October 10, 2024
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning. Well, it's another day of Tony Burke being missing in action. It's another day of Tony Burke in hiding. It's another day of Tony Burke failing to front up. It's another day of Tony Burke failing to answer questions. We are many months now into his tenure as Home Affairs Minister and he still has not done one press conference to answer questions about the Home Affairs portfolio. And there are serious questions for him to answer that he refused to answer in the House of Representatives in question time yesterday. How did Fayez Elhassani come to Australia? How was he granted a visa? Was it assessed by ASIO before it was granted? How is someone who has associations through his family members with terrorist organisations, who has previously met with and hosted terrorist organisations at press conferences, who has said that we should resist Israel by all means necessary, who has published and exhibited anti-Semitic artwork and artwork that glorifies terrorism, how is that a fit and proper person who passes the character test, who can come into our country? And why doesn't he represent a security risk, given that Mike Burgess our Director-General ASIO, has publicly said that even tweeting in support of Hamas, or tweeting in support of the destruction of the state of Israel is enough to constitute a security risk.
Tony Burke should come out of his office, he should front up to the media and should answer these questions today. It is not good enough to hide behind our public servants, to hide behind our intelligence agencies. He should take responsibility for the decisions on this government's watch and for protecting the Australian community from threats like this.
Thank you.
ENDS
