Australia will spend $20 million to assess school security, particularly at Jewish and at-risk Muslim schools.
The plan was announced Friday by the federal government and was quickly endorsed by the opposition.
“Anybody who has an experience of the abuse and appalling race hatred that particularly Jewish schools have had to put up with in this country would know that ASIO is the appropriate body to assess the needs of some of these schools,” said opposition justice spokesman Christopher Pyne.
ASIO is the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which will carry out the security checks of targeted schools together with the federal police.
The announcement followed closely upon news reports earlier this week that Nazi memorabilia was found for sale in Australian stores as white supremacists plan a pro-Nazi rally for Jan. 26.
The sale of Nazi propaganda is not illegal in Australia, but Jewish shoppers complained about it to the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, which represents the region’s 40,000 Jews.
