Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has defended his comments comparing a pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

In a speech on Wednesday, Mr Dutton compared the response to the protest – which took place just days after the outbreak of the current Middle Eastern conflict – to the shooting that resulted in the deaths of 35 people in Tasmania.

“While no one was killed during the October 9 protests, the events at the Sydney Opera House were akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance,” Mr Dutton said in the speech.

But the comparison drew condemnation, including from Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer.

On Friday, Mr Dutton stood by his remark, saying the comparison was a commentary on the prime minister’s leadership.

“The point I was making – which is absolutely a legitimate one – is that I thought this was a time for the prime minister to show leadership and to step up,” he told Nine’s Today program on Friday.

“Instead, we’ve had crickets.

“You’ve got a contrast, I think, with John Howard, who stood up at a point of national importance for our country, demonstrated leadership and changed the course of history for the better.”

Following the Port Arthur massacre, then-prime Liberal minister Mr Howard introduced sweeping gun control legislation.

While acknowledging criticism about his reference to Australia’s worst mass shooting, Mr Dutton doubled down.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had failed to act to reduce anti-Semitism in the community in the wake of the Gaza conflict, he said.

“That’s the parallel that I’m making, to the absolute absence of leadership from the prime minister at the moment, which has given rise to those in the Jewish community talking about feeling unsafe in our country,” he said.

“I don’t resile from that at all.”

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said while it was important to call out anti-Semitism, the comparison to Port Arthur was wrong.

“I do agree that some Jewish people do feel unsafe in this country for the first time, it needs to be called out, but I think the one thing that Mr Dutton has made a mistake about … is conflating it with Port Arthur,” he told Today.

“They’re two separate issues, Port Arthur was a shocking, murderous, evil act in Australia.

“(The opposition leader) should work with the prime minister to call out inflammatory language here rather than throw kero on the bonfire of hate.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare also slammed Mr Dutton’s comparison.

“He’s using the murder in cold blood of 35 Australians to try to make a political point – this bloke is all aggro and no judgement,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“If you want to run the country, you can’t run your mouth.”

But deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said anti-Semitism needed to be called out.

“The point that Peter Dutton was making (was) there are pivotal and seminal moments in our nation’s history where leaders were prime ministers need to stand up,” she told Sunrise.

“We saw that in that time with John Howard and we changed the laws about guns in Australia forever. 

“Now, it was about the standing up and the leadership. 

“That’s not what we’re seeing.”

On April 28, 1996, Martin Bryant gunned down 35 people and wounded 23 others in the tourist town of Port Arthur.

He is serving 35 life sentences.

This post was originally published on Michael West.