Focus Macnamara: Labor hears the pain

From one angle, Josh Burns looks like the ideal candidate for the substantial proportion of Melbourne’s Jewish community who live in Macnamara, the electorate including Caulfield, St Kilda, Ripponlea and Balaclava.

Burns, 38, grew up in Caulfield and lives in St Kilda, went to Mount Scopus College, and played basketball for Maccabi, where he was a rare beast as a 1.91 metre (6ft 3) Jewish boy. Plus he has the advantage of incumbency and being a Labor MP in a safe Labor seat.

But the Labor government’s foreign policy shifts on Israel, combined with substantial feeling that it has not done enough to counter antisemitism, means winning Jewish votes will be difficult for Labor this election.

Offered the opportunity to defend the government’s record on antisemitism and Israel, Burns has plenty to say, but first wants to acknowledge the community’s feelings.

“The pain that the Jewish community is experiencing is real. People have obviously experienced something in Australia that they've never experienced before. My family and most of our community's families came here looking for a safe haven, and that's exactly what this country has been. So, when you experience the levels of antisemitism that we have, you have to acknowledge the real pain.”

Jewish voters don’t decide Macnamara: they make up only 12% of the electorate. But Labor was only 1965 votes ahead of the Greens candidate on first preference votes in 2022, which means every vote counts in a seat that could easily defect to the Greens this time.