October 1, 2024
SHARRI MARKSON: Now let's turn to Tony Burke. Now, the Home Affairs Minister was asked today about the protests on the weekend, the people flying the Hezbollah flags, the terrorism, celebrating the dead terror leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and he managed to turn his answer into an attack on Peter Dutton. Have a listen.
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TONY BURKE: With Peter Dutton it is always about the Middle East and never about middle Australia. The moment it's about something on the other side of the world, Peter Dutton wants to talk about that and nothing else.
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SHARRI MARKSON: All right. Let's bring in now shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. James, thank you very much for your time this evening. Look, we have seen yet again a very weak and slow response from the Albanese government to terrorist supporters, thousands and thousands of them taking to the street. What's your criticism of how the government and law enforcement have handled this and do you have any confidence in the investigations that both the AFP and New South Wales Police are now running?
JAMES PATERSON: Sharri, I don't want to shock Tony Burke, but in breaking news, the cities of Melbourne and Sydney are in fact located in the country of Australia. They're not in the Middle East. And what we saw happen in those cities on Sunday should be of concern to every Australian politician. In fact, in many ways they've got nothing to do with the Middle East. The Middle East might be the catalyst for what we saw. But it's about our country and what we're willing to accept and tolerate here. And Peter Dutton has taken a very strong stand that it's actually not okay to glorify terrorism, to support terrorist organisations and to wave their flags in the cities of our country. And if Tony Burke has quarrel with that, if he disagrees with that, he should just stand up and say so. If he had the courage of his convictions, he would do so. Coming to your question about the police investigations, I have been pleased that it appears that the Albanese Government and the Australian Federal Police have finally got the message from the community that this is unacceptable and that the law must be enforced. Because today on Sky News, a Deputy Commissioner of the AFP, Krissy Barrett, the head of national security for the AFP, said that she's confident in the cases that the AFP plans to bring to court in relation to these offences. Now that's a big leap from what they started saying on Monday morning, which is no charges will be laid because no offences will be committed. I think finally the message has got through to the AFP.
MARKSON: Yeah look, we'll have to see whether they actually take it seriously this time because we've seen investigations before, and we have seen no arrests at all. Look, we're also learning today that the anti-Semitism envoy has recommended a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism and the Albanese Government has rejected it. At the same time we heard on radio this morning, Tony Burke say that no one faces more racism than a Muslim woman wearing a burqa. Do you think the government just actually doesn't care about Jews?
PATERSON: Sharri, I wish I could have a strong and persuasive argument against that suggestion, but it's really hard to come to the defence of the government here on this. We have seen an unprecedented anti-Semitism crisis in our country over the last 12 months. We have seen Jews who have lived safely and happily in Australia for all their lives, say that they feel unsafe. So much so they are contemplating moving to Israel, a country under attack from three terrorist organisations right now, because they think they might feel safer there than they do in the streets of our major cities. And it is deeply disappointing that the Albanese government has ignored the advice of their hand-picked anti-Semitism envoy about the need to have a inquiry, a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus. Because what we've seen happen on our campuses since the 7th of October is utterly unacceptable. And for Labor to turn their backs on Jewish students and others who've been horrified by what we've seen on campus shows they just don't understand the serious moral challenge posed by antisemitism, how corrosive it is for our society and how critical it is that we stand up to it with courage.
MARKSON: I also want to ask you about the comments or the question that the ABC journalist asked Peter Dutton today, I just played it a moment ago, you know, this is typical of the anti-Israel bias we're seeing, but it is a taxpayer funded organisation, $1 billion a year. So doesn't there need to be some accountability and what can be done?
PATERSON: Sharri, only a journalist of the ABC would think that it's an appropriate question to ask, 'Why don't we ban the display of Israeli flags in Australia and why is Hezbollah listed as a terrorist organisation' I'll deny this if you say that I said it, Sharri, but to be fair actually there would be even journalists at the ABC who would be appalled by that, some good journalists there who would be hanging there heads in shame tonight. But in the spirit of helpfulness, let me assist the journalists at the ABC. Hezbollah was founded in 1982. Their first terrorist attack was in 1993. It was against the US embassy in Beirut. 83 people were killed. The next year they attacked US and French Marine barracks where 299 people were killed. The next year they bombed a restaurant in Spain where 18 people were killed. Skipping forward a decade or so, in Buenos Aires they bombed both the Israeli embassy, killing 29 people and a Jewish community centre, killing 85 people. Skipping again ahead a decade or two, they assassinated the former Prime Minister of Lebanon in 2005, killing 22 people. And I could go on and on and on. Hezbollah has destroyed Lebanon. They've done enormous damage in Syria. They've attacked Israel. They are rightly listed as a terrorist organisation. And it is only someone at the ABC who could not understand those facts.
MARKSON: Yeah. Indeed. Alright, James Paterson, thank you so much for your strength and your courage in fighting on this topic. Appreciate your time tonight as well.
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