Thursday, 19 October 2023

 David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (17:19): (393) The issue that I wish to raise tonight is for the Minister for Police. It follows the terrorist attack in Israel, and the action that I seek is that the minister provide whatever police resourcing is necessary to ensure the safety of the Jewish community. I wanted to put on record my thanks to the police minister, the Premier and many that have been working very closely with the Jewish community at this time to ensure safety for our community, but at the same time I wanted to raise the concerns of many within the community.

Issues of many kids not feeling safe to go to school and not wearing their school uniforms and having organisations like Jewish Care, which provides facilities for the elderly in many of the nursing homes that it provides, contacting me wanting a police presence, including static police, to be available during these very uncertain times are things that we must take seriously. I know the police minister does that, and once again I want to thank him for that work. He and I have been working with the community, with Community Security Group and a number of other organisations leading up to this, but I do want to put on record and ask the police minister to do whatever is necessary during these times in terms of resourcing. We also have an issue, unfortunately, where many of our community organisations, our schools and our synagogues have to provide security just to keep their facilities and their people safe every day – not just during these times but every day. Many members of Parliament that have been to Caulfield are so surprised that our community unfortunately has to live like this. If you can imagine that we were living like this beforehand, just think about what we are all experiencing at this particular time.

I know that Sydney, as an example, provided a real uplift in security. Many of the schools have a static police presence. I know that a lot of that is happening currently, but I do want to raise this particular issue right now in these very, very uncertain times. I know that our community wants to be able to go about their daily lives as they should – as everybody should – and that is why I request the minister to continue to do whatever he and the government can do to ensure safety for the Jewish community in these very uncertain times.