Focus Macnamara: Greens want to earn back Jewish vote

Of the thousands of doors Greens Macnamara candidate Sonya Semmens has knocked on, one has stuck in her mind. It was the door of a Jewish family who had recently taken their mezuzah down because their teenage children were fearful it would make them the target of a hate crime.

“To be yourself and take pride in yourself and feel safe to be yourself… is a very Greens concern. I will nail a mezuzah on their door frame if I am elected… and that will be when I can tell myself my job here is done. I will buy one, I will drive out and nail it on myself,” Semmens told The Jewish Independent.

Semmens considers it her job to “earn back” the progressive Jewish vote in Macnamara. The electorate – formerly Melbourne Ports – covers a substantial proportion of Melbourne’s ‘shtetl’, including Caulfield, St Kilda, Elwood and Balaclava. 

But Semmens, 46, a political novice who has spent her entire career in the non-profit sector, is running for a party consistently marred by antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric since Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack.

“Although I can't speak for all elements of the Greens or the way that the Greens are portrayed… I see it as my role and my responsibility to be that voice of care and concern for the Jewish community, which is my community, which is my neighbourhood, my friends, my children’s friends and their families.

“Frankly, I won't rest until that relationship is restored, and it will be something that is a priority for me and is on my mind all the time, as it should be."

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