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October 31, 2024
KENNY HEATLEY: Welcome back. Great to have you with us. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied ever asking former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce for flight upgrades. His office released a statement yesterday claiming he did not ever call Alan Joyce seeking an upgrade. All travel was appropriately declared and is a matter of public record. The statement did not rule out requests made outside the form of a phone call or whether somebody made the request on Mr. Albanese's behalf. Sky News has reported that a senior executive within the airline handled the Prime Minister's flight upgrades. The Opposition is demanding the Prime Minister refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. Joining me live now is shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson. James, good to see you. So did that statement from the Prime Minister's spokesperson ease your concerns late yesterday?
JAMES PATERSON: Kenny, I honestly wonder how dumb the Prime Minister's office thinks the Australian people are that they'll be fooled by such a carefully worded statement, which doesn't go to the core of the issue at all. I mean, we could tell when the Prime Minister was asked about this at his press conference on Tuesday that he had something to hide because he was being incredibly evasive and he failed to answer this question when he was asked directly, repeatedly. The only thing the Prime Minister's office has ruled out on his behalf is he didn't call Alan Joyce asking for an upgrade. They haven't ruled out that he sent Alan Joyce a text message or an email or that he contacted anyone else in senior management at Qantas by any means, or that any of his staff contacted anyone at Qantas soliciting an upgrade. And this is what is different about his behaviour compared to any other politician’s behaviour. He appears to have solicited upgrades while he was the Minister or shadow Minister responsible for regulating Qantas. And subsequently his government presided over a decision that was favourable to Qantas but came at the cost of the public interest by blocking competition for Qantas and driving up prices for Australians. That is where his conduct comes with very serious questions. The only way this can be resolved is if the Prime Minister refers himself to the Anti-Corruption Commission so this can be adequately investigated.
HEATLEY: I asked Sussan Ley yesterday if the Coalition had anything to worry about when it came to Qantas perks. She said no. But there's also a cloud over whether Coalition transport spokesperson Bridget McKenzie declared all her business class flight upgrades. Should any inquiry look into both sides of the aisle here?
PATERSON: I would have absolutely no concerns with an inquiry looking at all politicians. But it's very clear from the evidence on the public record that no one has engaged in the same behaviour that the Prime Minister has. It is not alleged that Bridget McKenzie or anybody else solicited Qantas for personal upgrades. Nor is it alleged that they made decisions favourable to Qantas using the power of their office, to protect Qantas from competition against the public interest. That is the difference here with the Prime Minister. He's the one with questions to answer and any attempt to deflect from that is just an attempt to distract the Australian people from his own poor and questionable conduct.
HEATLEY: Just on another issue, a Palestinian man faces being deported back to Gaza after an Australian court found there was no error in revoking his visa due to suspected links with terrorist organisations. What's your reaction to that?
PATERSON: Kenny, I think there is one small aspect of that story which is incorrect. I believe this person's visa was cancelled while they were in Egypt en route to Australia. But it's still worrying for two reasons. One is, this a person who was granted a tourist visa who never should have been granted a tourist visa and under the rushed and risky process presided over by the Albanese government, tourist visas were handed out with not sufficient checks to make sure that there was no danger to Australia. But the second thing is that throughout this debacle the Albanese government has been running the defence that we didn't need to worry about anyone coming to Australia who posed a security threat because they were being checked at the Rafah gate by both Israeli intelligence and Egyptian intelligence, and they would never let anyone through who poses a security risk. Well that excuse and that defence has been blown out of the water here because someone that we now know posed a security risk, that's been upheld by an Australian court, got through the Rafah gate, got through Israeli intelligence, got through Egyptian intelligence. So we can take no comfort from that at all that other people have been doing our homework for us. And it is that rushed and risky processes which has put us at risk.
HEATLEY: Australia's peak spy agency suspected the man had associations with members of Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. And the court agreed that he posed an unacceptable risk to Australia's security and recommended that his visa be cancelled. And then the Immigration Minister three days later cancelled the visa. Why did it take three days, do you think?
PATERSON: Well, that's a really good question and it is not surprising that ASIO was scrambling, and the very professional work they do is important in the national interest, but they're not superhuman. And we know from released documents that ASIO was referred more than 2,000 visa applicants in a single day by the government after their visas had been granted. That is not the normal process. What should have happened is before any visa was granted these people should have been assessed by ASIO. They should have been interviewed face to face, biometric tests and checks should have been done. None of that happened with this cohort, which is a departure from past practice. And the Albanese government has been reckless in its approach to this issue and has put our national security and community safety at risk.
HEATLEY: James Paterson, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
ENDS
