The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), Australia’s leading organisation fighting anti-Semitism and hatred in all its forms, has accepted Senator Culleton’s clarification that in his comments— “This will show that the ANZ bank came in and misled the farmers. In actual fact, said, ‘Come take a shower’, and gassed them.”— he did not mean to refer to the Holocaust but to a mass gassing of sheep that took place in Australia in the 1990s.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“While we accept Senator Culleton’s very much needed clarification that he did not mean, in his remarks about ANZ, to refer to the Holocaust, we are still deeply troubled that an elected official would use such insensitive and inappropriate language to criticize a bank’s actions. We hope that Senator Culleton recognises and understands our earlier concerns and the hurt that his remarks caused, and call on him to use this opportunity to unequivocally denounce and speak out against the trivialization of the holocaust and all forms of bigotry. This incident serves as a timely reminder of the power of words, and how public figures, whether they realise it or not, bear a special duty and responsibility to weigh their words carefully.”
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, founded in 1979, is Australia’s leading civil rights organization fighting racism through educational programs that combat bigotry, prejudice and all forms of hatred.
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272 5677