Australia’s Victoria state will set up a anti-hate task force to help frame laws giving police more powers to tackle violent protests, as it probes a suspected arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue when worshippers were inside, it says.

Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation's Jewish community.

Local leaders denounced the episodes, which both took place on Friday evening: arson at a synagogue and a disturbance at an Israeli eatery.