Foreign Minister Penny Wong visits Auschwitz for milestone Holocaust commemoration

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for a united front against antisemitism and hate crimes ahead of her visit to Auschwitz for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Wong, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal will represent Australia at the milestone event in Poland.

Historians estimate that around 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz during World War II. Around 1 million of them were Jews. Some 75,000 Poles were killed there, as well as Roma, Russian prisoners of war and others.

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Tuesday, January 27 marks 80 years since Russian soldiers liberated the camp.

Wong was speaking as the federal government grapples with antisemitic attacks in Australia over past weeks.

"We are here to say, never again, never again. To stand with others across the international community and say, never again," she said.

"I would say at this time, we have to stand together - across beliefs, across political difference, across politics - we have to stand against prejudice and hate and antisemitism in all its forms."

The Coalition has lambasted the federal government's response to antisemitic attacks in Australia, and said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's convening of a national cabinet in the wake of the attacks was too little, too late.

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said last Friday he did not think Wong should be leading the delegation to Auschwitz because of the federal government's stance on the Gaza conflict.

When quizzed by reporters about Dutton's criticism, the Foreign Minister said it was not a day for politics.

The Australian ministers will join world leaders, including King Charles III and French President Emmanuel Macron, for the commemorations in Poland.

The Albanese government today announced a $4.4 million National Holocaust Education Centre will be built in Canberra, in consultation with the ACT's Jewish community.

The government says the initiative is to ensure future generations will learn the history of the Nazi genocide and combat racism and anti-Semitism.

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