u/The_Dingo_Donger

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has vowed to redefine the Australian Sex Discrimination Act to “ensure that women and girls have protections based on biological sex” after Giggle for Girls founder Sall Grover lost her appeal in her case against transwoman Roxanne Tickle.

The Federal Court upheld the decision that the female-only Giggle for Girls app, founded by Ms Grover, unlawfully discriminated against Ms Tickle when she was denied access to the social media platform in 2021.

Western Australian Senator Michaelia Cash shared a statement by Mr Taylor via X on Saturday morning.

“Yesterday the full Federal Court confirmed that Australian law does not properly protect single sex spaces for women and girls. Most Australians would find that hard to believe. A Coalition government I lead will fix this. We will amend the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure that women and girls (and men and boys) have protections based on biological sex,” Mr Taylor said in his statement.

“We will define biological sex in the Act. Male or female. The sex you are born. And we will protect single-sex spaces across Australian life.
“This is not radical. It is common sense.

“Let me be clear about what this is not. This is not about targeting transgender Australians. Every protection they currently have remains. We are not removing a single protection from anyone. But we are recognising something that should never have been in doubt: biological sex is real, it matters, and women and girls deserve spaces where it is respected.
“This will be a first-term priority.

“The Prime Minister now has a simple question to answer. Does he believe women and girls deserve protections based on biological sex?”

A Sydney woman accused of making anti-Semitic remarks at a junior netball game over the weekend has taken leave from her childcare job, with her lawyer saying the move was in “everybody’s best interest”.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that childcare worker Jody Scarcella, who allegedly made a comment saying “f**king Jews”, while watching a children’s game between Maccabi and Saints at Heffron Park Netball Centre in Sydney’s east on Saturday, is on leave while criminal proceedings are underway.

Footage showed the 42-year-old being confronted by parents after the incident, including Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, who was seen in the video posted to Instagram asking, “Did you actually say what’s been alleged?”

NSW Police were called and began investigating before charging Mrs Scarcella with one count of using offensive language.

Mrs Scarcella’s solicitor, Paul McGirr, said his client plans to fight the charge when she faces court for the first time next month.

Mr McGirr said his client had taken leave from work, which was in the “everybody’s best interest” to ensure her employer did not receive “unwanted attention” while awaiting court proceedings. 

“She has absolutely no problem with the Jewish community whatsoever,” he said. 

Australian Jewish Association (AJA) chief executive Robert Gregory welcomed the decision of Mrs Scarcella being on leave, saying the alleged comments had caused “significant concern” within the Jewish community.

Meanwhile, it can also be revealed that Mrs Scarcella still holds active accreditation to work as an early childhood educator in NSW, which means she is still legally allowed to teach while criminal proceedings are underway.

A NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) spokeswoman said: “NESA has strict processes to suspend or revoke a teacher’s accreditation if it receives a misconduct notification from an employer or another agency, or if a teacher is charged with or convicted of a relevant criminal offence.”

“NESA can also suspend, revoke, or impose conditions on a teacher’s accreditation upon receiving a notification relating to misconduct from another agency, including the Office of the Children’s Guardian or NSW Police,” the spokeswoman said.

On Monday, Netball Australia chief executive Mark Falvo said the sport was “a special part of the fabric of so many communities in Australia” and that they had “provisionally suspended” the woman from attending games.

Salaries for senior management at the taxpayer-funded Aboriginal corporation aimed at supporting Alice Springs town camps and providing broader Indigenous safety and community programs doubled last financial year, despite poor maintenance and living conditions of town camps.

Executives at Tangentyere Council’s Aboriginal Corporation doubled their compensation from $645,778 in FY24 to $1,211,517 the following financial year, an almost 100 per cent increase, despite dire town camp living conditions and failures to conduct repairs. There was no explanation in its report explaining the increase, and no new executive positions were created.

Accounts show the corporation spent $7m on supplies last year but only $1.3m on repairs and maintenance.

On Monday, The Australian revealed Karnte town camp resident Rhonda Bob, 37, had contacted Tangentyere to have her non-operational shower, cooktop and door lock repaired, but had not had any response “in years”.

She requires renal dialysis and is concerned an intruder may enter the house at night because the door cannot be locked.

The heavily taxpayer-funded Aboriginal corporation is meant to provide a range of employment, youth and domestic violence services as well as repairs and maintenance to the town camps.

On Monday afternoon, long-standing chief executive Walter Shaw – who has been described by a source as “elusive” and who commenced as CEO in 2010 – hung up when contacted.

“I’ve got absolutely nothing to speak to you about, Liam, and you can disregard this mobile phone number,” he said before disconnecting the call.

Despite the conditions of town camps, and alleged failures by Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation to undertake repairs of some properties, analysis of its financial reports reveal cash in bank figures at the end of each of the past four financial years have grown from $26.7m on June 30, 2022, to $35,844,168 just three years later.

Tangentyere receives the vast majority of its funding from the commonwealth government.

According to its 2025 financial report, operating cash generated was only $771,989, down sharply from $5.2m the previous year.

The council’s surplus decreased by about 60 per cent from $4,784,120 in 2024 to $1,905,688 in 2025.

Grant liabilities have also gone unspent, with more than $7m in funding from government agencies including the National Indigenous Australians Agency ($3.4m), the NT Department of Children and Families ($2m) and the NT Territory Families, Housing and Communities ($548k) being carried forward.

The 2025 report shows two board directors attended only two out of 12 scheduled meetings during the financial year.

One board member, Benedict Stevens, was handed a six-month suspended sentence in 2024 after pleading guilty to aggravated assault following a violent incident in which he struck his partner in the head with an Aboriginal foraging tool and left a large gash.

The federal opposition is leading calls for greater scrutiny of funding to bodies that manage Aboriginal town camps, with South Australian Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle, who was born and raised in Alice Springs, saying last week: “How is all that money being used to actually benefit the community? I can’t find that out.”

According to the 2021 census, there were about 256 homes for 1055 town camp residents in Alice Springs managed by Tangentyere. The Weekend Australian reported Tangentyere received $27m in recurring government grants in FY25.

Employee costs were the highest expenditure at $24m. The organisation listed 278 employees and said it had received a further $18m from other sources.

The Alice Springs Town Council, which services about 11,000 households, outlaid $22m in the same period. Both have a similar number of employees.
Tangentyere did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

New footage has emerged of a confrontation between Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin and a bystander who tells him to “just deal with it” after an alleged antisemitic outburst at a Sydney children’s netball game over which police have laid charges.

