April 19, 2023
CHRIS KENNY: Let's go now to the new Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson, joining us live from Canberra. Thanks for joining us, James, and congratulations on your promotion. You must be concerned about Labor premiers going to China and offering such a weak line that undermines our national position, a strong position that federal Labor, to its credit, has been holding on?
JAMES PATERSON: Thanks, Chris, and thanks for having me. You're absolutely right. Mark McGowan's comments in China on this hot mic moment were completely inappropriate and completely out of line. If you're an Australian politician and you're travelling overseas you have to leave your partisanship at home. It's not appropriate to attack a fellow Australian politician while you're overseas, no matter how much you disagree with them. But what's even more disturbing about this, Chris, is that before Mark McGowan left, the family of Cheng Lei appealed to him to raise her case while he was there in China meeting with senior Chinese officials. He refused to do so, and he said he wouldn't do so on the basis that it wasn't his job, that that's something the federal government should concern itself with. Well, guess what? Our national security and our defence policies, our foreign policy that's also the federal government's job. But he seems very happy to weigh in on that while he's in China at the expense of his fellow Australians. It seems to me that he's not uncomfortable raising sensitive issues in China. He's just uncomfortable raising things that the Chinese government wouldn't approve of, and he's very comfortable raising sensitive issues if the
Chinese government does approve. That comment about Andrew Hastie having a Cold War mentality is literally straight out of the Chinese government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs talking points. It's one of their most commonly used insults against Western politicians who stand up against them. So, for him to weaponise that against one of his own Australian colleagues is a disgrace.
KENNY: It is a disgrace. And McGowan is showing himself to be what communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin called ‘useful idiots’. And that's exactly what he's doing. Now on to a new job. You'll be responsible in that for border protection, of course. Bit of focus today on people coming here on planes and claiming refugee status. That's always been the case. But they come here with visas and of course, there are more people coming here now because we've opened up our borders. But you, like me, we're very concerned about Labor weakening our maritime border protection regime. Now a month or two have passed now on that. Are there any signs that there has been any revitalisation of the asylum, the people smuggling trade, or does it seem that Labor has been able to do this without giving the people smugglers a green light?
PATERSON: Chris, you're absolutely right to raise that story today, which came about due to the hard work of my colleague and the shadow Immigration Minister, Dan Tehan, who identified, despite Labor in opposition attacking us for not dealing with the large number of arrivals by plane. Even more people have come by plane under them and they've done nothing about it. They have deported virtually no one, regardless of their eligibility. So, they're really failing on their promise to protect Australia's borders. You're right, they have weakened our border protection policies. There were three key measures in Operation Sovereign Borders. Boat turnarounds, offshore processing and temporary protection visas. Well, they've dismantled one of those three pillars, and so far, it hasn't led to the return of that human trafficking misery that we saw under the Rudd and Gillard era. And I really, sincerely, genuinely hope it does not. But I fear that it will because a chink in the armour has opened up and all it takes is that people smugglers and their evil trade to seek that opportunity, to sell that opportunity and to take advantage of it, and they could start again, and it would be the Labor government's fault if it does.
KENNY: We've got to be vigilant on that. But so far, thankfully, fingers crossed, no signs of any consequence from that weakening. Thanks for joining us, Senator. I appreciate it. Senator James Patterson there, the now Shadow Home Affairs Minister.
ENDS
