{"id":13401,"date":"2026-01-18T08:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13401"},"modified":"2026-01-18T08:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:08:12","slug":"sa-premier-fundamentally-opposed-randa-abdel-fattah-appearing-at-adelaide-writers-week-letter-to-board-shows-peter-malinauskas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13401","title":{"rendered":"SA premier \u2018fundamentally opposed\u2019 Randa Abdel-Fattah appearing at Adelaide writers\u2019 week, letter to board shows | Peter Malinauskas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A letter sent by the South Australian premier to the Adelaide writers\u2019 week board criticising the inclusion of Palestinian Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 program has been made public.<\/p>\n

The three-page letter, first published in full by Adelaide\u2019s Sunday Mail newspaper, was signed by Peter Malinauskas<\/a> and dated 2 January.<\/p>\n

In it, the premier states that he does not believe it was \u201cin the public interest\u201d to include Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 program \u201cin light of the Bondi terror attack\u201d, citing comments reported in news media attributed to the writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer appearance runs contrary to current community expectations of unity, healing and inclusion,\u201d Malinauskas said in the letter.<\/p>\n

The premier cited \u201cseveral public statements and actions that have been widely construed as antisemitic\u201d to support his view, saying her participation was \u201clikely to provoke disunity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/sub><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI am of the view that the statements and actions attributed to Dr Abdel-Fattah go beyond reasonable public debate, being antisemitic and hateful at worst and deeply offensive and insulting at best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It went on to say that \u201cbehaviour and speech that is insulting, racist in any form, promotes religious discrimination or hate speech is never acceptable\u201d, adding: \u201cMy government condemns and rejects all racist or antisemitic behaviour, remarks or sentiment, including the above remarks and actions attributed to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Abdel-Fattah was invited to participate in the 2026 Adelaide writers\u2019 week by the festival\u2019s artistic director, Louise Adler, before the board of Adelaide festival sought to intervene and overturned the decision. Adler, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, is a respected figure within Australian publishing and a prominent progressive Jewish voice. She publicly resigned over the intervention after penning an opinion piece published by the Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new Adelaide festival<\/a> board has since issued an \u201cunreserved\u201d public apology<\/a> to Abdel-Fattah \u2013 which she accepted \u2013 and has promised she will be invited to Adelaide writers\u2019 week in 2027.<\/p>\n

Premier \u2018surprised\u2019 at invitation<\/h2>\n

The release of the premier\u2019s letter came after Abdel-Fattah threatened defamation action against Malinauskas<\/a> over his public comments about her.<\/p>\n

In a statement released on Instagram on Wednesday, Abdel-Fattah accused the premier of making harmful public statements about her and said she refused to become a political punching bag.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have never met and he has never attempted to contact me,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

She accused Malinauskas on Tuesday of going \u201ceven further\u201d than previous statements supporting her removal from the festival by linking her to the Bondi atrocity and allegedly suggesting, by way of analogy, that she was \u201can extremist terrorist sympathiser\u201d.<\/p>\n

In his letter, Malinauskas claimed the board had concerns about the inclusion of Abdel-Fattah prior to the Bondi attacks, and pointed to the resignation of Tony Berg, a businessman and a governor on the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, in October over his concerns about the program.<\/p>\n

Typically, boards do not get involved in the editorial or production decisions of arts organisations, which are considered operational matters.<\/p>\n

Though the letter acknowledges that \u201cAdelaide Festival is independent from the government\u201d and the premier is prevented under law from issuing a ministerial direction about its programming, Malinauskas stressed that the government \u201cfundamentally opposes the inclusion\u201d of the author in the 2026 program and \u201creserves the right to make public statements to this effect\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am surprised at the decision by Adelaide Writer\u2019s Week to give a platform to this author and deeply concerned that the Board is not prepared to remove her appearance from the program, particularly in light of the current circumstances, the national mood and the need for social cohesion following the Bondi terror attack,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n