The federal government’s antisemitism envoy has proposed an “external independent ombudsman” to monitor ABC and SBS coverage of the war in Gaza, and a requirement that all visa applicants be screened for “the risk of holding antisemitic views”.

In an updated plan released on Friday, Jillian Segal said Australia’s two public broadcasters should be subjected to greater oversight.

“Given the extent and seriousness of concerns about subjective, inaccurate and disproportionate reporting in accordance with its own standards, it would be in the public interest for the public broadcasters’ coverage and approach to be the subject of more detailed analysis and independent review,” Segal wrote in the new plan.

It suggests that a government-appointed panel review the public broadcasters’ previous reporting and states the government should consider “transferring” responsibilities from the ABC and SBS ombudsmen to an “external independent ombudsman consistent with other sectors such as telecommunications and banking”.

Segal writes that “Jewish Australians have reported being abused, harassed and accused of being ‘baby killers’ or supporters of ‘genocide’ simply for their belief in the right of Israel to exist”.

“That perception of a link between coverage and hostility is itself a matter of public importance.”

Segal said she had received “many expressions of concern from the Australian Jewish community” about ABC and SBS reporting on “Israel and the conflict in the Middle East”.

The special envoy to combat antisemitism’s initial plan, released in mid-2025, said Segal would “work with the publicly funded broadcasters to encourage them to develop programs that add to social cohesion”.

She then told the royal commission into antisemitism in mid-2026 she wanted a new “oversight” committee that could give ABC and SBS coverage a “tick” or “guidance”.

Segal told Senate estimates this week she was concerned about “the tone [and] the frequency of reporting about Gaza from the ABC”.

The broadcasters rejected calls for external oversight last year. On Friday, the ABC said its complaints process was “the most robust and transparent in the Australian media”.

“The ABC has the highest editorial standards and a comprehensive framework to ensure accountability, transparency and high editorial standards,” a spokesperson said.

“This framework is designed to balance accountability with editorial independence and robust journalism.”

SBS said on Friday it condemned antisemitism “unequivocally” and the organisation’s existing complaints and accountability framework was “robust and fit for purpose”, including external oversight by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The royal commission was established in response to the Bondi beach massacre in December when 15 people were killed during a Hanukah celebration.

Visa applicants to be screened

Friday’s report proposes that all visa applicants wanting to travel to Australia should be assessed for “the risk of holding antisemitic views”.

“It would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that a minority of migrants bring to Australia ingrained antisemitic views. This is often a function of migrating from countries or environments where antisemitism is commonplace and reinforced by political, religious, educational and cultural institutions or leadership,” Segal writes.

The report states the home affairs department should prioritise “the identification of antisemitic conduct before visa grant, including through new technological capabilities and thorough consideration of information already recorded on a client’s record”.

The vice-president of the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network, Hiba Farra, said she was alarmed by the proposal to use visa controls to prevent people accused of antisemitism – potentially without evidence – from entering Australia.

The measure represented “a further step down a racist path”, Farra said in a statement.

“Bigotry and racism have no place in Australian society, and to seek to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism continues the dehumanisation of Palestinians. It further entrenches anti-Palestinian racism in our society.

“Speaking out against Israel’s ongoing atrocities is the prerogative of anyone who believes in human dignity and human rights.”

The arts and universities

Friday’s plan suggests publicly funded arts organisations should be able to impose “enforceable conditions” on artists and terminate grants if they promoted antisemitism.

The envoy states that all arts organisations – private and public – should develop policies to govern the use of their venues, festivals and stages or “artists’ personal political or ideological activism outside the scope of the advertised show, performance or exhibition”.

The envoy’s updated plan proposes allowing grant authorities to impose enforceable conditions on academics, allowing “for the termination of grant funding … where the recipient engages in antisemitic speech or conduct”.

Universities Australia said it took Segal’s concerns “seriously”.

“Addressing these issues requires sustained leadership and cultural change, and careful consideration of the boundaries of freedom and speech and academic freedom,” a spokesperson said.

Segal said the proposals outlined in the plan were “not about silencing criticism of Israel”.

The report argues that “modern, progressive antisemitism” was the most pervasive form of the prejudice in Australia.

“It takes the hostility of Islamic extremism and far-left antisemitism, together with traditional antisemitic tropes, and gives it a respectable face through the language of social justice and human rights.”

Segal said Islamic extremism, far-left and far-right antisemitism were prevalent “and they require vigilance and laws that are properly enforced”.

“But the form that is leaving Jewish Australians increasingly anxious and excluded is the one that has taken root in influential institutions, where Jewish Australians are being discriminated against, blamed and vilified for the actions of the government of the state of Israel.”

‘Trumpian’

The progressive Jewish Council of Australia criticised the envoy’s new plan as “Trumpian”, arguing it was a “dangerous and ideologically driven roadmap that threatens freedom of speech, academic freedom and democratic rights, while failing to meaningfully address the causes of antisemitism”.

The council said the envoy’s claims about “progressive antisemitism” verged on “conspiratorial”.

Bart Shteinman, an executive officer at the JCA, said Friday’s report did “little to mask a rightwing ideology that will go to incredible lengths to silence those drawing attention to Israel’s genocide in Gaza” and that it sought “unprecedented oversight”.

“What Segal is proposing as the path forwards to combatting antisemitism is similar to what we might expect coming out of Trump’s America, not Australia.”

Shteinman urged the federal government to remember that “the special envoy does not speak for all Jews, many of whom could be classified as ‘progressive antisemites’ themselves under the ridiculous analysis Segal is promoting”.

Alex Ryvchin, the co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told 2GB radio that Segal’s decision to highlight “far-left antisemitism” was “insightful and courageous”.

“Antisemitism comes from different facets of society, but with the far left, it’s laced in this dishonesty. It’s packaged in the language of human rights, of compassion, and peace, and progressivism, but actually, they repurpose classic neo-Nazi antisemitic tropes.”

Ryvchin said within the ABC and SBS “there is a certain culture, there is a certain groupthink, which I think is driven by almost a handful of journalists and executives, who have this kind of political ideology, which they then coach and mentor through the organisation”.

He said genuine accountability could only be acheived “through external accountability”.

The release of the envoy’s updated plan came two days after Segal appeared at Senate estimates.

She defended her previous criticism of SBS for quoting death toll figures provided by Gaza’s health ministry. She told the royal commission the figures were “grossly inflated” and their inflation was “well known and even accepted by the United Nations”.

A spokesperson for the UN secretary general responded at the time: “For us [the UN], the Ministry of Health in Gaza is a source we, and many others, often cite. Independent validation of subsets of the data has found no significant discrepancies in their numbers.”

Segal told estimates this week she accepted the UN view “but that does not detract from the concerns of the Jewish community as conveyed to me about the way in which the reporting had been done”.

Israel’s military accepted in January that the death toll compiled by health authorities in Gaza was broadly accurate.