October 11, 2024
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO: I mentioned earlier this morning that I can only describe it as a fish rotting not only from the head, but all the way through and when you've seen the behaviour of the federal Greens regarding the conflict between terrorist organisations and the sovereign state of Israel, well, is there any wonder that their local candidates here in the ACT are carrying on the same way. To talk to us about this and other issues, Senator James Paterson, the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, is with us. James, good morning.
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning, Stephen.
CENATIEMPO: This is an extraordinary off the back of one of the Greens candidates here in the ACT, writing supposedly a creative writing fiction piece comparing Jesus to Osama bin Laden. We've now got a another candidate in a since deleted Twitter post suggesting that Hezbollah should be de-listed as a terrorist organisation. Clearly the leadership that's coming from Adam Bandt is filtering right through the party.
PATERSON: You couldn't have put it better, Stephen. We have a full blown extremism crisis in the Australian Greens. It's in their federal party, it's in their state party, including in the territory party here in the ACT. As you say, we have one Greens candidate out there, not just comparing Osama bin Laden to Jesus Christ, but saying that she idolised Osama bin Laden in that piece of apparently creative writing. Another candidate who you say has advocated de-listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. Let's remember, Hezbollah is responsible for the deaths of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, not just Jews and Israelis, but Arabs and Muslims, Americans, French. They even blew up a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. This is an appalling group and the Greens have to answer for this. They have to answer for the anti-Semitism which is festered in their party since the 7th October.
CENATIEMPO: Yeah, it is absolutely frightening some of the utterances we see from these candidates. But it's interesting that the tweet that as we say, it's now been removed. But it was in response to a former ABC journalist lamenting that Hezbollah had only been listed as a terrorist organisation in 2021 here in Australia, which says we are behind the rest of the world on this stuff. I mean, I know there's calls now for Hizb ut-Tahrir to be listed. So many other countries have them listed a terrorist organisation, but we're always late to the party with this.
PATERSON: Well funny enough, I actually chaired the intelligence committee inquiry which recommended that Hezbollah be listed as a terrorist organisation in its entirety. Prior to that, we'd made the artificial distinction in Australia that only the external security organisation of Hezbollah was the terrorist wing and the rest of Hezbollah could be separated from that. Well, Hassan Nasrallah, the recently deceased former leader of Hezbollah, always rejected that distinction. He said that Hezbollah was one entity. And you're right, we did catch up to allies in 2021 when we broadened that listing. But you're also right, we haven't listed Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation. Our friends in the United Kingdom did so recently, our friends in Germany have listed them for many years and there's no doubt we've seen incredibly dangerous extremism from Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia, and I think there's a very good case to list them. But the Albanese government is not interested in doing so.
CENATIEMPO: Well, Hizb ut-Tahrir's manifesto is to create a worldwide Islamic caliphate. They are out and proud about, we want a one world Islamic government. how we can even entertain that kind of idea in Australia just is beyond me.
PATERSON: That's right. And they were the key organisers behind the appalling protests at Sydney University, which made so many Jewish students and staff feel unsafe on campus. They were the key organisers of rallies, of protests on the anniversary of the 7th of October at the Lakemba Mosque, which was deeply offensive to many Australians, but especially Jewish Australians. One of the speakers that they invited and who spoke at that rally said that this was a day of celebration and that is a window into the heart of this organisation. It is an extremist organisation. It does have associations with terrorists and the Albanese government should have referred it for investigation to be listed as a terrorist organisation and their failure to do so I think is very telling.
CENATIEMPO: But James, none of this happens in a vacuum. We've now seen Jason Clare suggesting that Israel is not complying with the rules of war, accusing them of deliberately bombing schools and hospitals and the like. We know that the terrorist organisations that they're fighting against deliberately set up their installations inside these civilian facilities. I mean, this is just ignorance on the Government's part again, and it just goes to show that Anthony Albanese has lost control of his own party.
PATERSON: He certainly has and I didn't realise, Stephen, that Jason Clare was an expert in international law or foreign policy or national security or defence. I thought he was the Education Minister and I don't think he's ever served in any of those portfolios in the past. But you're right, international law and the rules of war are clear. If a terrorist organisation or a military organisation uses a civilian institution like a hospital or a school for military purposes, than it does become a legitimate military target. But I think the real point is here, who is the Foreign Minister of the Albanese government? Is it Jason Clare? Is it Ed Husic? Is it Penny Wong? Because they all seem to have different views on these questions and they're allowed to freely into the media to push these different views that seem to be more driven by their domestic electoral politics than Australia's national interest.
CENATIEMPO: And all of this creates an environment where we see these pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah, protesters on universities now storming the office of a Jewish academic and threatening and intimidating the bloke in his own office and refusing to leave until the police were called.
PATERSON: That was an absolutely terrifying incident at the University of Melbourne. Let's be really clear. That academic was targeted because of his faith. He was racially harassed and attacked in his own office, and the University of Melbourne needs to conduct an urgent investigation to reveal the identities of those people. If they are staff of the university, they must be fired. If they are students of the university, they must be expelled. And if they are not from the university, then police must charge them with offences.
CENATIEMPO: Look, it just goes to show that lack of leadership is now filtering down to our university. I mean, we had a situation here at ANU in Canberra where one of the students openly said Hamas deserves our unconditional support, was expelled and then let back in five minutes later. So, you know, leadership has got to come from the top and we're not getting that at the moment.
PATERSON: I'm incredibly concerned and disappointed of what we've seen at ANU and as you say, that student was expelled, returned, and I understand is now running for a student leadership position at the university. How ANU can tolerate and permit that I do not know. If anybody else expressed sentiment like that I would have thought that the university would come down on them like a ton of bricks. But as you say, actually, what we need is national leadership. We need leadership from our Prime Minister. He needs to make sure that this is, and make clear, that this is completely and utterly unacceptable. And until he steps up to the plate, until he shows some moral courage and clarity, I think these problems are going to get worse as extremists continue to become emboldened.
CENATIEMPO: No doubt about it. James, I appreciate your time this morning.
PATERSON: Thanks Stephen.
ENDS
