Nick Grimm: Well, Associate Professor Matteo Vergani from Deakin University is a researcher into hate crimes and violent extremism. He spoke to me a little earlier. Matteo Vergani, what can we say with certainty about this attack today?
Matteo Vergani: We cannot say much. We know nothing about the identity of the attackers. We know that it was an anti-Semitic act because the target was clearly a synagogue. So we know the community is devastated and frustrated which appears from many of the interactions they had with the government and media. But I guess we need to wait, hopefully, the next days we will know more about the attackers.
Nick Grimm: But do you think there's any doubt that this fits into what appears to be a distinct trend towards anti-Semitic incidents becoming more frequent in Australia?
Matteo Vergani: Oh, absolutely. There is no doubt. Incidents are becoming more frequent and also more severe. We have seen recently an increase in incidents targeting properties and serious damage. And hopefully it will stop here, the escalation. But clearly something is going on and the authorities need to be very careful. Just one week ago, the anti-Semitism report was published and showed an incredible increase in incidents. Now, there is a discussion about the definition of anti-Semitism adopted and not everyone agrees, but nonetheless, regardless of the definition that we adopt, it's clear that incidents targeting Jewish people is increasing in Australia now.
Nick Grimm: And targeting, as you say, Jewish Australians themselves rather than perhaps the Israeli government, which has been receiving increasing international criticism for its conduct of the war in Gaza.
Matteo Vergani: Absolutely. We know from scientific studies conducted globally that when there is an escalation of hostility, a war, a conflict in the Middle East, incidents, anti-Semitic incidents, and many times also Islamophobic incidents, increase globally in other countries. Meaning that when there are animosities, clearly people who are thinking about acting or committing a crime feel emboldened and sometimes they act. However, it is clear that when these incidents target Jewish people regardless, some Jewish people might be even critical of Israel themselves, or regardless of their opinions, they target Jewish buildings and Jewish people because of their religion or ethnicity or because of their identity in general. This is clearly an indicator of a hate crime and specifically an anti-Semitic hate crime.
Nick Grimm: Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has gone so far as to tell the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, that incidents like this are his fault because of the way that he has been dealing with the issue of the conflict in the Middle East. What's your reaction to that?
Matteo Vergani: I think it's a little bit too much. Saying that these incidents are the fault of the Australian Prime Minister, I mean, I don't think he is omnipotent and he's certainly not able to decide to stop the war in one day as Donald Trump promised. So I think it's clearly too much. I mean, these incidents happen because there are tensions overseas and this is something that is happening globally, regardless of the political views of the Prime Ministers in different countries. We see these in Canada, in the United States, in France, in Belgium and so on. Certainly, there are many things that the government could do to protect all communities from hate, not just the Jewish community. They started creating these envoy positions, the anti-Semitism envoy, the Islamophobia envoy. I think we need to know more about their roles and their powers or their resources to understand what they can do in practice and to avoid giving the impression that it's just a box-ticking exercise, but there is some substance behind it.
Nick Grimm: Matteo Vergani, thanks very much for talking to us here at PM. And that's violent extremism researcher, Associate Professor Matteo Vergani from Deakin University