December 10, 2024
GARY ADSHEAD: James Paterson is the Liberal Home Affairs Spokesperson I will speak to him about this and other issues of course, in relation to the synagogue fire firebombing and where that's going. Thanks very much for your time, Senator.
JAMES PATERSON: Good to be with you as always.
ADSHEAD: Okay. Is it a step backwards to say that you wouldn't acknowledge the indigenous flag at a press conference?
PATERSON: Well I don't think Peter was saying he wouldn't acknowledge the Indigenous flag. He just thinks that if he becomes Prime Minister and he's standing and making announcements on behalf of the Australian people and to the Australian people that he should be standing in front of our one Australian national flag. We don't have multiple national flags, we have the Australian national flag. But that doesn't mean there isn't a place for the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags at certain occasions and certain events where it is relevant and appropriate, of course they have their place. But it is not a good start for our country If we're going to divide ourselves into different tribes and people are going to have affinity to different flags. We need one unifying symbol that brings us all together, and I think the Australian flag does that.
ADSHEAD: All right. But you understand, though, that the fact that our Prime Minister of the day would make a stance in terms of putting the Indigenous flag in the cupboard at Parliament House or wherever the press conference might be, sounds like it's a retrograde step in terms of the reconciliation of Aboriginal people with the rest of the country.
PATERSON: Can you think of any other country in the world that has multiple flags and is a cohesive, strong, united country? I don't think it's controversial at all to say that we have one national flag and that that is the flag which the Prime Minister should stand in front of when he's making announcements to our country and on behalf of our country. Because we want a country which is strong and united. We want a country which is cohesive. We don't want a country that's dividing itself into smaller and smaller blocks on the basis of ethnicity or race or religion or any other characteristic, because we are all Australian. And frankly, I think the sentiments expressed by voters at the voice referendum is consistent with that. They want one Australia where we're all treated equally before the law and in our constitution, and we want unifying symbols to rally around.
ADSHEAD: Well, it seems like it would be divisive to make this decision given for the number of years that we have seen the Indigenous flag behind our leader. It sounds like it would be actually very divisive in terms of the Aboriginal community, don't you think?
PATERSON: Gary, I'll be very interested to know what the feedback on the talkback line is today, because I suspect most of the people listening to both of us now would think it's utterly uncontentious and uncontroversial that Peter Dutton thinks that the Australian flag is our national flag and it should have the status of a national flag and it should be elevated above all other flags. As I said before, it doesn't mean there's no role for those other important flags, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. It's just that they are not our national flag. We only have one national flag and I think that's a very important unifying message to send.
ADSHEAD: Yeah, the government I know through one minister have said that this is the opposition being divisive, stirring up issues in the community rather than focusing on cost of living and other policies. What do you say?
PATERSON: Well, we certainly won't be taking advice from the Albanese government on the cost of living, given how badly that made a hash of that in their time in government. I mean, there is not an Australian that you can meet, who you can ask, "are you better off than you were three years ago?" who will answer yes to that question. They've become all materially much worse off under this Labor government, despite the fact that, Anthony Albanese promised in the campaign to get people's cost of living down. He even promised cheaper mortgages. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm yet to find anybody who has a cheaper mortgage today than they did three years ago, and that is on their watch. So, Peter was asked a question. He responded to it directly and honestly, as he always does. That's the kind of person he is. He's not like the Prime Minister who sits on the fence, who hems and haws and can't give a clear answer.
ADSHEAD: Just off the text line because you mentioned it, the talkback line, but on the text line then. Would Peter Dutton remove the Indigenous flag being flown at government buildings?
PATERSON: I think there's some times and some buildings where it is appropriate to fly the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags. And so we're not proposing to remove the Indigenous flag from all public places. It's just that the Prime Minister when he is doing a press conference, particularly at his courtyard, on behalf of the country and to the country, should be backed by the Australian national flag as a symbol of unity and cohesion and strength.
