The head of a conservative Jewish community group has pleaded for the NSW Supreme Court to delay swearing-in a controversial barrister and is calling for a formal investigation by the state regulator of the judiciary.
Australian Jewish Association president Robert Gregory lodged a complaint with the Judicial Commission of NSW on Thursday calling for Chief Justice Andrew Bell to investigate the alleged antisemitic conduct of barrister Phillip Boulten who will be appointed a Supreme Court Justice on Tuesday.
The complaint asks the Commission to postpone the swearing-in ceremony until an investigation can take place, and for it to determine whether the NSW parliament would have grounds under the state constitution to vote upon his removal from the judiciary.
Any motion would have to pass both Houses of Parliament.
“For a period in excess of two years — at the very least — (Mr Boulten) has engaged in misbehaviour within the meaning of … the Constitution Act 1902 by openly, publicly, and repeatedly publishing social media posts that vilified, demonised and delegitimised Zionists/Jews,” the complaint alleges.
“The narrative repeatedly endorsed by (Mr Boulten) — that Israelis are uniquely evil and genocidal, and that Jews and Zionists who support Israel are therefore complicit in genocide — is precisely the narrative that has fuelled the explosion of antisemitic hatred in Australia over the past two years.
“To treat such conduct as irrelevant to misbehaviour is to ignore the causal role of incitement in real-world violence.”
Mr Gregory’s complaint recognises its “unusual” nature as it concerns a person who has not yet been sworn in as a judge, and seeks as a matter of urgency interim relief to postpone Mr Boulten’s swearing-in “pending the finalisation of the … investigation, and the provision of any report … and the Government’s determination of the steps, if any, that it will take as a result of any report”.
I am proud to have contributed to this. At the end of the day, I see real impact as being achievable not just with people reading my articles, but moving the needle behind the scenes.
Writing the truth is the first step, but taking that truth to the halls of power is where the real work begins. I’ll be watching closely as Tuesday approaches. It is time the NSW government realizes that the Jewish community isn’t just documenting the hate, we are holding the haters accountable.
Stay tuned.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
