December 7, 2024
JAMES PATERSON: Good afternoon. We're now 24 hours on from one of the worst ever attacks on the Australian Jewish community. And the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has some very serious questions to answer about the failure of his government to tackle anti-Semitism and to confront extremism.
The first question the Prime Minister has to answer today is why has he and his government so far refused to categorise this act as an act of terrorism. Certainly the Australian Jewish community feels like this was an act of terrorism. They feel terrorised. They feel like this was an act of terror. And it is very difficult to understand what else we should call two men in the middle of the night seeking to set on fire a synagogue while there were Jews praying inside as anything other than an act of terrorism. But if the Prime Minister is in possession of information that leads him to a different conclusion then he should stand up today and he should explain why he thinks this is not an act of terror.
Number two, the Prime Minister must explain whether or not the National Security Committee of Cabinet has been convened to discuss this crisis, because it would be utterly routine and appropriate for the NSC to be conveyed. The sad truth is that the two alleged arsonists behind this attack are still at large, and there is a grave risk of others engaging in copycat attacks. So has the NSC met? Has the federal government discussed what options they have to make sure no other acts like this are repeated in the future?
Number three, Anthony Albanese has to explain why the Prime Minister and his government have refused a request by the Leader of the Opposition for a briefing from the AFP. The Prime Minister himself has said he was briefed by the AFP. When there is a
serious national security incident like this, the normal course of events is the Opposition is provided with a briefing, but the Opposition Leader's office requested a briefing yesterday and it has not yet been granted. He must explain why he's refusing to provide this briefing.
Number four, the Prime Minister must explain where his Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke is because it seems like Tony Burke is missing in action yet again. Let's remember that the Minister for Home Affairs is responsible for counter-terrorism and yet the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, has not held a press conference. He's not done a media interview. He's not issued a statement. He hasn't even sent a tweet of concern for the Australian Jewish community. Tony Burke needs to understand that he's the Minister for Home Affairs, for all Australians, not just for Western Sydney.
And finally, the Prime Minister must explain what his plan and Penny Wong's plan is to restore the bilateral relationship between Australia and Israel that they have trashed. Relations between Australia and Israel have never been at a lower ebb than they are today and it is because of the behaviour of the Albanese government. It is an extraordinary state of affairs and the Prime Minister of Israel has made the statements he has overnight, appealing to the Albanese government to take seriously the anti-Semitism crisis that has festered in our country on their watch. And unless Penny Wong and the Prime Minister stand up and explain how they plan to fix this relationship, then Australians should be concerned because Israel is one of our most important bilateral security and intelligence partners outside the Five Eyes. Israel has previously provided intelligence to Australia, which has thwarted terrorist attacks in our own country. It's a critically important relationship, but on this government's watch, it has been absolutely trashed.
I'm happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: In Victoria in the last, well really over the last couple of years we've seen an increase in neo-Nazi activity with neo-Nazis very recently turning up at refugee rallies etc. Do you think more should be done to address that threat because they have directly threatened the Jewish community?
PATERSON: We should take all forms of extremism very seriously. I don't care whether it is Islamist extremism, white supremacist extremism, or neo-Nazi extremism. All of them are a threat to us and our way of life and should be taken incredibly seriously. I guess you are implying that it could be those elements that are behind this attack, that is possible. It's also possible that it was an Islamist motivated terrorist attack and police need the support of the community to get to the bottom of this. When police do identify who these people are it is absolutely critical that the full force of the law is applied to whoever is responsible for this, because if there are no consequences for this behaviour, then the people behind it and others watching them will be emboldened. The truth is, in our country over the last year we've had a full blown extremism crisis. We have had people parading in our streets with the flags of listed terrorist organisations, but there have been no consequences for them and as a result, they have been emboldened. We cannot tolerate that any longer before someone is seriously hurt.
JOURNALIST: Do you agree with Benjamin Netanyahu when he says it is impossible to separate yesterday's fire from Australia's decision to support the UN resolution?
PATERSON: I think Australia's abandonment of Israel, but also our closest ally and partner, the United States at the United Nations, is a disgrace and it has harmed our national security and it is not in our national interest. Penny Wong and the Prime Minister have caved into the demands of extremists on a key issue of Australian foreign policy. That is not in our national interest and they should explain why they have done so. The unfortunate thing about their decision to cave in here is that they have given encouragement to extremists. Extremists feel like they are having wins, they are impacting Labor policy, they are impacting Australia's foreign policy. I think that has emboldened them alongside the weakness and impotence of the Prime Minister in ensuring that there are consequences for the unlawful behaviour we have seen in our country over the last year.
