I was moved today to write to Marion Scrymgour MP, the Member for Lingiari (NT). I said this:

Dear Marion,

I am one of your Jewish constituents.  Most of my father's family were murdered in the Holocaust.  As a schoolboy I was subjected to vicious antisemitism at the prestigious private school I was sent to in my hometown of Perth. I believe that this formative experience was the seed of my lifelong commitment to oppose racism.  In the 40+ years since I made Mparntwe/Alice Springs my home, I have worked and campaigned against racism and the ideologies that underpin it.

The Bondi massacre affected me deeply, but the Prime Minister's address to the nation delivered immediately after that calamity was exactly what I, and our shocked community needed:  to put our arms around each other, to grieve together, to embrace the common values and diverse cultures of Australia, to reject extremist violence and terrorism.  Thank you, Albo.

In the days that followed, however, I was appalled to see these tragic events being cynically politicised to advance a dangerous, unconscionable and racist strategy that, if implemented will have disastrous consequences for the cohesiveness of the Australian polity and community, and encourage authoritarian regimes elsewhere that use violence and oppression to persecute civilian communities.

I urge Federal Labor to stand firm in its rejection of narratives that stoke fear and division in Australian society.  I urge Federal Labour to reject calls to react to the terrorist atrocities committed in Bondi by suppressing the right to protest against governments, including Netanyahu's Israeli government, that perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity.  I urge Federal Labour to resist the pressure to adopt the Segal Report, which, if implemented, would stifle legitimate political expression, and stigmatise those who, like myself, support the rights of Palestinian people to live in peace and safety on their ancestral lands.  I urge Federal Labor to maintain its commitment to effective gun ownership reform.

I urge the Federal government to lead our nation at this time of profound grief by promoting the core Australia values of community, harmony, openness and tolerance.  We must not go down the dark path of suppressing dissenting views, locking out refugees and migrants, and retreating from our commitment in the international arena to protect human rights.  Going down that path will not make Australian Jews, or Australians from other racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds, safer.  It will breed anti-semitism, division, racial hatred and communal distrust.  Our country can do better.  It must do better.