'You are racist!' Chris O'Keefe shocked by anti-Semitic incident at a Melbourne Officeworks 07:10

Now, have you seen what's happened in Officeworks in Melbourne? It's in the Australian newspaper. Leah Mendez, the journalist, has revealed this. But this is an Officeworks in the suburb of Elston Wick in Melbourne. Now, one of the employees refused to serve a Jewish man because... And he was wearing a kippah. Because she was, in her own words, pro-Palestinian.

Now, is that not just racism and flat-out discrimination? So he was asking to get a copy of the newspaper, the Australian Jewish News, laminated. So he shows up there, and it's all on video, right? He's at Officeworks. He goes up and asks the lady behind the counter if she could laminate the Australian Jewish News, a newspaper. And the employee from Officeworks refused. Now, all of this is on tape.

And she's been outed in a big, big way. You make your mind up. I'm pro-Palestine. That's okay. You have to do a job of laminated. Yeah, we have the right to deny jobs. Is that an Officeworks position or your personal position? It is an Officeworks. We have the right to deny jobs. So Officeworks position is that you're pro-Palestine and you won't take a laminated job? No, that is my...

That's my position, but we have the right to deny jobs. What's the reason you're denying this job? Because I'm not comfortable proceeding with it. Which part are you not? The entire thing, the article. Have you read? I'm not comfortable with it. Do you have friends on people's privacy? No, I was looking at the photo, I looked at the headline. What's that? You're in a Jewish community, and we... Israel and Judaism can be completely separate. From what? From religion and...

I'm just going to read it right now, but you can separate the two. So what are you separating? The culture and the religion. Okay, so what's wrong with this? I'm just not comfortable with doing that. Okay, well maybe I can speak to your manager or another staff. So you're the manager of this whole store? Of the department, yes. And you're instructing at this whole store? No, I'm just not comfortable doing it. I'm not instructing the entire store.

I'm not instructing the things, I'm just not comfortable doing it. Okay, maybe there's another staff member that's willing to do it. I can wait for Maddie and see if she's comfortable doing it, but I know I'm not. Okay, and the reason you're not again is because... I'm Fred Palliser. And that means... For political reasons, I'm not comfortable. Is politics played within Officeworks? Is that a personal staff member's discretion to make decisions?

We can. We have the right to deny it. And what are those reasons? We have a right on the website. Right. So what policy am I breaching by getting an article about... Are you reporting me? Yes, I am. Can you not report me? No, I cannot. I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Honestly, imagine just for a second, right, and she's there and, you know, this worker. Just imagine the outrage for one second. If there was somebody at Officeworks...

who wanted a same-sex... There's a photo of two men who were married on the weekend or whatever, and they wanted the photograph printed so they could take it home and put it on the mantle. And the office worker said, no, no, no, I'm not comfortable with that.

Imagine the outrage. Imagine the outrage if somebody went in and wanted to print flyers at Officeworks promoting the yes case in the voice to Parliament referendum and the Officeworks worker said, no, no, no, no, I'm not comfortable printing flyers.

those yes flyers can you imagine that same person who is clearly an anti-semite and racist albeit i don't think she's clever enough to figure that out herself can you just imagine what she would have said to the people who refused the service of people who are pro uh the yes campaign or trying to get a photograph of a same-sex couple developed can you imagine it

Well, where is the outrage for this poor Jewish man who's shown up to Officeworks trying to get a newspaper article laminated and effectively told, no, no, no, no, no, that's not my political view? Well, if we're doing that, what happens to people who want paraphernalia? Liberal Party people, I want my Liberal Party posters printed at Officeworks. No, no, no, sorry. That's against my political view, so I'm going to refuse your service. Now, I hate to tell this young woman...

She's racist. You are racist. It is discrimination, pure and simple. So the man has since launched legal action in Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. You'd think it'd be a pretty open and shut case. But to OfficeWorks credit, the managing director, Sarah Hunter, she got in touch with a statement and she's obviously mortified. And rightly so. And I'm not going to hold this against OfficeWorks.

They said this, quote,

At Officeworks, we do not discriminate against our customers on the basis of their political views, religious beliefs, gender, sexuality or race. We provide ongoing training and education to our team members so that they understand the importance of treating all of our customers with respect and dignity. Arising out of this incident, relevant team members received education through the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

We sincerely regret that this incident occurred and for the distress caused to the customer. Well, that's one good thing that's come out of this. At least Officeworks isn't pandering to the BS and pandering to the quote-unquote political views of the team member. Spare me.

It is a shocking story. And the discrimination that the left in politics in this country so desperately want to stamp out and so desperately tell us is just rampant in this country is being perpetrated by them on a daily basis to the point where Officeworks team members are refusing to laminate a Jewish man's newspaper.

No place in Australia. It is disgraceful. They should be ashamed.