The AHRC’s Latest Disgrace

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is such a blight that the Coalition needs to abolish it the minute it gains office. Intimidated by a cabal of pro-Hamas staffers, the ill-named AHRC has sat on its hands during the most savage eruption ofanti-Ssemitism in Australia’s history.

Beleaguered Jewish students and organisations want nothing to do with the Commission, its Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, and his anaemic unfocused inquiry into university racism of every description. here’s Anti-Semitism Special Envoy Jillian Segal:

As I have heard from Jewish students, academics and staff, they will only speak of their experiences to trusted advocates like my office or to a forum like a Judicial Inquiry that can take evidence in private and maintain confidentiality. They have no confidence currently in other institutions like the AHRC to approach their evidence with impartiality and appropriate respect. This calls into question the ultimate efficacy of the Government’s referral to the AHRC to study racism at universities including antisemitism.

Funding the job with $2.5 million was a ploy by Albanese government spinners to “do something” to distract from the pro-Hamas upsurge and, cynically, to stay sweet with Labor’s Muslim-heavy electorates.

Part of a new government’s job is to abolish failed commissions. Two days after the  Abbott government took office, his Environment Minister Greg Hunt phoned Tim Flannery at the Climate Commission to say the labor-launched outfit was kaput.[1]

Since the October 7 massacre the Commission’s puerile form against anti-Ssemitism has been documented in Senate committees, largely by Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, a one-time ABCTV journo. In equivalent US Congress hearings, three top universities’ presidents met disgrace for claiming that calls for genocide of Jews were not offenses “in some contexts”. The AHRC leaders weren’t so bad but the transcripts speak for themselves. I’ll parade them lightly edited, given space constraints.

STAFF MUTINY FOR HAMAS

Sunday 28 January: At least 24 staff across eight teams sign anonymously by encryption a 2600-word diatribe against then-President Rosalind Croucher and leak it to the Guardian and the Greens (I assume further staff agree but not to the extent seditious petitioning). They claim Croucher isn’t going in to bat for Hamas concerning “Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.” They further claim, insultingly, that leaders have “given in to a fear of criticising the Australian Government and Zionists for fear of losing funding…” Commissioners, they demand, should ask forgiveness for the workplace distress they have caused “from the shocking lack of Commission leadership on the ongoing human rights violations and war crimes perpetrated by Israel.”

They go on to accuse leaders of “misrepresenting or watering down” Israeli alleged atrocities:

This upholds racist and dehumanising attitudes towards Palestinians and enables the atrocities.” The Commission must “assess psychosocial risks in the workplace to address factors distressing staff.” It must “cease suppressive and intimidating treatment towards staff who have spoken out about human rights and war crimes.

There follows a litany of demands for pressuring the Albanese government to punish and undermine Israel. They give Croucher an ultimatum to invite all staff within a week to support the letter without sanction. 

Monday January 29: President Croucher responds internally  — her letter is also leaked — that commissioners have all

considered the letter and acknowledged staff concerns around the conflict. We acknowledge that the conflict between Israel and Palestine is causing a great deal of pain for many in Australia, and it is understandable that people feel strongly about it. There are a diversity of experiences and perspectives among commission staff, as there are within the community.

Rather than dispute the staff’s claim about Israel’s “genocide” (Gaza’s population has risen eight-fold since 1950, to 2.1 million), Croucher responds that it isn’t the Commission’s job to assess Australia’s obligations under the UN Genocide Convention.

Also January 29: The Commission publicly calls for respect for Palestinian and Israeli rights and respect for the right to protest. It refers to international principles of “proportionality” and “violations of international law” without discriminating between Hamas aggressors and Israel’s self-defence, or even mentioning Hamas.[2]

February 13: At Senate Estimates , Croucher explains

I am deeply concerned that they felt the need to write in that way … our focus has been to understand the motivation and the disappointment, and to assure staff that our concern for their wellbeing is a paramount concern.

The transcript:

Senator Shoebridge (Greens): Have any staff been sanctioned for such things as signing pro-Palestine petitions or wearing a keffiyeh to work?

Croucher: No…I find the idea of sanctions a little concerning, because there are no sanctions.

