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When is a Jewish ‘joke’ not racist? · The Front

• 0:03
  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 July twenty four, twenty twenty five. Some members
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  Speaker 1: of the Coalition want new leader Susan Lee to dump
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  Speaker 1: the party's twenty fifty emissions reduction target, and NAT's leader
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  Speaker 1: David little Proud has indicated they could be on board.
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  Speaker 1: Mining magnate Andrew Twiggy Forest has mounted a spirited defense
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  Speaker 1: of China and called for stronger ties between our two nations.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: He also wants the government to turbocharge investment in green energy.
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  Speaker 1: Those exclusives and all the action from a fiery day
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  Speaker 1: one of Federal Parliament alive right now at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot a U. When is a joke about
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  Speaker 1: Jews not racist? A symposium at Queensland University of Technology
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  Speaker 1: that's accusations of antisemitism, furious denials and apologies has resulted
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  Speaker 1: in a formal review that's told QUT to better oversee
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  Speaker 1: its staff, but defended the allegedly offensive material as not
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  Speaker 1: anti semitic. Today, what's okay to say on campus?
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  Speaker 2: I presented with Duddam's Jews.
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  Speaker 1: Back in January, the Queensland University of Technology's Corumba Institute
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  Speaker 1: for Indigenous Studies hosted an event called the National Symposium
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  Speaker 1: on Unifying Anti Racist Research and Action. It kicked off
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  Speaker 1: a big political stink. Some Jewish leaders objected to what
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  Speaker 1: they said was anti semitic material air at the symposium,
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  Speaker 1: and Federal Education Minister Jason Clair called Vice Chancellor of QUT,
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  Speaker 1: Margaret Shield to express his concerns. Shil said she understood
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  Speaker 1: serious offense had been taken and apologized. QUT said it
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  Speaker 1: would remind it staff of their obligations to prevent racism
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  Speaker 1: or antisemitism on campus. QT appointed a former judge, John
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  Speaker 1: Middleton to review what happened, and here's what he's found.
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  Speaker 3: Neither the content presented nor the conduct of participants were
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  Speaker 3: any semitic when taken in the context of the event.
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  Speaker 1: That's a voice actor reading Middleton's words. He also found this.
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  Speaker 3: Some of the content was capable of causing offense, and
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  Speaker 3: more careful consideration should have been given to the timing
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  Speaker 3: and potential risks in light of the broader social context.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly what was said and whether it was offensive is
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  Speaker 1: a matter of contention, and this controversy tells us something
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  Speaker 1: about perceptions of racism and antisemitism, and about free speech
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  Speaker 1: on campus. So let's hear what actually happened. The night
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  Speaker 1: before the symposium, QUT staged a greatest debate featuring speakers
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  Speaker 1: including Sarah Schwartz.
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  Speaker 4: Sarah has been moonlighting as a Jewish human rights lawyer
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  Speaker 4: and writer supporting Palestinian.
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  Speaker 2: Freedom and justice. Last year she made.
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  Speaker 4: Up a whole organization filled with bad Jews. I'm actually
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  Speaker 4: here today to suggest that it really should have been
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  Speaker 4: any of us on the stage today, but it should
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  Speaker 4: be Peter Dunnan scomo Christian Zionists, Israel's professional genocide launderers.
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  Speaker 2: You guys are the real anti racist hero.
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  Speaker 1: Her main target was Peter Dutton, then the opposition leader.
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  Speaker 5: Now might've been tempting, amongst this fad of hate crimes
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  Speaker 5: to think that Dunham's found.
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  Speaker 2: A heart, but the reality is that for Dunden and
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  Speaker 2: his ilk.
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  Speaker 4: Us, Jews are the perfect adveratars for pedaling racism, islamophobia, anti.
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  Speaker 2: Immigrant sentiment, or, as historian Max.
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  Speaker 4: Kaiser says, we've become the super Western canaries in the
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  Speaker 4: coal mine for civilizational decline.
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  Speaker 1: Schwartz drew the audience's attention to an image projected on
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  Speaker 1: stage that showed a superhero type figure in a cape.
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  Speaker 2: I presented him with Dudden's jew. Dunning's jew.
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  Speaker 5: Just really, really healthily provided a human shield for him
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  Speaker 5: to talk about.
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  Speaker 4: Some of his favorite topics, Hating on migrants by arguing
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  Speaker 4: the Palestinian refugees.
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  Speaker 5: Or a threat to Jews just generally, hating on Muslims, protecting.
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  Speaker 2: Every day Aussies from left.
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  Speaker 5: Wing anti war protestings, and of course bolstering support for
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  Speaker 5: Israel as that commits a genocide.
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  Speaker 2: His parting no longer needs to defend the right to
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  Speaker 2: be biggots because.
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  Speaker 1: Dunnan's Duke this for the poster listed dot points including
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  Speaker 1: hates the radical left, scared of protesters, hates Palestinians, Arabs
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  Speaker 1: and Muslims, thinks of anti Semitism as the only form
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  Speaker 1: of racism. And this is where The Australian's Education editor
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta comes in.
