Josh Frydenberg

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Great to join the Jess Wilson campaign team in Kew this morning before heading out on the hustings where there was lots of good feedback - not to mention the free coffee from one cafe because I was a Carlton supporter who happened to have the same name as our newly signed coach!

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

If the Royal Commission is going to make a real difference and turn back the tide of antisemitism it must lay down new red lines that say clearly that we as Australians, have zero tolerance for the people that fan the flames of hate and the places where it is fostered.

We are in a crisis of our own making with the country now at a tipping point.

My article in The Australian today👇

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Saddened to hear of the passing of one of Australia’s finest economists Bill Evans.

Bill was Chief Economist at Westpac for 32 years and during my time as Treasurer we would talk regularly, particularly during COVID.

He was intelligent, decent and would always provide a valuable perspective on developments across the broader economy.

May he rest in peace.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Since the initial post announcing the publication date many have asked how to preorder ‘A Grateful Son’, to do so just go to the link below:

https://t.co/ys08Gg9AUS

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Exciting days with the memoir finished and the publication date set.

I am really looking forward to sharing my story with you in 'A Grateful Son'.

It’s been a privilege to work closely with Gideon Haigh and the team at HarperCollins on this project, which has been a few years in the making.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Unsurprisingly Labor’s Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy is not the first and will not be the last ALP figure to launch a baseless and tactless attack on Sir Robert Menzies accusing him of being a “Nazi appeaser“.

Back in 2013 an otherwise decent and good man Labor MP Mike Kelly made a similar claim in an opinion piece in The Australian Jewish News.

At the time former Howard government minister Dr David Kemp and I co-authored a reply which can be found below.

In the piece we make clear that:

Menzies understood the true nature of the Nazi threat, referring in his memoirs Afternoon Light, to the “sinister figure of Hitler”.

When it came to attributing responsibility for the war, Menzies made clear “the guilt was that of Germany alone”.

Following a four-day visit to Germany in July 1938 Menzies was shocked by the Nazis’ destruction of the liberal and democratic features of Germany, and by the apparent willingness of the German people to accept this.

Far from unrealistically believing peace could be preserved, on his return he expressed his deep concern at the parochialism of the Australian states in resisting Commonwealth plans to prepare for war. He told the Constitutional Club of Sydney in October that:

“Few people of the Commonwealth fully realised that the European crisis might involve hostilities in Australian waters – that war might be something that would come to Australia, and not merely something that was happening 12,000 miles away”.

Throughout the period of his prime ministership, Menzies’ commitment to victory would remain steadfast, even during the darkest days of May 1940 when France was being overrun and senior colleagues like Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Australia’s high commissioner to Britain, contemplated defeat.

Menzies worked to focus the British on the importance of the war in Asia and the Pacific. Like Churchill he understood the importance of America to the Allied war effort and made it a priority for Australia to have independent representation in Washington, appointing our first ambassador to the United States in 1940.

Robert Menzies was the man who revived liberal thought and lifted the standards of Australian politics, and was the strongest opponent of socialist class-war rhetoric and the supporters of fascist ideas.

Australians today should acknowledge an immense debt of gratitude to Menzies for his unfailing support for individual liberty at its moment of greatest challenge, for his opposition to those who were impressed by the overseas dictatorships of the ’30s, and to the national division, class war, isolationism and socialist utopianism being fostered from within the Labor Party at the time.

And as for those individuals who seek to dishonestly misrepresent the Menzies legacy in this way, I say it reflects more on your ignorance of history and your desperate tactics to score a cheap political point.

https://t.co/udLlQkLwqw

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

The hate, harassment and violent antisemitism directed at Jewish Australians did not stop with the Bondi massacre.

Online monitoring by The Dor Foundation, which I am honoured to Chair, has identified a sustained campaign of severe abuse targeting witnesses after their testimony to the Royal Commission. It has included death threats, degrading and dehumanising language directed at children and Holocaust denial.

As Dor CEO Tahli Blicblau has said “We wouldn’t tolerate this sort of language or conduct in the physical world, and we shouldn’t tolerate it online where it can reach millions of people.”

In light of this material, I welcome the important statement by Commissioner Virginia Bell:

“We have received reports from a number of witnesses concerning a dramatic increase in online hate messages after they have given evidence. I should indicate that in one instance the matter has been referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.

The Commission is keeping a close eye on these instances and recording these offensive social media posts.

Quite what this undiluted level of hatred and bigotry directed towards members of the Jewish community is thought to benefit by those who post these remarks is lost on me.

But the Commission has as one of its principal objects understanding and assessing the lived experience of antisemitism by members of the Jewish community and it is being informed by conduct of this character.”