 Shoebridge: Have you indicated to staff that such conduct as the signing of a pro-Palestinian petition or the wearing of keffiyeh might be a breach of the [Federal public service] Code of Conduct?

Croucher: No.

Commission CEO Leanne Smith: We have been working with our staff to help them understand as Australian public servants their right to freedom of expression as individual citizens and their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct… No-one has been sanctioned at all.

March 6: The Commission recycles pro-Palestinian propaganda by summarising what it calls “a powerful message” from Austria’s Volker Tuerk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Tuerk rebukes both sides even-handedly for war crimes, and demands a ceasefire. President Croucher laments local “anti-Semitism, anti-Palestinian and other racism we have seen in Australia”. Anti-racism is “a key part of the Commission’s mandate,” she explains. Like Tuerk, she calls for a “sustainable ceasefire”, but skips mention of the hostages abused and dying in Gazan catacombs. Tuerk did condemn the hostage-taking.[3]

March 13: Addressing the Cook Society in Melbourne, Jewish Liberal MHR Julian Leeser alleges a “most complete aberration of duty” from the Commission, especially failure since the October 7 massacre and kidnappings to explicitly condemn antisemitism. In regard to the petition, he says:

The paramount concern should be racism and Jew-hatred and prejudice faced by Australians, not the preciousness of staff. If an institution charged with protecting Australians from racism and hate is not fulfilling its mandate, then Australians should question why it exists in the first place.

To that end, we should put the AHRC on notice. I believe Australians will not tolerate the continued funding of government agencies and programs, charged with building social cohesion, turning a blind eye to racism or prejudice.[4]

Croucher responds

The commission has repeatedly called for the human rights of all people to be upheld, both here in Australia as well as in Israel and Palestine. Racist, hateful incidents against Australia’s Jewish communities are of great concern to the commission. Suggestions to the contrary are untrue and harmful to those communities. All racism is of equal concern…

May 31: In committee, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi insists to Croucher that AHRC staff have been rebuked for petitioning, for wearing keffiyehs and uttering “river to the sea” slogans. Croucher says staff control is a Public Service matter, not the purview of Commissioners, who have only reminded staff of Public Service Code expectations. Staff have not been sanctioned formally or informally.

 FARUQI: Have they been reminded not to wear a keffiyeh?

 Croucher: No.

 FARUQI: So AHRC staff are permitted to wear a keffiyeh at work without fear of being spoken to, informally reprimanded or reminded of their obligations?

Croucher: Senator, it has not arisen.

 The AHRC’s Chief Executive Leanne Smith says intensive querying of staff has not disclosed any disciplining or wearing of keffiyehs.

 FARUQI: ..From what I have heard, AHRC has become a pretty hostile workplace for people who are supporting the human rights of Palestinians and speaking out against their genocide.

THE COMMISSION’S LAWYER

May 31: Senator Henderson refers Croucher to media reports about an AHRC human rights lawyer, Ms Sara Saleh, saying she had posted on social media,

♦ ‘Looking at Israel’s psychopathy today, October 7 should make a little more sense to you all’ and

♦ ‘Israeli colonial violence is illegal, immoral, and illegitimate. Resistance is the only legitimate form of violence.’[5]

Croucher says Saleh is a research officer with no complaints-handling role and that such cases are considered under Public Service rules.

Henderson then asks Croucher if she condemns the comments and if such behaviour is acceptable at the Commission. Croucher responds that it’s a Public Service Code issue and it’s inappropriate to comment further.

Pressing ahead, Henderson next asks if a staffer implicitly supporting a listed terrorist organisation involves misconduct. Croucher refers again to the Code, saying it’s serious for anything to detract from the Commission’s perceived integrity and impartiality.

 HENDERSON: To be clear: does the HRC condemn the view expressed by this research officer? 

Croucher: I will stick to the code of conduct.

HENDERSON: I am asking: if any staff member expresses those sorts of views publicly as a representative of the AHRC, do you repudiate that view? 

CHAIR (Senator Green, Labor): They are not employees; they’re staff.

Croucher: Staff members in such a way are not representatives of the commission—

HENDERSON: Wow! So you are not able to say that you repudiate or condemn anyone who works for your organisation who implicitly promotes Hamas.

