TRANSCRIPT
As one of the most long-standing mayors across Sydney, Darcy Byrne from the city's Inner West Council sends a strong message:
"Our multicultural society is worth protecting, and that we are going to take action together in our own local communities."
He's not the only mayor vowing to crack down on acts of hate.
On Thursday, 20 mayors from across Sydney gathered in Bondi to attend a roundtable on social cohesion, following a spate of antisemitic attacks in the city.
"And we know that while antisemitism is the primary problem right now, even in our wonderful multicultural society, that racism does flare up from time to time. During Covid we saw the Chinese community feeling those, they were coming under attack. Aboriginal people have reported an increase in discrimination throughout the referendum campaign, and there's been a stubborn problem with Islamphobia."
The roundtable was hosted by mayors of three major Sydney councils - Will Nemesh, a Jewish mayor from eastern Sydney, Ned Mannoun, a Muslim mayor from Western Sydney, and Mr Byrne of Sydney's inner west.
Together, they propose extra security in high risk areas, such as schools and places of worship.
The mayors also commit to adopting anti-racism strategies at local council level, opening community grants programs that focus on branching out to other communities, and encouraging local residents to attend cultural events held in their neighbouring councils.
Mr Byrne says the meeting sends a message to both federal and state governments that different communities can be united to form a strong voice against racism.
"One of the reasons that we brought this forum together today is because there are terrible things going on overseas, but we don't want that division bleeding into our local communities, here in the city where we built the world's most successful multicultural democracy, regardless what's happening in the Middle East, to America, what we are going to concentrate on is building and keeping social cohesion here in our own local neighbourhood."
Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun reiterates Mr Byrne's message.
"No doubt Sydney has gone through a challenging time, the world has gone through a challenging time, with what's going on and it's now about rebuilding the bridges."
The meeting coincided with the New South Wales government's proposed new laws to address rising antisemitic attacks in the state.
Under the proposed laws, certain types of protests held outside a place of worship, including blocking access to the site without reasonable excuses, can be punishable under a criminal offence, which would carry a maximum of two years in prison.
The proposed laws also criminalise displaying a Nazi symbol on or near a synagogue, which would carry a maximum two-year sentence.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns says the laws aren't just about the recent wave of antisemitism.
"The government has pursued these changes because we are very concerned about the rise of antisemitism in our community, we want to send an unambiguous and clear message that civic society and the New South Wales government oppose it in all circumstances. But I want to make it equally clear that the swift of reforms that we are introducing will apply to everybody. Racism has no place in modern Australia."
The state government will also give an extra $500,000 to a grant program for social cohesion.