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  Speaker 6: I became aware of it when someone from the Jewish
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  Speaker 6: community sent me a picture of Dutton's jew, and then
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  Speaker 6: I received another picture of another slide show of you know,
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  Speaker 6: punch a racist in the throat, and I thought, what
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  Speaker 6: on earth is this? So I looked it up and
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  Speaker 6: realized that there was an anti racism symposium being held,
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  Speaker 6: and I thought, oh, I might go along to that.
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  Speaker 6: It could be quite interesting, regardless of what had happened
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  Speaker 6: at that event. I tried to buy a ticket. There
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  Speaker 6: were no tickets, so I turned up with my media pass,
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  Speaker 6: which is standard practice for media at university academic symposiums.
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  Speaker 6: They're normally thrilled to have mainstream media publicity for their events.
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  Speaker 6: But I was told to leave, so I then stood outside.
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  Speaker 6: They had security guards there, so I stood outside for
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  Speaker 6: some hours. Realized later on that the organizer had described
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  Speaker 6: me and a Kuriamar reporter as those assholes out there
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  Speaker 6: and sort of making out that we were some sort
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  Speaker 6: of threat. I've actually got better things to do than
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  Speaker 6: hang around for a house at a time. But I
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  Speaker 6: was really keen to actually speak to some of these
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  Speaker 6: presenters and ask you what on earth they were doing
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  Speaker 6: this for.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what John Middleton said in his review about the
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  Speaker 1: Dutton's jew material.
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  Speaker 3: Miss Schwartz intended to critique what she perceives as the
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  Speaker 3: political weaponization of Jewish identity and anti Semitism by certain
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  Speaker 3: political leaders. She was not critical of Jewish people themselves.
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  Speaker 1: That wasn't the perception of some other Jewish leaders, though.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Agion, the President of the Executive Council of Australian Jury,
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  Speaker 1: said the Dutton's jew poster was clearly intended to stigmatize
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  Speaker 1: as evil and racist any Jewish person who might support
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  Speaker 1: the coalition. He called it an obvious and disgraceful racist trope.
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  Speaker 1: Sarah Schwartz is the founder of something called the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: Council of Australia, a group that's found itself seriously at
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  Speaker 1: odds with other Jewish organizations, including the Executive Council of
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  Speaker 1: Australian Jury. Here's what Sarah Schwartz said about the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: Council on the ABC when it was founded in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty four.
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  Speaker 5: We formed because in Australia, many of our Jewish representative
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  Speaker 5: bodies really failed to recognize that Jews have diverse views
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  Speaker 5: on Israel's military actions and engage in this conflation of
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  Speaker 5: legitimate criticism of Israel with anti Semitism, and that not
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  Speaker 5: only stifles the voices of Palestinians and their supporters, but
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  Speaker 5: it really so harms the fight against anti Semitism.
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  Speaker 1: Lorna Munroe, a poet and activist, was another speaker at
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  Speaker 1: the QT event. The report says Munroe told the crowd,
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  Speaker 1: people say we should call out racism when we witness it.
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  Speaker 1: I say, punch that in the face. We can all
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  Speaker 1: throw them, and if you can't or prefer not to participate,
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  Speaker 1: we can assign someone to punch that in the face
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  Speaker 1: for you satisfaction guaranteed. Here's Lorna Munroe on stage at
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  Speaker 1: a later event, reflecting on what she says was an
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  Speaker 1: unfair misinterpretation of her satiric set.
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  Speaker 7: The solution to racism is quite simple, my lawyer advised
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  Speaker 7: me to say.
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  Speaker 1: Allegedly, Munroe described a childhood experience that shaped her view
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  Speaker 1: a shocking racist slur from a boy on the school bus.
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  Speaker 1: This set is on Lorda Monroe's Instagram feed, I which.
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  Speaker 7: Passed all the people to go back to him and
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  Speaker 7: his friends did not say a word and pushing square
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  Speaker 7: in the face.
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  Speaker 2: My mum thought it was the funniest thing ever.
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  Speaker 7: When she got called to the school because I got
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: in trouble for fighting employees at an old girls' school.
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  Speaker 7: It's safe to say that he never ever said.
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  Speaker 2: A single word to me ever again.
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  Speaker 7: Who and I've never been subjected to racial flurs ever.
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  Speaker 2: Since face to face anyway.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Middleton said in his report.
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  Speaker 3: Miss Munroe's presentation, while provocative in town, was clearly satirical
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  Speaker 3: in nature and delivered within the context of a comedy event.
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  Speaker 3: She did not intend to promote physical aggression, but rather
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  Speaker 3: engage with cultural discourse through satire and exaggeration.
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  Speaker 1: Middleton's reports said Schwartz and Monroe.
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  Speaker 3: Were not any Semitican name, nor were they offensive to
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  Speaker 3: those actually present at the debate.