The Chair fails to bring Henderson to order and briefly suspends the hearing. On resumption, Henderson repeats her question and Croucher counters with concerns for staff privacy and confidentiality. Another to-and-fro follows, with Henderson again pressing for a response and Croucher not budging. Allowed one last question, Henderson asks,

HENDERSON: President, you haven’t repudiated those sorts of sentiments. This is an opportunity for you to do so now, as the President of the Human Rights Commission of this country. Do you repudiate statements made by your staff which implicitly endorse Hamas?

Croucher: The statements of a staff member are not the statements of the commission. Whether such statements breach the code of conduct is a separate issue. The commission position has been entirely clear in terms of the outrages that have been occurring, and we will be consistently looking at the impact of those events on our Australian communities. 

 HENDERSON: Wow! I’m shocked. 

Later, Henderson quotes an April 29 tweet by Ms Saleh following scathing reports in The Australian of children taught to chant “Intifada”. The tweet reads,

So much wrong with this I don’t even know where to start. Arguing that zionists as a grp [group] have a right to cultural safety is akin to giving Nazis & misogynists warm welcomes.

HENDERSON: I mean, for goodness sake, President! This is disgraceful, from one of your employees. Can I ask you to please tell all Australians whether this is appropriate behaviour.

 Croucher: I’ve answered your question before. Any issue of staff behaviour is taken extremely seriously—

 HENDERSON: Well, what are you doing about this, President?

Croucher: … including social media that may call into question the role and impartiality of the Human Rights Commission. Such matters are considered seriously, and we have established procedures for considering them. Beyond that I won’t comment.

HENDERSON: You are required to answer all questions here at Estimates … so I ask: What action are you taking in relation to public comments like this by one of your employees? 

Croucher refers Henderson to her previous answers, to which Henderson sums up by asking,

How can Jewish Australians have confidence … when we’re seeing this pattern of behaviour, President?

Croucher says the work of Race Commissioner Sivaraman is entirely balanced. Any staff breaches of the Code are treated very seriously.

 

June 6: Senator Henderson at the education estimates tells Labor’s assistant education minister Anthony Chisholm that the AHRC “appears to have a culture of antisemitism … a number of employees and contractors have said the most disgraceful anti-Semitic comments. One employee is currently under investigation for shocking antisemitic comments.”

She names staffer Sara Saleh and her “akin to Nazis and misogynists” tweet about Zionists and puts this question to Chisholm,

HENDERSON: How is it possibly tenable for this Commission to conduct an inquiry [into campus racism] when you’ve got people like that working at the Commission?

Chisholm: Because they’re a thorough and professional outfit.

HENDERSON: Come on, Minister! That is a disgrace.

August 21: Greens Senator Faruqi tells the Senate that Ms Saleh is one of four staff who have left the Commission with “heartbreaking” resignation letters about their ill-treatment. One writer said then-President Croucher’s practice is “doing the rounds” in the morning to greet staff, but she repeatedly mixes up the names of staff of colour, this presented as a racist and dehumanising act that never happens to white staff, who are said to be hugely over-represented at executive levels.

In another letter, ex-staffer Hiero Badge says she was informally cautioned for using the “river to the sea” quote on her social media. Badge also alleges serious overwork and “a cavalier disregard for the psychosocial safety and wellbeing of staff”. This causes her “anxiety, burnout, chronic stress, and depression, leaving me miserable and dreading work. I do not feel safe to continue.”

Faruqi continues:

If this isn’t disturbing enough, Sara Saleh’s resignation claimed management had ‘circulated a defamatory and racist news piece about me to all staff [which] was egregious, detrimental to my reputation and hurtful. This also sent a message to staff of colour that the Commission is willing and capable of circulating vitriolic commentary about them.’

Someone also leaked details of her departing the AHRC, Saleh wrote, which led to radio shock jocks publicly humiliating her and attacking her reputation.

Faruqi says at least seven staffers have courageously  resigned in the past quarter “citing the Commission’s inadequate stance on Palestine.” This shows the AHRC’s “pretty toxic and silencing culture,” Faruqi insists, urging new President Hugh de Kretser, son of Victoria’s Governor David de Kretser (2006-11), to ensure a safer workplace for minorities “and also a place which involves taking a loud, fearless and staunch stance on the greatest moral injustice of our time — Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.” The Senate refuses to table the letters.

