Antisemitism Education Taskforce

The first meeting of the Antisemitism Education Taskforce (the Taskforce) was held today in Sydney following the evil act of terrorism and antisemitism perpetrated on 14 December 2025. The Chair David Gonski AC, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal AO and the Hon Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education reiterated their support for Australia’s Jewish community and that antisemitism has no place in Australian society.

Minister Clare; Senator the Hon Jess Walsh, Minister for Early Childhood Education; the Hon Julian Hill MP, Assistant Minister for International Education; and the Acting NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning, the Hon Courtney Houssos MLC attended the inaugural meeting as guests.

The Taskforce noted the important role that early childhood education and care, schools and university sectors have in shaping Australian values. The Taskforce discussed its overarching purpose to provide advice on how the Australian education system can help to prevent, tackle and properly respond to antisemitism.

In undertaking its work, the Taskforce will drive the implementation of measures announced as part of the Australian Government’s response to the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism and provide advice on any further measures required for the education system to help tackle, respond and prevent antisemitism.

The Taskforce agreed to the following immediate actions:

• Tasking ACARA and ACECQA to provide advice on a targeted review of the Australian Curriculum and Early Years Framework to combat antisemitism
• ACECQA, ACARA, AITSL and Education Services Australia (ESA) to scope additional educational resources and teacher professional learning to combat antisemitism
• Special Envoy to brief the next meeting of the Taskforce on the UNESCO training program for teachers and school leaders to prevent and counter antisemitism
• Special Envoy and Emeritus Professor Greg Craven AO GCSG to brief the next meeting of the Taskforce on the progress of the University Report Card Project
• TEQSA and the Department of Education to provide updates on the changes needed to TEQSA legislation to strengthen powers to address antisemitism and all forms of racism on university campuses

The Taskforce will next meet on the 3 February 2026 to be updated on these initial streams of work and brief all Education Ministers at the end of February.

Antisemitism Education Taskforce - Membership

• David Gonski AC (Chair)
• Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism
• Australian Government Department of Education
• State and Territory Departments of Education
• Independent Schools Australia
• National Catholic Education Commission
• Australian Council of Jewish Schools
• Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
• Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
• The Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)
• The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)
• Universities Australia
• The interim Australian Tertiary Education Commission

The third meeting of the Antisemitism Education Taskforce (the Taskforce) was held on 4 March 2026 in Sydney. The Chair, David Gonski AC, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal AO, and members reaffirmed their commitment to eliminating antisemitism and all forms of hate across Australia’s education and training systems. Members emphasised the essential role education plays in fostering ethical behaviour, critical thinking, and respect for diversity.

The Taskforce noted strong momentum on key initiatives, including:

• Education Ministers’ endorsement of the scope of the focused review of the Australian Curriculum to combat antisemitism and build social cohesion.  
• Development of the national Social Cohesion Hub, with the website to provide teachers and school leaders with access to a wide range of quality resources to help tackle antisemitism and hatred with the first tranche of resources centred on antisemitism remaining on track for delivery by 31 May 2026.
• UNESCO professional learning program for educators to address antisemitism and discrimination in schools through trials in New South Wales and Victoria are on track to commence later in March, with engagement across other jurisdictions and the non-government school sectors on expanding the program across Australia.  
• Substantial engagement from the higher education sector on the Special Envoy’s University Report Card Project with the majority of university responses received.
• Higher Education Standards Panel (HESP) Chair Professor Helen Bartlett briefed the Taskforce on the work of the HESP and noted the public consultation underway to explore opportunities to ensure racism is appropriately addressed in the Higher Education Threshold Standards.
• Collaboration between Australian Skills Quality Authority and Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to understand the opportunities for alignment between the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors, including dual sector providers, in addressing antisemitism.
• An assessment of how the Early Years Learning Frameworks currently address discrimination in early childhood settings. Members discussed opportunities to strengthen guidance for early childhood educators to support them to recognise and respond to antisemitism and hate.

The Taskforce agreed:

• ACARA and the Office of the Special Envoy will bring back a joint paper at the Taskforce meeting in May providing advice on how the Special Envoy’s UNESCO professional learning for teachers and school leaders to address antisemitism and discrimination in schools might support the focused review of the Australian Curriculum to combat antisemitism and build social cohesion.
• Resources developed and published by ACECQA to support early childhood educators and providers will be included in the Social Cohesion Hub.