The footage shows the man accusing Mr Ryvchin of “exacerbating” the issue with Mr Ryvchin alleging the man had said they “were playing the victim card”.

The heated discussion continues until the man tries to knock Ms Ryvchin’s phone away as she records the exchange.

The initial incident occurred just after 10am on Saturday at Heffron Park netball courts in Maroubra. During an under-12s match between the Saints and Maccabi clubs, a mother allegedly yelled “f..k the Jews and “you should have been eradicated”.

The 42-year-old woman was charged with using offensive language in a public place and NSW Netball has since banned her from attending or participating in matches.

Following the incident, a new video broadcast by Sky News shows a second dispute between an unidentified man and Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin and his wife, Vicki Ryvchin.

The man tells Mr Ryvchin to “just deal with it” and suggests they should “let the kids deal with it, sort it out”.

“The mum said ‘Jews should be eradicated’,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“Just deal with it, now you’re trying to create another concern, walk away,” the man replies.

The exchange escalated when Ms Ryvchin asked the man if the mother’s alleged comments that Jews should be eradicated were acceptable. The man told Ms Ryvchin he did not say or hear the remarks.

As Ms Ryvchin continued to ask whether he thought there was any scenario where the comments were acceptable, the man told her to “put your phone away, don’t film me” then reached to grab the device or knock the device away.

Mr Ryvchin then stepped in and said “don’t touch my wife”.

The incident took place days after the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion began hearing evidence regarding the Australian Jewish experience.

NSW Netball released a statement declaring there is no place for hate speech, racism or discrimination in the sport.

The Saints Netball club issued an apology to the Jewish community, stating the alleged remarks do not reflect the club’s values.

The woman will appear before Waverley Local Court on June 17.

The arrest of three ISIS-linked women on their return to Australia last week – two of them on serious slavery-related crimes against humanity charges – has sparked intense anxiety among seven Australian women remaining in north Syria’s al Roj internment camp for ISIS families, Kurdish authorities told The Australian.

Camp director Hakmiyeh Ibrahim said the seven Australian women and 11 children left behind in al-Roj had been led to believe they would be joining the group of 13 – four women and their families – who left the camp for the Syrian capital Damascus last month, and that the entire group would fly back together to Australia.

“They were told they could follow in the near future, and that the whole group would go together to Australia, not in separate groups,” Ms Ibrahim said.
“The understanding was everyone would gather in Damascus first, and from Damascus the entire group would travel together to Australia.”

Instead, the 13 who landed in Australia last Thursday – Melbourne grandmother Kawsar Abbas, her two adult daughters Zahra and Zeinab and their children, and former Sydney nursing student Janai Safar and her young son – flew home without making further contact with those still inside the camp.

Both groups were accompanied by male relatives who are believed to have spent months in Syria lobbying for their return.

Kawsar, 53, and her daughter Zeinab, 31, were arrested on their arrival in Melbourne and charged with enslavement and using a slave during their time in the Syrian ISIS caliphate. Kawsar has also been charged with possessing a slave and slave trading.

The two women had been expected to apply for bail on Monday but their lawyers appeared to shelve those plans amid intense public interest over the charges, which could lead to Australia’s first Crimes Against Humanity trial.

Fellow ISIS wife Janai Safar, 32, arrested in Sydney last Thursday and charged with entering or remaining in a declared terrorist area and being a member of a terrorist organisation, was denied bail last Friday.

Al-Roj security administrator Jafri Afrin told The Australian the remaining Australian ISIS wives in the camp – believed to be more radical than earlier returnees – had previously expressed a desire to return home, but news of the arrests had “spread fear and anxiety” among the group.

Kurdish authorities say at least two women within the Australian cohort were considered to be extremists “based on their behaviour, interaction with residents, conversations, clothing, veils, and limited social interaction”. One was still living in the camp, in a separate section to the other Australians, and one had returned to Australia last Thursday.

Ms Afrin said it was possible Australian relatives of Kawsar Abbas’ who are among the final Australian group could also face accusations of enslaving Yazidi women and girls, selling, or even torturing them.
“Probably they will face the same (charges) because this family were together with them (the Abbases) in Syria,” she said.

As many as 5000 Yazidi men were killed and more than 6000 women and children taken as spoils when ISIS fighters overran the northern Iraqi enclave of the long-persecuted religious minority in 2014.

The boys were used as fighters, the girls and women traded on the ISIS slave market in Syria, to be abused, raped, tortured and then swapped among multiple fighters and families.

The young Yazidi woman at the centre of charges against Kawsar and Zeinab Abbas told The Australian at the weekend she had been bought and used as a slave by the entire family for 17 months until they sold her on in late 2018, and she wanted to see her abusers face justice for what they did to her.

She has also alleged she was repeatedly raped by Kawsar’s husband Mohammad Ahmad, who is believed to have been transferred with thousands of other ISIS men from Syria to Iraqi prisons earlier this year.

Ms Afrin insisted there was “no deadline” for winding up al-Roj, despite the recent disbandment of the al-Hawl internment camp, no plans for handing it over to Syrian authorities, and that Kurdish authorities could continue to securely house the foreign wives and children of former ISIS fighters for decades to come if necessary.

But she warned security in the camp was tenuous, and some women who had attempted to distance themselves from extremist ideology had been subjected to threats from more radical elements who were believed to be receiving instructions from outside.

There were also concerns over those who had entered the camp as children but were now in their early 20s, given there were no rehabilitation services available after previous centres had been closed down as a result of battles with the Syrian government.

At al-Roj at the weekend, Melbourne woman Kirsty Rosse-Emile, 31, met with The Australian inside the administration building but refused to answer questions, saying all the Australians had been instructed not to (by their lawyers).

Ms Ibrahim said she expected all remaining Australian families would again begin lobbying camp officials in coming days to determine “what opportunities remain for them to return to Australia, and whether this process could be delayed”.

But there had been no discussion yet of new departure dates for the remaining group, whether all remaining families would leave together, or whether some might opt to stay behind.

“As the (Kurdish) Autonomous Administration and camp administration, we have no objection to any country coming to take back its families,” she said.

“All the Australian families in al-Roj camp, all the women and children, have passports and we have copies and passport numbers for all of them.”

Ms Ibrahim confirmed the passports were distributed by relatives of those families who are now back in Australia last February when they attempted to drive all 34 women and children to Damascus, only to be turned around at a Syrian checkpoint for not having the required permissions from the Syrian government.

The next time they made the attempt, only 13 women and children related to those involved in the effort were taken to Damascus.

