Extract from ABC News
If you talk to almost any politician in Canberra at the moment, they will tell you there is something disturbing playing out in their communities. Many are deeply unsettled by it.
Anger at a war, unfolding in real-time on social media, is triggering animosity. MPs are detecting a level of polarisation — some call it intolerance — that they haven't observed at this level in their careers. Perhaps even their lives.
After last year's polarising Voice referendum vote, Australia went almost immediately into a period of domestic conflict over the war in the Middle East. The tensions have been boiling over relentlessly ever since. There has been a lack of self-analysis from us as a country about what that referendum was, why it failed, and what it tells us about the schisms in our community.
The referendum has become like the Voldemort of Australian politics — many of its main protagonists can't talk about it at any depth beyond platitudes.
Tensions were already high
Meanwhile, the world has been thrust into witnessing a brutal conflict that many believe has fundamentally changed community relations in Australia. It is tearing workplaces, families and friendship groups apart.
What worries those I've talked to on both sides of the political divide is that social cohesion was already at record lows. Towards the end of last year, the Mapping Social Cohesion Report was released putting the Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion at its lowest level since the survey began 16 years ago.
The index, which provides a barometer of social wellbeing, declined by four points over the 12 months to the end of last year, hitting the lowest result on record. Since November 2020, it has plummeted 13 points. Something is going on and it's sparking many conversations in Canberra.
The protracted war in Gaza is having a deep impact on the communities most directly affected. MPs representing some of Australia's most multicultural communities — particularly those with high numbers of Arab and Muslim constituents — say their communities are angry that the Albanese government hasn't gone further in denouncing Israel's military campaign. Their communities are feeling abandoned and ignored.
The political ramifications for the Albanese government are yet to be felt but it's fertile ground that could spell trouble. Last week Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued a joint statement warning Israel against carrying out a "devastating" and "catastrophic" ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, saying: "There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go."
The statement was strong but it drew criticism from Palestinian activists that it was too little too late.
What's the end game?
At the same time, Jewish Australians are experiencing the highest rates of anti-Semitism in their lives. I know Jewish Australians who are far from supportive of the Netanyahu government's military strategy but who say they don't feel comfortable in their workplaces or communities because of the conflation between being Jewish and being branded a supporter of the war. Nuance seems dead.
A leak of a WhatsApp chat group called "Jewish Australian creatives and academics" sent chills through the Jewish community. While members said it was formed as a supportive space, there's no doubt that some conversations focused on rebuking media critiques of Israel. The targeting of individuals is dangerous territory that politicians have vowed to stamp out.
The leakers say they acted in the public interest because they claim the chat group was coordinating actions to target pro-Palestinian activists. Some of those on the WhatsApp group say that was not what they were there to do. Others had their names published even though they weren't active in the group. The bigger question is why we are in a situation where Australians — whether Jewish or Palestinian — are being personally targeted and policed. What's the end game?
The Australian government has reacted to this episode with a move to criminalise doxxing and introduce jail terms for those responsible. The parameters of the laws will be subject to consultation and public journalism will be protected, but the fact that we are even having this conversation speaks volumes about how toxic things have become.
Cabinet minister Bill Shorten told me last week that community and racial cohesion in Australia was at a "very low point" since the Israel-Gaza war and he had not seen this level of intolerance during his time in parliament.
Speaking on ABC Radio National, Shorten said his electorate office in Moonee Ponds had been targeted several times by advocates.
"It's at a very low point," he told me. "I'm someone who really enjoys mixing with our constituents and getting out and about. The vast bulk of people are excellent, but there's no doubt that we've seen a rise in anti-Semitism, or we've seen a rise in this sort of ugly intolerance which, to be honest, I haven't seen in my time in parliament.
"For those people who would seek to vandalise, so somehow the events elsewhere justify law-breaking here, they're wrong."
The member for Macnamara, Josh Burns, has also been worried about how alienated his Jewish constituents are feeling.
"I know people are distressed about what is happening in the Middle East, but we cannot let the conflict overseas breed division and hatred in our local community," he says.
He says the majority of the community has been incredible and empathetic, however, there's a "small and loud group of people who feel that a conflict on the other side of the world is an excuse to target their fellow Australians".
"The way we talk about the conflict matters, our words matter, and we must not forget what it means to be a proud multicultural nation — listening, empathising and understanding one another."
Dealing with mistrust
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's strategy has been to try to de-escalate the tensions. The government is trying to avoid throwing a match on a tinderbox.
At the heart of the growing tensions is a sense of mistrust — at corporations, politicians, a questioning of motivations.
Tony Barry, a director at RedBridge, says the emerging and growing problem for corporate, media and political leaders at the moment is that public trust in their institutions is at an all-time low, according to their research.
"Current public assessments are that these institutions are not on their side and in most cases are actively working against their interests because they are not aligned with their values," he says.
Some political insiders tell me this sentiment about a lack of trust and the cost of living crisis is turbo-charging the tensions in the community.
Albanese has been trying to quietly play the role of unifier — he doesn't choose a side in his rhetoric, he denounces anti-Semitism and Islamophobia simultaneously.
It's a strategy he has followed for several months now, but as community tensions rise so do frustrations about where this all ends. Will the divisions remain a feature of life and how will we navigate our way out of it?
Patricia Karvelas is the presenter of Q+A, which returns live from Melbourne tonight at 9:35pm on ABC TV, RN Breakfast and is a co-host of the Party Room podcast.
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