2 days Ago By Penry Buckley
Wentworth MP Allegra Spender has told Jewish voters in the marginal seat that tackling antisemitism is her “top priority”, as she and other independents seek to fight off the challenge from Liberal candidates in electorates with tensions inflamed by the war in Gaza. “I know that some have questioned my friendship. I’ve been called an antisemite and worse, and I stand before you today to say firmly and respectfully that that is grossly unfair and untrue,” she told a forum of several hundred people on Sunday night hosted by Jewish groups in the Sydney eastern suburbs electorate.
Allegra Spender, member for Wentworth, addresses an election forum convened for the Jewish community. Credit: Jessica Hromas “I am the strongest ally for the Jewish community on the crossbench ..
. You can count on me. I am a friend of this community, and I will continue to be on your side whether you vote for me or not.
” Liberal candidate Ro Knox said a Coalition government would end funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and pursue closer ties with Israel, in a pitch to voters that touched on the cost of living but focused on the domestic and international response to the conflict in the Middle East. Wentworth is home to the country’s largest Jewish community, making up 16 per cent of voters in 2022. Other seats with significant Jewish representation include Melbourne’s Goldstein, held by independent Zoe Daniel, and Sydney’s Bradfield, which has NSW’s second-largest Jewish population and where teal candidate Nicolette Boele faces Liberal Gisele Kapterian.
Sunday’s forum was the first time the Wentworth candidates debated publicly and comes after Knox accused the Spender’s volunteers of deliberately putting a campaign poster on top of an image of an Israeli family kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. Spender’s team supplied photographic evidence to the contrary and threatened to sue the Liberal candidate. Liberal Ro Knox said a Coalition government would not provide funding to UN Palestinian aid agency UNRWA.
Credit: Jessica Hromas Speaking after the forum, Knox said she had witness testimony to support her claim. She said she had received a legal letter from lawyers from the Spender campaign, but understood action was no longer being pursued. Spender shook hands with Knox before the event, and her opening remarks were conciliatory.
“Whether I continue to be the member for Wentworth or Ro Knox is elected for the Liberal Party, I believe you will have a genuine friend as your representative in parliament,” she said. Knox, however, said the Jewish community “did not need people who are going to sit on the fence and sign letters in support of Israel’s enemies”, in reference to Spender’s signing a letter last year calling for increased aid in Gaza including through UNRWA if necessary, which saw her uninvited from a Jewish community event. The joint conveners, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, acknowledged emotions remained raw following a spate of antisemitic attacks this summer, asking the audience to behave respectfully towards the candidates.
But tensions occasionally ran high, in particular after an audience question about whether candidates supported withdrawing funding for UNRWA after allegations staff members had been involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks. Labor minister Matt Thistlethwaite, whose safe eastern Sydney seat of Kingsford Smith has a historic Jewish population, also took part. He defended the Albanese government’s decision to resume funding after investigations concluded, drawing audible dismay from some audience members when he described UNRWA as “the only organisation that is providing food relief in Gaza”.
“As a Christian, I can’t stand by and allow children to starve to death,” he said, to some applause. Knox said a Coalition government would “absolutely not be funding UNRWA in any form”. “In a cost-of-living crisis, when people work so hard for their tax dollars – for us to be spending that on an organisation as compromised as UNRWA, it’s not good enough,” she said.
Spender said she supported reallocating funding to other organisations, but had signed the March 2024 letter during an urgent humanitarian crisis. She claimed she had approached Foreign Minister Penny Wong before October 7 to ask the government to redirect funding from UNRWA. Spender won her seat from former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, by a margin of 4.
2 per cent in 2022 – a greater margin than other independents. She name-checked Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s willingness to work with her, saying if re-elected she would “continue to behave as I have in this parliament”. Knox claims Spender had voted with Labor and the Greens on about 70 per cent of legislation, and with the Coalition on about 27 per cent.
Spender, who measures her voting record by her support for motions or amendments, said she had voted mostly with the Coalition; had not supported any Greens motions on Gaza, and had worked to introduce tougher laws on hate speech including antisemitism to parliament, which the major parties had rejected. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .
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