Pressure Mounts for Jillian Segal to Resign from Antisemitism Envoy Role

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There are demands for Jillian Segal, Australia’s special envoy tasked with addressing antisemitism, to step aside after it was discovered that a trust associated with her husband donated $50,000 to Advance Australia, a right-wing political advocacy group.

This conservative lobby, established in 2018, has shared anti-immigration views, recently asserting that Palestinians in Australia pose a “security risk,” and accused left-leaning politicians of siding with Hamas.

Advance Australia was also a leading force against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, actively campaigning against the Voice initiative.

Segal’s spouse, John Roth, serves as a director for Henroth Discretionary Trust, which contributed the donation in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, according to records from the Australian Electoral Commission. Segal is neither a director nor a shareholder of the company, and there is no indication of her direct involvement in the donation.

Segal denied any involvement following reports of the donation, which were published by the Guardian and, more recently, by independent outlet The Klaxon.

“I would not accept anyone dictating my political stance based on my husband’s actions, and I certainly won’t direct his,” Segal conveyed to SBS News in a statement. “I have not, nor will I, engage in his donation activities.”

Segal’s position criticised

The roles were established in response to an increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Australia following Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel in 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

A woman and a man standing for a photo together.

Jillian Segal was appointed Australia’s inaugural special envoy to combat antisemitism in July last year. Source: AAP / Thomas Parrish

In a public statement released on Sunday, the Lebanese Muslim Association said Segal’s position as Australia’s antisemitism envoy was “no longer tenable”. It said she could not credibly lead efforts against antisemitism while “remaining silent about — or benefiting from — the funding of organisations that fuel other forms of racism and bigotry”.

“This wasn’t a distant relative or a faceless entity. It was a donation that aligns her household with a group that actively undermines the very goals she claims to champion: social cohesion, tolerance, and the fight against hate.”

The association called for the government to intervene if Segal did not resign.

On Monday afternoon, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) also called on the Australian government to remove Segal as the antisemitism envoy in the wake of the donation being made public.

A statement criticized Segal’s efforts to detach herself from the donation as insincere, arguing that political contributions from her household are a valid public interest issue.

APAN president Nasser Mashni said Segal’s appointment to the position, and the role’s existence itself, had always been “profound insults to Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, anti-Zionist Jews, and First Nations people”, and that the new revelations “heighten the problem we are dealing with”.

“Segal must be stood down, and this government must seriously reconsider its anti-racism work,” Mashni said.

The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA), a progressive group formed in 2024 to represent non-Zionist Jews in Australia, which is critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, made similar comments.

Max Kaiser, JCA’s executive officer, said reports linking Segal’s household to Advance Australia “further erode any credibility the special envoy might claim to have on matters of racism”.

“These revelations only strengthen the case for comprehensively rejecting the plan and the envoy position itself.”

Treasurer says donation is a matter for Segal

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the issue is a matter for Segal herself.

A man speaking at a podium, standing in front of Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the donation was a matter for Jillian Segal. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

“As I understand it, she’s made comments about this herself and she’s addressed this issue publicly, and I see it really as a matter for the envoy,” Chalmers told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

“We are taking substantial steps to crack down on this disgraceful escalation in antisemitism that we’re seeing in our society. We’re already taking a number of steps and the envoy has provided us with some suggestions and ideas, proposals, for what else might be considered. We’re working our way through that. But when it comes to donations made by her husband to that organisation, she’s addressed this publicly on the record and I see that as a matter for her.”

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment when contacted by SBS News.

— With additional reporting by Madeleine Wedesweiler and the Australian Associated Press