Accounting Giant Severs Festival Ties Amid Speaker Controversy
Global accounting powerhouse KPMG has formally distanced itself from the Sydney Writers' Festival, demanding the immediate removal of its corporate name from the event's official website where it had been prominently listed as a supporting partner. This significant corporate withdrawal follows the festival's controversial decision to confirm Palestinian-Australian writer and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah as a featured speaker for two scheduled sessions during the upcoming 2026 literary gathering.
Corporate Reclassification Sparks Debate
A KPMG spokesperson confirmed the substantial change on Thursday, issuing a carefully worded statement clarifying their relationship with the festival organization. "We are the auditor of the company, which we do not define as a 'partner'. This is now accurately reflected on their website," the spokesperson declared. While the representative declined to explicitly confirm whether Abdel-Fattah's scheduled appearance directly prompted this corporate repositioning, they acknowledged receiving multiple concerned calls regarding this specific issue.
The spokesperson further revealed that in previous festival years, KPMG had maintained comfortable acceptance of being publicly described as an event partner on the festival's digital platforms. This historical context makes the current distancing particularly noteworthy within Australia's cultural landscape.
Festival Responds to Corporate Withdrawal
The Sydney Writers' Festival organization issued its own statement responding to KPMG's corporate repositioning, noting that according to the accounting firm's own declaration, they no longer consider themselves festival partners. "The website now accurately reflects this updated relationship status," festival representatives stated. "SWF maintains numerous wonderful partners and dedicated supporters across our programming, and we remain profoundly grateful to each of them for their continued engagement."
Writer's Participation Becomes Cultural Flashpoint
Randa Abdel-Fattah's participation in Australian literary events has emerged as a significant flashpoint within the nation's arts sector. Earlier this year, the Adelaide Writers' Week disinvited Abdel-Fattah from its scheduled program citing "cultural sensitivity" concerns following the tragic Bondi Beach terror attack. This decision triggered substantial backlash that ultimately culminated in the resignation of the entire event board and the complete cancellation of the Adelaide literary gathering.
Objections to Abdel-Fattah's festival inclusion have primarily centered around a 2024 social media post where she declared: "If you are a Zionist, you have no claim or right to cultural safety." Additional controversy stems from her posting "May 2025 be the end of Israel" and temporarily changing her profile picture to an image of a Palestinian paratrooper following the October 7 attacks. Abdel-Fattah later explained to ABC interviewers that she had utilized the paratrooper image when she possessed "no comprehensive understanding about the actual death toll."
Festival Leadership Maintains Commitment
The Sydney Writers' Festival board originally extended their invitation to Abdel-Fattah prior to both the Bondi attack and the subsequent Adelaide Writers' Week controversy. This week, festival leadership reaffirmed their commitment to the invitation, with chief executive Brooke Webb asserting the event remains "fundamentally not in the business of cancelling or censoring writers based on political viewpoints or controversial positions."
Community Reactions and Political Responses
Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, interpreted Abdel-Fattah's festival inclusion as a "deliberate provocation and a symbolic middle finger directed at the Jewish community" during an interview with ABC News. Last week, NSW Premier Chris Minns expressed personal reservations about Abdel-Fattah's participation in the Newcastle Writers Festival, describing her inclusion as both a "genuine head-scratcher" and "objectively crazy" given current community tensions.
On Wednesday, NSW Arts Minister John Graham emphasized the critical need to "substantially lower the temperature" of cultural debates while arguing that event cancellations rarely achieve this objective. "Every community stakeholder can play a constructive role in this process, including our cultural institutions and major events," Graham stated. "We have repeatedly observed that cancelling programs, rather than meaningfully contributing to social harmony, often produces precisely the opposite divisive effect."
The minister further noted ongoing collaboration "with Jewish community leaders and our cultural sector representatives, including writers festival organizers, to identify constructive ways to make Jewish arts and culture enthusiasts feel genuinely welcome at our events and institutions. My clear expectation remains that arts organizations must make this inclusivity a genuine operational priority."
