Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has made a fierce swipe at Foreign Minister Penny Wong for not attending the Bondi memorial site or funerals of shooting victims, suggesting the senior Labor minister had not “shed a single tear” over the Bondi terror attack.
In a deeply personal rebuke of Wong over the Bondi massacre, Ley became emotional and smacked the lectern during a press conference on Monday morning, while she criticised the minister’s behaviour and absence in Sydney since last Sunday.
“I haven’t seen Penny Wong on the streets of Bondi. I haven’t seen Penny Wong at the vigil for 15 innocent murdered Australians,” she said.
“I didn’t see Penny Wong at Bondi last night at the eighth night of Hanukkah. I didn’t see Penny Wong attend a single funeral. I haven’t seen Penny Wong shed a single tear.
“So maybe if more government members … actually came to the streets of Bondi and listened, and not just listened, but heard, heard the pain, heard the anguish, heard the call to action, we wouldn’t have the ridiculous remarks that she has made recently.”
Ley made the comments after a reporter asked whether the opposition leader agreed with Wong’s comments from earlier in the morning, in which the foreign minister said there was a need to “turn the temperature down” on political debate.
“I have over and over again, as foreign minister, said that we all needed to turn the temperature down over the last two years,” Wong said on ABC radio.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley during the press conference on Monday.Credit: AAPIMAGE
“I have argued that we must not bring the conflict to Australia. You have heard me say that, and that has always been my position.”
The Coalition has been deeply critical of the Albanese government’s response to the Bondi terror attack, pursuing the prime minister for acting too slowly on antisemitism, while the Jewish community warned they feared for their safety over the last two years.
Former prime minister John Howard last week singled out Albanese and Wong for particular blame in allowing antisemitism to fester in Australia.
Ley has made repeated visits to the Bondi memorial site over the past week, where she has spent time speaking with grief-stricken community members who are furious with Labor’s approach to antisemitism.
She has also made a point of Albanese’s absence from the Bondi site. The prime minister was jeered by the crowd on Sunday night, when he attended the vigil marking one week since two gunmen killed 15 innocent people at an event celebrating Hanukkah.
Wong on Monday morning outlined actions the government had taken to deal with antisemitism – such as cracking down on hate speech, criminalising doxxing and banning the Nazi salute – while conceding it needed to do more.
“I said last week that we needed to do more and we are, which is why we have announced a stronger package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalisation,” she said on ABC Radio National.
“Now of course, you know, the prime minister has said, of course we recognise whilst we have done a great deal on hate speech and antisemitism, we have to do more, and we take responsibility for that.”
Asked if it was time for the government to say sorry, Wong said: “Look, I think all of us wish that we were not where we are. We all wish that the ISIS-inspired terrorist attackers had been stopped. We all wish that antisemitism had not continued in this country.”
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