Nationals Senator for Victoria Bridget McKenzie has doubled down on the Coalition’s commitment to deport all hate preachers if it wins the next federal election.
McKenzie is a supporter of Israel amid rising anti-Semitism following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks, which killed more than 1,200 people.
“We’ve made no bones about it—we’ll be deporting hate preachers,” she told The Epoch Times as part of an Australian Jewish Association forum.
“I think we need zero tolerance for this stuff. We do have to accept that there are now Australian citizens who are hate preachers and who are radicalised, or in the business of radicalising.”
McKenzie said a Liberal-National Coalition government would act decisively against all hate preachers.
“If they’re not citizens or if they’re dual citizens, go back from whence you came,” she said.
“I think we need to be fast and determined about doing that quickly, and sending a very strong signal.”
McKenzie’s comments came after a number of incidents involving extremist figures who made controversial remarks or expressed support for Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack.
On Oct. 8, 2023, Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun, a Sydney-born imam of Lebanese background, described the attacks on Israel as an act of resistance during a pro-Palestinian rally.
“I’m elated, it’s a day of courage, it’s a day of pride, it’s a day of victory—this is the day we’ve been waiting for,” he told a crowd at Lakemba, in southwest Sydney.
The event later drew criticism from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other government ministers.
McKenzie questioned why Dadoun was not called to appear before the recent Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.
The Commission was established after public pressure mounted on Albanese to call an inquiry following the ISIS-inspired Bondi terror attack on Dec. 14 last year.
“Why isn’t this guy being called? It’s insane. And why isn’t he being charged under New South Wales laws?” she said.
“We don’t need new hate laws—use the existing laws.
Calls For Royal Commission Into Anti-Semitism to be Extended
The Commission concluded its public hearings on Aug. 26, with McKenzie saying not enough key witnesses from both sides were brought forward.
“We’re fighting for the Royal Commission to be extended. We don’t think they’ve spoken to the number of people and the types of groups that a Royal Commission of this scope should look at,” she said.
“When we had the child sex Royal Commission, we were dragging in priests from aged care homes.
“So the royal commissioner should not be afraid to haul people in to question them about their public comments and behaviour.”
Federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor also said “serious questions” remained unanswered as the hearings came to an end.
The Albanese government has released figures on the Commission, revealing that 20,000 submissions were received and 348 witnesses appeared at the hearings.
Commissioner Virginia Bell SC will deliver her final report by the Dec. 18 deadline.
Anti-Semitism ‘Has Festered For Too Long’: McKenzie
On Aug. 30, hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators reportedly lined the course of the Sydney Marathon waving Palestinian flags and holding placards that demanded the exclusion of “war criminals.”
The protestors targeted a delegation of about 40 current and former Israeli soldiers who participated in the event.
One demonstrator was photographed holding a sign that read, “Zionists are indigenous to Hell,” alongside red inverted triangles associated with Hamas propaganda and the marking of targets.
McKenzie added that the kind of sentiment against Israelis witnessed at the Sydney Marathon had been allowed to fester for too long by the Albanese government.
“No one’s called it out, and it’s just grown like a cancer,” she said.
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