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Antisemitism barrister’s daughter is a pro-Palestine protester · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, February five, twenty twenty six. Australia's most powerful
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: union figure, ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says unions will unashamedly
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  Speaker 1: campaign for above inflation pay rises. In an exclusive interview
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  Speaker 1: with The Australians Ewan Hannon, McManus says the issue for
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six is wages, wages, wages. This is the
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  Speaker 1: only way in the short term to address the pressures
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  Speaker 1: that people are under. A passionate young woman with strong
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  Speaker 1: views about Palestine, Lauren Lancaster is unknown outside student politics,
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  Speaker 1: but the former University of Sydney Student Representative Council president
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  Speaker 1: who's condemned Israel for ethnic cleansing is the daughter of
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  Speaker 1: Richard Lancaster, SC the senior county assisting the Royal Commission
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  Speaker 1: into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. That's today's story. The Royal
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  Speaker 1: Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has had a troubled
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  Speaker 1: start to life. First of all, Anthony Albanezi didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to do it at all. Then his choice of Commissioner
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  Speaker 1: was hotly debated. By members of the Jewish community who
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  Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that the Commissioner didn't bring a
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  Speaker 1: pre existing view to this very hotly debated issue. Now
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  Speaker 1: the Royal Commission's beginning its work and Commissioner Virginia Bell
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  Speaker 1: has appointed one of Australia's most eminent barristers, Richard Lancaster,
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  Speaker 1: SC to be her counsel assisting the Australians. James Dowling
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  Speaker 1: is breaking a story today about Richard Lancaster and I'm
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  Speaker 1: joined by the Australians Elie Dudley to discuss it. Ellie,
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  Speaker 1: Richard Lancaster is a seriously impressive barrister, isn't he?
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  Speaker 2: Asolutely Richard Lancaster is a very celebrated barrister. He has
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  Speaker 2: a long list of accolades, He's got a wealth of
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  Speaker 2: experience and he's acted for the Jewish community in the past.
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  Speaker 2: He's acted for them in the New South Wales Supreme
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  Speaker 2: Court when proving that a trust was a charitable trust
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  Speaker 2: at one point when executing the will of philanthropist Millie Phillips.
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  Speaker 2: So he's got a lot of history, he is well
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  Speaker 2: experienced and he was a solid pick to be Counsel
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  Speaker 2: Assistant in this Royal Commission.
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  Speaker 1: He also has a family and just like in the media,
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  Speaker 1: there are many legal couples. He's married to Sally Dowling
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  Speaker 1: sc who is the new South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions,
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  Speaker 1: and their daughter is Lauren Lancaster. Now that's not a
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  Speaker 1: name many of our audience would be familiar with, but
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  Speaker 1: she's a University of Sydney student politician, very active young
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  Speaker 1: woman on campus and over the past couple of years
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  Speaker 1: she's been particularly vocal about the issue of Israel and Palestine.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me about Lauren Lancaster.
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  Speaker 2: So, Lauren Lancaster was the president of the University of
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  Speaker 2: the SRC from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: She described herself as a pro Palestine activist and she
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  Speaker 2: a motion that was passed by the University SRC when
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  Speaker 2: she was president. Drew criticism from Jewish groups and also
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  Speaker 2: from Vice Chancellor Mark Scott.
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  Speaker 1: The vice Chancellor has conceded he could have done more
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  Speaker 1: to make Jewish students feel safer.
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  Speaker 3: I failed them in the university has failed them. The
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  Speaker 3: testimonials are heartbreaking and unacceptable and for that I am sorry.
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  Speaker 3: No one should feel at risk, unsafe or unwelcome at
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  Speaker 3: any place of learning.
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  Speaker 2: Now, that was a motion put forward to criticize Israel's militarist,
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  Speaker 2: apartized and ethnic cleansing. And this was a motion that
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  Speaker 2: she seconded, So it wasn't just something that was passed
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  Speaker 2: by the sc when she was in charge, but she
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  Speaker 2: also seconded the motion herself. At the time, Mark Scott
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  Speaker 2: said the motion does not represent the position of the
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  Speaker 2: university and also said that the university was acting to
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  Speaker 2: stamp out anti Semitism on campus in April and September
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. She also detailed her work with pro
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  Speaker 2: Palestine causes on campus. She said, this month, I've been
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  Speaker 2: involved with a lot of Palestine activism, including the rally
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  Speaker 2: in support of Gaza when Israel was bombing the region
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  Speaker 2: leaving forty nine dead. So this is a woman who
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  Speaker 2: has been the president of the university sc well on
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  Speaker 2: lots of different issues, you know, environments, social justice, but
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  Speaker 2: pro Palestine activism was something that was definitely in her repertoire.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very common feature of university life these days
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  Speaker 1: that the issue of Israel and Palestine is hotly debated.