ADSHEAD: Would he remove it from Parliament House?
PATERSON: Look, I think it does have an appropriate setting in Parliament House. But of course, if you go to Parliament House, there's a very large flagpole and at the top of that flagpole there is only one flag flying and that's the Australian national flag. And that's because it is the flag of Australia. And I say again, if you go to any other country in the world, I think they would think you're mad if you said that a country should have multiple flags.
ADSHEAD: Alright. Just to change the subject if I could. We understand the Prime Minister just arrived at the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, of course, which was firebombed is he Four days, five days too late.
PATERSON: Yes, he is. This is day five since the worst terrorist attack against the Jewish community in Australia's history. And instead of changing his plans and flying to Melbourne, he has spent the weekend campaigning, fundraising and playing tennis. And I think it has deeply disappointed the Jewish community here in Melbourne. That's what they've told me. They expected the Prime Minister to come. I mean, they haven't even had a visit from a senior national security minister. Richard Marles is a Victorian MP and he's the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister. He hasn't shown up. Nor has Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney-General, and nor has Tony Burke, our Minister for Home Affairs. He's Sydney based. But what was he doing this weekend that was more important than flying to Melbourne and showing his solidarity with the Jewish community after they've suffered a terrorist attack?
ADSHEAD: He did come over here of course, to Western Australia in relation to the cutting of the ribbon for the Metronet line out to Ellenbrook. Is that not important enough for a Prime Minister to stick to a timetable?
PATERSON: Well, I'm sure that it was a great photo opportunity for him. But I don't mean to break news for you Gary that the trains were going to run whether or not the Prime Minister turned up to cut the ribbon or not. And he could have cut the ribbon at any time. The trains operating were not contingent on the Prime Minister being there. And frankly, I don't think it makes much of a difference to the people catching the train whether or not the Prime Minister cut the ribbon or not. When you have a terrorist attack on Australian soil, when you have synagogues being set on fire and destroyed and when you have Jews narrowly escaping with their lives who were praying inside at the time, that demands national leadership. That demands strength. That demands moral clarity. And that demands the Prime Minister get on the plane. I don't understand why he thinks the a social hit of tennis is a more important or better use of his time than standing in solidarity with a persecuted community under attack from terrorists.
ADSHEAD: Was it his Scott Morrison moment? The holiday in Hawaii when Australia was burning?
PATERSON: I think a lot of people will make that comparison because remember at the time, one of the things that Anthony Albanese said in criticising Scott Morrison is that he will always take responsibility and he will always show up. In fact, I think he said dozens of times during the election campaign as Prime Minister he will always show up. Well, he hasn't shown up in Melbourne for the Jewish community until day five after the worst attack that they've ever suffered. And they do feel abandoned and they openly discuss it. The president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, said in the papers today that not one senior minister of the government has even contacted him as a pre-eminent elected leader of the Jewish community in Australia, let alone had the decency to show up to the Adass Israel synagogue after it was bombed.
ADSHEAD: Alright, and just to finally on that point, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, of course, the renowned Jewish centre in the US, have put out a notice to Jewish people planning a trip to Australia that they should only do it if it's essential. What does that say about what's just taken place in Melbourne?
PATERSON: It's a terrible state of affairs that travel advisories are being issued to the Jewish community, that they may not be safe in Australia and it's a travesty that it has been allowed to get this bad. It's a travesty that the government hasn't understood the seriousness of this and not acted earlier because the Jewish community and the opposition have been warning them for 14 months, particularly since the Sydney Opera House protest, that this could go very bad, that someone could be seriously hurt, that an act of violence could take place and those warnings weren't heeded. And the government is now trying to catch up with a panicked response. But they should have been at this point a year ago and acting swiftly to head this off at the pass.
ADSHEAD: All right, Senator, I really appreciate your joining us today.
PATERSON: Likewise. Thank you.
ENDS