Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, told the Royal Commission her national antisemitism taskforce would expand in health sector and education down to pre-school. Stephanie Tran reports.
Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal has proposed establishing a national healthcare taskforce to target antisemitism in Australia’s health system.
Appearing before the Commission for a third time on Thursday, Segal said the taskforce would bring together
health regulators, professional boards, hospitals and government departments.
“You would bring obviously the regulator, but you would bring the health boards … hospitals, public and private, many of the other players to at least be there and talk about what needs to be done,” she said.
The proposal follows the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s (AHPRA) recent decision to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a reference tool when handling complaints involving alleged antisemitism.
Healthcare taskforce mirrors education taskforce
Segal said the proposed healthcare taskforce would mirror the education taskforce established by her office.
“Because of the disparate and dispersed nature of health regulation and health delivery, it would be a way to bring everyone to the table,” she told the Commission.
“Part of the challenge, I think, is working out what should be done, but then
doing it in a systemic way across the system,” she said.
The proposal comes amid continuing controversy over AHPRA’s adoption of the IHRA definition.
Yesterday, AHPRA CEO Justin Untersteiner told the Commission that the handbook produced by Segal’s office had been the “tipping point” in the regulator’s decision to adopt the definition after previously resisting it over concerns it could inhibit legitimate political speech.
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We should touch people in primary school
Segal also outlined plans to expand education initiatives, arguing younger students were more “open” to changing their views than older age groups.
She said research commissioned by her office found social media was a major influence on young people’s understanding of the issue.
“There was a great deal of emphasis from the young people that it was social media that was influencing them as their source of information,” she said.
While university-aged students were “quite fixed in their ideas”, Segal said
younger children were more open to influence.
“There was some evidence [that] those who were younger were open to thinking about it and being more open,” she said.
“So, in the school, we should touch people in primary school and in secondary school … we need not only high school, but university, and TAFE. We actually need the full spectrum of education.”
Preschools under consideration
Segal also said the education taskforce had considered implementing programs in preschools.
The Royal Commission heard that the federal government had provided additional funding to expand the UNESCO antisemitism education pilot from its initial trial to 200 schools, with the program beginning its rollout in Western Australia from August before expanding to other states and territories.
Segal told the Commission that teaching materials were being developed for use across multiple subject areas, including civics and citizenship, English, geography and art.
The UNESCO antisemitism education program has attracted controversy.
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One of the architects of the program Dr Dave Rich is a “is a leading expert on left-wing antisemitism”. Rich has rejected the UN’s finding that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, stating that UN’s finding “has put the final nail in the coffin of Israel’s reputation, but it is as shoddy and partisan as every other attempt to pin the genocide label onto the Jewish State”.
In March, Rich delivered a keynote at a conference launching the UNESCO antisemitism education program implemented by the Special Envoy’s office.
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Stephanie is a journalist with a background in both law and journalism. She has worked at The Guardian and as a paralegal, where she assisted Crikey’s defence team in the high-profile defamation case brought by Lachlan Murdoch. Her reporting has been recognised nationally, earning her the 2021 Democracy’s Watchdogs Award for Student Investigative Reporting and a nomination for the 2021 Walkley Student Journalist of the Year Award.