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  Speaker 2: This GUS divers.
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  Speaker 1: There have been encampments at various universities. There've been marches,
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  Speaker 1: and there's been a constant stream of Jewish students saying
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  Speaker 1: that the they don't feel like campus is safe, is
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  Speaker 1: somewhere where they can be fully Jewish and express themselves publicly.
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  Speaker 1: Now there's no suggestion, of course, that Lauren Lancaster has
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  Speaker 1: done anything wrong. She's just been a vibrant young woman
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  Speaker 1: with a strong opinion, hasn't.
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  Speaker 2: She Absolutely, and there's nothing to say that she's been
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  Speaker 2: involved in some of those really big actions that we've
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  Speaker 2: seen on campus post October seven, twenty twenty three. As
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  Speaker 2: I mentioned, she was president from twenty twenty one to
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. There's no evidence that she attended the encampment,
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  Speaker 2: for example, that was outside the University of Sydney quadrangle.
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  Speaker 2: We know last year there was an incident where members
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  Speaker 2: of the university SISE turned their backs on Jewish students
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of a meeting Jewish students who were
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  Speaker 2: explaining how they felt unsafe on campus and they felt
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  Speaker 2: like anti Semitism was raging rampant. So there's no evidence
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  Speaker 2: to say that she was involved in those things. But
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  Speaker 2: it's examples like that and examples that we've seen at
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  Speaker 2: the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, where we've
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  Speaker 2: seen incidents of anti Semitism on campus that are going
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  Speaker 2: to form a massive part of this Royal Commission. And
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  Speaker 2: that's where the story that we're publishing today.
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  Speaker 1: Lies coming up the new judge who's at the center
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  Speaker 1: of a huge controversy of his own. The law is
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  Speaker 1: of course full of people who are part of society
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  Speaker 1: and have strong opinions. In New South Wales, there's a
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  Speaker 1: raging controversy about a newly appointed Supreme Court judge. This
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  Speaker 1: is Philip Bolton sc again, a very highly respected barrister.
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Moses, one of the country's preeminent barristers, has said
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  Speaker 1: that Philip Bolton is without peer as an excellent practitioner
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  Speaker 1: of the law. But the Jewish community is unhw because
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  Speaker 1: before being appointed to the bench, Philip Bolton expressed a
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  Speaker 1: lot of very frank views about Israel and Palestine on
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  Speaker 1: social media, didn't he?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he did about Israel, about Palestine, about the anti
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  Speaker 2: Semitism mon boy as well, Gillian Siegel. He was highly
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  Speaker 2: critical of her when The Australian revealed some of these
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  Speaker 2: comments that had been made on social media. Michael Daily,
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  Speaker 2: the new Southwal's Attorney General, launched a snap review of
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  Speaker 2: the appointment and in the end to go ahead with it,
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  Speaker 2: and Philip Bolton was sworn into the bench just this week.
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  Speaker 2: But it was in that review and in an interview
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  Speaker 2: that Michael Daily did with us that he mentioned that
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  Speaker 2: Philip Bolton would mostly handle criminal matters. The new Soufthwales
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  Speaker 2: Supreme Court we know, particularly over the past few years,
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  Speaker 2: has been handed a bunch of cases with pro Palestinian
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  Speaker 2: activists trying to march. So for example, the pro Palestine
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  Speaker 2: rally over the Harbor Bridge, that was something that was
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  Speaker 2: subject to a Supreme Court challenge. So I can't imagine
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  Speaker 2: that we'll see Philip Bolton handling cases like this, but
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  Speaker 2: it is interesting, you know, barristers and judges, they've all
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  Speaker 2: got their their own opinions and their own views on things.
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  Speaker 2: Ensuring that they are kept out of the work that
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  Speaker 2: they're doing is incredibly important, particularly when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: issues like this that are so heated.
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  Speaker 1: It seems slightly emblematic of this protest movement to me
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  Speaker 1: that this leading light of the Uni protest movement Laura
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  Speaker 1: Lancaster is the daughter of two high flying lawyers. There's
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  Speaker 1: a cohort of highly educated, passionate Dare I say privileged
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  Speaker 1: young people who have taken this calls on particularly as
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  Speaker 1: their own, haven't they?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. She has campaigned hard, She has a tended protests.
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  Speaker 2: She would say that she is seeking out justice and
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  Speaker 2: that's what she's doing and probably what she's going to
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  Speaker 2: do when she carries on through with her law degree.
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  Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley, thank you very.
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  Speaker 2: Much, my pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: Ellie Dudley is a journalist with The Australian. You can
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  Speaker 1: read this story, plus all our coverage of the Royal
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  Speaker 1: Commission and anti Semitism right now at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot au