won a scholarship to study law at Sydney University, and 51 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: he became the state MP for the seat of Bondai, 52 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: representing labor. He was a prominent voice in support of 53 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: one of the Jewish community's great causes in the post 54 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: Second World War era, the creation of Israel. Through the 55 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: United Nations General Assembly. Abe Lander rose to be a 56 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: new South Wales Cabinet minister, with portfolios including Labor and housing. 57 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: Abe's son, David Penny's father was also a lawyer and 58 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: rose to be New South Wales as ombardsman and Chief Magistrate. 59 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: Lee said his beloved father in. 60 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 2: Law suffered the sort of establishment anti Semitism so common 61 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 2: in those days, particularly as the son of a prominent 62 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 2: Jewish minister living in the eastern suburbs. In his autobiography, 63 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 2: he tells the story of being acutely embarrassed as a 64 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 2: young man when the fact of him being blackballed from 65 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 2: joining an exclusive Palm Beach surf club became a newsworthy scandal. 66 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 2: As it happened, he was put up at around the 67 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 2: same time as a man who later was exposed as 68 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 2: a notorious sex offender. Unlike David, the pedophile sailed through 69 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 2: the election process. 70 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: For this family just getting on with life. The reality 71 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: of antisemitism came crashing home after October seven, twenty twenty three, 72 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: when her maass fighters swarmed from Gaza into Israel, massacring 73 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,279 Speaker 1: civilians and taking hostages, including babies and elderly women. 74 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 2: The revelation for both of us since seven October is 75 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 2: the stark and discomforting realization that despite living our whole 76 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,159 Speaker 2: lives in this country and thinking we knew it so 77 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 2: well we do not now recognize an aspect of it. 78 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,359 Speaker 2: Connected to this was the realization that some people we 79 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 2: thought we knew well did not understand or did not 80 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 2: want to understand a more complex narrative than that presented 81 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 2: by simplistic and historically flaw declamations on social and some 82 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 2: other media. Nor were they empathetic to the trauma the 83 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 2: events of last year and its consequences have occasioned. 84 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,840 Speaker 1: Lee calls it the growth and mainstreaming of antisemitism, and 85 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: his speech is an attempt to suggest how we might 86 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: as a community first understand and then tackle it. Critical 87 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: to that is how we balance two important values, the 88 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: right to free expression and the right to live free 89 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: of antisemitism. It's apparently the only kind of racism that 90 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: has to explain itself. Lee points out that freedom of 91 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: speech is not explicitly written into Australia's constitution, but it 92 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: is rather understood by the courts to be implied. The 93 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 1: Commonwealth has anti discrimination laws, but they don't explicitly ban racism. 94 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: What the Racial Discrimination Act says is it is unlawful 95 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: to do an act in public that is reasonably likely 96 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: in all circumstances to offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate another 97 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: person or a group of people, and the act is 98 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: done because of the race, color, or national or ethnic 99 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 1: origin of the other. Lee notes that in the recent 100 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: case of a school student who sued the State of Victoria, 101 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: the Federal Court's Chief Justice found the state vicariously liable 102 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: because the school principle had failed to respond adequately to 103 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: anti Semitic bullying. 104 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 2: But the law has gone and will only go so far. 105 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 2: No one in this room would be under any misapprehension 106 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 2: as to the scope of the present problem. When one 107 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 2: compares the nation in which I was born with the 108 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: nation I now see around me, one must conclude that 109 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 2: what has occurred over the last half century amounts to 110 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 2: what might be described as a soft revolution in values 111 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: within numerous institutions, including the university's unions, the arts, and schools. 112 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 2: In universities, it can be seen in courses focused on 113 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 2: what is described as critical legal studies, but is most 114 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 2: evident in the social science, history, and education faculties. It 115 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 2: is a world where the difference between fact and opinion 116 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 2: seems increasingly blurred or obliterated. It is a world which 117 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 2: so often simplistically divides mankind into the so called oppressors 118 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 2: and the oppressed, and wallows in ahistorical criticism of the 119 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 2: achievements of Western civilization, the rule of law, and Judeo 120 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 2: Christian ethics Influenced by this narrative from the start, it 121 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 2: is unsurprising that many students now seem to use school 122 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 2: and university to proclaim rather than to learn. 