July 25, 2024
PETER STEFANOVIC: Now to this breaking news out of Canberra. The government has imposed Magnitsky style targeted sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli individuals, and targeted financial sanctions on one entity for involvement in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. And it came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in the US. Joining us live now, the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. Your thoughts on this move by Penny Wong this morning, James?
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning Pete. Well like you I'm just getting across this news this morning, so I'll be seeking further information from the government throughout the day about the rationale for these and the precedent for this. It seems like the government is pointing to other like-minded partners who have enacted similar sanctions for similar reasons as a justification. That would be interesting because, of course, this is a government that has failed to follow other like minded partners, including Canada, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and others in sanctioning the very serious human rights abuses occurring in Xinjiang in China, despite the fact that when she was the opposition shadow foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong called on the then Morrison government to enact Magnitsky style sanctions. We've been very clear about this issue for a long time. We support the two state solution. Settler violence in the West Bank against Palestinians is not conducive to the two state solution. It is also a criminal act. And Israel has in the past prosecuted people for these crimes, and they should continue to do so.
STEFANOVIC: So on the face of it, and I know you want to research more about it, on the face of it, though, you would support what Penny Wong is trying to do here, bearing in mind that settler violence is not conducive to a two state solution.
PATERSON: Well, settler violence is a crime. It's morally wrong, and it is not conducive to a two state solution. And Australia does have a role in discouraging acts like that from occurring. But as I said, we'll be looking for more detail from the government and particularly on this question of consistency, if it is the case that the government is acting in concert or following our like minded partners, why hasn't it done so in relation to very serious human rights abuses against the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang? Something that the United Nations and human rights groups have said are crimes against humanity or even a genocide. We've been very silent on that issue. We've taken no action to sanction the officials responsible for that, despite Penny Wong calling on the previous government to do so.
STEFANOVIC: Just, just a final one on then Benjamin Netanyahu this morning, I mean, he was fairly strong in his language, about his opponents, whether they're political opponents or whether they just protesters outside, calling them Iran's useful idiots. What do you think about that? And do you think that could extend to protesters here in Australia and those protests, those pro-Palestinian activists, particularly in Melbourne? I saw yesterday that continues.
PATERSON: Pete, I've got no doubt that the vast majority of people involved in protests on this issue are sincere about their concern about the loss of civilian life in Gaza, as we all should be. I think there are also some people among those groups who have a deep seated hatred for Israel, and some who even have a deep seated hatred for the Jewish community. And we can see that in the anti-Semitic slogans and chants that have occurred at some of these rallies. We can see that in the fact that Hamas logos and symbols have been displayed at these rallies, a crime in Australia and one that the Federal Police should be enforcing. So I think the Israeli Prime Minister is well within his rights to call that out.
STEFANOVIC: Ok, elsewhere James, in news broken by my colleague Olivia Caisley, Mike Burgess has been reappointed to the National Security Committee in a major backflip by the Albanese government. What's your reaction to that?
PATERSON: This is a very significant story by Olivia Caisley, and it's an extraordinary and embarrassing backflip from the government because Mike Burgess, as well as the other Director Generals of our intelligence agencies, should never have been removed from the National Security Committee in the first place. And this is, frankly, an admission of guilt that they were wrong to do so. It's good that they've now reinstated him, but I think the public deserves an explanation. What was the Prime Minister's rationale for kicking them off the committee in the first place? What did they miss out on contributing to the committee in that time, and why have they now accepted that they were wrong to do so? It seems to me that the only reason that they've done so is that their decision to kick them off was publicly exposed by your other colleague, Sharri Markson, a few months ago, and in embarrassment they have returned him to the committee, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
STEFANOVIC: All right, James Paterson, thank you. We'll talk to you soon.
ENDS
