‘Your family should feel safe here’: PM confronts racism concern

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has directly faced Australians worried about their safety amid race-based attacks, with one Jewish mother telling him: “We have suffered because nothing was done.”

The prime minister has been quizzed by about 240 voters in the ABC’s Q+A studio, and from viewers around Australia, sharpening his political attacks ahead of an election expected to be called within weeks.

“You have to understand, we’re a broken community now. We are hurting,” Janet Abadee, a Jewish mother of four boys, told Mr Albanese.

“You’re our leader. There was hate speech and nothing was done. The hate speech happened after October 7, at the Sydney Opera House. Nothing was done.

“We’ve suffered because nothing was done.“

The prime minister said he “unequivocally condemned” hate speech then and now.

“I’ve called out antisemitism and racism my whole life. It is part of what has defined my involvement in politics,” he said.

Mr Albanese told another audience member worried by attacks on Muslim Australians that “your family should feel safe here”.

“A woman shouldn’t be attacked in the street for wearing a hijab and that unfortunately occurs far too often. Once would be too often,” he said.

“We need to work on social cohesion and respect for each other.”

Ahmad Al Shaimari, a Muslim living in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, said attacks on two hijab-wearing women at a Melbourne shopping centre last week had rattled his community.

“I never felt unsafe or insecure in the last 29 years of my life in Australia,” he said. “However, that sense of safety and security was stripped away from me and my family after the attacks.”

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‘Fair’ to question Medicare pledge

On Sunday, the PM pledged a “legacy-defining” $8.5 billion investment in Medicare to expand bulk-billing access, calling the election a “make-or-break moment for Medicare”.

But on Q+A he admitted it was “pretty fair” for voters to question why the government waited until now.

“We’ve come up with this policy that builds on what we did a year ago in the budget. We’ve only been here for less than three years,” he said.

“The truth is that the reason why Medicare needs this response is to repair the damage that was done when [Opposition Leader] Peter Dutton was the health minister.”

Mr Dutton has matched the commitment, with an extra $500 million for mental health support.

The Prime Minister faced curly questions on housing, China, United States President Donald Trump and climate change in the hour-long exchange.

But there were no hints on when he might call the election, and he sidestepped one question asking him to rate his performance as prime minister out of 10.

“I’m not the commentator,” Mr Albanese said. “I’ll leave that to you.”

Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live
moment.

7h agoMon 24 Feb 2025 at 11:36am