January 19, 2024
HOLLY STEARNES: Joining me now is Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. James, thank you for your time. The Albanese government hasn't formally designated October 7th as an overseas terrorist act, and they are yet to respond to Andrew Hastings letter asking them to do so. Is this a failure?
JAMES PATERSON: It's a shocking failure. And it's frankly very difficult to understand what is taking so long. This attack on the 7th of October happened more than three months ago. I think anybody with eyes and ears who saw what happened can understand it's a terrorist attack. It should be a straightforward process to declare it a terrorist attack, as the Australian government has done on dozens and dozens of occasions before for small and large terrorist attacks all around the world that affect Australians or Australian interests. But three months on, and one month after Andrew Hastie wrote to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Home Affairs to ask them to do so, they still haven't done so. And that means there are Australian families of those who lost their lives on 7th of October, in one case, three generations of a family on a single day who have still not been compensated, who can't access this scheme and are struggling to put their lives back together without the support that they're entitled to as Australian citizens.
STEARNES: The government says the length of time between an overseas terror act and the government's declaration can vary. Is that a fair defence?
PATERSON: Not at all. It's time for the Minister for Home Affairs to direct her department to do this much more quickly. And really, we have to ask the question, where is the Minister of Home Affairs? We haven't seen or heard from her for several weeks, and I hope the delay in granting this isn't related to her being on a long period of leave. Because frankly, the communities in Australia deserve better and the Albanese government has had absolutely no difficulties at all in spending $46 million of taxpayers money in three different announcements for the people of Gaza. But when it comes to victims of Hamas's terror, there's nothing at all. And I think that is unconscionable. I think they need to pull their finger out and get this done.
STEARNES: This isn't the first time the government has been accused of dropping the ball on this issue, though. I mean, our political correspondent Olivia Caisley revealed just last year the processing times to release terror groups had blown out under Labor. How do you think they're handling national security more broadly?
PATERSON: I think we've identified a real problem here, which is the government is slow on national security, and the Prime Minister is weak on national security. And there's a range of reasons and things that have contributed to that. But one of which was at the heart of this is that they broke up the Department of Home Affairs when they first came to office. And they sent part of its responsibility is to the Attorney General and they left some in Home Affairs. There's been a lot of confusion about who's actually responsible for domestic national security. Is it the Attorney General? Is it the Home Affairs Minister? They can't seem to work that out between themselves. And it seems they spend a lot of time in turf wars between each other working out who's responsible rather than, as it was under the previous government, having very clearly one minister who is responsible for domestic security as the Home Affairs Minister. But in dismantling that portfolio, they have caused a whole range of problems. And frankly, it's Australian people who are paying the price for that ineptitude.
STEARNES: The Houthis also haven't been designated as terrorist by the Australian government. Should they be?
PATERSON: Absolutely they should be. And I wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs and the Attorney General more than a week ago, asking them to do so. Since then, the United States has re-designated the Houthis as a terrorist organisation. There's no question that what the Houthis have done in Yemen, in the region and what they are now doing to international shipping is terrorism. And it has a real effect on Australians because it makes the price of everything more expensive, because so much is shipped here for us to enjoy and buy in our economy. And if the Albanese government is still unwilling to provide a naval vessel to our US and UK allies to contribute to Operation Prosperity Guardian, then at least one thing we could do is to declare the Houthis is a terrorist organisation. But again, we're watching and waiting for the Albanese government to act, and they haven't.
STEARNES: Okay. What's the timeframe here? How long will you give them?
PATERSON: Really they should have done it already. It should have happened within weeks of the 7th of October. But now that this is out in public, I really hope there's some action. Poor Jason Clare, the Education Minister, had a torturous interview on morning television this morning where he was unable to provide any explanation for why this is taking so long. All he said is that the Minister for Home Affairs is looking at it. We'll I hope "looking at it" means signing the paperwork today so those applications can start as soon as possible and people can be compensated. We're not talking about a lot of money here. These are grants of up to $75,000. It pales in comparison to the $46 million that has been given to Gaza. And frankly, there's not as much risk here that it's going to be misspent by terrorist organisations, which our donations to Gaza do carry. So there is no excuse for the delays it's should be done today.
STEARNES: Okay. Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson, thank you for your analysis today.
ENDS