Note: this post adds additional details from an earlier thread

A Sydney woman charged by police over allegedly making an anti-Semitic comment at a junior netball game ‘has absolutely no problem with the Jewish community’ and says her words were taken ‘well and truly out of context’, according to her lawyer.

Jody Scarcella allegedly made a comment about ‘f**king Jews’ and ‘you should be eradicated’ while watching a children’s game between Maccabi and Saints at Heffron Park Netball Centre in Sydney’s east on Saturday.

The 42-year-old was soon confronted by parents, including Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Alex Ryvchin, who was seen in a video posted to Instagram asking, ‘Did you actually say what’s been alleged?’

The 42-year-old was soon confronted by parents, including Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Alex Ryvchin, who was seen in a video posted to Instagram asking, ‘Did you actually say what’s been alleged?’

Mrs Scarcella’s solicitor, Paul McGirr, said his client plans to fight the charge when she faces court for the first time next month.

‘At this stage it appears, in the current climate, that the allegation of what she said has been taken well and truly out of context,’ Mr McGirr told The Telegraph.

‘At this stage she’ll be pleading not guilty to the charge of using offensive language.’

‘She’s a person of good character, has never been in trouble before, and this has caused enormous stress and anxiety for her family. She has absolutely no problem with the Jewish community whatsoever.’

Mr Ryvchin told The Daily Telegraph he had been in contact with Netball Australia.

A parent who was at the courts at the time told The Daily Telegraph they were shocked by the allegations.

Netball Australia chief executive Mark Falvo said the sport was “a special part of the fabric of so many communities in Australia” and that they had “provisionally suspended” the woman from attending games.

NSW Police were called to a children’s netball game in Maroubra on Saturday due to a “deeply distressing” incident, after a mother allegedly hurled an antisemitic slur at a Jewish team.

Police went to Heffron Park, Maroubra, just after 10am following reports that a woman had made “offensive comments” during an under 12s match between Maccabi Netball Club and Saints Netball Club.

Community leaders have condemned an antisemitic incident at a netball game.Janie Barrett

Several Maccabi parents who were at the game told the *Herald* that a mother from the Saints team said, “F--- the Jews”, followed by “they should have all been eradicated”.

The slur was made in front of a Jewish mother who gave evidence to the royal commission during the week. The mother said it was “shocking that people feel emboldened to say comments like this”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin, who arrived at the courts shortly after the incident, said the abuse allegedly happened in “plain sight”. Apparently, “it wasn’t muttered under the breath”, Ryvchin said.

“This sort of thing like it seems trivial, but it has an impact,” he said. “It’s not just words; it affects how \[Jewish children\] view themselves, their Jewish identity and their place in society.”

Officers from Eastern Beaches Police Area Command confirmed they had spoken to a 42-year-old woman and issued a move-on direction. Police said inquiries were continuing.

In a statement to club members, Adam Dinte, president of Maccabi Netball Club, called the incident “completely unacceptable”.

Alex Ryvchin said children were deeply affected by antisemitism.Wolter Peeters

“We are aware of a deeply distressing antisemitic incident that occurred at a netball game today involving Jewish players and families from our club,” Dinte said. “We are taking this matter extremely seriously.

“Maccabi NSW is communicating with NSW Police and the Community Security Group \[CSG\]. We are also writing a formal letter of complaint to the Randwick Netball Association and the opposing club.

“Jewish players, parents, coaches, administrators and supporters have the right to participate in community sport safely and confidently, free from racism, abuse, intimidation or vilification.”

Dinte told the *Herald* that the young netball team was deeply distressed after the incident. “One of the girls in our team after the game told her mother that she wanted to take her uniform off because she didn’t want to be identified as Jewish, and didn’t feel safe,” he said.

The alleged confrontation comes just days after the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion began its hearings.

This week, former High Court judge Virginia Bell heard evidence from the Jewish community, including 86-year-old Seafolly co-founder and Holocaust survivor Peter Halasz, who testified that the rise of antisemitism was no longer “a faint echo of a distant past”. He described the current climate as “frightening”.

A statement from Saints Netball Club said that it was aware of the alleged incident and stressed that it “unequivocally condemns and disavows antisemitism in all its forms”.

“Such remarks do not reflect the values, principles or standards of our club, our members, our players or our wider community,” the statement said.

“The Saints Netball Club offers our sincerest and most unreserved apologies to the Jewish community.”

The general manager of Maccabi Australia, the umbrella body of Australian Jewish Sport, David Goldman, said the incident was “tragic and disturbing” but was not isolated.

He noted that a recent survey of 670 Maccabi members found nearly one in two respondents had either witnessed or experienced antisemitism in sport. “This isn’t isolated to Sydney, and it’s not isolated to netball. It’s occurred across other sporting codes, and we’ve seen certainly a spike in incident since October 7,” Goldman said.

Maccabi Australia chief executive Mandy Penkin said the alleged incident was “horrifying” but “unsurprising”.

“It’s just absolutely shocking that in a country like Australia, at an under-12 netball game, that kids should not feel comfortable to play sport wearing the Jewish colours for fear of being abused,” Penkin said. “The fact that we see it pop up so often is heartbreaking.”

David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the incident must be “swiftly investigated” and there must be no tolerance for racism and discrimination. “Sport is all about bringing people together. Children’s sport, in particular, should be a place of respectful competition and friendly exchange where kids should feel welcome and comfortable – regardless of background.”

Randwick Netball Association has been contacted for comment.

A Sydney man who travelled to Syria to help bring back the ISIS brides was arrested upon his return to the airport on an unrelated assault charge, exclusive footage can reveal.

It comes as fresh revelations emerge that Sydney ISIS bride Janai Safar’s son will imminently undergo a deradicalisation program as he gears up to enter the school system.

Sydney man, Ahmad Alameddine, 42, a relative of Safar, had been working alongside Melbourne man Abraham Abbas — the brother of Melbourne ISIS bride Kawsar Abbas — since at least February to secure their relatives’ release and facilitate their departure from Al-Roj camp to Australia.

Amid the chaos of the return of ISIS-linked women and children from Syria on Thursday night, the AFP quietly arrested Alameddine at Sydney Airport just before 7pm.

Shortly after, The Telegraph witnessed Alameddine being escorted to a side exit as more than 20 AFP and NSW police officers, along with airport security, surrounded him.

Alameddine was on the same Qatar flight as Safar and was escorted off the plane shortly after 6pm when AFP officers swooped in.

