The Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) has welcomed the unanimous endorsement by Melbourne City Council to authorise the Lord Mayor to submit a prepared submission to the Royal Commission.
The motion, moved by Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece and passed by the Future Melbourne Committee on 5 May 2026, authorised the Lord Mayor to formally lodge the Council’s submission to the Royal Commission.
OHPI CEO Andre Oboler wrote to Council in support of the motion, describing the submission as “well reasoned, informative” and an important contribution to the Royal Commission process.
In its submission, Melbourne City Council documented the growing operational burden antisemitism has placed on local government, including the rapid removal of hateful graffiti, ongoing monitoring of social media platforms, and coordination with police and community institutions. The Council reported that more than 1,020 offensive graffiti incidents handled since 2023 could be considered antisemitic, alongside the removal of thousands of antisemitic stickers and posters across the city.
OHPI’s submission highlighted the significance of this data, noting that Council’s figures demonstrate the extent to which antisemitic incidents remain underreported through traditional reporting systems.
OHPI also welcomed the Council’s recognition that online hate and extremist narratives are increasingly spilling into physical spaces. The Council submission identified “Digital and Social media influences – Online hate, misinformation and disinformation, including extremist narratives that are increasingly spilling into physical spaces” as a key driver of antisemitism and declining social cohesion.
In his submission, Prof. Oboler argued that social media companies’ reduced investment in moderation systems has shifted growing burdens onto institutions such as councils, which are increasingly required to maintain safe online and public environments themselves.
OHPI welcomed the City of Melbourne’s “zero tolerance and rapid response” approach to antisemitic graffiti and hateful material, and its recognition that antisemitism undermines both community safety and social cohesion.
OHPI’s full submission to Melbourne City Council is available below.
5 May 2026
Dear Melbourne City Council,
I am writing on behalf of the Online Hate Prevention Institute, an Australian charity focused on preventing all forms of online hate, and with staff in the greater Melbourne area. We write in support resolution 7.1, that the Future Melbourne Committee: “Endorses the City of Melbourne submission to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion appended to this Notice of Motion and authorises the Lord Mayor to lodge the submission on behalf of Council.”
We welcome and thank the Council for the actions it is taking, particular over antisemitic stickers and graffiti which we have observed on many occasions while visiting the city. Many of the stickers come from the same source and despite including warning in tiny font such as, “Stickers supplied for personal use. Distribute responsible and abide by the law” (witnessed next to Parliament Station on 13 February 2024) the stickers are clearly produced with the purpose of defacing public space and creating anti-Jewish hostility. This particular sticker featured an antisemitic internet meme and turned it into a physical expression of anti-Jewish hostility which was then embedded into the built-up environment. Council’s rapid removal of these stickers renders them less effective and the city safer.
In our view Council’s submission adds value to the Royal Commission by providing valuable empirical data on just how many stickers there are. ECAJ’s two most recent Antisemitism in Australia reports note a total of 428 antisemitic stickers / posters across all of Victoria between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2025. [1]
Council’s report of “thousands of stickers and posters” and specifically “4,500 square metres of antisemitic graffiti and materials” in Melbourne alone highlights that there is significant under reporting in the ECAJ statistics and the problem is much worse than even these figures show. It also highlights the important role Council plays not only in fixing the problem, but in recording the data.
We also particularly welcome the inclusion of the section “Daily monitoring and management of racist and hate speech on City of Melbourne social media platforms” which states “The City of Melbourne’s Customer Experience team also checks the City of Melbourne’s social media accounts multiple times a day and responds to commentary that breaches the City of Melbourne’s social media policy.” This burden on the City of Melbourne is in part a result of social media companies not taking sufficient action themselves to remove such content. The burden that this places on Council to maintain a safe online space is something the Royal Commission should hear.
We strong endorse Council’s conclusion about the drivers of antisemitism, and in particular that one of the main ones is: “Digital and Social media influences – Online hate, misinformation and disinformation, including extremist narratives that are increasingly spilling into physical spaces.” The failure of social media companies to better address the hate is not only feeding this hostile environment, it adds an additional burden to Council and the public purse. This problem has accelerated in part due to tech companies cutting back on both technological and human solutions designed to address this problem [2]. This is leading to less content being removed by platforms and more burden placed on page owners like the City of Melbourne [3].
We bring to Council’s attention the fact that the National Anti-Racism Strategy barely mentions antisemitism at all. While it is still worth supporting, it creates a gap and funding is also needed for work on antisemitism specifically to close that gap.
We note the Lord Mayor of Melbourne’s letter accompanying the submission states, “I continue to advocate for the full implementation of all recommendations from the 2022 Inquiry into Extremism in Victoria and the 2025 Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Plan.” We welcome those commitments, but note there is no mention of the plan to combat antisemitism in the submission itself, nor a recommendation that the Commonwealth provide funding to implement it, as is recommended for the National Anti-Racism Strategy which if you read it has a very strong focus on other communities but not the Jewish community which is barely mentioned. If possible, we would recommend adding an endorsement of the Plan to Combat Antisemitism and suggesting that the Royal Commission recommend the Commonwealth fund its implementation alongside the National Anti-Racism Strategy.
The submission is important, and it is important the Royal Commission hear the voice of the Melbourne City Council. The submission is well reasoned, informative, and in our view serves the residents and the wider Melbourne community well. We encourage the Future Melbourne Committee to support the resolution.
We would welcome the opportunity to present our data on online antisemitism to the Future Melbourne Committee at another time.
Adj. Assoc. Prof. Andre Oboler
CEO, Online Hate Prevention Institute Member, Australian Government’s Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Adjunct Associate Professor, Law School, La Trobe University.
[1] 144 reports between 1 Oct. 2024 – 30 Sep. 2025 https://www.ecaj.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/ECAJ-Report-Anti-Jewish-Incidents-Australia-2025.pdf Page 6 and 284 between 1 Oct. 2023 – 30 Sep. 2024 https://www.ecaj.org.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/ECAJ-Report-Anti-Jewish-Incidents-Australia-2024-1.pdf Page 5.
[2] https://about.fb.com/news/2025/01/meta-more-speech-fewer-mistakes/
[3] Only 1.3 million items of hate were actioned between October and December 2025, compared to 18 Million between April and June 2023. https://transparency.meta.com/reports/community-standards-enforcement/hateful-conduct/
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