Caulfield candidates clash
AHEAD of Saturday's Victorian election, security and antisemitism were hot-button Jewish issues as candidates for Caulfield faced off at a forum held by The AJN and Zionism Victoria (ZV) at Beth Weizmann Community Centre.
AHEAD of Saturday’s Victorian election, security and antisemitism were hot-button Jewish issues as candidates for Caulfield faced off at a forum held by The AJN and Zionism Victoria (ZV) at Beth Weizmann Community Centre.
The three-way debate on November 14 featured Jewish Caulfield Liberal MP David Southwick, Jewish ALP challenger Sorina Grasso and Greens candidate Dinesh Mathew, who took part after his federal counterpart Steph Hodgins-May had declined appearing at a 2016 federal election forum, citing ZV being the host.
“The Greens candidate for Caulfield, however, appears to have no such qualms,” noted AJN national editor Zeddy Lawrence who chaired the debate. After the trio spoke, they fielded spirited audience questions – and Grasso faced front-row heckling.
Running for his third term, Southwick spoke of the Liberals’ $5.2 million pledge to upgrade security at 12 Jewish schools, and $2 million for the Jewish Cultural and Arts Precinct (JCAP).
He said Victorian Parliamentary Friends of Israel, which he co-chairs, held familiarisation tours of the bagel belt for all sides of politics. He recounted taking Liberal Opposition leader Matthew Guy to Israel, saying Guy “has always been a passionate supporter … but there’s nothing like taking someone there”. He also said antisemitism on campuses needs to be tackled.
Southwick called for reinstating the previous Liberal-Nationals government’s “move-on” laws, which ended on-premises demonstrations outside Max Brenner outlets. Emphasising law and order, he said, “We need to be able to walk the streets … live in our houses.”
Grasso, a Romanian-born educator who spent a year and a half in Israel before growing up in Caulfield, demonstrated her fluent Hebrew in a greeting, and referred to the Andrews government’s $4 million security funding grant – and $500,000 for JCAP, adding “I fought for that.”
She condemned the latest Hamas rocket attacks, stating her support for Israel “is unequivocal and heartfelt”.
Southwick and Grasso clashed over the Liberals’ plans to scrap the Safe Schools program in which he said “really young children [are] being exposed to sexual education” and replace it with anti-bullying legislation, which she said would not teach respect for those with diverse sexual orientations.
Mathew, who grew up in Sri Lanka, recalled witnessing anti-Tamil violence, which made him passionately opposed to racism – and that “includes anti-Zionist feeling”. But during questions, the concept of Israel as a Jewish state – which federal Greens leader Richard di Natale has said he does not support – seemed to make the candidate uneasy, and he described Israel as “a pluralistic state”.
PETER KOHN
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