Ben Carroll spoke at Melbourne’s Mount Scopus school and recalled running a marathon with “Israel” written on his arm shortly after the 2023 attacks.
Victoria Premier Ben Carroll addressed students at Mount Scopus Memorial College in Melbourne on Wednesday, October 7, the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. In his first major public speech to Melbourne’s Jewish community since becoming premier, he apologised for what he called the state government’s inadequate response to antisemitism and events affecting Jewish Australians.
Carroll said it was his personal mission to rebuild Australia’s relationship with its Jewish community so young Jewish Australians would not doubt that they belonged in the country. He recalled that about a week after the October 7, 2023, attack, he ran his first Melbourne Marathon with the word “Israel” written on his arm. He said he did so to show solidarity, and that the physical pain of the race seemed small compared with what Israelis and the Jewish community were experiencing.
In his speech, Carroll linked the Hamas attack in southern Israel, the 2024 arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne’s Ripponlea district and the December 2025 mass shooting at Bondi Beach. He described the crimes as expressions of a desire to sever Jews’ connection with Israel. That was his assessment; he did not say the incidents had the same organisers. He also cited everyday examples of antisemitism, from graffiti on school fences and racist remarks on public transport to threats and assaults.
“I want you to know that as a state and as a country, we did not do enough, and I want you to know that I am sorry,” Carroll said. He added that October 7 was an attack on Israel’s existence, while what followed in Australia was an attack on the community’s connection with Israel. Carroll said Jewish children in Melbourne and Sydney had been affected by the conflict in the Middle East and that no one should have to choose between being Jewish and feeling Australian.
Carroll spoke to students behind the secure gates of Mount Scopus Memorial College, Australia’s largest Jewish day school, in Burwood. At the invitation of principal Dan Sztrajt, he departed from his prepared speech to describe a 2023 visit to Israel, before the attack, including a tour of the Gandel Rehabilitation Centre on Mount Scopus. Carroll recalled that after the marathon he saw the community’s pain in families, synagogues, small businesses and especially among young people.
In response to criticism of the previous state government, Carroll pointed to measures adopted in Victoria under his predecessor, Jacinta Allan: bans on symbols associated with Hamas and Hezbollah, stronger anti-hate laws and a criminal offence for serious vilification. Allan, who became premier 10 days before the October 7 attack, had earlier apologised to Victoria’s Jewish community for antisemitism but, according to the SMH report, did not blame her own government. Jewish leaders criticised her for moving slowly on practical measures.
The SMH article noted that Carroll’s speech did not address Palestinian deaths or the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It cited an estimate of about 73,000 Palestinians killed; other reports ahead of the anniversary put the figure at about 74,000. The speech therefore focused on the experience of Australia’s Jewish community and the premier’s position on combating antisemitism.
State Opposition Leader Jess Wilson had been invited but did not attend, campaigning in northern Victoria that day. Two students approached Carroll to thank him after the speech. As he spoke at the school, a “vigil for Gaza” organised by the Free Palestine Coalition was taking place on the steps of the State Library of Victoria.