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Australian government ministers and parliament members from across the political spectrum have thrown their support behind the 2026 Local Government Summit Against Antisemitism and for Social Cohesion, following two days of meetings in Canberra with Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Public Affairs Advocate for Australia Sheina Gutnick.
Gutnick — whose father Reuven Morrison was murdered in the Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre last December — met with Minister for Local Government Kristy McBain, Minister for Multicultural Affairs Dr. Anne Aly, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill, representatives of the Attorney-General’s office, and MPs and senators from both major parties, including Josh Burns, Julian Leeser, and James Paterson.
Watch a video summary of Gutnick’s Canberra visit HERE:
The meetings come as registrations build for the summit, which will bring hundreds of mayors, councilors, and senior council officers from every state and territory to Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Nov. 26-27 — two weeks before the first anniversary of the Bondi Beach attack.
“My father was murdered at Bondi Beach during Hanukkah,” Gutnick said. “I went to Canberra to ask our national leaders a simple question — will you stand with the communities doing the daily work of keeping Australians safe from hate? Every door I knocked on, from both sides of politics, the answer was yes.”
“Antisemitism is a national problem, but it arrives locally — at the council counter, in the local park, at the school gate,” she added. “That’s why this summit puts local government at the center, and why the support of the Commonwealth matters so much.”
Federal ministers will address the summit, with Parliament sitting during the event. The summit is convened by Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Australia, co-hosted by Waverley Council, chaired by David Gonski AC, and delivered with the backing of the Commonwealth and New South Wales Governments.
The Canberra meetings follow evidence at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion this week, where mayors from throughout Australia said local government should lead the national pursuit of social cohesion.
New national polling commissioned by CAM found 52 percent of Australians are no longer confident that people of all faiths and ethnicities could live safely in the country — and that 45 percent of voters would be more likely to support a local councillor who acted on religiously motivated intolerance.
“Council leaders from every corner of Australia will stand together at Bondi in November,” Gutnick said. “That image — the whole country, on that beach, saying hatred has no home here — is what my father’s memory deserves, and what every Australian community deserves.”
Registration is open to Australian mayors, deputy mayors, councilors, general managers, and council staff at: australia.combatantisemitism.
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