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December 15, 2024
ROWAN DEAN: Well, joining us now is Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. James, great to see you as always. I Want to get on to the anti-Semitism issue. But firstly, just wanted to mention a dear friend of mine and yours, Kevin Andrews, has passed away. He was, of course, Leader of the House. He was the Defence Minister, held many ministries under Howard and Abbott, a great friend of yours, and of course, he was a writer for The Spectator, a regular columnist there. Brilliant warning articles about China and the threats to our democracy. Your thoughts on the sad passing of Kevin Andrews?
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning Rowan, and thank you for this opportunity because Kevin was a dear friend to many of us and an outstanding parliamentarian. But above all, a father and a husband and a great family man. And I know his wife Margie and his children and extended family will be deeply distressed by a very untimely passing. Kevin is a person who's given 30 years of service to public life, to his country, to his party, to his values. He's someone who's held some of the most senior portfolios in government and who had an incredible legacy and record of service, who as a parliamentarian, even when he was on the backbench in just his first couple of terms, had significant public policy impact on things like euthanasia. And in his last term, again, you know, helped pioneer and lead significant reforms like the introduction of the Magnitsky Human Rights Sanctions Framework, a critical foreign policy tool used today against our potential adversaries. So he will be greatly missed as a giant of the Liberal Party and a significant contributor to our country.
DEAN: Absolutely. And you can read, of course, Kevin's most recent columns, all of them are there on The Spectator website. James, Senator, I wanted to ask you now in particular about this week, the shameful UN vote. Tell us why the vote by Penny Wong was so disgraceful to Australia. And I also want to know, I believe you're going to be the next government, very soon, can't come soon enough. What will change when the Coalition takes the reins of power in this country on the issue of Israel?
PATERSON: Well, let me answer the second part first Rowan, because that's a very easy question to answer. Peter Dutton will be Australia's most pro-Israel Prime Minister ever, and we've had some Prime Ministers who are very strongly supportive of Israel, including Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, John Howard, Bob Hawke. They were all very strong supporters of Israel. But Peter Dutton's government, if it is elected at the next election, will be even more supportive. And the first place where we will turn this trend around is at the United Nations. We will not be abandoning our friend Israel or our closest ally, the United States, in critical votes of very significant symbolic importance at the United Nations. And the two motions that the government voted for under Anthony Albanese's and Penny Wong's watch this week were biased, were one sided, and were reckless. The first was to support UNRWA and its ongoing role, despite the now overwhelming evidence that they employed multiple terrorists who participated in the 7th October atrocities against the Israeli people and the Jewish people. And secondly, it called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with Hamas. The effect of that, if Israel was to follow this advice, would be to allow Hamas to again regain control of Gaza, to regroup, to persecute both the people of Gaza, and to have a base from which they could launch attacks against Israel again. This would be an utterly retrograde step after all the gains and progress that has been made in destabilising and in taking away the power of Hamas over the last 14 months. And it would also consign the hostages to ongoing persecution at the hands of Hamas. Of course, we all want to see this conflict end, but it will only end when Hamas is removed from power because they are not a partner for peace.
DEAN: James Macpherson.
JAMES MACPHERSON: Senator, right before that vote at the United Nations, Anthony Albanese was at the Holocaust Museum here in Sydney. We showed the clip. He's expressing sympathy and empathy and solidarity with the Jewish people and he was asked what is Australia going to do in this vote at the United Nations. He claimed to know nothing about it, so I wanted to find out from you, is the Prime Minister incompetent or was he lying?
PATERSON: Well, I thought this is a particularly dishonourable and cynical thing for the Prime Minister to do. We know that he knew these votes were coming up because a secret recording of him at an event a few days earlier he was boasting that the people who'd been unhappy with Australia's recent voting record at the United Nations were going to be even more unhappy on Thursday. So on Wednesday, when he was asked about this by the media at the Sydney Jewish Museum, he knew exactly what he was being asked. But instead of that, he just dissembled and engaged in dishonesty by saying that there are lots of votes happening at the United Nations and he doesn't know what the journalist is specifically talking about. If he was sincere as he's portraying himself to be on the crisis of anti-Semitism in this country, the very least he could have done is be upfront and honest about the votes that Australia was about to cast at the UN. But he couldn't even bring himself to do that. And I think that shows what a cynical exercise of political management this has been not a sincere fight against anti-Semitism.
