Victoria election: Dan Andrews under fire amid neo-Nazi slur as Jewish community slams politicians

Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews and his deputy have come under heavy fire after accusing their Liberal rivals of favoring ‘Nazis’ days outside of state elections.

The final week of the election campaign turned nasty over the weekend as Labor tried to convince voters to give them a third consecutive term.

It comes as Prime Minister Andrews and his deputy Jacinta Allan accused the opposition of favoring Nazis and extremists on their group party ticket.

Their claims sparked outrage in the Jewish community when Anti Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich called for clear evidence that neo-Nazis participated in Saturday’s elections.

“If there are neo-Nazis running in this election, I want to know who they are,” Dr. Abramovich told reporters on Monday.

“The public needs to know who they are. They are a threat to our way of life.’

On November 19, the prime minister said that Nazis and bigots have no place in politics.

The Liberal Party actively supports candidates who embrace these views. I’m not going to name them – I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of airtime. But I’m going to call it out. This is what is at stake in this election,” he wrote.

The uproar comes when Deputy Liberal leader David Southwick criticized Mr Andrews and Labor for using the term Nazi to describe some candidates for parliament.

Southwick said it was ‘completely inappropriate and desperate’ for the government to use the term Nazi and if there were candidates with those views then they should be named.

“To come out and use the term Nazi so loosely is completely inappropriate. It’s desperate and it has to stop,” he told reporters on Monday.

‘Enough is enough.’

Southwick said the coalition does not want to see people with extremist views in parliament, but the party should favor Labor last to improve its chances of winning government.

Deputy Prime Minister Jacinta Allan (centre) with Prime Minister Dan Andrews

“We don’t have much of a choice in terms of who we prefer… we’ve tried to put the government last, because ultimately they are our opposition,” he said.

Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti Defamation Commission, called on the government to name it Nazi candidates and do not use references to the Holocaust during the election debate.

“I have repeatedly spoken out against using the Holocaust for political purposes and have said that there is no excuse for public figures to play the Nazi card and use this exaggerated term as a blunt instrument to score political points.” he said in a statement. a statement.

“When will our elected representatives understand that using terms like ‘Nazis’ is simply unacceptable and belittle the indescribable atrocities committed on an industrial, monstrous scale in Nazi Germany and across Europe during World War II?

“If there are candidates in this election who possess Hitler’s genocidal aims, or espouse anti-Semitic views, or advocate the deliberate, industrialized liquidation of the Jewish community and other minorities, they should be named and summoned.”

Prime Minister Dan Andrews (pictured with his wife) was criticized by the Jewish community for spreading the term Nazi

Abramovich said he would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the government and the opposition to ensure neo-Nazis and white supremacists are never elected to government.

“But more generally, comparisons to the Holocaust are never valid, they cheapen this unprecedented event and strip it of its true horrors, and distort young people’s understanding of this inhumane period,” he said.

“The victims, survivors and the diggers who lost their lives to defeat this evil regime deserve better.

“The use of holocaust terms coarsens our political discourse that calls for politeness, and I call on all politicians to refrain from such trivializations in the future.

“Our language is powerful enough to discuss policy differences and it’s time to retire and bury the inappropriate Nazi references once and for all.”