EDITORIAL: Jewish voters are not easily seduced

The results of the federal election showed that Jewish voters are more interested in environment and equity than the finer points of candidates' attitudes to Israel

LET'S GET ONE thing straight. Jewish voters did not decide any aspect of the federal election.

Caulfield is not Borough Park. Bondi is not Surfside, Miami. Even in Wentworth and Macnamara, the electorates with the highest percentage of Jewish voters in the country, there are nowhere near enough Jews to decide the seat.

In Wentworth, Jewish voters make up 16.2% of the voters, in Macnamara 12.8%, and in Goldstein a mere 8.8%.

But when elections are close, the capacity to woo blocs of voters can give candidates a winning edge and, on some issues and only to some extent, Jews have a community of interest.

We care about multiculturalism, about education, about the prevention of hate crime and, of course, we care about Israel – though not in as monolithic a form as is sometimes believed.

But, like all other voters, we approach these issues in the context of our desire for good government on the issues that matter to all Australians.

Election 2022 was interesting because the three electorates that have most Jewish voters were among those that experienced dramatic changes away from the major parties. In Wentworth and Goldstein “teal” independents captured formerly safe Liberal seats.

In Macnamara, the result was so close it has still not been called. It is likely Labor’s Josh Burns will be returned, but the vote for the Greens was dramatically higher than expected.