Footage obtained by The Telegraph in February shows Alameddine helping the ISIS-linked women and children in Al-Roj camp during their first attempt to return to Australia.

Alameddine was charged over an alleged assault of a 43-year-old man on Chapel Rd, Bankstown on December 14 last year.

He was granted conditional bail to appear before Bankstown Local Court on May 28. Information on the Bankstown alleged assault was released by NSW Police on Friday, however Alameddine’s arrest was not mentioned at AFP press conference on Thursday night.

Safar was arrested at the airport by AFP officers and taken to nearby Mascot police station, where she was charged with entering, or remaining in, a declared area, and with being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

On Friday, Safar was refused bail in a Sydney court, less than 24 hours after arriving in Australia from Syria. So far he swept it all through and then popped it all back into the bag immediately.

The court heard Safar allegedly sent messages to her mother expressing a desire to join Islamic State while living in Syria.

High-level government sources have told The Telegraph that Safar’s son will likely undergo a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program run by the NSW Department of Education, in conjunction with other agencies, such as the AFP.

The program helps manage the risk posed by students who exhibit extremist, radicalised and antisocial behaviours. He will also undergo community integration programs and therapeutic support.

The other eight children in the cohort that returned to Australia will receive similar support.

Education Minister Jason Clare said on Thursday that he had faith in the AFP’s ability to integrate the children into Australian society.

Meanwhile, the Melbourne ISIS brides have hatched plans to get bail and be freed into the community while facing serious terror-related charges.

Flanked by custody officers, Kawsar Abbas, 53, and Zeinab Ahmed, 31, were each brought into the dock for a brief hearing on Friday.

The mother and daughter will spend the next three nights in prison before launching an application for bail on Monday. The women are both facing serious accusations of committing crimes against humanity and slavery in Syria, which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years’ jail.

Police will allege Ms Abbas travelled to Syria in 2014 with her husband and children, and was complicit in the purchase of a female slave for US$10,000, and knowingly kept the woman in the home.

Abbas’ eldest daughter, Zahra, 33, was allowed to leave with family.

Ugly scenes unfolded at Melbourne Airport on Thursday night, as a large group – including friends and relatives called in by Abraham to act as security – gathered to await the arrival of the ISIS brides and their children.

In one heated exchange, a supporter escorting Zahra from the airport shouted “shut up you slut” at a female reporter after she asked the radical Islamist why she had married a terrorist. Zahra was the second wife of notorious ISIS recruiter Muhammad Zahab.

Zahab was a Sydney maths teacher, who became a member of ISIS and a member of a recruitment network in Sydney for the group.

He was killed in a strike in 2018.

Sami Sheebo, who is a leader of the Yazidi community in Australia, said the return of ISIS-linked women and children had “re-traumatised families” and “created fear” within the community.

Islamic State soldiers stormed Yazidi towns in the region, killing or kidnapping most of the ethno-religious minority in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017.

“The Yazidi community still carries the pain of genocide, displacement and the loss of thousands of innocent people,” Mr Sheebo said.

“We urge the Australian government to take the concerns of Yazidi survivors and families seriously regarding the return of ISIS-affiliated individuals to Australia.”

A six-week-old baby rushed to a Darwin hospital this week was allegedly sexually assaulted at less than 25 days old, but the infant was allowed to remain with its family despite multiple separate reports of abuse being made within three weeks.

In details that will heap further pressure on the already under-fire NT Department of Children and Families, The Australian can reveal multiple agencies made reports about the welfare of the infant who was flown from a remote Indigenous community to the Royal Darwin Hospital with “suspicious” head injuries this week.

Authorities are investigating reports of deliberately inflicted injuries to the baby’s genitals made on April 13 and another injury was reported on April 17. However, the ­department took no action and ­allowed the child to remain with the family.

A third notification about the child’s wellbeing was made on May 3.

The Northern Territory Police is now investigating allegations ­relating to “an infant who had ­suffered unexplained physical ­injuries”.

“The NTPF can confirm that it is investigating after family attended a remote Roper Gulf Region community clinic with an infant who had suffered unexplained physical injuries,” a police statement read.

“The injuries may have occurred between April 13, 2026 and May 3, 2026. Police received a mandatory report and an investigation is under way.”

Police said in their statement the child’s injuries were “not life-threatening”, that no arrests had been made and the cause of the injuries were “currently unknown”.

The baby is now the subject of a provisional protection order.

Three child protection case workers were suspended from their roles at the Northern Territory’s Department of Children and Families on Wednesday over the death of Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered at an Alice Springs town camp.

Kumanjayi Little Baby had been the subject of six child protection notices before she was allegedly taken and killed.

NT Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill told the territory parliament on Thursday there would be an external and ­independent review of the department responsible for child removals. This would be broad-ranging and an examination of the entire child protection system in the NT, not just Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case.

Ms Cahill said this review was necessary “to see if we can do things better, to make sure that the people who are working in this area have the resources that they need, that they understand what their obligations are”.

Such reviews can cause deep angst in the public sector. For example, an independent review of NSW’s child protection practices examined the case files of 1144 Indigenous children including the actions or inactions of the case workers. The Family is Culture report concluded in 2019 that NSW’s child protection department did not intervene early enough, lacked leadership, accountability, transparency and oversight.

The Australian has been told the Finocchiaro government believes case workers are sometimes reluctant or slow to intervene in the lives of vulnerable Indigenous children even if the department’s own guidelines justify it.

The CLP government wants to change the culture inside Territory Families including by giving case workers legislation and guidelines that make them confident about intervening to provide intensive support to a vulnerable parent and child.

Evidence about effective and early interventions in other jurisdictions has convinced the Finocchiaro government this must be the first step where a child is to remain at home.

Ms Cahill is expected to introduce a bill in the parliament next week that would make it easier to place an Indigenous child with a non-Indigenous carer if this was in the interests of the child’s safety.

“I remain absolutely flabbergasted that, in our current child protection legislation, in the principles that underpin the care that children should be getting, safety is not even mentioned,” Ms Cahill told the parliament on Thursday.

“Safety, the absolute core of everything that we should be doing, is not even mentioned.

“So, it’s beholden on all of us to work together, to make sure we ­elevate that, that we put every child in a place where they are safe and protected.”

The father of Kumanjayi Little Baby on Friday appeared before Alice Springs Local Court, where his lawyer argued for a suppression order on the grounds that publication of his court matter would “exacerbate community unrest”. His lawyer said publication could result in violence against Raphael Granites, his family members and “violent public disorder in the community generally arriving from unrest from ­further emotionally evocative information”.

