A childcare centre at Maroubra in Sydney's south-east has been set alight and spray painted with anti-Semitic graffiti. The building is a short distance away from the Maroubra Synagogue on Anzac Parade. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the incident as an "evil hate crime".
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00:00It was just after 1 o'clock this morning that police and fire authorities discovered this
00:07childcare center here in Maroubra alight and defaced with graffiti.
00:12The fire caused significant damage to the site.
00:15Authorities were able to extinguish the blaze and thankfully no one has been reported as
00:19being hurt or injured or indeed present at the site at the time.
00:23Nonetheless, it has been considered an incredibly alarming incident, largely due to anti-Semitic
00:29graffiti present as well as its proximity to both a Jewish school as well as a synagogue
00:35not far down the road.
00:37The Prime Minister has described it as a vicious and vile crime and vowed to support the New
00:42South Wales Government with federal resources to investigate the matter.
00:47And it is a crime, a vicious crime, to think through how you could think that something
00:53like this would advance any alleged cause that people might have.
00:59The only objective which will be achieved by this crime is the fulfilment of these people
01:08being caught, charged and facing the full force of the law.
01:14The Premier who was alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the site this morning
01:19also vowing that his government is considering several options for legislative reform as
01:24well as taking the current state of play in terms of anti-Semitic incidents in the city
01:30incredibly seriously.
01:32We are seeing a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in our community.
01:36It's deeply distressing.
01:37As I said earlier, it breaks your heart that we have animals in our city that are prepared
01:41to burn down a childcare centre to make this point.
01:45But what I can promise is that the resources of the New South Wales Police and the Government
01:49and the Commonwealth Government are directed at this today and tomorrow and as long as
01:54it takes to catch the people who are responsible for it.
01:58As for the childcare centre itself, it will remain closed today.
02:01The ABC has spoken with leadership from the organisation about the general feeling in
02:06the community and indeed for parents of children who would typically have their kids in care
02:11here.
02:13We're shocked and horrified to see the damage that's been occurred at our Only About Children
02:18Maroobah service and obviously our immediate thoughts are with the immediate Maroobah community.
02:24We've been focused on ensuring our team, our families and the children are safe and aware
02:29of what's going on and we've been in communication with them this morning.
02:33No one has been arrested thus far in this incident.
02:36Police vowing that they will not only have general duties officers but also detectives
02:42joined by Operation Shelter, a task force dedicated to looking at hate crimes specifically
02:47motivated with religious intent within New South Wales.
02:51Already we know many of these sites have had increased security patrols, both private as
02:56well as public resources including police.
02:59Now given that this incident will be referred on to terror squad investigators, there'll
03:04also be more resources thrown at it as well as intelligence services, meaning the Government
03:10and police are hopeful arrests are made and that those responsible will be brought to
03:15account.