Natalie loved her Darebin community – until she felt its undercurrent of hostility to Jews

Natalie James loved going to her local cafe in her progressive and diverse inner north Melbourne neighbourhood.

But her feelings changed after graffiti including “F*** Israel”, “Free Palestine” and “Land Back” appeared days after a mass shooting targeting the Jewish community in Bondi last December killed 15 people.

James reported the graffiti – which included a crossed-out Star of David – to Darebin City Council, thinking it would be removed swiftly. It was not, and she began to feel that her neighbourhood was turning hostile to Jews like herself.

It took six months and multiple complaints for Darebin City Council to remove the graffiti that was spray-painted over a mural. The cleanup took less than a day.

In the meantime, James – a former Fair Work Ombudsman and former secretary of the Federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations – was left confused and distressed at what had happened to her neighbourhood.

“It’s a sign that people who wrote it don’t think Jews are welcome in this neighbourhood. It’s a sign that the neighbourhood might not be safe,” James told The Age.

James has reflected over the past two years on use of terminology like “get out, Zionist”, which she has also observed around Darebin, trying to understand “who do they mean”, she said.

“But they mean me. I don’t know who they are trying to get out other than Jewish people in Darebin,” she said.

James appeared at the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in late July. She was one of more than 20,000 individuals and organisations to lodge a submission and was asked to prepare a witness statement which focused on the public service.

But in her full submission, shared with The Age , James explained how the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the Bondi Beach shooting upended her professional and personal life.

“I am not religious. But I am unambiguously Jewish: by culture, by family, by history, by DNA,” her submission read.

She was profoundly affected by the December 14 killing of 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach, which came at a key point in her professional life.

“On the evening of 14 December 2025, I was preparing to fly to Canberra the next morning for what I knew would be the announcement of my exit from my role.

“After watching the event unfold on my television with disbelief, I was almost paralysed. I didn’t want to go to Canberra. I wanted to be with my family.”