In the Guardian, a Commission spokesperson explains the circulated article about Saleh was part of the routine daily round-up of media mentions. Commission people did not leak word of Saleh’s departure, the PR flack says, because the welfare of all staff is a paramount concern and they have avenues for support.

THE COMMISSION CONTRACTOR

May 31: Senators grill Croucher about contracting Hue Consulting to compile anti-racism resources for primary students, under the National Anti-Racism Strategy. CEO Smith says Hue won the contract partly because of its previous anti-racism materials for high schools. Liberal Senator Henderson and Labor Senator Varun Ghosh say Hue owner Elsa Tuet-Rosenberg, “a queer, Jewish and Chinese woman of colour” allegedly re-distributed the doxxed (identifying) details of 600 Jewish creatives and made social media comments offensive to large groups.

Commission CEO Smith says the Commission only became aware of the director’s posts on March 21. It met Hue on April 5, saying the comments threaten the AHRC’s trust with some communities.

The commission decides the posts are not doxing or unlawful: “We asked for the measures they had taken to protect the privacy of those individuals. They provided us with assurances that all of the personal details were redacted.”

Henderson reads out Tuet-Rosenberg’s posts:

 ‘Let these effing’—I won’t say the full word—’Zionists know no effing peace’ and referred to ‘zimbos’. She has also talked about Zionists in the context of ‘genocidal fascists who have moved too deep into fascism.’ So there is some very aggressive and abhorrent language. Was that raised in your meeting with this person, which led to the contract being terminated? 

  Smith says it was raised and the Commission finalised and paid out the contract.

COMMISSION RATIONALES

May 31: Senator Henderson asks Croucher a dozen times why the Commission has not specifically named and condemned Hamas and its Australian support base, nor called out antisemitism at the Sydney Opera House or “terrifying” anti-Israel provocations in Melbourne’s Caulfield. Croucher answers that her statutory focus is domestic and that condemnation has been implied in general statements.

HENDERSON: President, it has been more than six months since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. Will the Australian Human Rights Commission release a statement condemning the acts of a terrorist organisation—Hamas—on 7 October?

 Croucher: The lens that we will use is the lens that I have just stated. In considering what statements we make, we consider very deeply when we engage in that particular way. Our principal focus at the moment is on engagement with communities.

HENDERSON: Can I take that as a ‘No’?

Croucher: ‘Yes’ or ‘no’ depends on the process that we embark upon in the commission for deciding what—

HENDERSON: This is just a simple question. Do you intend or are you going to release a statement condemning the actions of the terrorist organisation Hamas on 7 October? Croucher: It’s not anticipated that we’ll do so, given the statements that we have already made and the community engagement that we’re embarked upon at the moment … My concern is … that your failure to call out the Hamas terrorist attack is a shocking failure of the Human Rights Commission.

Croucher: I disagree with the premise of that statement…

HENDERSON: So can I invite you now to condemn the horrific rise of antisemitism that we have seen in Australia and the horrific atrocities committed by Hamas? … So, again I ask the President: would you now condemn the Hamas terrorist attack and the human rights atrocities committed on that day, which have had a profoundly serious impact on Jewish Australians?

 Croucher: Senator, I will repeat—so it’s not a new statement—the statement that the commission has made on a number of occasions expressing our deep concern about the rising incidence of anti-Semitism in Australia. We have expressed deep concern about neo-Nazi rallies, and we have also expressed deep concern about rising Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism…

HENDERSON: So you won’t condemn Hamas?

Croucher: The condemnation of the Hamas issue is implicit in all we are doing….

HENDERSON: So you won’t specifically call out and condemn Hamas?

Croucher: Our condemnation of the activities is implicit in everything we have said.

HENDERSON: I will take that as a No.

Labor Senator Chisholm: Chair, Senator Henderson shouldn’t verbal people giving evidence like that; it is not appropriate behaviour from a senator.[6]

 “RIVER TO THE SEA” IS FINE

Both Race Commissioner Sivaraman and President Croucher decline Senator Henderson’s request to firmly condemn the genocidal chant “from the river to the sea”. Henderson quotes Prime Minister Albanese calling it ‘a very violent statement which has no place in Australia’ which ‘could easily flow into actions of violence against communities in our own country.’