Local Court judge Jonathan Bortoli denied the application on open justice grounds, and proceeded with his sentence indication hearing for an aggravated assault charge following an alleged incident on April 22. A sentence indication is a process where a judge provides a general indication of the likely sentence if a defendant pleads guilty.

Judge Bortoli acknowledged the “absolutely very tragic set of circumstances” relating to the death of Mr Granites’ daughter, which he said was “of course relevant” to the sentencing.

However, he said the allegations involved an unprovoked assault, where Mr Granites allegedly struck his wife in the face twice with a closed fist as he stood over her. “She had to shield her face from his punches using her arms, but was unable to stop the force of those strikes,” Judge Bortoli said.

Mr Granites is currently on a two-year good behaviour bond, which is set to expire in August.

Appearing from the prison’s audiovisual room on Thursday, Mr Granites pulled his jumper over his head and appeared to be sleeping. Once his allegations were read out he left the room and did not return.

Judge Bortoli said if Mr Granites was to plead guilty he would restore the suspended sentence and backdate it to his arrest date, and sentence him to a total effective sentence of 18 months’ jail.

He said Mr Granites was not eligible for a suspended sentence.

A six-week-old baby has been flown to a Darwin hospital with “suspicious” head injuries after being allowed to remain with its family despite separate concerns being made about the child’s ­welfare in a remote Aboriginal community.

Three child protection case workers were stood down from the Northern Territory’s Department of Children and Families on Wednesday over the tragic death of Kumanjayi Little Baby, after The Australian revealed she had been the subject of six child protection notices before she was allegedly kidnapped and murdered at an Alice Springs town camp.

This masthead can now reveal a baby was flown to the Royal Darwin Hospital with its mother from a community in the Gulf of Carpentaria in the last several days following reports of suspected head injuries, heaping further pressure on the department for transparency over its child protection procedures.

Prior to being taken to Darwin, a notification of a suspected sexual assault was made about the now six-week-old to the Department of Children and Families by NT Health staff – however, the ­department took no action and ­allowed the child to remain with the family.

Writing in The Australian on Thursday, former prime minister Tony Abbott argued that while it might be “frowned upon” to discuss policy change in the wake of the alleged murder of Little Baby, not doing so would be protecting an alleged offender.

“Even to ponder the policy implications of this horrific death is frowned upon because the victim was Aboriginal. From the Prime Minister down, officialdom has brushed away questions about how such a death could have happened on the grounds that local people need time to grieve,” he writes.

“Yet when the child’s father was in jail, and when the child’s mother seems to have been attending a late-night party when she disappeared, and when the local community seems to have been protecting the suspect at least initially, refusing to discuss any of this looks less like respecting the bereaved than protecting the complicit.”

Mr Abbott said the expectation for Indigenous Australians to remain in their birthplaces amounted to “cultural imprisonment” and trapped them in a permanent cycle of disadvantage.

“Giving people a decent primary education on country, before a good secondary education in a major centre, is the best way to give Aboriginal people the same opportunities that all Australians deserve and needs to be the overriding policy objective.

The Finocchiaro government’s Child Protection Minister, Robyn Cahill, confirmed on Wednesday that three case workers had been stood aside pending an investigation that she ordered.

The last time child protection workers received a notification about Kumanjayi Little Baby was on April 23, two days before she was last seen alive. The Australian has been told police made that notification after taking Kumanjayi Little Baby’s ­father into custody and charging him with a domestic violence offence. They were also concerned for Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother.

Ms Cahill, a former hospital manager and health executive, ordered the investigation into her own department’s role in the case because she was dissatisfied with an initial report that reached her last Friday. She said the gist of that report was “not really anything to see here” and she did not accept it.

“I was outraged primarily because I had sought information earlier in the week, on the Monday, around ‘What’s the situation here?’ and was essentially told ‘Not really anything to see here’,” she said. “I immediately called for an explanation and an investigation as to how we had arrived at that point.”

She said the investigation into how child protection authorities dealt with Kumanjayi Little Baby’s case was not enough. She has serious concerns about Territory families overall and there will be an independent investigation of the entire department.

“More broadly, I have serious concerns about the functionality of the approaches being taken and feel we need a truly independent investigation of the department as a whole to make sure we’ve got the structure right, to make sure we’ve the focus right, that we’ve got the right people in the right spot.”

Missing, murdered, sexually abused.

Congratulations, you now have a basic understanding of life for many Aboriginal women and children, but not what the federal Labor government will do to protect them.

Five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby – allegedly assaulted, allegedly murdered – is the latest tragic example of these distressing facts.

Police had reportedly filed six safety reports for Kumanjayi Little Baby’s protection in the last two months.

Her mother is a victim of domestic violence who had previously sought refuge in a women’s shelter.

We don’t need another court case, report, commission or inquiry to immediately address these horrific circumstances and our national shame.

States, territories and the federal Labor government already possess the facts, evidence and actions necessary to protect women and children through the ‘Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Children’ report (Senate 2024), the ‘Little Children are Sacred’ report (Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse, 2007), News Corp’s award-winning ‘Dying Rose’ series, and the 2007 Howard government Northern Territory Intervention.

The only thing our nation is missing is the federal Labor government’s political will to act.

Witness Labor’s pathetic reaction to the August 2024 Senate report on missing and murdered First Nations women and children.

Labor responded by releasing more reports and employing more bureaucrats rather than taking practical action to protect Aboriginal women and children, including demanding accurate statistics from the states and territories recording the true extent of violence against Aboriginal women and children, and the numbers of women and children murdered and missing.

“Estimates” in the report state Aboriginal women are three to 13 times more likely to be murdered than non-Aboriginal women, and Aboriginal children three times higher.

This week, when asked for practical action in response to the tragic death of Kumanjayi Little Baby, Labor senators Malarndirri McCarthy and Murray Watt repeatedly said “now is not the time” and claimed people are seeking “political mileage” for demanding urgent action to protect women and children.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said and done very little (although at least he has refrained from heading off to the tennis this time).

Compare this with the Howard government’s almost immediate announcement of the Northern Territory Intervention as their response to the ‘Little Children are Sacred: Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse’ report in 2007.

Alcohol and pornography were banned, income control was introduced, school attendance enforced, compulsory child health checks conducted, the Defence Force sent in and policing increased, among other measures.

As Minister Mal Brough told Parliament: “I could not live with myself and I know that not one member of this House would want to live with themselves knowing that we sat on a report like this for eight weeks and then said for another six or eight weeks that we would wait and try and come up with some answers and then start to implement them.”

