The tertiary sector’s peak standards body has told the royal commission it wrote to universities warning them of “aggressive” and “violent behaviour” by outsiders who had infiltrated pro-Palestinian campus protests.
The Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has heard vice chancellors were concerned about antisemitic behaviour at protest encampments in 2024, but were unsure how to resolve the matter peacefully.
The hearing was told the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency wrote to universities suggesting measures be taken to block people who were not students, staff or other members of the immediate tertiary community from accessing campuses, such as checking identification cards and calling the police.
The agency’s CEO Mary Russell gave evidence that universities, particularly inner-city campuses, were often the focus of wider community action.
“There were instances where there were marches, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, with the destination of the university campus,” Ms Russell said.
“There were also other instances of people clearly trying to bring a body of positional behaviour and often more aggressive and more violent behaviour to existing protest and encampments.”
The antisemitism royal commission has been sitting in Melbourne this week. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Ms Russell said initial protests that only involved students had tried to encourage discourse on the issues.
“The intrusion of outside actors typically saw an end to that and saw much more heated, aggressive and, I think most importantly, very personalised expressions of protests and ideas, particularly personalised against Jewish students on campus and staff,” she said.
Ms Russell gave evidence that the agency would normally wait until it was approached directly with detailed concerns about issues on a university campus, but media and third-party reports about escalating behaviours indicated a clear risk.
“We felt it was necessary to be more on the front foot and to influence providers to try and be more proactive in preventing and dealing with these risks,” she said.
She said “universities were very reluctant about making a call on what constituted antisemitism”, but that the regulator was looking to issue a statement of regulatory expectation in relation to definitions as a matter of urgency.
The royal commission has this week been sitting in Melbourne and focusing on universities and the experiences of students and staff.
On Friday, the royal commission announced a new seventh block that will have a particular focus on two protests in New South Wales.
Flares and fireworks were lit in the crowd and thrown onto the forecourt steps of the Sydney Opera House during a protest in October 2023. (AAP: Dean Lewis)
One of the protests saw hundreds of people rally at the Sydney Opera House in October 2023 while the building was lit in the colours of the Israeli flag.
The other saw a number of neo-Nazi’s rally outside NSW parliament in November 2025.
The block will look at the democratic function played by protests in general, hateful conduct that sometimes occurs in the context of protests and policing response to protests.
Call to adopt definition of antisemitism
Group of Eight expert advisory committee chair Alan Finkel said the committee acknowledged that “universities themselves have stepped up and improved their practices” but said they needed to adopt and “operationalise” a definition of antisemitism.
“And link it to the codes of conduct so it could be used as a reference point and also used for educational purposes in training,” he said.
He said it was his view and the view of the committee that the Universities Australia definition be adopted.
“It really is in my opinion and the committee’s opinion, the easier definition to operate … it’s a very very clear statement of what antisemitism is,” he said.
Dr Alan Finkel said universities needed to adopt a definition of antisemitism. (Supplied: Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion)
He gave evidence on the importance of triaging complaints in order to determine which ones needed to be escalated and said it was important for universities to have pre-existing strong relationships with police particularly when looking at the protests that unfolded on university campuses.
“It’s always difficult because you don’t want a police presence on campus but you don’t want to delay police presence if there is a significant risk of violence or to incite violence,” Dr Finkal said.
“Where vice chancellors had briefed the police chief commissioner … it was much easier to pick up the phone instead of calling and saying help.”
He also raised the issue of social media, in particular the sometimes publicly accessible social media accounts of lecturers that were followed by students, where the lines between academic freedom and freedom of speech could be blurred.
“It’s a difficult and evolving area for a university because it is changing so fast,” he said.
“Every year it gets more difficult because social media gets so much more pervasive.”
He supported in-person training on racism for students in leadership roles, whether that be in the community or at their university but said online modules would suffice for others.
Australians need better understanding of Holocaust, professor tells inquiry
Earlier today, a Monash University professor told the royal commission about the importance of Holocaust teachings in addressing antisemitism.
David Slucki established the Monash Initiative for Rapid Research into Antisemitism (MIRRA) to better understand the nature and depth of antisemitism in Australia and look at ways to combat it.
A training program developed out of the research has since been delivered to about 17,000 executive leaders and university front line staff across 17 universities including one in New Orleans.
Professor Slucki told the commission there was a need in the community for basic literacy to better understand who Jewish Australians are.
“If you can’t understand that, you can’t understand what lies at the heart of people’s anger and angst,” he said.
“The impact of generational trauma … so people could understand where the distress is coming from.”
He said Holocaust teachings played an important role in that.
“The impact of the Holocaust animates the way people think about what it means to be Jewish,” he said.
“There’s this critical mass of Jews in Australia that descended from Holocaust survivors. The way we live our lives is really shaped by the message we take from that and that’s different for every person.
“We’re really trying to show that people shouldn’t make assumptions that just because someone is Jewish, about how they are Jewish.”
Professors says he believes most Jewish Australians wanted a two-state solution
Professor Slucki also gave evidence on the complexities of Zionism and anti-Zionism.
“These terms are not so simplistic,” he said.
“When we teach about our Israeli conflict … we teach about the conflicting and contesting narratives for both people.
“For most people, there is a lot of pain and fear and we need to recognise that as a starting point.”
Professor David Slucki told the antisemitism royal commission there needs to be better education in Australia around who the Jewish community is. (Supplied: Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion)
He said he believed that most Jewish Australians wanted to see a two-state solution, which was something he would investigate further in an upcoming survey of his.
“Most people don’t want violence, they don’t want to see endless conflict, they want to see peace in the region,” he said.
He encouraged respectable conversations, but said clear definitions of academic freedom and freedom of speech needed to be understood.
“When we disagree with someone we see them as wrong or bad and evil and that’s the kind of thing we want to start pulling Australian people away from,” he said.
“We all watch the violence and events in the Middle East … we watch it with a great deal of distress and much of the anger, distress that we see comes from a degree of hurt.”