The news that Iran was behind at least two of the recent antisemitic attacks in Australia is horrifying, but not unpredicted. This magazine warned Australians repeatedly about the dangers of Iran.

Writing here in 2023, shortly after the horrific Iran-sponsored atrocities of 7 October, the prescient Tasmanian Liberal Senator Claire Chandler warned of precisely the risk of these attacks occurring. ‘Among the rejected recommendations [to the Albanese government] was our call for the government to take the necessary steps to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organisation, a call echoed by the Biden administration and which the Coalition has repeatedly offered bipartisan support to achieve. It is a nonsensical loophole that it is a criminal offence in Australia to provide support for Hamas and Hezbollah, but not to the IRGC which funds, arms and trains those organisations to kill Jews,’ she wrote. And in a further article she pointedly warned, ‘The Islamic Republic of Iran’s ability to mobilise both its own terror networks and other radical Islamist groups is a serious threat to Australia….’

All of which is cold comfort, of course, to the members of the Australian Jewish community who were directly threatened – and might have been killed – by these grotesque terrorist events, nor to the broader Jewish community who have been significantly traumatised by so many despicable attacks. Both a synagogue and a restaurant were targeted by the Iranians in our two major cities, as Rebecca Weisser (who also warned in these pages about Iran) details in this week’s cover story. Any number of people could have been killed or maimed. One can only thank God that they were not.

One of the most disturbing features of the past few months has been the gradual move by many on the right side of politics in Australia from sympathy to Israel post-7 October to outright antipathy. Marching arm in arm across the Sydney Harbour Bridge earlier this month, in lockstep with a motley crew of Israel-haters, was at least one member of the Libertarian party. Such actions display an almost unbelievable naivety, surrounded as these marchers were by an army of fanatical supporters of the murderous Iranian regime.

The fact that the Albanese government used that hateful march as some kind of justification for recognising Palestine was a double disgrace. In light of the revelations about Iran – Palestine’s No. 1 sponsor – the Albanese government should immediately reverse that recognition.

Israel, whether you like its government or not, is a critical roadblock that stands between fanatical Islam and the West. The revelations of the past few days have shown just how important that roadblock is. Chip away at it at your peril.

Hubris and arrogance

The Albanese government is now drunk on its own majority and post-election hubris, barely able to contain its glee at its good fortune of having landed such a majority despite such a paltry vote. The fact that Labor had one of its lowest votes ever yet enjoys one of its greatest majorities ever suggests that our compulsory preferential voting system does not serve our democracy particularly well.

This week in parliament we saw an overly excited Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen bragging about his destructive net zero policies, and mocking resistance to them from some within the Coalition, ignoring the fact that these policies are destroying the wealth and future prosperity of this nation. The young will pay dearly for his arrogance,

At the same time, his equally exuberant Treasurer Jim Chalmers set about planning to raid the nest eggs of those at the other end of the spectrum. However you look at it, Labor is cannibalising our wealth.

Throw in uncontrolled immigration and you have a perfect storm that could easily lead to recession, impoverishment, mass unemployment and the devastation of our economic prospects. Big business is no longer keen to invest in this nation, small businesses can’t get off the ground. Bills are exorbitant, taxes are going up, and the cost of living is spiralling out of many Australians’ reach. The opposition is weak and ineffectual.

Perhaps the arrogance and hubris of the Albanese government will be its undoing. Sadly, there is little else to look forward to.