|
March 24, 2025
KIERAN GILBERT: We've got the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson, live in the studio. Do you expect any before we get to Kooyong and the dramas around the signs, I want to ask you about that, but on what Matt's reporting on the Port of Darwin, that the government might move on that in terms of ownership structures and so on, do you expect any before we get to the polls?
JAMES PATERSON: Well, I certainly hope so. There's not a lot of time before we enter caretaker mode, but Luke Gosling, the member for Solomon, was out there several weeks ago saying the government was about to do this, and we've heard crickets since. I mean, Anthony Albanese has previously said this was a problem. Then he had a review that said it wasn't a problem. Now, apparently, they're going to act on it. I mean, in the national interest, I think it should be returned to Australian ownership, and I hope that happens very soon.
GILBERT: And so, back in the day, what do you think the blind spot was?
PATERSON: I think there was a range of failures of the system at the time, and I've publicly said repeatedly it was a mistake for the Northern Territory government to have leased it. But because it was a lease and because it was a Territory Government, not a private entity, it just fell through the cracks. And the Morrison government, to its credit, changed the law significantly, particularly in the way it reviews foreign investments to make sure that something like that never happens again. But we're still dealing with the legacy of this having happened and it should have been fixed.
GILBERT: The seat of Kooyong, we've seen quite the exchange with the husband of the local member. They've apologised, both Monique Ryan and her husband. Should she front the cameras as well to make clear what's going on there?
PATERSON: I think the basic thing we can expect from members of Parliament is accountability. And they should front up, not just hide behind a one-sentence statement and think that that deals with the issue. Because unfortunately, this is not the first instance of bad behaviour from Monique Ryan's campaign. There was a report in the Herald Sun last week that she herself verbally abused two teenage Liberal Party volunteers and said, we can get nasty, in relation to their behaviour. That's not what we should expect from a member of parliament. She's never accounted publicly for that behaviour or this sign theft. And this isn't the first sign that's gone missing. Dozens of Liberal Party signs in Kooyong have been defaced or vandalised and have been stolen. I think Monique should say, is this the first and only time her husband has taken it upon himself to enforce council bylaws and remove a sign? Or has he done it on other occasions, and are there any other members of her team who have behaved like this or engaged in any other untoward behaviour in recent weeks? I think she should be transparent and open about that.
GILBERT: When you think about a campaign like that, if it was a teenager or, you know, a young volunteer, you could maybe understand it, but the husband of the local member, that is not a good look by anyone's judgement.
PATERSON: No, it's totally inappropriate behaviour. It's inexcusable behaviour. He should know better and she should know better. And this never should have happened in the first place. And I really hope this is a once-off. What we want in Kooyong is a clean contest. She has the opportunity to make her arguments. Our campaign and our candidate, Amelia Hamer, has her opportunity to make hers and let voters decide.
GILBERT: Let's be honest, I know from people and colleagues in Kooyong, friends and so on, that the visibility of the local member is huge. They've got corflutes and it's not like they're in a shortage of campaign material.
PATERSON: No, no campaign in Kooyong will suffer from a lack of visibility, there's plenty of signs up and let's just have a clean contest, let's let the candidates make their arguments, try and persuade the people, let them decide.
GILBERT: Now, we'll wait to hear from Monique Ryan. I mean, she's issued this statement. I wonder if she'll hold a news conference later just to sort of clear this up. She needs to do that to try and deal with it and move on. But in terms of the independents running on things like integrity and so on, it adds a bit more punch to this.
PATERSON: Yeah, and as bad as this behaviour is, I think the most substantive issue with the Teal politician's behaviour since the election is their voting record. I mean, they ran as independents. They kind of implied to their electorates we're just a softer, kinder version of the Liberal Party. But here in Canberra, in Monique Ryan's case, she votes 77% of the time with the Greens, with Adam Bandt. I mean, this is not Bob Brown's Greens. This is an extreme party that's become antisemitic and harboured antisemitism. And someone like Monique Ryan should not be sitting next to Adam Bandt in the chamber if she's actually to represent the values of the people of Kooyong.
GILBERT: Thank you, Senator Paterson, I appreciate it.
PATERSON: Thank you.
ENDS