This is my letter published last week in the Australian Jewish News concerning the Racial and Religious Tolernace Act. 

I thank the ALP candidate for Caulfield (AJN August 17, 2006) for recognising my support for the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, which I negotiated on behalf of the Liberal Party in my role as the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs. I have been a strong supporter of the Act ever since.

I will never support any attempt to remove the protections the act gives to religion.

I am proud of the Victorian Liberal Party’s unwavering history of support for multiculturalism and abhorrence of any form of anti-Semitism.

This is the first time the ALP candidate has spoken out on any matter to do with the Jewish community in Caulfield. Why didn’t he speak out against the ALP’s pre-selection of Mr Kahlil Eideh?, who as Alexander Downer said is a man who speaks of ‘colonial’ and ‘Zionist’ plots to ‘enslave the Arab world’ and praises the work of ‘Arab martyrs’. The communal response on my website  has been enormous and reflects a concerned electorate on this issue.

Why didn’t the ALP candidate for Caulfield put pressure on the Premier to withdraw his support for Kahlil Eideh?