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  Speaker 1: While Natasha was hanging around outside the event, an associate
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  Speaker 1: professor from the University of Queensland who was present, Johnni Nazarafi,
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  Speaker 1: said he felt unsafe at the closing session of the
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  Speaker 1: conference when a QUT staffer said someone who leaked the
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  Speaker 1: Dutton's jew slide to the Australian should be ashamed. That
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  Speaker 1: prompted chance of shame shame from the crowd. He's Nazarafi
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  Speaker 1: talking to Natasha Beta at the time.
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  Speaker 6: You look very upset.
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  Speaker 1: How did you feel.
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  Speaker 8: Throughout this conference? I heard stories of people that were
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  Speaker 8: the only dark skinned child in the room in their childhood, etc.
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  Speaker 8: And here I was only Zionist in the room and
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  Speaker 8: vinification of Zionists is racism. So I felt that this
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  Speaker 8: was a racial attack on me, because this is not
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  Speaker 8: what Australia needs to know.
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  Speaker 6: Yone was incredibly shaken, he was genuinely fearful, and this
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  Speaker 6: independent review has found that the organizer of the conference did,
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  Speaker 6: in fact, you know, have a go at him and
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  Speaker 6: then there was a chance that went up shame, shame,
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  Speaker 6: and somebody yelled out punched him in the throat. Now
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  Speaker 6: I cannot see how let alone an academic this is
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  Speaker 6: meant to be an academic symposium, but in any workplace
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  Speaker 6: is that an acceptable way to talk about things. If
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  Speaker 6: they had issues about somebody handing material to the media,
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  Speaker 6: it could have been done in a very different way
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  Speaker 6: to that. I have never covered any academic conference like
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  Speaker 6: it coming up.
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  Speaker 1: How this all fits into the picture of protest and
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  Speaker 1: debate on campus NATAGA. This happened in the context of
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  Speaker 1: big protests on campuses in Australia and around the world
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  Speaker 1: about the Middle East, chance of from the river to
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  Speaker 1: the sea and Palestine will be free. It was a
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  Speaker 1: time of very high emotion, particularly for the Jewish community.
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  Speaker 1: How do you reflect now on all of that and
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  Speaker 1: how university has handled it, including this kind of event
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  Speaker 1: at QUT.
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  Speaker 6: Well, if I were a vice chancellor, I would be
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  Speaker 6: doing everything in my power to try to get people
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  Speaker 6: to understand each other, to have proper debates, to perhaps
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  Speaker 6: look at the history of the Middle East so they
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  Speaker 6: can understand things in an historical context. But you don't
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  Speaker 6: sort of set people up to just scream at each
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  Speaker 6: other and abuse each other and intimidate each other. And
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  Speaker 6: from what my observations, it was the Jewish students who
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  Speaker 6: were the ones being intimidated. And that's from my direct
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  Speaker 6: observation going onto the university grounds, not at QT but
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  Speaker 6: at another university I went to, and what I observed
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  Speaker 6: happening in Melbourne as well.
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  Speaker 1: Directly after the event. And you're reporting QUT apologized for
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  Speaker 1: having caused defense. Now they're saying they're going to implement
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  Speaker 1: the recommendations of this report. What practical difference do you
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  Speaker 1: think that's going to make.
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  Speaker 6: Well, they are saying that they have strengthened oversight of
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  Speaker 6: the Corumba Institute by requiring them to report to the
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  Speaker 6: chief academic Officer. I'm not sure why that wasn't happening
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  Speaker 6: in the first place. I think that, you know, all
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  Speaker 6: institutes within a university surely should be equal and have
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  Speaker 6: reporting lines to the head honchos. They say may have
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  Speaker 6: adopted the university's Australia Working Definition on combating Anti Semitism,
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  Speaker 6: but that was done anyway, regardless of this investigation. And
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  Speaker 6: they are saying that the rest of the recommendations relate
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: to policy, process, staff training and event governance, so any
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: matters relating to individual staff conduct have been addressed internally
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  Speaker 6: and with appropriate confidentiality. So it's basically there's nothing to
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  Speaker 6: look at here. Would you all go away? It's all okay.
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  Speaker 6: I don't think that's okay. I'm just reading it. I'm
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  Speaker 6: even reading more detail of what was said thanks to
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  Speaker 6: the transcripts in this report, and I am flabbagusted that
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  Speaker 6: this has been happening, not that even that it's allowed
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  Speaker 6: to happen, but that any academics would think that this
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  Speaker 6: is how you run a symposium that is advertised as
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  Speaker 6: fighting racism. It's actually stoking racism from what I observed
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  Speaker 6: in the behavior of some of the delegates. And I
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  Speaker 6: also feel that other delegates were very disappointed by what
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  Speaker 6: went on because they genuinely wanted to go and help
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  Speaker 6: the people they were representing, so I said, it was
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: just hijacked by all this other stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor and you can
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: read her reporting anytime at the Australian dot com dot
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: au