Ley attacks PM’s Joy Division shirt over antisemitic connotations

11 hours ago 4

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has attacked Anthony Albanese’s leadership over the prime minister’s decision to wear a Joy Division band T-shirt five days ago, accusing him of “displaying the wrong values”.

Ley made a speech in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon to condemn the T-shirt Albanese was photographed wearing last Thursday: the cover of Unknown Pleasures, the acclaimed post-punk band’s first album released in 1979.

Anthony Albanese disembarks from the RAAF plane in the Joy Division t-shirt last Thursday.

Joy Division’s name comes from the phrase used to describe groups of women kept as sexual slaves in concentration camps during World War II.

The band’s name has courted criticism but did not deter its commercial success in the early 1980s. Joy Division won both the 1989 and 1990 triple j Hottest 100 with their song “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and appeared repeatedly in subsequent countdowns.

The prime minister has made his love for music a part of his personal brand, appearing at festivals and DJing in local venues.

But Albanese’s choice of shirt as he disembarked the plane from Washington on October 23 became a talking point among some right-wing accounts on X. It was questioned in The Australian’s media diary section on October 26, and in a Sky News segment on October 27.

On Tuesday, October 28, Ley gave a statement in the House of Representatives before the start of question time to demand Albanese apologise over what she described as a “profound failure of judgment”.

“Arriving back in Australia from his overseas trip, the prime minister stepped off the plane proudly wearing a T-shirt with the name of a band, Joy Division, whose origins are steeped in antisemitism,” Ley said.

“The name was taken from the wing of a Nazi concentration camp where Jewish women were forced into sexual slavery. At a time when Jewish Australians are facing a rise in antisemitism, when families are asking for reassurance and unity, the prime minister chose to parade an image derived from hatred and suffering.

“This is not a slip of judgment, and he cannot claim ignorance. He was told about the dark origins of this band on a podcast in 2022. He even admitted that it is very dark. He knew, he understood, and still he wore the T-shirt.

“It raises questions about values, the wrong values, and it is a profound failure of judgment for the prime minister of this country in full knowledge of the meaning behind the name of this band.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley during her 90-second statement before question time.

“To choose to wear this T-shirt is an insult to all, and it fails the basic tests of leadership. He should apologise immediately.”

Unknown Pleasures has been ranked among the best albums of all time by various music publications. Rolling Stone last year ranked the album cover as the greatest of all time.

Australian media outlets, including The Australian, initially reported on the shirt in a lighthearted manner, using it as fodder for puns.

But debate about Albanese and the band name’s Nazi links developed on several right-wing accounts with tens of thousands of followers on X in the following days. On Sunday night, The Australian’s media diary column questioned the choice, and noted Albanese had been probed on his support for the band in a podcast interview from 2022.

When told about the origins of the band name in the podcast, Albanese responded: “I wish I didn’t [know that] ... It’s very dark, isn’t it? But everything about the band is so dark … You should edit that [information] out of the podcast just for the sake of the listeners, so that they can continue to enjoy it.”

Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser said: “This is a serious error of judgment from the PM. It sends a terrible signal, and he should apologise.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Zionist Federation of Australia declined to comment. Albanese is currently in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit. He declined to comment.

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