In the wake of the December 2025 antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach, journalist and commentator Kostas Karamarkos raises serious concerns about the federal government’s rapid push to introduce extensive hate-speech and social-cohesion legislation with minimal time for public consultation. While the need to confront antisemitism and racism is urgent and unquestionable, he argues that the speed and scale of the proposed reforms risk sidelining democratic process, long-term scrutiny, and meaningful public participation. Calls from across the political spectrum and from civil-rights bodies for more time and deeper consultation, he notes, should not be ignored.
Karamarkos points to the striking silence of Australia’s peak multicultural bodies in this debate. Organisations such as FECCA, ECCV, and established migrant community bodies, he argues, should be central to discussions that shape the country’s democratic and social future, yet remain largely absent. This raises uncomfortable questions about independence, representation, and whether multiculturalism is being reduced to cultural symbolism rather than active civic engagement. At a moment of national consequence, he concludes, silence is not neutral — it is itself a political position.
