Supporting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex & Queer people in Melbourne's Jewish community. Founded 1995.
The JCCV has been advocating for the safety of all Victorians, including our Jewish community. We know that on this occasion, the target of hateful conduct was transgender people. That is why the JCCV is campaigning for a broader discussion about vilification of all minorities.
https://twitter.com/jccvic/status/1637951570221629440
JEWISH COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF VICTORIA
MEDIA STATEMENT
“The actions of Nazi thugs over the weekend has shocked the entire Victorian community, not just Jews. We are pleased to see the Victorian Government move to ban the Nazi salute, most likely with bipartisan support. It is an odious symbol of hate.
It should not be lost in the debate that, on this occasion, the proximate target of this hateful conduct was transgender people.
“The JCCV thinks that there needs to be a broader discussion about vilification of all minorities, and criminalisation of such behaviour. We look forward to participating in that discussion with Government in the near future.”
[Source]
To download this statement in PDF format, please click here.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (the ECAJ), the peak representative body of the Australian Jewish community, has condemned yesterday’s demonstration in Melbourne’s CBD by a group of neo-Nazis as “disgraceful”, and called for tougher action by State, Territory and Federal governments against public displays of Nazi symbols and gestures.
“Neo-Nazis remain denizens of the far fringes of society, but a weak response by government has emboldened them”, said ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim. “They are becoming increasingly brazen in staging displays of the kind we witnessed yesterday outside the Victorian parliament”.
“Thugs in black uniform, hiding behind masks, performing Nazi salutes and spewing violent and dehumanising rhetoric against entire groups of people on the basis of their race, sexuality or gender identity, should have no place anywhere in Australia, let alone outside a parliament, the symbol of democracy”, he said.
Peter Wertheim also noted media reports of attempts by neo-Nazis to join the Australian defence force and state police forces in order to gain access to weapons and training.
“We welcome the Victorian government’s announcement that it will ban the Nazi salute in public, after it previously outlawed the display of the Hakenkreuz. But we need something more than a piecemeal approach, and a patchwork of State laws. It’s well past time for Federal, State and Territory governments to co-ordinate their efforts through intelligence sharing, tough uniform legislation, and rigorous police training and enforcement to crack down on this growing menace.”
Contact
Peter Wertheim AM | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax: 02 9361 5888
e: pwertheim@ecaj.org.au | www.ecaj.org.au
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MEDIA RELEASE
MARCH 18 2023
Aleph Melbourne condemns neo-Nazis at anti-transgender rally
Aleph Melbourne is alarmed by a formation of people giving Nazi salutes on the steps of the Victorian Parliament at an anti-transgender rally today.
White supremacy of this nature lead to the persecution and murder of millions of Jews, LGBTIQ+ people and other minorities in World War 2.
There is no room for this ugly behaviour in Melbourne, or anywhere else.
Transgender, gender diverse and all LGBTIQ+ people have a right to live in peace and safety, without fear of bigotry, transphobia or intolerance.
We call on the Victorian Government to condemn this behaviour and make it illegal to perform Nazi salutes in public places.
Michael Barnett OAM
Co-Convenor
Aleph Melbourne
0417-595-541
Related media coverage:
The Australian Law Reform Commission is holding an inquiry into Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws.
This is Aleph Melbourne’s submission to the inquiry:
2023-ALRC-submission-179-M-Barnett-ADL-submissionAll submissions here.
Australia Day 2023 honours for elder abuse law trailblazer, Indigenous activist and a fossil hunter
Other recipients whose work might go under the national radar, but were transformative, include Michael Barnett for service to the LGBTQ+ community, the palaeontologist Lesley Kool, and Leanne Miller for “significant service to women’s affairs, and to the Indigenous community”.
Barnett, a co-convener of Aleph Melbourne, said he worried about suicide rates and mental health issues in vulnerable young people, because of “relentless and pointless homophobic and transphobic intolerance”.
He worked hard to turn things around in one specific community.“Over the years of my advocacy and activism I have seen Melbourne’s Jewish community become a beacon of LGBTIQ+ inclusion,” he said.
Australia Day 2023 honours for elder abuse law trailblazer, Indigenous activist and a fossil hunter
At the November 9 2022 Caulfield Candidates’ Forum and Q&A, candidates David Southwick MP (Liberal) and Lior Harel (ALP) discuss a Liberal Party proposal to amend the Equal Opportunity Act. Question asked by Caulfield resident David Zyngier on behalf of Aleph Melbourne.
QUESTION FOR DAVID SOUTHWICK BY CAULFIELD RESIDENT DAVID ZYNGIER ON BEHALF OF ALEPH MELBOURNE
“David Southwick has given an iron-clad guarantee that under a Liberal Government any amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act will protect the LGBTIQA+ community from discrimination.*
Hypothetical scenarios aside, can he state what genuine existing problem necessitates an amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act?”
* Candidate statement: David Southwick – Liberal for Caulfield
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION FOR DAVID SOUTHWICK BY LIOR HAREL
“If the roof body for the Jewish community says the law doesn’t need to be changed, and the major Jewish schools say the law doesn’t need to be changed, who are you changing the law for?”
Geoff Allshorn writes about the life of Holocaust Survivor and humanist Halina Strnad:
“As a cultural Jew and Holocaust survivor, she wrote to a Jewish community newspaper some decades ago calling for the inclusion of an LGBT Jewish group within formal Jewish community networks; one of her last attempts at activism came early this year when she offered to participate (as a longtime supporter and ally of LGBT rights) within a Rainbow Humanist group marching in Melbourne’s Pride March – an offer which sadly was ultimately unable to be taken up due to understandable caution over public transmission concerns regarding COVID in crowded spaces.”
I WRITE to express my dismay at the JCCV’s decision to reject the Aleph gay group as an affiliate member.
As a consequence of prejudice and intolerance, Jews, gypsies and homosexuals were persecuted and, during the Holocaust, slaughtered wholesale.
Deemed ‘undesirable elements’ and separated only by barbed wire in extermination camps, these groups of people were brutally eliminated because in some ways they were not quite like the majority.
As a former undesirable Jewish ‘element’ but a survivor, I hoped that more than any other attitude, tolerance would be imprinted on the collective Jewish psyche.
Halina Strnad
Box Hill South
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Submission-15-Aleph-Melbourne-Senate-Standing-Committees-on-Legal-and-Constitutional-Affairs-Religious-Discrimination-Bill-2021-etc[PDF]
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Submission-147-Submission-to-the-Senate-Legal-and-Constitutional-Affairs-Legislation-Committee-Inquiry-into-Religious-Discrimination-Bill-2021-and-related-bills[PDF]
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Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights – Religious Discrimination Report
Parliamentary-Joint-Committee-on-Human-Rights-Religious-Discrimination-Bill-Report[PDF]
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs – Religious discrimination Report
Senate-Legal-and-Constitutional-Affairs-Legislation-Committee-Religious-Discrimination-Bill-Report[PDF]
