Anthony Albanese scolded by ex-Deputy PM over Bondi Beach shooting as he warns of demise of 'Judeo-Christian culture'

Highlighting the increasing "divide and distrust" in Australian communities, Mr Anderson explained: "Australia has been, like so many Western countries, increasingly atomised and increasingly divided, increasingly distrustful, but it's accelerated very rapidly.

"And I think there's a mood of disbelief, but also a great deal of anger in Australia that a place that has always been known for peacefulness and in particular, has been a place where Jewish people can feel safe, is suddenly one of the least safe of all the democracies for Jewish people.

"And the ineffectiveness, it just simply has to be said of our Prime Minister and his senior ministers on the face of all of this is palpable, and I think deeply worrying to Australians."

Accusing the Government of being "reluctant" to condemn acts of antisemitism following the events of October 7, Mr Anderson recalled: "I think the reality is that for years there was a bipartisan approach to Israel, a blanket of opposition to antisemitism, a realistic assessment of the realities of the Middle East.

"The incoming Government some three, four years ago now switched course quite radically and broke the bipartisanship when October 7 happened.

"There was an astonishing reluctance in this country from our political leaders, but particularly by the federal Labour Government, to quickly condemn the appalling scenes of pro-Palestinian marchers chanting dreadful slogans."

He added: "There was a row over whether it was 'gas the Jews' or 'where's the Jews' - there's not much difference.

"'Where the Jews' is what the Nazis demanded to know when they went into a conquered European city, so they could cart them off to the gas chambers. And that was before Israel had even responded.

"Since then, we have seen constant apologies made for the Palestinian people and for Hamas, and a constant recognition, even a rewarding of the propaganda that implied that Israel was engaging in genocide, and really much of it, I'm afraid there's no way of putting it, there are many people in this country who were thinly disguising antisemitism."

Stressing that the Jewish community in Australia has been "crying out " for action to be taken to protect them from antisemitic attacks, the ex-Deputy Prime Minister told GB News: "The Jewish community has been warning for a very long time that this would end in deep tears.

"Now we've had the worst massacre since 1996 in Australia, and the worst terrorist attack on the Jewish people since October the 7. And it happened in this country.

"My impression is that you're stunned in Britain, and people right around the world are amazed that this could have happened in Australia, and yet the Jewish community has been crying out, rightly and understandably, for a real solidarity with them by our national leadership, and they haven't had it."

Warning of a rise of "radical Islam" in Australia in recent years, Mr Anderson said it has become "destructive" to their "national fabric".

He stated: "What is actually needed is a focus first on antisemitism and the other side of that coin, the rise of radical Islam.

"Thomas Sowell has made the observation that civilisations don't just happen, they have to be built. They have to be nurtured, they have to be cultivated. Above all, they have to be understood.

"And if you don't understand your culture, sooner or later you'll lose it. And we haven't been paying the rent, and the landlord always shows up.

"For hundreds of years, to reach the modern state of democracy, we've insisted on the equality of all citizens, that's the key to democracy and freedom.

"What we've done now, is 31 per cent of our population is now foreign born, and amongst those are an estimated 50,000 or so quite radicalised or potentially radicalised Islamists who certainly do not share the view of the equality of all human beings.

"They actually regard in a form of the most ancient of all hatreds, that Jewish people are somehow subhuman. It's very destructive to our national fabric and our democracy."

He concluded: "The wellsprings of Western democracy are clearly Judeo and Christian, and the idea that you've got to love your neighbour, that you turn the other cheek, that killing is an unbelievably serious offence, and you've got to understand the wellsprings.

"Thomas Sowell is right and I would make this charge against the Prime Minister and I'm normally very, very reluctant to criticise national leadership.

"I've been in senior leadership in this country for many years, but my question to the Prime Minister would be, have you actually set out to understand, as Thomas Sowell insists is necessary, is your first step to preserve everything that's good about your culture, what its origins were, what works, what doesn't work, what's required to sustain it.

"And what's required to sustain it is to insist that your citizens in a democracy, first of all, abide by the respect for one another that is so basic."