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April 1, 2025
Transcript – 2SM Mornings
01 April 2025
E&OE
CHRIS SMITH:
Well, we're being trolled by Chinese ships again. A Chinese government research vessel is now passing south of the country inside Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. The Tan Suo Yi Hao is an oceanographic research and deep sea exploration vessel. and it's capable of exploration at depths of up to 10,000 metres. This is important to note. Now the Prime Minister says he'd prefer if the vessel wasn't there and that the ADF is monitoring it. But hang on, it's actually the ABF, the Border Force. Or is it Richard Males in a tinny? I don't know. Senator James Paterson is the Opposition Spokesman on Home Affairs and Cyber Security. Senator, good to speak with you again.
JAMES PATERSON:
Great to be with you, Chris.
CHRIS SMITH:
The Prime Minister was caught out by the Chinese warships recently when he was then telling Porky's about who was first to know about live firing. This time he seems unaware of who's actually keeping tabs on this ship.
JAMES PATERSON:
You’re spot on Chris. This is just another example of the Prime Minister not being across the details and not having a fundamental understanding of national security matters. Yesterday, he said it was the ADF instead of the ABF who was monitoring this. And I know it's only two letters away in the alphabet, but it's a world of difference between our armed forces and our civilian border protection agency monitoring this vessel. And as you say, he got this wrong with the Chinese warship live firing exercises as well. And in that instance, we had to rely on a Virgin Australia pilot to be tracking it. I hope we don't find ourselves in that world again.
CHRIS SMITH:
See, obviously, he prioritises health, which is understandable. He prioritises other issues because he's running to the electorate right now, writing checks for various policies, and I get all of this, but national security, you can't make mistakes.
JAMES PATERSON:
The first and most important duty of any government is to keep Australians safe. If you can't do that, frankly, it's disqualifying for holding public office and for anything else you promise to do for the Australian people. And this Prime Minister, time and time again, demonstrates weakness and ignorance when it comes to really important matters of national security. And I think Australians are right to ask themselves, in an uncertain world, do we really want another three years of a weak Prime Minister? I think we need strength at this time. I think we need clarity. I think we need understanding and in Peter Dutton you've got an alternative Prime Minister who is strong on national security and will always stand up for this country.
CHRIS SMITH:
Now, the area where this vessel is sailing is important to note. It's where our communications cable from Sydney to Perth is located. And so what we've got to assume is that given the exploration capacity of this vessel, it can explore up to depths of 10,000 metres, they would have full photographics of that crucial cable, and I immediately think of what Jim Molan wrote in his book Danger on our Doorstep before he passed away. The first attack by any kind of Chinese military will be to cut our communications off. No internet, no electricity, no access to our money. We will be frozen. So, in a step leading up to that possibility, and hopefully it's never a possibility, but in a step leading up to that, they've just got photographic evidence of what's under the ground or what's underneath the sea.
JAMES PATERSON:
That's true Chris that could be what this vessel is here to do. It certainly is a strange route for them to take back home to China, given that they were in Wellington only a few days ago. It's not the most direct route, and it is unlikely to be purely a coincidence that it happens to be alongside one of our key internet cables. I think the important thing for Australians to understand is how dependent we are on these cables. About 98 percent of our internet traffic travels through these cables, not through satellites. and it's not a theoretical exercise that these could be cut if there was to be conflict because China has cut cables like this around Taiwan before there's any potential conflict there. Russia has cut cable to European powers in the northern hemisphere in the context of the war in Ukraine. So this is happening around the world and if that is what the purpose of this Chinese research vessel is, then we should be very concerned about it.
CHRIS SMITH:
Now the New Zealanders, what are they up to? Are you concerned that New Zealand is getting a bit close to China because this was an invitation from New Zealand for this Chinese vessel to go to Auckland?
JAMES PATERSON:
Look, I would actually say when it comes to the Indo-Pacific security environment, Australia and New Zealand are more aligned than ever before. Five years ago, that might not have been the case, but the change of government in New Zealand and the evolution of their perspective on Indo-Pacific security issues mean we are well aligned on that. But that doesn't mean that this Chinese research vessel isn't a problem for Australia because the ABC has reported it actually entered into our territorial waters. Now the Prime Minister has said we do the same thing in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Sea. I'm not aware of Australia having these research vessels. I'm not aware us conducting exercises like this. I am certainly not aware of us doing deep seabed examination within the 12th nautical mile limit of the Chinese coastline. If the Prime Minister has accidentally disclosed classified information in a press conference, that's serious, and if he's made it up, it's even worse.
CHRIS SMITH:
No, he's made it up, that's what's happened. Can I swap to another national security issue, the handling of the mandatory minimum sentencing laws for dangerous asylum seekers, they've stuffed this up as well, since the release of the 300 detainees, including murderers, paedophiles and rapists, more than a third have re-offended. More than a third. Department of Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster says the government didn't anticipate the risks associated with the laws. They drop a cake of soap in the shower, these people.
JAMES PATERSON:
Look, it's a massive debacle, Chris, and yet another failing by this government on community safety, and it's had real consequences for Australians, as you say, of the 300 people that Labor released into the community, hardened criminals, non-citizens. More than 100 have committed new offences, including allegedly the person who approached police violently in Melbourne over the weekend, who was reportedly on bail himself for visa breaches. Now, if there are mandatory minimum sentences for visa breaches in the law, then he shouldn't have been out on the streets to allegedly commit these offences towards police, but that is what is reported to have happened, and it is because the Albanese government yet again stuffed it up in the drafting of this legislation.
CHRIS SMITH:
How's the election campaign going, do you think, because I read on the front page of the Australian today that the former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says there have been missteps. Have there been missteps, Senator Paterson?
JAMES PATERSON:
In an election campaign, they are colourful and sometimes messy affairs, but I'm really happy about where we're positioned in this campaign. We're starting in the campaign against the first term government at 50-50. That means we can win this election if we campaign well, and I think we are campaigning well. I think Australians are hearing the message that every time they go to a petrol station under a Dutton Coalition government, they will get a tax cut. Filling up their 55-litre tank will see them $14 better off every time they go to the petrol station compared to under a re-elected Albanese Labor Government.
CHRIS SMITH:
I appreciate your time.
JAMES PATERSON:
Thanks, Chris.
ENDS