JOURNALIST: Will you continue to push for a security briefing?
PATERSON: Yes. It is utterly astonishing to me that the Prime Minister has not provided a security briefing to the Opposition. It is utterly routine in a national security crisis to provide briefings to the Opposition. Frankly, events much less serious than this have allowed briefings to occur and so the Prime Minister must explain why he doesn't think it's appropriate in this instance.
JOURNALIST: Should synagogues and other places of worship be given extra security and resources following this fire?
PATERSON: Yes, it's absolutely essential, particularly in the immediate aftermath of this incident. While the alleged arsonists are still at large and while others may be contemplating copycat attacks, that police provide security and assistance to synagogues and other places of worship that could be targeted. The worst thing that would happen is if this is repeated, if another synagogue or another place of worship, of any faith is targeted. So we must ensure that security is provided on an immediate basis to these venues. On the medium and longer term, we have to make sure that we have sufficient security around all these premises. They need to be hardened to make sure that they are no longer vulnerable to attacks like this. In government, the Coalition generously funded CCTV cameras and other security measures to protect these facilities, and this government needs to do more to make sure that they are safe and secure.
JOURNALIST: Should that security be carried out by federal authorities or would you call on the states ... [Unintelligible].
PATERSON: I think there's a shared responsibility here. Firstly, it has traditionally been the role of the federal government funding security for places of worship, and we did so when we were in government. But secondly, of course Victoria Police has most of the resources on the ground. They can deploy quickly. I hope they are working very closely through the counter-terrorism centres, which includes the Federal Police, Victoria Police and also ASIO. But at this stage, we don't know what, if anything, those joint counter-terrorism teams are doing to get on top of this threat.
JOURNALIST: Should the state government be doing more to make the Jewish community feel safe, Jacinta Allan announced $100,000 to help the synagogue be rebuilt yesterday ... [Unintelligible] ... Could they be doing more at the state level?
PATERSON: $100,000 is a nice gesture. But frankly, if you've seen the damage to the synagogue, it's going to cost a lot more than that to repair it. And actually, what the Jewish community has been asking for for over a year is that the state government and also the federal government just to enforce the law. There are laws on the books that make it a crime to display a symbol or a logo of a listed terrorist organisation. And yet almost every weekend in our cities we have seen people with flags of Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist symbols. And there's been no consequences for those people. The failure to enforce the law has emboldened extremists and that is a reason why we are seeing further the escalation in their behaviour today.
JOURNALIST: What do you think the immediate next step should be from the Australian government?
PATERSON: I think the most immediate and next step is to make sure we have security at these venues. The second most important thing is that the Prime Minister needs to actually stand up and show the leadership that he has failed to over the last year. Peter Dutton and I have been warning him ever since the 7th of October that anti-Semitism is out of control and that something terrible could happen. And that's exactly what we have seen. The worst fears of the Jewish community have been realised. It is a miracle that no one was killed in this incident. There were two people inside worshipping when this attack took place. It very easily could have ended their lives, and the next attack could very easily end someone's life. So we need the Prime Minister to understand the crisis this is. The cancer that anti-Semitism represents in our community. And we need him to act decisively. We need him to make sure that the law is enforced.
JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the Woolworths strike. Does the Coalition welcome the Fair Work ruling stopping strike action and are concerned about other Unionists continuing to block access to the site?
PATERSON: I'm very concerned that families, as they lead into Christmas and go to the supermarket, are struggling to find the things they need to feed their families. Frankly, it's already been hard enough for them already with the inflation crisis on Labor's watch to afford to put food on the table. But when the food isn't even on the shelves, that's a disgrace. And the Albanese government has not done enough to make sure that their union allies facilitate the delivery of food and other essential products to Australians. It is welcome that the Fair Work Commission has made the ruling that they have. But frankly, the Prime Minister and the Industrial Relations Minister, Murray Watt, should have acted sooner to bring this strike to an end. And no other union, in defiance of the law, should be disrupting these critical pieces of infrastructure which deliver food and other essential products to Australians.
Thank you.
ENDS