123 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: So that's the problem. What does Justice Lee think is 124 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: the solution? That's after the break. It's not a secret 125 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: that it's on university campuses where anti Semitism has been 126 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: at times most visible of all, in encampments of tense 127 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: daubed with anti israel slogans, in protests on the large 128 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: scale you don't tell me again, and the small scale, 129 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: like the Jewish professors who find themselves sitting behind locked 130 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: doors to protect them from abuse and harassment from the 131 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: students who are supposed to show respect. Lee says university 132 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: leadership is part of the problem, pointing out there were 133 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: no encampments at Western Sydney University, where he happens to 134 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: be on the board of the Whitlam Institute, a think 135 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: tank and public museum devoted to the legacy of former 136 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: PM Goff Whitlam. Western Sydney University, Lee points out, has 137 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: the largest Muslim population of any UNI in Australia, but 138 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: it's had a strong stance against anti Semitism and no encampments. 139 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: In May. Western Sydney UNI's chancellor Jennifer Westcott wrote this 140 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: in an opinion piece for The Australian. 141 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 3: Western Sydney University's position is simple. It is guided by 142 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 3: its principles. Our Charter of Academic Freedom supports the right 143 00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 3: of staff and students to academic freedom and freedom of speech. 144 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 3: It requires that freedoms and rights be exercised responsibly, with 145 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 3: zero tolerance for anti Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, hate speech or intimidation. 146 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: Western Sydney Uni a side. Lee is concerned anti Semitism 147 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: has flourished in higher education, where the CEOs, teachers and 148 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: politicians of the future are right now being formed. 149 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,079 Speaker 2: What this community and all non Jews of goodwill need 150 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 2: to confront is a deep and profound challenge. How to 151 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 2: educate and communicate effectively with a generation exposed to a 152 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 2: system producing an apparently significant number of future leaders whose 153 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 2: lack of a traditional Western historical education is matched by 154 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 2: their sense of self righteousness and their willingness to sprout slogans. 155 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 2: This is a worrying combination, further exacerbated by access to 156 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 2: a bulcanized legacy media and social media, resulting in preconceived 157 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 2: notions being reinforced by the like minded. There are no 158 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 2: simple answers, but that does not mean that one must 159 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 2: despair justice. 160 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: Lee referenced a former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, 161 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: referring in his inauguration speech to one thousand points of light. 162 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 3: I've spoken of a thousand points of light of all 163 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:36,839 Speaker 3: the community organizations that are spread like star throughout the 164 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:37,959 Speaker 3: nation doing good. 165 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: Bush was talking about those in the community spread like 166 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: stars doing some good. Lie says the Jewish House, charity 167 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: for which he made the speech, is a very bright 168 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: star in that firmament. 169 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 2: Every person of goodwill can be a point of light. 170 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 2: Each can do their best to combat the dark forces 171 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 2: that have emerged in our own way. Each of us 172 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 2: can confront ignorance and play some role in pointing out 173 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 2: and combating anti Semitic prejudice and any conduct contrary to 174 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 2: legal norms prohibiting discriminatory conduct when we encounter it. Let 175 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 2: me conclude on a personal note. In a speech made 176 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:31,599 Speaker 2: on twenty eight November nineteen forty six to the Legislative 177 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 2: Assembly of New South Wales, Abe Lander, in responding to 178 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 2: instances of anti Semitic rhetoric that were then occurring in 179 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:45,680 Speaker 2: this state, said I shall treat any attack on the 180 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 2: Jews as an attack upon my wife and my children. 181 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,439 Speaker 2: Although unlike Abe, I cannot say I spring from your 182 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 2: faith over the sweep of almost eighty years, I can 183 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:13,319 Speaker 2: say I feel exactly the same way. 184 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: Those are the words of Justice Michael Lee, spoken by 185 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: a voice actor. You can read more of the speech 186 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot Com dot A. Thanks 187 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: for joining us on the front. Our team is Jasper League, 188 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: Kristen Amiot, Leat Zammaglue, Tiffany Dimak, Joshua Burton, Stephanie Combs 189 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: and me Claire Harvey.