SA premier opposed Randa Abdel-Fattah’s inclusion at Adelaide Writers’ Week

A three-page letter from South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas criticising the inclusion of Palestinian Australian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah in the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week program has been made public. The letter, dated 2 January, was first published in full by Adelaide's Sunday Mail.

In the letter Malinauskas said he did not believe it was "in the public interest" to include Abdel-Fattah "in light of the Bondi terror attack", citing comments reported in news media attributed to the writer. He said her appearance "runs contrary to current community expectations of unity, healing and inclusion" and pointed to "several public statements and actions that have been widely construed as antisemitic", saying her participation was "likely to provoke disunity".

The premier added that statements and actions attributed to Abdel-Fattah "go beyond reasonable public debate, being antisemitic and hateful at worst and deeply offensive and insulting at best". He wrote that behaviour that is insulting, racist, promotes religious discrimination or hate speech is never acceptable and that his government "condemns and rejects all racist or antisemitic behaviour, remarks or sentiment, including the above remarks and actions attributed to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah".

Abdel-Fattah had been invited by the festival's artistic director, Louise Adler, before the Adelaide festival board intervened and overturned the decision; Adler resigned and wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian.

Key Topics

Politics, Randa Abdel-fattah, Adelaide Writers Week, Peter Malinauskas, Adelaide Festival Board, Louise Adler