September 30, 2024
TOM ELLIOTT: Our next guest has something to say on this, he is the shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Senator James Paterson, Good morning.
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning, Tom.
ELLIOTT: So is public support for Hamas, and in the streets of Melbourne yesterday. Hezbollah. Is that sort of somehow tolerated now even though it's illegal?
PATERSON: Well, it shouldn't be. It's the last thing any of us should accept that a listed terrorist organisation has supporters parading around the streets using their flags and their symbols and their logos and even photos of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah. Let's remember, this is not just a listed terrorist organisation in Australia. It's not just an organisation which has killed thousands of Jews in Israel. It's also an organisation that's launched terrorist attacks against the United States, against France, they blew up a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994. It killed 85 people simply for the crime of being Jewish. And in Lebanon, in Syria, it has wrecked utter havoc and destroyed those countries and participated in war crimes in doing so.
ELLIOTT: If my memory serves me correct. Wasn't it the Hezbollah in the early 80s that had a truck bomb outside a U.S. Marine Corps base and 240 US Marines died?
PATERSON: 299 Marines and other service personnel. Correct.
ELLIOTT: Right, So what should happen to the people who are in the streets of Melbourne yesterday, a lot of them wearing masks, promoting and chanting in support of Hezbollah. What should happen to them?
PATERSON: Firstly, we need political leadership in this country from the Prime Minister down. They have to make their expectations clear to the police. The law will be enforced. Secondly, we need the police to follow through and enforce the law. There is a myriad of potential crimes that were committed yesterday, including displaying terrorist symbols, but also incitement to violence and praising and encouraging people to engage in terrorism. All of that should be investigated.
ELLIOTT: Why does a politician have to ring up the Victoria Police or the AFP, and say go and do this. Isn't the police's job to simply prosecute or, you know, enforce the laws that are the laws of the land?
PATERSON: It should be, Tom. And I wish it wasn't necessary. But the Parliament unanimously passed a law in December last year which criminalised the public display of terrorism symbols. And not one person has been charged under that law since then. So there's a very clear problem here. And I think unless we have that political leadership, then it's not going to happen.
ELLIOTT: Is it, sorry, but is it a federal thing or a state thing here?
PATERSON: These are federal laws. So there is a federal law which prohibits the public display of terrorism symbols, there is a federal law against incitement to violence. There's a federal law against praising and glorifying terrorism and terrorism acts and all of those should be enforced.
ELLIOTT: Does that mean it is the AFP that has to do that or does the AFP ring up the Victoria Police and say could you investigate this or what?
PATERSON: Well, Victoria Police has said after yesterday's incident that they have referred a number of matters to the Federal Police, and this will be a very important test about whether or not the law is going to be enforced. But the other thing that the federal government can do is they can cancel the visas of anyone who's a guest in our country who was engaged in this behaviour. Now, Tony Burke has threatened to do so, our Home Affairs Minister, but actually, following through is the key here. It's empty words unless he actually does something about it.
ELLIOTT: A lot of the protesters yesterday were wearing masks. Not all but a lot. Does that make it difficult to find out who they were?
PATERSON: Yes, it does, and that's probably why they are wearing masks. I think it's a very bad sign that someone turns up with the mask and Hezbollah flag, and frankly, that's why the police should stop and interview them. They should stop and take their details. They should collect their information so that an investigation can happen.
ELLIOTT: What I don't understand, is like in Victoria, I'm pretty sure it's Victoria. There's a specific law that, you know, bans the waving of Nazi symbols. So if it's a group of men, you know, dressed up in black uniforms with pictures of Adolf Hitler and, you know, swastika flags, they would be arrested and charged and, you know, would be punished, that would happen pretty quickly, I would think, so why is there the reluctance to do it when it comes to Hamas or Hezbollah?
PATERSON: Well, there shouldn't be. And at the federal level, it's actually the same law that both bans Nazi symbols of Nazi salutes and terrorist symbols and terrorist logos. It's the same law. And yet the only people under the federal law who've been investigated are neo-Nazis. I'm fine, in fact, I'm very supportive of people being charged and arrested with that. But we should also enforce the law against terrorist supporters, whether it's a Hamas or Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda or ISIS
ELLIOTT: Well I agree, well let's keep an eye on this and see if indeed; A, there is an investigation B, may they result in prosecutions. Then, as you say, if any of the people involved are here on some sort of visa, let's just cancel their visas and send them back to, you know, may it's Lebanon or somewhere like that.
ENDS