DEAN: Caroline.
CAROLINE MARCUS: James, you've been so strong on the issue of anti-Semitism. I want to get your thoughts today. We've seen another disturbing incident that appears to be an anti-Semitic attack. A Melbourne Rabbi who says he was left shaken after what seemed to be an explosive device. Police think it was a firecracker was thrown just in front of the pram he was pushing in St Kilda outside a Jewish school. Two men have been arrested over this. They have been interviewed by police. Police have said that they have no evidence that this is racially motivated, but they are still investigating. What do you make of this incident?
PATERSON: Well Caroline, the evidence is sadly, from bodies like the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and others that there are incidents like this almost every day in our country now, many of which go unreported, many of which go unpunished. And that is because anti-Semitism has been allowed to fester and get completely out of control on the watch of the Albanese government federally, but also particularly here in Victoria, on the watch of the Allan government. We shouldn't be surprised, sadly, that there are shocking events like this happening all the time because when there are no consequences for behaviour like this, the people perpetrating this behaviour become emboldened. They think that there's nothing to pay for what they're doing and so they do it more often and sometimes they even escalate their behaviour. I mean it was reported yesterday that the first person has been charged under federal legislation for publicly displaying a flag of the listed terrorist organisation Hezbollah at a rally on the 29th of September. Now, you and I both know that this has happened almost every weekend in our major cities in Melbourne and Sydney in particular since the 7th of October. And this behaviour has gone unpunished. Why has it taken so long for the law to be enforced? Why has it taken so long for someone to be charged? And why on earth should we be surprised when that's the case that terrible things like the firebombing of a synagogue or firebombing of cars in Woollahra and other incidents continue to happen?
DEAN: James, before we go, I just want to get your thoughts. You've been very strong in the Senate. In fact, I've got a quick clip here. I'll play you of a brilliant question you put to one of the creatures of the swamp. Sorry, my words, not yours. One of the esteemed Canberra bureaucrats. That's probably how I should say it. Answering a brilliant question you put about why they had spent a fortune airbrushing the flags out of the background, the Australian flag out of the background of the bureaucrats photos on the website. Just have a quick listen.
[CLIP START]
PATERSON: What was the reason for removing the flags from the headshots?
STEPHANIE FOSTER: Senator, I wanted to have photos that were less formal.
[CLIP END]
DEAN: Senator, the flag is a big issue. Peter Dutton has come out correctly in saying he will only stand in front of the Australian flag. Meanwhile, those in the bureaucracy seem to shame the Australian flag. Quite a contrast, Senator.
PATERSON: I very strongly support the stand that Peter Dutton has taken this week on the national flag. We have only one national flag. It is the appropriate flag for a Prime Minister to stand in front of when they are addressing the Australian people and on behalf of the Australian people. And it is just common sense from Peter Dutton. I was shocked to see Albanese government Minister Malarndirri McCarthy say that because Peter Dutton values the Australian flag and wants to stand beside it. He's quote, "not fit to be Prime Minister". And you might have seen that SBS tried to do a fact check on Peter Dutton this week when he said there's no country in the world where the leaders stand in front of three flags and as a unified, cohesive country. And they said, well, actually there's two countries in South America that occasionally sort of sometimes maybe have the second flag, which they occasionally use. I mean seriously, in a time like this in the world that we are in, we need unifying national symbols. We need things that we can rally around. And the Australian flag is overwhelmingly supported by the Australian people. It is really only an extreme fringe that is not proud of our flag and wouldn't want to see our Prime Minister stand in front of it. And that's what you'll see under Dutton government.
DEAN: Well, Senator James Paterson, I wish you a very, very Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for coming on Outsiders as you do. And I'm promising you a Christmas gift for next year and that's your lot get into government. So I hope I can keep that because I certainly, on behalf of Australia, that is what we desperately need to say, have a great Christmas. James Paterson there, great bloke.
ENDS
