November 23, 2023
PETA CREDLIN: Joining me now to discuss this Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Senator James Paterson. Well, I have to say, all in all, it's pretty worrying. Penny Wong assured us that all the appropriate checks are being done. But if it is this visa class, which she says it is, you have a look online, James, and there's a concern.
JAMES PATERSON: Peta, you've set it out perfectly well there. There's a whole reason that we should be really concerned about this. There's a whole lot of red flags that we should be worried about this. The Australian government has no presence on the ground in Gaza. Obviously, there is no functioning state or government in Gaza and to the extent it is, it's run by a terrorist organisation. Even just verifying the identity of these people will be difficult given the context, let alone doing adequate checks on their security and their associations. I am really worried that corners have been cut here, that these visas have been issued without appropriate scrutiny and that it will be too late if we discover down the track that mistakes have been made.
CREDLIN: I do know when we had the issue on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, there were calls immediately that if these people were on visas. Were not Australian citizens, and they should be removed from this country. Of course, we don't see any evidence that happened and we've had a number of recent polls, including the one I just quoted there. 75% support not for Hamas, but support for what Hamas did on the 7th of October.
PATERSON: That's right, Peta and even if every single one of these people is a completely innocent civilian and genuinely applied, we have to be really careful about the attitudes that we would be welcoming into this country and the consequences for social cohesion in this country. I don't want to see any more Sydney Opera Houses. But of course it wouldn't be beyond Hamas to try to sneak someone into this cohort. We know
they are trying to get their operatives out of Gaza, out of harm's way, out of the way of the IDF. Why wouldn't they try and take advantage of Australia or other countries that are good natured and likely to welcome humanitarian applicants? I mean, the Prime Minister said today in a way to try and reassure us, don't worry, these are just temporary visas, they might only be here for a few months. But you can bet once they're here, they're going to try and stay here, and they will be well within their rights to make an application for humanitarian visa to stay here permanently.
CREDLIN: The foreign minister yesterday, when pushed on this, basically then pivoted and pointed to the number of Israelis that have come here to Australia. But, of course, Israel's a functional democratic state. There are checks and balances. We have a large, well staffed embassy in that country. That's the difference.
PATERSON: That's spot on. It's a rule of law, liberal democracy with a functional state, with established Australian presence on the ground, very easy to identify people, great criminal records to check whether someone's committed a crime or other issues. Very easy to verify. It couldn't be any more different from Gaza and I think that was pretty underhanded of Penny Wong to try and make that false equivalence there. This is, these are two very different circumstances and should be treated as completely separate.
CREDLIN: I am not surprised. I am dismayed, though, to hear reports today in The Australian that late this afternoon it has been reported that a boat looks like it's arrived on Australia's shore, an illegal boat. So, we still don't know a whole lot of detail. But what can you tell us?
PATERSON: Well, this is entirely predictable. As you say, Peta, when Labor gets in, this movie is the same every time. They soften the successful border protection policies of the Coalition, they water them down, the boats start again, and human tragedy follows. And it appears in this case that a group of men have been identified off the north west coast of Western Australia in a very remote area who are not supposed to be there, who may have been dropped there by a boat and the boat appears to have since disappeared and their identities are still trying to be established. There are some that may be missing that police are looking for right now and details will emerge, I suspect, in the following days that will give us a more rich picture about what happened. But where is the government? Where is the Minister for Home Affairs? Where is Clare O'Neil, why hasn't she stood up and been honest with the public about what it is that we know and what we don't know? I mean, this government is completely lacking in transparency and competence when it comes to border protection.
CREDLIN: Well, we know what the Minister is today, she gone to ground. So has the Immigration Minister. We had, I guess, calamity yesterday in the media appearances, unable to confirm how many of the detainees now over 100 released into the community, how many of those are wearing an ankle bracelets? How many are monitored? She seemed, Clare O'Neil to be at odds with comments made by the WA Police Commissioner and there is a real sense, yes, they were caught napping. Yes, they relied on you and Peter Dutton and others to bolster that legislation through the Parliament. But now that they have the legislation, they don't seem to be even implementing it as safely as they should.
PATERSON: It keeps getting worse and worse and worse on this issue. I mean, yesterday the Minister for Home Affairs, who was responsible for her department, who was responsible for Australian Border Force, said she could not answer, did not know whether or not electronic monitoring, which is supposed to be mandatory, had actually been enforced and if so, how many people. And she tried to hand ball to Immigration Minister Giles, who has been in witness protection this week for obvious reasons, and not take responsibility. She's the senior minister in the portfolio. border protection is her policy responsibility. Community safety falls on her if she doesn't know or doesn't care to ask, that says something very worrying about this government's attitude to protecting community from what are serious offenders. And as you say, the numbers keep creeping up every day. Only a few weeks ago it was only going to be 92. Even before that, it was only going to be one and now we're into the hundreds. I mean, how many people does Labor plan to release into the community and what conditions are going to be imposed on them?
CREDLIN: Senator Paterson, thank you for your time. I tell you what to. If I listen to my viewers, they want you in the job. I don't think the one at the moment give them much confidence. Thank you for your time.
PATERSON: Thank you, Peta.
ENDS
