The highest duty of a government is the safety of its citizens and the current Labor government has betrayed this duty. It has other priorities such as vote harvesting and ideological pursuits. Just look at the two shocking and disturbing stabbing incidents in Sydney.

With the dramatic rise of antisemitism since 7 October the Jewish community is rightly feeling particularly sensitive to issues of security. The Sydney stabbings have also had a major impact across much of Australian society.

The stabbing attacks in Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April sent immediate reverberations through the Jewish community, already on edge. The attacks unfolded in the commercial centre of the eastern suburbs of Sydney which is home to the majority of Jews in New South Wales in a facility associated with the famous Jewish and Israel-supporting Lowy family. Initially it looked much like the sort of lone wolf Islamist terror attack seen too often in the Middle East and Europe, a solitary man with a large knife stabbing as many people as he could before being forcibly stopped. This was no doubt a contributor to early anxieties.

It has subsequently been reported that the perpetrator was a 40-year-old man with a long history of severe schizophrenia and an obsession with knives. If there is anything positive to come from the terrible tragedy it must be a discussion on the approach to our most severely mentally ill citizens. It was the NSW Labor government in the 1980s led by Premier Neville Wran together with Health Minister Laurie Brereton, which decided to close all long-term secure psychiatric facilities. Every last one.

There was an ideological obsession to undermine the traditional medical role and transfer care to social workers and other community health practitioners. This was done against the advice of many in health delivery. I was then Deputy Medical Secretary of the Australian Medical Association, and we argued that while some reform of psychiatric institutions was appropriate, their complete closure would lead to unintended consequences of a rise in homelessness, drug and alcohol problems and even community safety risks. All these have occurred.

The stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari at his Assyrian community church in Wakeley in western Sydney occurred just two days later on 15 April. In some ways it was more shocking with its terrorist motive. While some issues are still being investigated it is widely reported that this was an Islamist attack designated by the NSW Police Commissioner as terrorism. The perpetrator is allegedly a radicalised Muslim teenager who said he was there because the bishop had insulted Mohammed. There have been allegations he was encouraged by others, but they are not confirmed. His actions were condemned by major Islamic organisations but excused or praised by others locally and overseas.

The Christian Assyrian community is on record expressing concern at being targets of Islamist terror. Many of them fled Syria and Lebanon to escape the persecution of their community. They have been shocked to find attitudes they ran from flourishing in Australia. To the extent that Islamic hate preaching plays a role in facilitating extremist views, radicalisation and a desire for violent jihad, our politicians and law enforcement agencies have been impotent.

Asio boss Mike Burgess in his annual threat assessment for 2024 issued repeated warnings mentioning radicalisation and increased complexity of threats. Not surprisingly he wrote that since the 7 October atrocities by Hamas we have ‘observed an increase in rhetoric encouraging violence in response to the conflict. Hateful rhetoric has targeted Israel and the Jewish community’.At least he calls it out but that’s not much comfort to those communities such as the Jewish and Assyrian who see themselves as priority targets.

The current Labor government has not only been the most hostile to Israel, but also ineffective in tackling antisemitism. While certain law and order issues are responsibilities of state governments, universities are a federal responsibility. They have become epicentres of virulent anti-Israel activism and overt antisemitism to the point that Jewish students often feel it is unsafe to attend.

When we see the repeated government warnings to, and criticism, of Israel, the enthusiastic funding of the terror supporting agency Unrwa, the rapid approval of over 2,200 visas to bring people from Gaza where Hamas holds 75-per-cent support for its barbaric terror attack, the failure to deal with antisemitism or Islamic hate preaching, our government is sacrificing the national interest and security of communities, possibly for some perceived grubby political advantage.

On 10 April the Australian newspaper published an article titled ‘The set of numbers that has ALP powerbrokers worried’. It was a striking analysis of the 29 Federal electorates with 5 per cent or more Muslim voters. Labor holds 27 but some are electorally vulnerable and are being targeted by the Greens. Is the attempt to hold on to electorates the explanation for some of these reckless policies?

Then in steps the new eSafety Commissioner, the zealous World Economic Forum attendee Julie Inman Grant. Although both Sydney stabbing events occurred in public spaces, Grant has decided that responsible adult Australians cannot decide for themselves whether to see video of what happened. Take-down orders of videos recording the events were issued to the major social media platforms.

Both events, while confronting, were of critical interest not just to the Jewish community but across the Australian community. The first step in dealing with a problem is to expose it so it can be properly understood. With an appropriate warning the Australia Jewish Association put some video on our social media which was then a target of the eSafety Commissioner’s action.

If such material is swept under the cover and hidden it will be very convenient for politicians who want to do nothing. No successful society has ever been built by hiding the truth.

Yes, the content has some shock value but that’s exactly what is needed to motivate public pressure to hold our political leaders to account, to deal with some tough issues, not avoid them. By demanding truth be hidden, the eSafety Commissioner makes us less safe.