A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author spur free speech concerns.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Dr Randa Abdel Fattah from February's Writers Week in the state of South Australia because "it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to programme her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi".
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel Fattah responded, saying it was "a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship", with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media that the decision to bar Abdel Fattah "sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is 'culturally insensitive'."
The shooting, which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14, sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Daesh terrorist organisation.
Members resign
The Adelaide Festival announced on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned.
The festival's executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was "navigating a complex and unprecedented moment" after the "significant community response" to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticised protest marches against Israel's brutal war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week that a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia.
Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls and impose bigger fines to curb "hate preachers".
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield, which has a large Muslim community, said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
"Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way," Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
