Australia news live: UNSW tutor tells antisemitism royal commission that students performed Nazi salutes towards him in class | Australia news
Nazi salute performed towards a Jewish academic at UNSW, royal commission hears
Caitlin Cassidy
A tutor and PhD candidate at UNSW says students performed Nazi salutes towards him during a business class. Appearing before the royal commission under the pseudonym ACJ, the academic said he was teaching a class for international students at UNSW College that had nothing to do with Nazism in 2024 when four students stood up and performed the salute.
He said he was “incredibly shocked, and offended and threatened” by the display.
“My grandparents had survived the Holocaust, the Nazis … murdered a huge proportion of my family. And so when someone does a Nazi salute at me it feels like they want to kill me.”
He said he wasn’t sure if the students knew he was Jewish, but it seemed clearly directed. The academic reached out to his direct supervisors, noting it was a crime to perform a Nazi salute in New South Wales and that he intended to go to the police.
He said the students were initially issued a formal warning. NSW Police then carried out an investigation, he said, and the students were suspended and required to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum. He asked for the students to be removed from his class and was refused due to timetabling.
Continued in next post
Key events
Caitlin Cassidy
Former University of Sydney academic takes aim at ‘aggressive’ pro-Palestine protests, royal commission hears
Dr Andy Smidt, an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, has taken aim at staff and student pro-Palestine protests on university campuses.
Smidt was a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney in the Faculty of Medicine and Health for three decades until 2024. She told the royal commission into antisemitism that the campus environment changed significantly after 7 October. Her son, a student at the university, was offered a security escort on campus.
There were posters over every wall … saying some very aggressive things. They were about the intifada. There was one where there was a picture of a bulldozer that was demolishing something.
Participants in pro-Palestine protests at the University of Sydney have consistently denied claims of antisemitism from some Jewish groups. A joint statement published by 10 university encampments in 2024 said the protests had been peaceful and opposition to the state of Israel and Zionism as an ideology was not antisemitism.
Smidt said politics in the Middle East was “very complicated” but “symbols carry meaning”.
There is Palestine, there is also Hamas … A lot of this is about the Palestinian people having a home. OK. It’s very different from Hamas, where Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has stated their intent to wipe out Jews.
Penry Buckley
NSW premier rejects recommendation for inquiry on removing state’s top prosecutor
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has rejected the recommendation of a parliamentary committee to establish a formal inquiry to see if there are grounds for removing the state’s top prosecutor from office.
Last week, an upper house inquiry voted 4-3 to find that the NSW director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling, had authorised pitching a story to radio station 2GB about a sentencing hearing involving a young Indigenous person, and “falsely denied having done so” to the committee. Dowling has admitted her office pitched the story but denied under oath that she had authorised it – she and another DPP witness rejected the characterisation of the incident as a “leak”.
Asked about the incident last year, Minns said it would be “completely unacceptable” for the DPP to leak information. Asked about his previous comments at a press conference today, he said:
I think that [the committee] have come in very hard denouncing an independent judicial officer who serves an important role on evidence that at best is very different. The two people who gave sworn evidence to the committee said that the DPP didn’t leak the information. So I do stand by that view, but I’m not sure, I don’t believe the evidence supports the recommendations.
Since the findings, many have written in support of Dowling and against the recommendations, including 120 crown prosecutors, the Police Association of NSW, and the Public Service Association, the union for prosecutors. Defence Lawyers NSW, an incorporated association for criminal barristers and solicitors with more than 700 members, has written to the attorney general, Michael Daley, to say the report “raises questions that require further examination”.
Daley, who has hit out against the report, has instructed crown solicitors to brief senior counsel to conduct an independent review into the report, which will be led by Noel Hutley SC, a former Bar Association president.
Kat Wong
Richard Scolyer’s wife and children share snippets of family life
Though most Australians will remember Scolyer for his groundbreaking melanoma research and his public battle with brain cancer, his family have honoured the little ways he lit up their lives.