So how can Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in parliament since 1996 and prime minister since 2022, live with himself knowing he has the power to protect and save Aboriginal women and children and is doing nothing?

The basic reasons are obvious enough.

Labor, the left and Aboriginal activists continue to hide behind claims that it’s all the fault of white Australians and white settlement and the sins of our past must continue to dictate our ‘politically correct at all costs’ future.

As the Senate report into missing and murdered Aborignal women and children records, many submissions blamed violence against Aboriginal women and children on “the ongoing impacts of colonisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities; the ongoing impacts of colonisation for non-Indigenous people and society; and gendered factors — both general, and specific to the intersection of racism and sexism and the impacts of colonial patriarchy”.

Easier to blame “colonisers” than acknowledge and act on the fact that Aboriginal men are assaulting and murdering their women and children and governments are failing to protect these same women and kids.

More broadly, the lack of action is the fault of us all. Our collective horror fades, the media moves on, we imagine and pretend someone else will fix it.

We are presiding over a collective culture of no consequences, a country and community that no longer holds our leaders – black or white – to account, let alone the perpetrators of violence.
The prime minister may be able to live with himself in the reality of these horrors, but can we?

The mother of a self-confessed cocaine smuggler who sparked a 16 day manhunt after sensationally breaching his NSW Supreme Court bail and fleeing to Queensland, will be forced to forfeit a $4m home when she was found to have deceived a Sydney court.

Mostafa Baluch pleaded guilty in February to attempting to import 900kg of cocaine, worth an estimated $270 million, from Ecuador in 2021.

He was granted bail a few months after being charged, with conditions including the wearing of an ankle bracelet. His mother, Najeeba Baluch, also put up the deeds to her “family home” in Bayview as part of a $4 million surety to ensure her son’s release.

But within 72 hours, Baluch cut off his ankle bracelet and went on the run.

His case made international headlines, with police issuing daily updates for more than two weeks on their manhunt for the former Northern Beaches restaurateur.

He was eventually found hiding in the back of a car being transported by a truck across the NSW/Queensland border inside a shipping container. Then-NSW Police Minister David Elliott spoke to the media after Baluch’s arrest, hailing the work of police.

“Today will be considered one of the great days of NSW Police,” he said.

In the wake of Baluch’s daring bail breach, police applied to the NSW Local Court to have the house forfeited to the state.

Ms Baluch opposed the application and applied to rescind the surety.

She appeared in court on Tuesday to learn her fate.

Her barrister Duncan Miller said Ms Baluch had “poor English”, meaning she did not fully understand the “severity of the situation” when she offered up the home.

But the Crown prosecutor argued Ms Baluch did not even have her son’s mobile number saved, and had been well-established in Australia for about 35 years.
“She failed to supervise him, did not know what the conditions were and didn’t really help the police find him when he went missing,” he said.

Family members held their heads in their hands as Judge Jacqueline Milledge labelled Ms Najeeba “deceitful” and found her to have falsely claimed the $4m home was the “family home” and she would not suffer any personal financial loss if it was taken away.

“She was misleading, failed in her duties, didn’t monitor his whereabouts or alert authorities when he left,” she said.

Ms Baluch is not facing any charges.

Her son will face court later this month for sentencing on the drug importation charges.

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine says there should be fewer Welcome to Country ceremonies, warning the practice has “totally lost its meaning” due to overuse, as new polling shows more than half of Australians think the ceremonies have become divisive.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Mundine said frequent use of the Welcome to Country by government agencies, sporting organisations, and businesses is becoming “a pain in the arse” and prompting a popular backlash.

“We have turned it into an industry and the frequency of it is becoming too much of a pain in the arse. Every board meeting you go to, every tuck shop meeting – everything has a Welcome to Country,” he said.

“It has totally lost its meaning now, and it has just become some sort of cash cow, and it’s not respecting elders from those areas.”

“It’s now having a backlash because people are saying ‘what the hell are we doing all these things for?’ And especially when some people have also hijacked it – they’ve run their own political agenda, and a lot of rubbish is spoken too.”

Welcome to Country ceremonies are typically delivered by Local Aboriginal Land Councils or local Indigenous groups, with some charging several hundred dollars for the practice.

According to its website, the Redfern-based Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council charges more than $600 for a Welcome to Country on a weekend or public holiday, with an option to include a didgeridoo performance for an additional $400.

Mr Mundine – a former ALP Federal President – said Welcome to Country ceremonies should be reserved for large-scale events, and led by Indigenous elders from the country on which the events take place.

“It’s about a welcome to people’s country. Now, to do that, it has to be an elder from that country to welcome you. It can’t just be any Joe Blow,” he said.

“Say for argument’s sake Rotary International has 5000 delegates coming to Australia. That would be nice to have a welcome to country from an elder from that country where the conference is being held, whether it’s in Sydney or Melbourne or whatever.
“People would feel special about it.”

Mr Mundine’s intervention follows ugly scenes at Anzac Day Dawn Services in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth where Indigenous veterans and elders were booed while delivering Welcome to Country addresses.

New polling commissioned by the centre right Institute of Public Affairs think tank – provided exclusively to The Daily Telegraph – shows 60 per cent of Australians think the ceremonies have become divisive overall.

The survey of 1,001 Australians – by independent market research group Dynata – also found 49 per cent of respondents agree the ceremonies should no longer be delivered at Anzac Day services, with 60 per cent of respondents agreeing they shouldn’t be delivered at sporting events.

IPA Deputy Executive Director Daniel Wild said the ceremonies were creating “division along racial lines”.

“Welcome to Country ceremonies are anything but welcoming. They have become hostile, aggressive, and a form of moral hectoring designed to make Australians feel bad about their nation and history,” he said.

Academic and commentator Anthony Dillon agreed the ceremonies were at risk of losing their meaning, calling for a sensible conversation about when and how they should be used.

“We need to come to the table together, and a guiding principle should be: if I reject or question Welcome to Country, that is not necessarily a sign that I’m rejecting Aboriginal people or it’s coming from a racist motive in any way,” Mr Dillon told The Daily Telegraph.

“A bit like the Voice. Those who rejected the Voice, they were smeared as racists. Let’s not have a conversation like that. Some people are for, some people are against. Unless there is good, overt evidence for racism, let’s leave it out of the conversation.”

Many of us are in mourning after the tragic death of a young girl in Alice Springs.

Understandably, many are crying out for change so that a tragedy like this never happens again.

