October 1, 2024
KIERAN GILBERT: Thank you. Let's go live to the shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. What do you make of the criticism from Tony Burke and others in the government about Peter Dutton's approach on this issue of the Hezbollah protesters?
JAMES PATERSON: Kieran, Tony Burke said this morning that the government has adopted a "hard line" approach to this issue over the last 12 months. Well, if what we've seen over the last 12 months is hard line, I would hate to say what a soft response would look like. Because really all we've seen from this government, from the Prime Minister down, is hand-wringing. I mean, the best that the Prime Minister could say yesterday was that it was "worrying" that there were people flying the flags of a listed a terrorist organisation on the streets of our major cities, instead of actually making sure that police enforce the law, that the illegal conduct that we have seen on our streets, not just this weekend, but for many, many weeks since the 7th of October, actually have material consequences. Because the failure of police to enforce the law and the failure of the Albanese government to ensure that they do so has emboldened extremists in our community and we now have people walking around Sydney and Melbourne chanting that they are in the service of Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation. It is a crime to be a member of Hezbollah. It is a crime to assist Hezbollah. And if those laws aren't enforced, expect to see a lot more of this.
GILBERT: Given what the Minister has done though your opposite number in Tony Burke and referring this to the relevant authorities as Minister, what more could he do at this point in relation to those Hezbollah protesters?
PATERSON: To be clear, Kieran, Tony Burke hasn't actually done anything. He's said that he might cancel a visa if it's brought to his attention. As far as I'm aware, in the last year, despite all the displays of incitement to violence against the Jewish community, despite all the displays of support for Hamas and Hezbollah, I'm not aware of a single visa being cancelled because of someone's involvement in these protests. So, frankly, it's a pretty empty and hollow threat from Tony Burke to say that he will cancel visas. How about you actually do that? How about you actually cancel the visa and then we might take you seriously? But the sad truth is Kieran, I suspect the vast majority of people at these protest are Australian citizens. What we have here is a home-grown extremism problem, not only an imported extremism problem, although the government seems intent on making that worse by bringing in 3000 people on tourist visas from Gaza. What we need to do to deal with that home-grown problem is the enforcement of the law. And until that happens, we can't be sure that it'll be stopped.
GILBERT: Given the nature of that country and the fact that many Shiite Muslims would identify with that group, even though they are, as you rightly point out, a terrorist organisation. There needs to be some, do you believe there needs to be some nuance from the security agencies? Because, yes, there would be some security threats in that mix. Do you recognise that there would be some more benign individuals there as part of their religion who simply fall under that flag or that banner, given it's the most dominant representation or group that represents Shiite Muslims in that country?
PATERSON: Kieran, we very carefully considered this question two years ago when the Intelligence committee reviewed the listing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. Previously, only the militant wing of Hezbollah was listed. But on the basis of all the evidence that we heard in a unanimous bipartisan report, the Intelligence committee, which included now Attorney General Mark Dreyfus at the time, recommended that the government expand the listing of Hezbollah to cover it in its entirety. We took the view that it was artificial to say there is somehow a terrorist wing and a civilian wing of Hezbollah. It is one and the same. And so given that, no Australian should have any association with Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah, recently deceased, was the head of both the militant wing and the political wing. And drawing some artificial distinction can't be done safely. But that doesn't mean that Lebanese Muslims, including Shiite Muslims, are not welcome here in Australia. It doesn't mean they haven't made a good contribution to our country since they came here. But none of them should be supporting a listed terrorist organisation, which not only has blood on their hands of Israelis and Jews, but Lebanese and Syrians and Muslims. I mean, they were assassinating political leaders in Lebanon for decades. This is not an organisation anyone should associate with.
GILBERT: Well, they fought their fellow Lebanese during that civil war up until 1990 as well. So that needs to be factored in here as well. And what do you make of this Israeli ground force now? Looks like an imminent invasion, The tanks on the border. The briefing there that's been released by the IDF that looks like it is going to happen very soon, doesn't it? Is this a chance for the IDF and Israel to try and diminish Hezbollah even further, given they've basically decapitated their leadership?
PATERSON: I'm not at all surprised that Israel is moving to this step. In fact, experts have been warning for the better part of 12 months that this was likely because ever since the 7th of October, Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel, 9000 in the last 12 months. And they've been doing so principally from southern Lebanon in an area that the United Nations Security Council resolved in 2006, in Resolution 1701, should be demilitarised. So in defiance of the international community and the U.N. Security Council, Hezbollah has been using that to operate against Israel. And as a result, Israel has had to evacuate tens of thousands of its own residents who were internally displaced and cannot return to the north until that threat from Hezbollah from southern Lebanon is removed. And if the international community was not going to ensure that that U.N. resolution was upheld, I'm not surprised that Israel is doing so, because they cannot risk another 7th of October except this time for their northern communities and this time carried out by Hezbollah instead of Hamas.
GILBERT: Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. Appreciate it, as always. Thanks.
PATERSON: Thanks Kieran.
ENDS
