January 22, 2025
NATARSHA BELLING: Liberal Senator and shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson joins us now live from Melbourne. Senator, good afternoon. Now the Federal Police have confirmed, as we heard earlier, that criminals arrested over these latest attacks appear to have been paid by foreign actors to commit these hate crimes. Are you concerned about this latest development, and why do you think these overseas actors are now targeting our country?
JAMES PATERSON: I'm deeply concerned about these revelations because they have been put out there in public with very little substantiation and very little comfort to the targeted affected communities, including the Jewish community, about what is being done to protect them from it - if it indeed is true that foreign actors are behind this, whether it's a foreign government or a transnational terrorist organisation. I've already had questions from the Jewish community this morning asking me whether it is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran who's responsible for this. And the danger with putting out partial information like this is it leads to speculation and alarm like that. So I think it is incumbent on the Prime Minister to say more than he has said this morning. He needs to explain when he first learned about this and what action he has taken. Has the national security committee of cabinet met? What steps are they taking to get to the bottom of this? And why is it that Australia appears to be singled out by this apparent foreign actor and not other like minded democracies?
BELLING: The Prime Minister did say as early as Monday that Australians wanted to see more actions and not meetings, and then he did call a National Cabinet meeting. There's been criticisms, that the National Cabinet meeting didn't go far enough. What do you think needs to be done to crack down on these hate crimes?
PATERSON: I think it was pathetic that the Prime Minister waited 15 months into an antisemitism crisis before he called a national cabinet. Peter Dutton had called on him to do so 14 months ago. And then when he finally did call it, absolutely no action at all has come out of national cabinet. In fact, the only thing that's come out of it is a new database on antisemitism. I don't know how that's going to stop people firebombing synagogues and childcare centres. What we need are real consequences for the perpetrators of these crimes. We need mandatory minimum sentences for the terrorism offences that it looks like they are committing so that they fear the consequences of their behaviour. And we need to make sure that police have all the resources they need to get on top of this and crack down on it. And until the Prime Minister grasps the seriousness of this, then I think it is going to get worse.
BELLING: In regards to the move to actually call it domestic terrorism. Do you think the government authorities need to go that far to ensure the full force of the law is thrown at these offenders when they are convicted?
PATERSON: I don't understand what else this could be other than a campaign of terror. It is designed to strike fear in the heart of the Jewish community. It is clearly either ideologically motivated or religiously motivated violent extremism. That is the definition of terrorism. And the Prime Minister's unwillingness to speak plainly and directly about this campaign of terror is undermining the response and the resolve that's required to meet it. I just want him to show some strength here and just realise how serious this is.
BELLING: Do you think we will see further attacks? Is that a concern? Do you think that is valid at the moment?
PATERSON: I'm gravely concerned that we will see further attacks and that future attacks will be even more serious than the ones we've already seen. And it's a miracle that no one has been hurt, let alone killed, so far. And until we get on top of this, the extremists behind it are going to continue to be emboldened, and there is a risk that their behaviour will only escalate.
BELLING: Senator, thanks so much for joining us this afternoon. It's much appreciated.
PATERSON: Thank you.
ENDS
