Peter Dutton’s comparison of the pro-Palestine rally in Sydney on October 9 to the Port Arthur massacre would almost be laughable if it wasn’t so deplorable.
His comments weren’t an on-the-cuff moment, a slip-up in his speech. They were written down on a piece of paper – a planned, authorised point he made to… actually, his point was pretty unclear.
“While no one was killed during the October 9 protests, the events at the Sydney Opera House were akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance,” Dutton said on Wednesday night during a speech inside the Sydney Opera House.
Many were dumbfounded by the comparison of the two events. The former was a perfectly legitimate rally showing support for Palenstinians following the October 7 attack on Israel, which has since led to the killing of 30,000+ Palestinian civilians, many of whom are women and children. And the latter was Australia’s largest massacre by gun violence, when a man carelessly shot and killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania. It’s known as one of the darkest days in Australian history, and resulted in former prime minister John Howard’s gun law reform.
Despite public confusion and outrage, Dutton doubled down on his words on Thursday afternoon. When asked by an ABC journalist if he stood by his words, he showed no signs of backing down.
“I made the very important point last night that in 1996 when we saw a tragic loss of life in Port Arthur with that massacre there, that John Howard as prime minister at the time stood up and was strong as a leader, not weak,” Dutton said.
“He stood up for what was right, not what was wrong, and he led the Australian public on a path that we still benefit from today, that is gun law reform.
“We had a chance I think for the Prime Minister to see the controversy that was created after October 7 in our country, those dreadful scenes on the steps of the Opera House… but what we saw was a rise of antisemitism.”
Comparing two largely unrelated events to undermine the government, criticise the so-called “woke agenda” and spark widespread division in Australia – sound familiar? That’s because it is.
Exhibit A: The Aus Day merch moment
In the lead up to January 26, Woolworths and Big W announced it would no longer stock “Australia Day merchandise”. Clearly offended by the whole thing, Dutton called on Australians to boycott Woolworths. What’s more, Dutton aligned Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci with former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for “doubling down” on the decision.
In other words, Dutton likened the sale of Qantas plane tickets for more than 8,000 already cancelled flights, to Woolworths and BIG W no longer selling hats, temporary tattoos and beach towels with the Australian flag on it.
Exhibit B: Asylum seekers and antisemitism
It’s not the first time antisemitism, a legitimate threat upon the Jewish community at the moment, has been politicised by Dutton to undermine Anthony Albanese’s leadership.
During Question Time in November last year, Dutton conflated the High Court’s decision to release 83 asylum seekers from detention with the threat of antisemitism in Australia. He accused the PM of inciting “social disharmony in this country” as a result of the two very separate issues.
Albanese, visibly angry, at the time said Dutton’s conflation of the two issues was “beyond contempt”.
Exhibit C: The AEC during the referendum
Last year, the Voice to Parliament referendum showed the most divisive side of Dutton and his Opposition government.
Even before the official campaigning for the referendum kicked off, Dutton undermined Australia’s electoral system, claiming the AEC allowing ticks on the ballot paper to count as a Yes vote, but disallowing crosses to count as a No vote, was an “effective gerrymander” for the Albanese government.
Perhaps strategies like this – calling a national vote rigged before it even began – could be part of the reason that more than 60 per cent of Australians voted No to give our First Nations peoples a say in parliament.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia
According to US-based organisation Anti-Defamation League in late 2023, anti-Semitism on social media showed a 919 per cent week-over-week increase.
Similarly, a report from the Islamophobia Register Australia dubbed the Israel-Hamas was “the Instagram war”, with dangerous hate speech disseminated online. Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, killing up to 1200 Israeli civilians, the Register recorded a 1300 per cent increase in incidents of Islamophobia as of December last year.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia doesn’t just exist online – it happens regularly in the community, and is getting worse as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues.
So in fairness to Dutton, it is true that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government could be doing more to curb the rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia. Calling for a permanent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza would be a start, although I’m sure Dutton would disagree with me on that point.
Nevertheless, to align legitimate protests with a massacre that killed 35 people and changed the lives of families forever is an unforgivable move from Dutton.
Each time he does something like this, we might comment he has sunk to new depths in his divisive campaign as leader of the Opposition. So it begs the question – just how low can he go?