The University of Queensland said its publishing house would not proceed with the publication of 'Bila, A River Cycle', written by award-winning Indigenous poet Jazz Money and illustrated by Matt Chun. The university stated the decision was due to comments Chun made in an online article that 'do not align with the University's policies and values including in light of its adopted definition of antisemitism'. In January, University of Queensland Press had paused publishing the book while it considered Chun's comments.
Chun published a Substack post titled 'We don't mourn fascists' on 1 January about the Bondi beach attack. According to Chun's post, he criticized how some Australian leftists abandoned their 'we don't mourn fascists' slogan after the Bondi attack. New South Wales police confirmed on Thursday that the Engagement and Hate Crime Unit was investigating Chun's post. Fifteen people were killed in the terror attack on 14 December, including a child aged 10.
We don't mourn fascists has been a popular refrain from the Australian left. How quickly this slogan is discarded when the idyll of colonial Bondi is ruptured.
In response to the decision, several authors said they would terminate their contracts or refuse to work with the Brisbane publisher in future. The Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies welcomed the move, saying the university had taken a stand against 'hate, vitriol and grotesque propaganda'. The university has not specified what specific comments in Chun's online article triggered the decision, nor has it detailed which authors have terminated contracts. The status of the police investigation into Chun's post remains unclear, and the full content of his Substack post beyond the quoted excerpts has not been publicly released.