If anything this continued online abuse reinforces the need for the Royal Commission as we must bring an end to this tsunami of hate and antisemitism that is causing so much damage to our country and its citizens.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Australia has lost one of its bravest, one of its best with the sad passing of Neale Daniher.

Neale was a hero on the field and an even bigger hero off it.

His 13 year fight with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) inspired millions and raised millions to find a cure.

There was no more worthy recipient of The Australian of the Year award.

We will all miss Neale greatly but never forget him.

Sending all my love to Jan, Lauren, Luke, Beck and Ben and to all those who were fortunate enough to know him.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem.

It is Australia’s problem.

Alexandra Smith who is not Jewish has written a powerful piece of her personal experience confronting the scourge of antisemitism.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Today the Dor Foundation’s CEO Tahli Blicblau gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

Tahli’s message was that we must be proactive not reactive in understanding the drivers of hate so that we can intervene early before it manifests itself in violence.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

The first week of the Royal Commission’s public hearings have come to a close.

So many harrowing stories of antisemitism in Australia.

Patients who can’t go to hospital without fearing mistreatment if they reveal their religion.

Students in public schools who are constantly harassed with Nazi salutes and the glorification of the Bondi attackers as teachers stand by and refuse to intervene.

Small business owners losing their livelihoods as their shops are burnt down.

Adults abused on the street for wearing a Star of David leaving them fearful of going to the local shopping centre and frequenting other public spaces.

Kids threatened on the local bus as their other passengers tell them if they find a Jew they will burn it down while players on the footy field some as young as 7 are being targeted each week with vile abuse such as ‘Hitler should have finished you off’. The situation is so bad the local league appointed an investigator to deal with all the incidents.

And the list goes on and on and on.

The targets are young and old.

The abuse public and in private.

The culprits from every walk of life.

It’s systemic, it’s normalised.

There is a pandemic of hate in our country and our leaders must bring it to an end.

The Royal Commission is the opportunity.

It must not be missed.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

Second day of the Royal Commission’s hearing into the scourge of antisemitism.

Schools turned into fortresses.
Armed security.
A daily police presence.

This is Australia today.

This must not be the Australia of tomorrow.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

In the first day of its public hearings the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion heard testimony detailing widespread hate, harassment, intimidation and violence directed towards Australia’s Jewish community.

The culmination of which saw Australia’s deadliest terrorist attack at Bondi.

Now there must be accountability.

Now there there must be action.

No more equivocation from those with responsibility to protect our citizens.

We need courage and moral clarity from the top if we are going to have any hope of confronting this stain on our nation.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

A forum headlined ‘Why It’s Right to Say: Globalise the Intifada’ planned to be held in a City of Sydney Council owned building has been cancelled.

Public pressure prevailed but it should never have come to this.

An event like this is dangerous and it has no place in Australia.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

In the week Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism handed down its interim report, two Jews were targeted and stabbed in North London. Just one of five major antisemitic attacks in the UK in as many weeks.

This interview below in just two minutes sums up how so many people be it in Australia or the UK are feeling right now.

History is repeating itself.

Words of condemnation and comfort won’t do.

Stronger and urgent action is needed if we are to keep all our citizens safe.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

“If you stand alongside people who say ‘Globalise the Intifada’ you are calling for terrorism against Jews. People who use that phrase should be prosecuted.“

Prime Minister Albanese and New South Wales Premier Minns do you agree with the words of the UK Prime Minister?

Why is the event headlined ‘Why it’s Right to Say: Globalise the Intifada’ planned to be held in a City of Sydney Council owned building in coming days not being immediately stopped?

It’s time our leaders took stronger action to stop the hate and the violence and fulfil their profound responsibility to protect their own citizens.

Failure to do so makes Australia and Australians less safe.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

The planned event to be held in a City of Sydney Council owned building headlined ‘Why It’s Right to Say: Globalise the Intifada’ should not go ahead.

Governments federal, state and local must take action and intervene.

Failure to do so invites more hate, more harm, more violence. It is not just wrong to chant the slogan ‘globalise the intifada’, it’s reckless, it’s dangerous and it’s unAustralian.

‘Globalise the intifada’ is an explicit call for violence and it’s unthinkable that people in positions of authority who have a profound responsibility to maintain the safety of their citizens could simply standby, shrug their shoulders and let such a festival of hate go ahead.

The Bondi massacre, Australia’s worst ever terrorist incident did not happen in a vacuum. It followed more than two years of escalating attacks in word and deed on Australia’s Jewish community. It was a tragic wake up call for our country and for our leaders who had ignored the warnings.

If this planned event goes ahead it will send a chilling message that nothing has been learnt and little has changed.

Australia and Australians will be less safe as a result.

[Josh Frydenberg @JoshFrydenberg]

A very moving ANZAC Day Dawn Service at St James Park in Hawthorn, honouring the service and the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.

Lest we forget.