One of Australia’s most respected judicial and vice-regal officials has accused politicians, police and universities of failing Jewish Australians by not doing enough to “stamp out” the surge of antisemitic hatred across the country. 

The Hon. Linda Dessau, a former family court judge who was governor of Victoria for eight years, has called for more protesters to be prosecuted and warns that the Jewish community is living “in fear”.

She says the broader community needs to stand publicly against division and hate speech and warns that social cohesion is fragile and under threat.

Speaking on the podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why?, she highlighted the inconsistency between the way Australian Muslims were supported after the September 11 attacks and how Jewish Australians have been treated since the war in Gaza.

Asked if Jewish people were frightened, she said: “Yes. It has to be stopped.”

Asked how they could be reassured, Dessau, herself Jewish, said: “By having leaders in the community, and I mean political leaders and police, doing what needs to be done to stop it.

“The (Jewish) community feels let down because in other instances these things have been stopped right at the source and should have been here too.”

Dessau, a former AFL commissioner and magistrate, is a small woman with a gentle but commanding presence. 

Her comments will resonate strongly in the Jewish community, where many have been arguing along exactly these lines for a year.

As governor, Dessau said “social cohesion” was part of her responsibility, and she had always argued that along with multiculturalism it was a “work in progress”.

“What we have seen in the last few years is just how very fragile that is,” she said.

Dessau said it was acceptable to disagree with Israel’s policies in Gaza but protesters should focus on the issues, not “play the man”.

She said what had unfolded in universities, with some sit-in protests and targeting of Jewish students, was “just unacceptable” and the universities “did not respond strongly enough”.

She also said politicians had a responsibility to do more.

“But leadership goes throughout the community and it’s not only people directly affected by antisemitism who should be responding,” she said. 

“People right across the community should be responding as they did when the muslim community was facing discrimination, or the Chinese community, or the Indian community, because it diminishes all of us when this type of hatred exists.”

Dessau praised the antisemitism action plan drawn up for the federal government by Jillian Segal but lamented the personal attacks she has faced since presenting it.

“That just shows what’s going on in the community and why it needs to be stamped on.”

Dessau is now chair of the mental health charity beyond blue.

She replaced Julia Gillard in May 2023. She is also considered by some to be an outside chance to be the new chair of the AFL commission.

Something not on her impressive CV, but she coyly admitted, was when as a student she took to the streets as an anti-Vietnam protester.

She said protest was a right, but carried with it responsibility not to promote hate speech and not to create division.

She particularly objects to people displaying swastikas, and to the chants “Death to the IDF” and “From the river to the sea”.

“Do we want people calling out death to any group in any protest?” she said.

“We need to call that for what it is, which is totally unacceptable.

“We call out the hate speech and we prosecute people.”

Neil Mitchell is a Nine podcaster. His podcast interviews are posted each Tuesday and commentary each Thursday. Recent guests have included accused dissident Cheng Lei, Anthony Albanese and golfer Ian Baker Finch.