It was a night to reclaim our own, precious House
This week I hosted the annual Tom Hughes Oration at the Opera House. For those who aren’t aware, Tom was the first member for Berowra, a former attorney-general and one of the fiercest barristers this country has ever seen.
He is also the last surviving Liberal minister from that long period of Coalition rule between 1949 and 1972.
As well, Hughes flew fighter aircraft against the Nazis in WWII. Just as importantly in my opinion, he is a genuinely decent fellow.
The event was organised by the current member for Berowra, Julian Leeser, an anti-semitism opponent since long before October 7.
Sadly, he has been much busier since.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton was the guest of honour and spoke brilliantly. John Howard was there too.
The highlight of my night was sitting next to him as Dutton spoke, and listening to the delightful Howard’s commentary throughout – very positive, by the way!
Before proceedings began I shot an interview for my show Erin on Sky News and asked him how he felt the government was handling the war in Gaza.
Howard did not hold back, particularly when it came to Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s comments this week regarding a Palestinian state.
Let me give you a tiny preview. “I think this government, and Penny Wong in particular, has demonstrably failed to react in the right way to the attack on Israel on the seventh of October last year,” Howard said.
“I am just staggered that the government didn’t, from the get go, say that whatever differences we might have, we must never, ever, sound as though we don’t care about the re-emergence of anti-semitism.”
He continued, specifically addressing Wong’s commentary this week.
“I mean, of course, the Palestinian people are entitled to their legitimate aspirations,” he said.
“But I have yet to see clear evidence that the Arab world, the Palestinians and the Arab world in general, will accept Israel’s right to exist behind secure, defensible, internationally respected boundaries.
“And until that happens, it’s just feeding aggression and terrorism to pretend otherwise.”
On my show Howard also speaks about border security, Donald Trump and the new Chief of the Defence Force.
Now back to the oration.
The main reason Julian Leeser determined that the Opera House was the right location for this event, he revealed, was his desire to “claim it back”.
To show that the Opera House belongs to all Australians, Jews included, and that it will not be defined by those horrific images of the celebration of death and slaughter that went around the world on October 9 last year.
In the audience were Australians of all different backgrounds and faiths. The desire for this country to be united and fight back against extremism of all types was a recurring theme.
Living in this day and age is like a rollercoaster for me. I have moments of exasperation and fear that our country is heading down a despicable path from which there is no coming back.
But then I feel immense hope and joy that there are young people who understand how the world works and do not struggle to differentiate between good and evil, regardless of how murky some try to make it seem.
I met some of those young people this week and they calm me a little bit, but regrettably they aren’t enough.
It takes immense courage to stand up for what you believe in and to speak your mind, especially to a hostile crowd, but we must or else the evil forces will win.
We must encourage our young to open their eyes, to research and learn, not to recycle rubbish fed to them on social media from extremists and those who wish to do us harm.
We must never become a mouthpiece for the likes of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation – regardless of how cunning their modus operandi might be.
Freedom and democracy are the cornerstones of our great nation, and we must protect them at all costs. Otherwise, what’s the point?
When I see children marching, not for Palestine, but for Hamas, my heart breaks.
I don’t know anyone who isn’t deeply affected by the loss of life in Gaza, just as they are equally dismayed by the hostages still held captive there, but we must maintain our moral clarity.
No country is perfect, ours included, but we must never condone the kind of barbarism we saw on October 7, let alone reward those responsible.
Otherwise, sooner than you think, we may see more of it. And in more places, including here on our own precious soil.