Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, says she had no involvement in a major donation from her husband’s company to the controversial conservative campaign group Advance, which has strongly railed against overseas immigration, pro-Palestine protests and the Labor government.
Guardian Australia first reported in February that Henroth Investments Pty Ltd had donated $50,000 to Advance in 2023-24, according to Australian Electoral Commission annual donation disclosure figures. One of that company’s directors, according to corporate records, is John Roth – Segal’s husband.
Advance received more than $15.6m in the 2023-24 financial year, according to the AEC figures. The Henroth donation was the equal second-largest donation to Advance last year, one of five donors to give $50,000 to the group.
Advance campaigned vigorously against the Labor government and the Greens at the May election, with a major focus on criticising their responses to antisemitism and immigration issues as well as questioning renewable energy, net zero and Indigenous welcome to country ceremonies. Advance frequently derided Anthony Albanese, who appointed Segal to her position, as making Australia “weak, woke and broke”, and accused him of “letting foreign criminals back into your communities, and staying silent over increasingly violent protests”.
The Henroth donation resurfaced after a report from independent news site the Klaxon over the weekend after Segal’s delivery of 49 recommendations to the government to address antisemitism. Corporate records show John Roth and his brother, Stanley, listed since 1975 as directors of the company set up by their father, Henry.
Segal’s name is not listed in any official capacity for the company.
In a brief two-line response to questions, Segal distanced herself from the Henroth donation.
“No one would tolerate or accept my husband dictating my politics, and I certainly won’t dictate his. I have had no involvement in his donation, nor will I,” she said in a statement.
Segal’s office did not respond to questions about whether she held any interest in Henroth Investments, nor whether she was aware of the donation made to Advance. Segal’s office also did not respond to questions about whether Segal had comment about the actions or campaign efforts of Advance, or whether she had any concerns about the potential impacts on social cohesion of Advance’s campaign material.
The Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said the prime minister had questions to answer on what “due diligence” was conducted before Segal’s appointment.
“If the prime minister was serious about tackling racism – in all its forms – his government would commit to urgently funding and implementing the National Anti-Racism Framework, which provides a blueprint for an anti-racist Australia that protects everyone: First Nations people, Jews, Muslims, and other racialised minorities,” she said.
Advance has counted the former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott as a board member and Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as a spokesperson. It led the no campaign in the Indigenous voice referendum and ran controversial and ultimately unsuccessful campaigns in various political elections focusing on crime and immigration issues.
Albanese in 2024 accused Advance of being “very partisan” and spreading “a whole lot of misinformation” during the Dunkley byelection; its controversial referendum campaign drew criticisms of racism and misinformation from opponents and some Liberal MPs.
Following the May election, which saw the Coalition reduced to a historically low parliamentary caucus, several senior Liberal sources questioned the impact of Advance, with some warning it “undermined” and cost the Liberals votes.
Advance’s recent campaign activity includes calls to reverse clean energy policies, “drop welcome to country” and “stop mass immigration”.
Last week, the group posted a screenshot of a job ad for a “Palestinian settlement and community development worker” in Sydney, asking: “Why do we have to pay for this, exactly?”
Other recent posts have also raised issues related to Palestine. “Who would’ve thought bringing hundreds of people from Gaza would be a risk to security,” Advance posted on X on Friday. Last week, the group also posted: “If you chant ‘globalise the intifada’ on the street, you should be deported. End of story.”
In April 2024, posting about pro-Palestine protests on Anzac Day, Advance posted on X: “If you hate our country, why don’t you go live in ‘Palestine’?”
In March, Advance posted on X that Greens politicians “should take their keffiyehs and mardi gras marches to the streets of Gaza … then we’d see how quick they want to go back to hugging trees”.
Advance’s largest declared donor last year was the Cormack Foundation, best known as a multimillion-dollar investment vehicle for the Liberal party and one of the party’s biggest single donors, which pledged $500,000 to the conservative campaign group.
