February 3, 2025
RON WILSON: In a bold national security address, Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson has pledged to restore the Department of Home Affairs and reinforce border protection measures, pledging to reunify key security agencies under one roof, re-instate Operation Sovereign Borders and deport high-risk offenders. They're also key planks of the Coalition's election platform. Senator James Paterson joins us now. Senator, good morning.
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning, Ron. It's good to be with you.
WILSON: I have to say, I can never, ever understand why they would separate key security agencies and not have them under the one roof.
PATERSON: It doesn't make any sense at all, does it, Ron? But before the last election, Labor had no public plans to make any changes to the Home Affairs portfolio. But one of the first things they did on day one of the Albanese government, before the ministry was even sworn in, was to dismantle the Home Affairs portfolio by taking the Federal Police, AUSTRAC, which is the financial crimes regulator, and the ACIC, which is the Criminal Intelligence Commission, out of Home Affairs and into the Attorney-General's Department. And a couple of years later when they reshuffled Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles out of the Home Affairs portfolio, they also took ASIO and put it in the Attorney-General's portfolio.
WILSON: I know, so confusing.
PATERSON: The Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, has no operational security agencies at all.
WILSON: That's right, look, it is so confusing and what will you do if you come through the election and take your seat in government? What will you do to better protect Australia?
PATERSON: Well, firstly, we'll return to the tried and true settings under the Coalition. We will restore the Home Affairs portfolio, bring all those operational national security and law enforcement agencies together under one roof, under the Home Affairs Minister, and we'll make it very clear to them what our high expectations are of them. We want them to act on antisemitism. We want there to be real consequences for this domestic terror campaign. We want Operation Sovereign Borders restored to its full strength to stop the boats which have started again. And we want to keep Australians safe. That is the most important responsibility of the federal government that has been neglected on this government's watch.
WILSON: Well, the Prime Minister is being accused of lacking leadership through this whole antisemitic period that we've seen, all these attacks in Sydney. Of course, the most recent incident was five women who were egged at Bondi Beach on Saturday night. But you feel that the Albanese Government has taken a very weak stance on national security and internal security for that matter.
PATERSON: There's no question that they have. And the Prime Minister often says on antisemitism, well, we've done all that we can. Well, I've proposed eight things that the Prime Minister could do this week now that the parliament is sitting. Some of them are ideas that we've proposed before, like legislating mandatory minimum sentences for Commonwealth terrorism offences of six years as a minimum and establishing a proper task force at the federal government level to tackle antisemitism, bringing in all our key national security agencies. But I've also proposed some new ideas, including a national advertising campaign to combat antisemitism and extremism and to support social cohesion. I mean, this is a government which spends a lot of money on advertising. They do it to support their political objectives every time they roll out new policies on apprenticeships or childcare. They even ran an ad campaign advertising tax cuts, which people didn't need to do anything to receive. They automatically received them. So the least you would think you could expect from them is a tough advertising campaign about the seriousness and the consequences of antisemitic terror.
WILSON: Well, I mean, we're concentrating at the moment on antisemitism just because it's raised its head at the moment. But surely all communities in Australia, all community groups in Australia deserve protection.
PATERSON: Exactly right. And the laws that we're proposing to be legislated would apply to all communities. So, for example, there's a hate speech bill before the Parliament at the moment and it reforms our incitement to violence laws in the Commonwealth, for example, to remove things like the good faith defence for inciting violence against the community. That applies to all communities. And we're proposing to take it even further. We think it should specifically be a crime to incite or encourage or threaten violence towards a place of worship. Now, it doesn't matter whether that's a mosque or a synagogue or a church or a temple. Urging violence against a place of worship must be a crime in Australia, and it must have serious consequences.
WILSON: How do you get rid of that hate in people's hearts in this country? I mean, you can lay down all the laws you like, but how do you recreate social cohesion in Australia?
PATERSON: It's a great question Ron, and it's not an easy thing to do, but it starts with the leadership. The Prime Minister must use the office of the Prime Minister to send a strong message about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in Australia. We can disagree on foreign conflicts, we can degree disagree on faith and religion and morality. But we cannot incite violence against our fellow Australians based on their ethnicity or their religion or any other characteristic. And if you do that, if you cross that line, deterrence must be restored. People must fear the consequences of that. And that's why we think legislative changes are necessary. And it will only be over time, when we demonstrate that people who do cross that line face penalties, that I think people's behaviour will change.
WILSON: Just as we wind up now, the eastern suburbs really of Sydney are literally under attack, they're under siege. The people are terrified at the moment. If you get into government, what can you say to reassure them?
PATERSON: I'll say to them that the first and most important objective of a Dutton Coalition government will be to bring the Australia back that they remember. To restore the country that they remember. Where they felt safe, where they felt free, where they felt without fear, and we will not rest until we fix that. We will leave no stone unturned until we fix that because this is not Australia. We are the best country in the world, but we have not been at our best, particularly over the last year, and we're determined to get back to that.
WILSON: James, thank you so much for coming on and having a chat with us this morning. I appreciate it.
PATERSON: Thanks, Ron.
ENDS
