Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has appointed a special envoy to help quell heightened levels of antisemitism in the community.

Businesswoman Jillian Segal will serve as the envoy to combat antisemitism and will meet members of the Jewish community and the government to work on the best way to stop the vilification.

Albanese said antisemitism directed towards Australia’s Jewish community had been more prominent since the October 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas militants.

“Australians overwhelmingly do not want conflict brought here. What they want here is harmony and for people to be able to get on with each other,” he said in Sydney on Tuesday.

“It has been a reminder over recent months that we just can’t take that respect and social cohesion for granted. We need to nourish it. We need to cherish it. We need to celebrate it.”

Segal, who served in the public and private sector as well as being president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, will be in the role for the next three years.

Albanese said her appointment would shortly be followed by the announcement of a special envoy for Islamophobia.

Tensions have escalated in Jewish and Muslim communities following the Hamas’ attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1200 Israelis and the taking of hostages.

Health officials in the Middle East have said 37,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel declared war on Hamas.

Segal said antisemitism presented threats not just to Jewish Australians but to the entire population.

“Antisemitism erodes all that is good and healthy in a society,” she said.

“It has the capacity to lie dormant through good times and then, in times of crisis like pandemic, which we’ve experienced, economic downturn, war – it awakens, it triggers the very worst instincts in an individual.”

Segal will represent Australia at a World Jewish Congress in Argentina next week.

Acting Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition welcomed the appointment.

“This appointment is acceptance by the Albanese government that antisemitism is a real and present threat in communities across Australia,” she said.

“The Coalition welcomes any measure by the Albanese government to bring attention to, and combat the rising tide, of antisemitism across Australia.”

The opposition used the appointment to reiterate calls for a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses, but Albanese ruled out such a move.

“We’re very clearly aware of what has occurred,” he said.

“You don’t need an inquiry to know that there’s been a rise of antisemitism at some of the universities.”

Executive Council of Australia Jewry president Daniel Aghion also backed Segal’s appointment.

“We have seen antisemitism rear its ugly head on Australian campuses, in schools, in the media and social media, in the arts and culture sector and other parts of society,” he said.

“[Segal] will bring deep knowledge of the issues and immense energy to the role, and we are confident that she will carry out her duties with integrity and distinction.”

But Jewish Council of Australia’s executive officer Sarah Schwartz said she was concerned the envoy role would undermine efforts to stop racism.

“The anti-racism cause is undermined when governments respond to lobbying from interest groups rather than by addressing racism in a principled manner,” she said.

“We are concerned that an antisemitism envoy in Australia … will increase racism and division by pitting Jewish communities against Palestinian, Muslim and other racialised communities.”

-AAP