Former attorney general Mark Dreyfus has called on governments to consider banning protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools, citing a high court decision that upheld safe access zone laws around abortion clinics. Speaking at the antisemitism royal commission in Melbourne on Monday, Dreyfus invoked the 2019 High Court of Australia ruling that allowed Victoria and Tasmania to prohibit protests within 150 metres of abortion clinics.
High Court Precedent for Safe Access Zones
Dreyfus, now a federal Labor backbencher, argued that similar restrictions could protect Jewish Australians from distress and anxiety. 'The high court said that kind of law directed at reducing distress and anxiety to Australians who need to attend an abortion clinic is within the constraints of the implied freedom of political communication,' he said. 'It’s time to consider whether we need some similar restriction on protest activity outside synagogues, on protest activity outside schools and Jewish places of gathering, not to ban political protest … but rather to protect … Jewish Australians.'
Last year, New South Wales reintroduced laws restricting protests that block or threaten access to places of worship, after earlier legislation was struck down by the state’s supreme court. Dreyfus’s comments come during the royal commission’s fifth block of hearings, which focus on security arrangements for the Jewish community, including the role of the Jewish Community Security Group (CSG) and its coordination with law enforcement.
Growing Threat to Jewish Community Safety
Counsel assisting the commission, Richard Lancaster SC, said evidence would show 'a substantial and ongoing threat to the safety and security of the Jewish community in Australia,' leading to a 'shrinking of Jewish communal life,' partly due to the financial burden of employing security guards. Dreyfus, who is Jewish, told the commission that following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, he was shocked by the 'breach of that sense of safety' previously created by providing asylum to Jewish refugees, including his father, who arrived in Australia in 1939 as an 11-year-old from Nazi Germany.
Dreyfus said his former role as a cabinet member in the Albanese government’s first term put him in a 'unique position,' resulting in 'particularly difficult and painful' criticism from some Jewish Australians. Since leaving the cabinet after the 2025 federal election—replaced as attorney general by Michelle Rowland—he said he has 'been much freer as an MP.'
Call for Vilification Laws and Digital Duty of Care
Dreyfus urged the commonwealth government to introduce a criminal offence for vilification, following New South Wales and Victoria, as well as a 'private right of action' under the government’s proposed digital duty of care to allow takedown of online abuse on social media. 'It can’t just be left to the eSafety commissioner,' he said. He told the commission that antisemitism in Australia had not 'come from nowhere,' pointing to historical examples, but solidarity after the 7 October attacks had been 'followed by an upsurge in antisemitism [that] has been deeply shocking to me.'
He recounted an incident in April 2024 when a man approached him outside Victoria’s state library and said: 'You are a genocidal Zionist. You should be ashamed of yourself.' Dreyfus, who has been the MP for Isaacs in south-east Melbourne since 2007, said: 'No one had ever hurled abuse at me because I am Jewish. This was a new development in my engagement in Australian politics, and I know I’m not alone.'
CSG Witnesses Detail Security Challenges
The commission also heard from members of state-based Jewish Community Security Groups, volunteer-led organisations that monitor threats and provide security for schools, synagogues, and events. One senior member of the Victorian CSG said combined data showed protection requirements for CSGs nationwide had nearly doubled since October 2023, but organisations still lacked sufficient staffing. While the Victorian CSG 'couldn’t do what we’re doing' without government grants, funding was not enough to provide adequate security, with most coming from community donations. 'There shouldn’t be this financial burden on being Jewish today, and I don’t see how this is sustainable, nor do I see why it should be sustainable,' they said.
Another CSG witness, using the pseudonym ACR, described feeling 'always on call' and said they 'very much discourage my family from attending Jewish community events.' They added: 'I don’t want to put myself in a position where I would have to decide between extracting them or dealing with a threat if something arose, and so that’s incredibly difficult.'
Record Antisemitic Incidents Reported
The commission heard from a staff member involved in preparing annual reports on antisemitic incidents reported to CSGs nationwide. The 2025 report, yet to be released, included 1,276 incidents—a 22% increase on the previous year and the highest ever recorded. They noted a rise in incidents at schools and synagogues, including those targeting schoolchildren, which 'wasn’t a trend that was seen previously.'
