Labor MP Josh Burns, who represents the suburb where a Melbourne synagogue was firebombed last week, has hit back at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s attack earlier in the week.
Burns accused Dutton of deliberately blocking a senior Coalition member from reading his statement on the synagogue attack.
The Labor MP said he had lost his voice and since he was unable to deliver the statement himself he asked Liberal Senator James Paterson to read out the statement on his behalf.
Burns has now alleged that Dutton intervened and stopped Paterson from reading the speech so it was never heard.
This follows after Dutton earlier in the week made a targeted speech about Burns, claiming he had failed to speak up about antisemitism in the community.
This accusation came despite Burns making numerous public statements and speeches, including a joint press conference with a senior Coalition member mere hours after the attack.
Also facing criticism is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the synagogue on Tuesday afternoon but is being criticised for not doing so sooner and being photographed playing tennis while on a three-day visit in Perth.
Albanese struggled to make his way through a tense crowd that had out the front of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne's south-east , five days after it was destroyed in what authorities believe was a likely terrorist attack.
While meeting the Orthodox Jewish congregation he promised to restore the site.