Scolyer’s wife, Katie Nicoll, remembered his mischievousness and determination:
Rich heard that it was recommended young children be read three books a night. So, he decided he’d read four or five, and he didn’t double up. Each child got their own four or five books.
His oldest daughter, Emily Scolyer, recalled how, despite his countless professional accolades, he always said his children were his greatest achievement:
Dad’s terrible singing voice became a staple on car rides, ferrying us to and from school and activities, and we couldn’t help but laugh and join in too. He would even accept small roles in our iMovie films, allowing us to direct him over and over again until we got our perfect shot.
I like to think we prepared him well for all of his media appearances over the last three years.
Ima Caldwell
Tony Burke says agencies ‘well practised’ if IS-linked woman returns to Australia
Home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says he is not acting as the “agent” for a woman linked to ISwho has been temporarily banned from returning home.
Sydney woman Hodan Abby was subjected to a temporary exclusion order on the advice of security agencies.
Speaking at a press conference today, Burke said the agencies are “well practised” if Abby chooses to return to the country.
If she doesn’t return to Australia, I don’t think Australians would be troubled by that …
Our agencies never stop collecting information. The hardest group, one of the hardest groups, to manage effectively were the 45 fighters who all returned before we came to office.
So our agencies are well practised at having to deal with making sure that Australians are safe …
There is a … very limited capacity under the temporary exclusion order legislation, and we’ve been using that to the limits of what we’re legally able to do …
The reality has been that the threshold really can’t be lowered, the high court has made that pretty clear.
Caitlin Cassidy
Royal commission, continued
Following his reporting of the incident, ACJ’s timetable wasn’t renewed. He said he was the only casual PhD student not to receive work for the following semester.
He went to the Fair Work Commission alleging UNSW College had taken adverse action against him as a reprisal for his reporting. The complaint was resolved, he said, after a “protracted and drawn out process which really impacted my wellbeing”.
It affected my feeling of belonging, it also really affected my studies.
He began working at UNSW College again but said his relationship with his supervisors had become “strained”.
I’ve experienced many other antisemitic incidents at UNSW … I stopped reporting them even though I knew it was so important [because] I was scared I was going to be fired again.
One incident he pointed to was being told by a student “we should really be more focused about children in Palestine than worrying about Jewish holidays” when he wished Chag Sameach [happy holidays in Hebrew] to another student.
Anti-Zionism is nothing about Israel but is just about bullying Australian Jews.
Nazi salute performed towards a Jewish academic at UNSW, royal commission hears
Caitlin Cassidy
A tutor and PhD candidate at UNSW says students performed Nazi salutes towards him during a business class. Appearing before the royal commission under the pseudonym ACJ, the academic said he was teaching a class for international students at UNSW College that had nothing to do with Nazism in 2024 when four students stood up and performed the salute.
He said he was “incredibly shocked, and offended and threatened” by the display.
“My grandparents had survived the Holocaust, the Nazis … murdered a huge proportion of my family. And so when someone does a Nazi salute at me it feels like they want to kill me.”
He said he wasn’t sure if the students knew he was Jewish, but it seemed clearly directed. The academic reached out to his direct supervisors, noting it was a crime to perform a Nazi salute in New South Wales and that he intended to go to the police.
He said the students were initially issued a formal warning. NSW Police then carried out an investigation, he said, and the students were suspended and required to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum. He asked for the students to be removed from his class and was refused due to timetabling.
Continued in next post
Kat Wong
Richard Scolyer advanced brain cancer treatment ‘by at least 10 years’
The melanoma researcher’s decision to volunteer for an experimental treatment after being diagnosed with a brain tumour has paved the way for other patients, University of Sydney emeritus professor of melanoma John Thompson AO said.
Richard courageously volunteered for a very risky form of treatment that had never been tried on brain tumours before in the hope that others might benefit from the information obtained.
This bold experiment probably advanced research into brain cancer treatment by at least 10 years in one giant leap and formal clinical trials of this form of therapy are now in progress.
I know that this gave Richard enormous satisfaction.