 Sivaraman: We would have to look at the context of when the statement was made, how it was made and who it was made to. Without the context, I wouldn’t want to give a view on its implications under the Racial Discrimination Act.” He also says the AHRC is dealing with public complaints about the phrase and he won’t prejudice the findings.

Henderson asks for Croucher’s view but is ruled out of order. Liberal Senator Scarr does a rephrase and Croucher endorses Sivaraman’s response involving s18c and context.

 Croucher: We do not make determinations. It is a conciliation process. That’s the scope of our jurisdiction with respect to that. 

AHRC BACKS ABC’s TINGLE

May 31: Race Commissioner Sivaraman defends the ABC’s Laura Tingle who, at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, calls Australia racist and criticises the Opposition’s immigration stance, comments for which she is subsequently “counselled” by ABC management). Sivaraman tells Senators he was not endorsing her anti-Coalition comments, maintaining he was only saying that she’s entitled to call out Australia’s racism without suffering backlash and suppression. Discussing immigration is fine but wordage should not imply racism or xenophobia, he adds.

THE COMMISSION’S ‘COMEDIAN’

May 31: Senator Henderson also grills President Croucher on the Commission’s impending use of a comedian Nazeem Hussain at its Free + Equal Human Rights Conference for June 6. Hussein on his pre-conference social media says the “river to the sea” chant is merely extolling freedom for Palestinians. Do critics want liberation for them or want them to remain under oppression? “That’s provocative to me that they’re upset at the idea of a liberated people,” he says.

Croucher declines to cancel Hussein’s slot but says she will look at the situation: “We were not aware of this comment. It is not like he is one of our staff.” He would just do a comedic video role-play as “a citizen from the future” using an Commission-approved script. “All of the conference would be done in a respectful way”, and criticising Israel was different from anti-Semitism, the response goes. The Commission’s sanction involves any breach of s18c.

 

A SHAPE-SHIFTING STATEMENT

May 15: Race Commissioner Sivaraman’s statement announces the Commission’s inquiry into university racism.

May 31: At committee, Senator Henderson insists that the statement makes no mention of antisemitism. Sivaraman says it does, and produces the statement as proof. Henderson, baffled, apologises. During a break she fishes out her screenshot of the release, which shows it omits antisemitism. She asks when the original release was altered to include “antisemitism”. Sivaraman said the original omission was an “oversight” and he had amended it on a date he couldn’t recall. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to mislead,” he explains. .

Using the pub test, I’d say it’s odd that the AHRC drafters accidentally omitted reference to the anti-Semitism inflaming universities and creating daily headlines. And Commission management approving it never noticed or cared? Might the team involved included the anti-Israel petitioners?

At very least, the human rights apparatus here is disturbing. As the Romans used to say, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes” or who guards the guardians?

Tony Thomas’s latest book from Connor Court is Anthem of the Unwoke – Yep! The other lot’s gone bonkers. $34.95 from Connor Court here

 

[1] In yo-yo governance, Albanese last year set up an equivalent Net Zero Authority to help destroy our formerly cheap and reliable energy grid.

[2] A search of the AHRC website detects only two mentions of Hamas in the past year, one by the conservative Commissioner Lorraine Finlay and one by President Croucher in her departing message last July.

[3]  Hillel Neuer of UN Watch said on September 12 that Tuerk’s office promotes demonizing language against the Jewish State like “apartheid Israel”, which is used as a pretext to target and attack Jews around the world. “They’re afraid to even mention the word Hamas,” he said, referring to Tuerk’s condemnation of the recent murder of six hostages by “armed groups”.

[4] Among prominent Australians protesting the Commission’s inertia are former competition regulator Graeme Samuel and former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

[5] On 22 May 2021 I received an anti-Israel email from Ms Saleh via Getup which began, “Sara Saleh is a long-time Palestinian activist, a poet, and a GetUp Board Director.” It ended with a demand for an end to Israeli occupation: “Because friend, we are watching the tide of history turn, and we want you there as freedom in Palestine is born.” Her Linked-In shows her as Getup director from 2016-23. Read one of her poems here.