Many commentators have offered good suggestions: economic development in remote areas; better regulation of alcohol; overhauling town camps, or what some have called “hellholes”; addressing community dysfunction; application of the common law across the country; and removing children from dangerous environments, even at the risk of being accused of creating another “stolen generation”.

These are all good suggestions but none of them are new.

I and many others have been making these suggestions for at least a decade, yet there seems to have been no real will to implement them fully.

The question is, why not?

First, a quick look at government policies and research reports from academia suggests that many embrace romanticised visions of Aboriginal people living a traditional lifestyle with a culture that greatly distinguishes them from other Australians.

The popularised image of Aboriginal people casts them as having a deep connection with the land making them in need of culturally appropriate services.

This may well be true for some Aboriginal people, and should be respected if it is the case. This romanticised view of Aboriginal people and culture is what former Northern Territory minister Bess Price has called a “Disneyland Dreamtime” approach.

We live in Australia, not Disneyland.

Second, following this romanticisation of Aboriginal culture is the belief that rather than focusing on education, jobs, and economically sustainable communities, is the appeal to simple solutions that prioritise culture, like the Voice and treaties.

I question these “solutions” that are separatist in nature, because we know that many Aboriginal Australians, including those from remote communities, have taken the opportunities Australia has on offer without treaties and the Voice.

Third, continuing with the romanticised culture theme, it is common for government policies and programs to assume that only Aboriginal people can understand and help Aboriginal people.

Therefore, programs intended to help Aboriginal people are considered workable only if they are developed and implemented by other Aboriginal people.

I am all for Aboriginal people providing services for other Aboriginal people, whether it be in health, employment, education, or elsewhere.

But let’s not be limited by the prejudice that only Aboriginal people can help and understand Aboriginal people.

We are after all, Australians with common needs.
Culturally differences should be considered where appropriate, but only after considering the human commonalities.

Rhetoric about “services designed by us, delivered by us and trusted by us” don’t cut it.

Fourth, within Aboriginal affairs, many believe that racism is the big culprit holding Aboriginal people.

Racism exists for sure but the overwhelming majority of Australians have enormous goodwill for Aboriginal people. So for those businesses, universities, and government departments investing in their anti-racism programs, consider a dispassionate analysis of what is really happening and focus on real problems.

Finally, I use an analogy here of a boat with several holes in it.

If you patch up only a few holes, the water still gets in and the boat sinks.

The strategies we know that work, the ones that focus on housing, jobs, education, health, and affordable modern amenities, cannot be implemented in a piecemeal way.

We know what must be done. Why do we have to wait for Sorry Business?

Anthony Dillion is Honorary Fellow, Australian Catholic University

I’ve been inside the home where was allegedly abducted from.

To the outsider, the scenes inside that house might be even more confronting than what happened outside the Alice Springs Hospital on Friday night.

But when I walked in, tragically, I wasn’t surprised.
Yapa Elder Robin Granites – during arguably one of the most toughest periods of his, and his families, lives – graciously and patiently walked me through the home.

“This is what you will learn – from us,” he said to me as I was led into the home.

To describe it as in a clear state of dilapidation is an understatement.

Rubbish is strewn on the ground. Dust and dirt is built up in the corner of the rooms. The walls are covered in graffiti.

The bed which little Kumanjayi was taken from was nothing more than a mattress which was placed in the centre of the living room.

The house is clearly overcrowded – beds were set up in the front yard for people to sleep on.

Windows appear to be missing. In a saving grace, the washing machine appeared functional and operational.

Inside, empty bottles of Jim Beam are lined up in the kitchen.
Old Timers Camp, like the other town camps in Alice Springs, is a dry camp – alcohol is not meant to be consumed inside the camp.

But if little Kumanjayi had not been abducted from this specific home inside the camp, the average onlooker – or local – would see no significance to this two bedroom, one bathroom home.

This, tragically, is because in Alice Springs the state of these homes, or other Central Australian communities, is no secret.

Seeing rubbish strewn outside the homes, wrecked vehicles, windows smashed over or boarded up is not an uncommon sight.

I’m sure there are beautiful, well maintained homes , as well as in other remote communities.

Sadly, they appear the minority.

When Mr Granites is taking me through the front yard, he sounds tired.

“When we talking about the crowded people in the house, this is what we talking about,” he says as he points to the front yard of the home.

“This is what they giving us – these houses.”
Due to overcrowding, people at the home can sometimes even sleep in the shower, Mr Granites said.

Little Kumanjayi spent some of her last moments in this home.

Her last moments of her incredibly short life were in squalor, before she was allegedly abducted by a man who had been released from prison six days earlier. 

Experiencing this level of extreme poverty first hand is confronting.

While the violence which erupted on the streets on Thursday night in Alice Springs was shocking, senseless, and confronting, it is also important say that little Kumanjayi is not the only one living in these conditions.

To me, that is even more shocking than what happened on the streets of Alice Springs.
It’s hard to reconcile, but in Alice Springs, this is common knowledge.

But now could be the time to make the rest of the country learn as well.

A tragic end to what has turned into a horrific story has turned the nation’s attention to little Kumanjayi.

May she rest in peace, but now we should be looking to take serious action to help the dozens of others who are in similar conditions to her.

In an opinion piece in the Australian on Friday, NT Senator Jacinta Price deplored the state and conditions of the camps.

“Too often, difficult conversations are avoided. There is a reluctance to speak plainly about what is happening in some communities,” she wrote.

“We cannot continue to accept a situation where environments of known risk remain unchanged.

Where warning signs are visible, but action is delayed.

Where funding is substantial, but outcomes fall short.”

Ms Price used her piece to again call for an inquiry to housing, and for an audit into how money is spent.

“We have the resources. We have the knowledge.
What is lacking is the willingness to insist on accountability and to follow through with meaningful reform,” she writes.

After seeing the conditions again, she’s not wrong.

Mr Lewis, who police suspect abducted and murdered the girl just six days of his release from prison reportedly ‘terrified’ the seasoned criminals he was locked up with, the NT News can exclusively reveal.

He spent a considerable amount of time at the Barkly Work Camp, a low-security correctional work camp based outside of Tennant Creek, before his release on April 21.

Multiple sources have told the NT News the man, with a history of aggravated assaults and breaches of court orders, was not allowed to travel into Tennant Creek as part of work camp duties.

Behind the wire, seasoned criminals were also scared of Mr Lewis, it is understood.

Sources reveal Mr Lewis was known to fellow prisoners as both a dedicated gardener, who took pride in his work, and a man with a bad temper who was suspected to have mental health issues.