The Taskforce considered additional draft ideas to tackle antisemitism and hatred across the education lifecycle and agreed further work be done and, as appropriate, consultation take place with key stakeholders.  

The Chair reiterated the importance of actionable, outcome‑focused ideas and asked each member to continue to bring forward evidence-based ideas for discussion at future meetings.

The Taskforce will next meet on 7 April 2026 to continue driving this important work. 

The fifth meeting of the Antisemitism Education Taskforce (the Taskforce) was held on 5 May 2026. The Chair, David Gonski AC, Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal AO, and members, acknowledged the strong progress achieved to date and reaffirmed their shared resolve to prevent and respond to antisemitism and hatred across education and training settings. Members attend meetings in-person or virtually according to where they are in Australia.

The Taskforce noted the establishment of the Stakeholder Reference Group, with an introductory meeting held on 17 April, who will provide the Taskforce with a wide range of diverse perspectives on key topics through facilitated roundtables. The Taskforce also noted the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion delivered its Interim Report on 30 April 2026, and commencement of public hearings on 4 May 2026. The Taskforce reaffirmed its commitment to work with the Royal Commission to contribute to the broader national effort.

Mr Julian Leeser MP, Shadow Minister for Education and Co-Chair of Parliamentary Friends of IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance), attended the meeting as a guest, and acknowledged the importance of the education system in tackling antisemitism. Mr Leeser articulated that Holocaust education was not enough, that greater education was required on modern manifestations of antisemitism, and how we treat all people with respect.

The Taskforce noted significant progress on the six key workstreams:

• UNESCO professional learning program is progressing well noting that professional development days for policy makers and teaching workforce have been completed for the first phase trials and planning for the second phase trials is well advanced. UNESCO is on track to deliver the first tranche of curriculum resources by August 2026.
• The Independent Assessor is undertaking an analysis of the submissions on the University Report Card, with a formal analysis to be provided to the Special Envoy in May 2026.
• Draft project plans and budget have been developed and recruitment for key project roles has commenced for the focused review of the Australian Curriculum. Requests for quotation for a literature review and background papers on antisemitism and values education have been released.
• The Social Cohesion Education Hub remains on track for delivery of its initial phase. The first two tranches of resources have been approved by the Hub’s Project Advisory Group. The Taskforce welcomed the rapid progress and requested further work on its implementation and communications around its launch to ensure it meets the requirements of the teaching workforce ahead of full launch mid-year.
• The first meeting of the Commonwealth Research Grants Working Group, chaired by Professor Peter Shergold AC, was held on 13 April 2026. The next meeting will include presentations by the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council on the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.
• The outcomes of consultation on amending the Higher Education Standards Framework 2021 (Threshold Standards) to include commitments relating to racism and governance were shared. Members broadly supported the Department’s proposed approach and were invited to provide feedback on the draft proposal in response to this consultation by 8 May ahead of formal consultation with states and territories. Members also considered TEQSA’s proposal for a Statement of Regulatory Expectations which would follow any amendments of the Threshold Standards.

ACARA and the Special Envoy tabled a paper on the interconnectedness of the UNESCO professional learning for teachers and school leaders and the focused review of the Australian Curriculum, including a planned approach to strengthen the cohesion between the initiatives.

Together for Humanity’s founder, Rabbi Zalman Kastel, and Chair, Dr Phil Lambert, attended the meeting as guests and spoke of their work with the schools sector and insights into teacher dispositions. These insights had been used by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to inform a proposal for strengthening the Teacher and Principal Standards to combat antisemitism and hate, including ways to support and build teacher and school leader capability.

The Taskforce further agreed:

• To provide guidance on the bespoke development of any further antisemitism specific resources to be included on the Social Cohesion Education Hub.
• To support the review of Teacher Standards to consider including dispositions, and the development of a proposal for a nationally applicable toolkit, including a self-assessment checklist, for pre-service teachers and teachers in schools.
• To a shortlist of suggested ideas and proposals, informed by current domestic and international approaches, that the Taskforce can take forward, with members identified to assist with further developing these ideas. 

The Taskforce will next meet on 29 June 2026 to continue momentum on its agreed priorities.