Kat Wong
Richard Scolyer the dolphin trainer?
In his youth, the joint 2024 Australian of the year had problems convincing others he was a doctor, his long-time best friend, Jim Finlay, told the state memorial service.
During the 80s, Scolyer had bleached blond hair, a deep tan and good looks, which meant people would not believe him.
So he would make up another occupation, Finlay said.
This one particular night, we’re out on the Gold Coast, he walked up to these two lovely young ladies and introduced himself as Rich, the dolphin trainer from Sea World.
Normally that would be a pretty good roast and would get conversation started.
Kat Wong
Melanoma patients’ tributes to Richard Scolyer shared at state memorial
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has read out messages sent to the Melanoma Institute Australia by patients hoping to honour the pathologist.
One tribute from a 10-year survivor of stage four melanoma said “the world is a better place because of you”.
Another came from a father whose son was diagnosed with stage four melanoma in 2020.
He was given just months to live, but in the last throw of the dice, they arranged to try immunotherapy. We were told it was just a 10% chance of success, and maybe even less than that.
Fast forward several months, multiple operations, multiple doses of the treatment, and then the dreaded follow-up scans.
I can still hear his oncologist’s shouting voice over the phone saying to my son ‘It worked. It worked. You are going to live.’
My son is now cancer-free, married, living the life that we never thought he’d have.”
Caitlin Cassidy
Jewish student called ‘baby killer’ and ‘genocide supporter’ by members of pro-Palestine student encampment
Back to Liat, who has given testimony before the royal commission. She says she was called a “baby killer” and “genocide supporter” by students who were part of the Australia National University’s pro-Palestine encampment. In one instance a protestor connected to the encampment, who wasn’t a member of the university, performed a Nazi salute.
She says she felt “physically unsafe”, and called out two particular chants they used as being antisemitic: “There is only one solution, intifada, revolution” and “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free”.
She says the use of the word intifada is “in reference to historical events … which involved the murder of Jews”. Pointed to the fact some proponents of the term “intifada” aren’t calling for violence to Jewish people but to the liberation of Palestinian people she says:
I think they should use a different word.
Liat says the “core part” of her identity is her Judaism, but she went through an “exhausting” mental toll of weighing up whether to be identifiably Jewish.
Every single day when I would make the walk into uni, I would have to pick, am I Jewish Liat today or regular Lia … I just didn’t want to open myself up to what I had observed being hatred levelled towards myself but also my peers.
Luca Ittimani
NSW renters keeping longer tenancies, report finds
Renters’ rights reforms have helped tenants stay in their homes for longer, a New South Wales government reports says.
The government has analysed bond lodgment and refund data since October 2024, when parliament passed reforms requiring landlords to provide grounds for evicting tenants and limiting rent increases to once a year.
Tenants are staying in their homes for longer, with more than 20% of all rentals now lasting more than five years, from just 15% in October 2024. Rental tenure of one to two years, historically the biggest category, is also just over 20%.
Tenancies of two to three years have declined, as has rental stock churn, which could show the ban on no-grounds evictions has improved stability, the report found. It did not mention the role of house prices, which have also likely risen too high and forced renters to keep renting for longer.
About 499,000 new rental tenancies have begun since October 2024 while just 466,000 tenancies ended. Labor’s minister for fair trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the growth in active tenancies showed the reforms had protected renters while giving confidence to landlords.
While the rental market is proving resilient to reforms, the state’s only major planned change will be to allow rental bonds to be portable, with a trial starting in August.
Richard Scolyer ‘opened his big heart to us all’, Albanese tells state memorial
Kat Wong
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has honoured the legacy of the pioneering cancer researcher Richard Scolyer, who continued his work even as he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer that Scolyer described as a “straight path to death”.
Richard was without question one of our brightest stars.
As he faced up to his new reality, no one would have begrudged him retreating into the shelter of his family and friends.
Yet that is not what he chose. Instead, he opened his big heart to us all, and what Australia got to see was a man absolutely determined to change that straight path.