While in the Barkly Work Camp, Mr Lewis was housed alongside other sentenced prisoners, many of whom were serving time for domestic violence related abuse, it is understood.

Mr Lewis was sentenced to 18 months in prison, with a 12-month non-parole period in October 2024 for aggravated assault, breaching a domestic violence order, and breaching his bail.

Just five months later, he again pleaded guilty to breaching a domestic violence order and resisting police and was sentenced to four months in prison in March 2025.

Mr Lewis’s 10-year criminal history appears to show a revolving door of prison sentences for aggravated assaults and domestic violence order breaches.

In 2022 he was sentenced to 11 months in prison for aggravated assault, suspended after eight months.

Mr Lewis breached his 12-month good behaviour bond on this assault and faced Yuendumu Local Court over the breach in December 2023.

In 2022, Mr Lewis faced court over two bail breaches — both dealt with through a sentence of a single day in custody — and in 2021 he was fined $2450 for low range drink driving while being a learner driver, with no one in the front seat and no L-plates in an unregistered and uninsured car.

This driving breach came just as his non-parole period for two aggravated assaults and domestic violence order breaches expired.

In June 2019, Darwin Local Court judge Elisabeth Armitage sentenced Mr Lewis to 19 months, with a 14-month non-parole period, for the serious attacks.
Mr Lewis also served 12 months in prison from June 2016 after pleading guilty to another aggravated assault.

Six days after his latest release from prison, due to his sentence expiring, police suspect he abducted and murdered five-year-old Kumanjayi Little Baby, from a home at Old Timers Town Camp in Alice Springs.

An article calling for a global intifada and “glory to all our martyrs” has been labelled “appalling” by Jewish students after it appeared in the University of Sydney’s student publication, with Premier Chris Minns claiming this form of anti-Semitism has been happening at universities for a long time.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal an article by Selene Zhou, published in Honi Soit on April 22 titled: Who’s Afraid of Hezbollah/Houthis/Hamas/Islamic Jihad, has been referred to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), the university regulator.

The article, which has since been taken down by the publication, declared: “The resistance deserves our unconditional support until victory” and: “Glory to all our martyrs. From Gadigal to Gaza, we’ll have an Intifada”.

It also stated: “We are a branch of the revolutionary front and the resistance deserves our unconditional support until victory”.

Ms Zhou also claims in her article that the ISIS-linked women had simply “visited their families in Syria” and had been misrepresented by the Albanese government as “ISIS brides”.

She also describes October 7 as the beginning of “Gaza’s Holocaust,” calls for justice for an academic dismissed following a documented anti-Semitic incident at a Jewish student event and identifies “the police, Labor, Zionism and Israel” as a common enemy.

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) and other Jewish leaders have condemned the article, describing it as an “extremist rant” that should never have been published.

AUJS advocacy and public relations manager Liat Granot said publishing a call for unconditional support of Hamas and Hezbollah was no political opinion.

“Who’s afraid of these terrorist organisations in the title of the article … the answer is we’re afraid of them because of what happened at Bondi,” Ms Granot said.

“It is the promotion of designated terrorist organisations in a student publication funded by student fees.

“There is no editorial framing that makes that acceptable. Jewish students at the University of Sydney are currently making submissions to a Royal Commission documenting the deterioration of campus safety.

“This article is exactly what they are describing.

“Jewish students deserve to feel safe on their own campus. A student newspaper that closes its articles with calls for intifada and glory to martyrs is telling them they don’t.”

In a statement, AUJS USYD said: “We are appalled to once again see Honi Soit lend itself to violent and ­extremist ideology”.

“This is not the first time. Jewish students at this university have run out of patience for the cycle of incident, condemnation and no consequence.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has alerted TEQSA to the article, with the issue set to be discussed at next week’s anti-Semitism task force meeting.

“There is no place for the evil of anti-Semitism. Full stop,” Mr Clare said. “Kids aren’t born anti-Semitic. It is something that is taught.

“We know that words can lead to bullets.”

Federal Opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser said: “It’s extraordinary that a student organisation is expressing support for terrorist organisations listed by the Australian government.

The University of Sydney clearly has more work to do stamping out anti-Semitism on campus, not only for the sake of Jewish students but for all those Australians who don’t support terrorists.”

A University of Sydney spokeswoman said: “We’re extremely concerned about a recent article in the student newspaper Honi Soit … and last week asked for it to be removed online as a matter of urgency while we undertake an assessment in line with our complaints procedures.

“Support is available to anyone who needs it.”

A statement from the editors of Honi Soit said the article was published as part of the “University’s Autonomous Editions” under the USyd Queer Action ­Collective.

“This was an autonomous edition of Honi, meaning we did not edit it. As we were not involved in the editorial processes of this edition, this is a question for the editorial team,” they said. “The editorial ethos behind the publication of this article cannot be explained by us, as we were not party to it. The edition is titled Mardi Soit to differentiate it from regular editions of Honi Soit.”

The Honi Soit editors added the team consisted of students and, as such, “values all students’ safety on campus”.

“We encourage anyone who feels unsafe on campus or needs support to reach out to Student Wellbeing,” they said.

Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said: “This bizarre rant is the latest example of university students flirting with extremism.”

“It is hard to believe that this was written by an individual in higher education, and it reflects poorly on the University of Sydney,” he said.

NSW Tertiary Education Minister Steve Whan said: “Antisemitism has absolutely no place anywhere in our society. The Jewish community has every right to feel safe and respected on our university campuses.”

“Universities are responsible for on-campus matters and I understand the University of Sydney is taking this matter seriously,” he said.

Premier Chris Minns said the shocking article is an “apt reminder” of what’s been happening at universities over a long period of time.

“We had not just members of the Jewish community, Jewish students, and others saying, this has been happening on campuses, and in many cases it’s fallen on deaf ears,” Mr Minns said.

Despite the concern, Premier Minns said he didn’t want the state government to jump in and regulate universities as it is largely a federal government responsibility.

However, Mr Minns put it to members of society to stand up and stamp out anti-Semitism.

“Not everything needs to be the remit of hate speech laws. In some cases, it’s incumbent upon civic society to step up with all our racism and anti-Semitism when we see it and demand change,” he said.

The Premier said that not everything has to be banned for it to be called out.

“Some of the time that will mean legislative change, we’ve indicated our belief in ‘globalising the intifada’ a hateful phrase. It should be illegal.

“In other cases, it’ll be speech whilst legal that is abhorrent to our social fabric, and that’s when community leaders need to stand up and point it out.”