Australia at risk of sliding toward the UK’s extremism crisis, former Australian PM says

Morrison spoke on the sidelines of the Generation Truth antisemitism conference in Jerusalem, after appearing on the event’s program. He described Australia as a country that “left the door open” to an antisemitic wave that erupted after October 7 and kept building.

“In Australia, we have witnessed a terrible explosion in antisemitism since October 7,” he said. “We left a gap for antisemitism to fill, and it certainly did, and it flourished.”

“That exposes the lie of this idea that the wave of protest against Israel was about alleged actions on their part,” he said. “This was all about an opportunity to attack Israel, right from the start.”

He also pushed back at the claim often heard at rallies that anti-Zionism differs from antisemitism in practice. “Oh, we’re just anti-Zionist, not antisemites,” he said, mimicking the argument. “Oh, really, explain to me the difference.”

Morrison said that by the time Australia reached what he called its December 14 breaking point, warning signs had already been visible for months.

“Over two years since October 7, we saw the doxxing was terrible,” he said, referring to the harassment of Israelis and Jews. He cited pressure campaigns against Israeli and Jewish businesses, academics, journalists, and students, especially on campuses.

“All of this was occurring,” he said. “I had hoped that, honestly, people were woken up to what was happening in front of them at that point. But sadly, [they] did not, and it continued to rage.”

He traced the problem to what he called a permissive culture inside Western institutions. “We have allowed a casualness to these issues within our institutions,” he said. “That has infiltrated, and that needs to be reversed.”

Morrison said the phenomenon cuts across political camps. “It’s progressive on the left,” he said, then added, “but on the right, it’s equally abhorrent, right? Just the extremes.”

He invoked the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, whose warnings about antisemitism have been quoted repeatedly during the Jerusalem conference. “He said, you know, it starts and ends with the Jews,” Morrison said. “He’s a great loss. I wish he was with us now.”

As Morrison argued that radicalization and antisemitism are shaped over decades, he reached for a stark image.

“In order to stop that terrorist attack in Australia, you needed a time machine,” he said. “You had to go back 30 years.”

I pressed him on the implication. If the failure stretched back three decades, did that include leaders like him who held power during those years?

“We all were,” Morrison replied. “We all were.”

He then separated the problem into what he called “two paths”: who enters a country and what happens after they arrive. In Australia’s case, he said, the second part mattered more.

“In this case, [what happens after] was a much bigger contributor,” he said. “Don’t ignore this part, because if you do, this will happen again.”

He rejected simplistic political slogans, including demands to “throw them out,” saying such approaches collapse when perpetrators are citizens.

“Throwing out [someone] who was born in Australia, an Australian citizen, where do you throw it out? You can’t,” he said. “These are things that get clickbait.”

“They had to be dragged to it,” he said, calling the early signs “not good.” He said a credible process would “leave no area untouched,” identify causes, and force Australian society to face issues it treats as politically untouchable.

At the heart of that, he argued, sits a challenge that multicultural societies often soften with rhetoric.

“We are an immigration country,” he said. “We are a multicultural country, but that does not provide a free license for every tribe to live outside of the values and precepts of our country.”

Morrison said that reality makes the debate harder, and leaders often avoid it. “That’s a hard thing to achieve in a multicultural society,” he said. “It’s gotten harder.”

Morrison repeatedly returned to the role of community leadership, especially inside Australia’s Islamic institutions. He said he wanted stronger, more accountable governance and called on religious leaders to address what happens in their own communities.

“Imams need to take greater responsibility for what’s happening in their communities and not leave that to the government or anyone else,” he said.

He emphasized he did not want the state to run religion. “Nor do I want the government coming in and telling how they should be running their faith, or Jews or Christians,” he said, adding that when communities “cross a line,” they “invite” that kind of intervention.

To illustrate the concept of national responsibility, Morrison referenced the Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand in 2019, noting that the perpetrator had spent time in Australia. “We had to take responsibility for that,” he said. “We had to look at our own souls around those things and understand what is happening there.”

“This is the same,” he added.

Despite the grim diagnosis, Morrison insisted on the possibility of change. “There is always hope,” he said, calling Australians “insanely optimistic” and praising resilience as a national trait.

Asked what he tells people about Israel, Morrison described the country as “a light in a part of the world that needs light,” pointing to Israel’s liberal democratic character and his own Christian connection to the land.

“For me as a Christian, it is the origin of my faith,” he said, adding that Christians benefit from “understanding the Jewishness of Christ.”

He closed with the point he returned to throughout the conversation: security, in his view, sits at the center of Israel’s reality.

“Israel must have its security,” Morrison said. “We’re not going to solve that issue overnight.”