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November 30, 2023
PETER STEFANOVIC: Let's bring in now the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson, Victorian as well. James. Let's just start there with that. It's I mean, it's just ridiculous that, you know, these folks here, they're are guests of this nation at the moment. They've got family members who are who are being held hostage in Gaza, yet they're being targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters. Got to get your thoughts on that.
JAMES PATERSON: Peter, based on those reports so far, I'm deeply concerned about this and if confirmed, I think there needs to be a proper investigation as to how this happened. I mean, what kind of person goes to harass and protest the family members of the victims of hostage taking by a terrorist organisation? You have to be a pretty sick person to think that's an appropriate way to behave. These are incredibly traumatised people who have come here to share their stories and their hopes of their loved ones being freed from captivity by a terrorist organisation. And for anyone to think it's appropriate to harass them, to protest them at their own hotel, to make them feel unsafe in Australia, I think is just despicable.
STEFANOVIC: Yep, that is true, and we'll await more detail on that as the morning progresses. Now going to get your thoughts on this new attack line that seems to be coming from Labor at the moment and it's been backed up by Anika Wells this morning. James basically claiming that Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, we do have the grab? Let's just play this.
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STEFANOVIC: Okay, so worth reminding folks that Peter Dutton is a former police officer, but this new line and James a protector of paedophiles because they didn't support you wouldn't support laws make it an offence for paedophiles to go near schools. So first of all, let's there's a bit to unpack here, so let's just start off with this new line from Labor. What do you think of it?
PATERSON: Well, Anika Wells has embarrassed herself and embarrassed the federal government by her behaviour this morning. She should apologise and if she doesn't, the Prime Minister should direct her to apologise. This is not how we expect a minister to behave. It's not how any serious person behaves. And I'm very happy to compare any day of the week Peter Dutton's lifetime track record of cracking down on paedophiles and other serious offenders with Anika Wells flimsy record of never having done so. Frankly, I’m very happy to compare the Coalition's record with Labor's record on this with these issues any day of the week, I mean to stoop this low just shows how desperate this government is. And frankly it's sad and they should be ashamed of themselves.
STEFANOVIC: It's a pretty outrageous claim to make, though, is it not, James? Bordering on defamatory.
PATERSON: Well, it's clearly defamatory. I don't think politicians should get into the art of suing each other for stupid things that they say, but it's clearly defamatory would easily meet that test. I mean, Peter Dutton, when he was a police officer, did incredible work to protect women and children from harm, from violent husbands and fathers and others in the community and as Home Affairs Minister, he cancelled more visas of sex offenders and other criminals than any minister on record. And so we're very happy to compare that strong record of Peter Dutton protecting and securing our borders of keeping Australians safe to Anika Wells. What has she ever done to protect the community from anything? And this government is the one that's released 141 dangerous people into the community without any restrictions at all initially, and had to be forced by the Coalition into acting to protect the community to pass some actually binding conditions. And now, three weeks after the ruling, is finally again acting on a Coalition plan to pass a preventative detention regime, although it doesn't appear that the legislation is ready yet. And it looks like we're going to leave the parliament this week, go home to our electorates without having passed a law that the High Court has given the green light to actually protect the community. So the government is desperate. They're trying to distract from their own failures. But I think the Australian people can see what a shambles this has been.
STEFANOVIC: Well, I mean Clare O'Neil reckons it can get done before you leave for the end of next week. Are you doubtful?
PATERSON: Well, I'm sure it can be done by the end of next week, but we shouldn't have to wait to next week. It should be done today. It should have been ready yesterday. The High Court gave us 24 hours notice to start handing down their reasons for their ruling. We have been saying for three weeks a preventative detention regime is the solution to this problem. It will get these people off the streets. The government has been saying we can't do anything until we have the High Court's reasoning. Well, they have the High Court's reasoning. They should have had draft legislation to go. It should be introduced today. It should pass today and we shouldn't leave this week before it's done. If necessary, we'll sit late tonight. If necessary, we'll come back tomorrow. If necessary, we'll sit all weekend. We don't think we should wait any longer. And I don't know why Claire O'Neill is so relaxed about this that she's just happy to wait another week and not come back to it until next week.
STEFANOVIC: So from what you've seen of what you've heard, is it enough? Does it go far enough or you haven't seen enough yet?
PATERSON: Well, we haven't seen anything at all. I mean, Clare O'Neil gave half a dozen media interviews yesterday asking for the Opposition to work with them to pass it. Well, we need a bill to work with Clare. We need to see the bill, if you've got one. We're open to meet anytime today. You can brief us. You can share with us your draft legislation. We'll look at it closely because we know last time you prepared a bill, it wasn't strong enough and we had to propose six amendments to strengthen it and you reluctantly agreed to that. So we'll look at this very carefully. But if the government has given effect to what we have been calling for three weeks and the High Court has endorsed, then, of course, we will facilitate its passage.
STEFANOVIC: Ok, James Paterson, good to have you with us, as always. We'll chat to you again soon.
ENDS
