December 3, 2024
SHARRI MARKSON: All right. Returning to the major story today that Donald Trump has threatened to unleash hell if the hostages aren't returned. Let's bring in now shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. James, thanks for your time, as always. Look, we've seen weak international leadership more inclined to criticise Israel than demand Hamas actually hand back the hostages. And the Albanese government seems to think the hostages are an afterthought as they keep criticising Israel. Should our politicians take a leaf out of Trump's book and deal with terrorists through strength rather than appeasement?
JAMES PATERSON: It's great to be with you, Sharri. And I think you're absolutely right that the Albanese government's response from the very beginning of this crisis has been weakness and false moral equivalence. And it's now very clear that they're being driven by their political interests, and they are putting that ahead of the national interest. The national interest and Australia's values would have dictated that immediately after the 7th of October we stood shoulder to shoulder with our friend and our ally Israel. And that we did everything we could to support them in their attempts to regain their citizens who were so cruelly taken hostage by Hamas on the 7th of October. The especially cruel thing about this today, as you pointed out in your editorial, Sharri, is that of those 101 hostages who are still captives of Hamas in Gaza in the tunnels, we don't know and their families don't know how many of them are left alive. And yet the Albanese government has been making tokenistic references occasionally to hostages. But in some of their public comments recently haven't even had the pretense to pretend that they care about that anymore and they've moved on to be far more focused on their political interests, which I think is going to play out in the coming days and weeks.
MARKSON: Yeah. Well, speaking about the political interests, there's breaking news tonight on the Sydney Morning Herald website that the Albanese government, and I'm quoting from their article now, that the Albanese Government is preparing to again anger Israel by switching Australia's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a series of high profile United Nations votes which include a resolution aimed at creating an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state. This is Penny Wong in action. And James, this comes after the latest hostile UN resolution vote, and I revealed that that was a captain's call. Penny Wong actually ignored the recommendation from Australia's mission at the UN. What's your reaction to this news tonight?
PATERSON: Well Sharri, I suspect those reports are accurate. And it is almost getting to the point where we are losing count of the times at which Australia, under Penny Wong’s leadership as Foreign Minister, has abandoned Israel at the United Nations. Penny Wong has trashed decades of bipartisanship when it comes to our approach to Israel-Palestine issues at the United Nations. We would always have opposed or at the very least abstained from any motion that went to final status issues, certainly that prematurely recognised a Palestinian state prior to the successful negotiation of a peace agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. And it's very clear for all to see what is driving this, and that is the Labor Party's existential fear and dread that they will lose seats first in the inner city to the Greens who are attacking them on this issue, and now also in Western Sydney where the Muslim Votes Matter movement and others are targeting them. But that's a completely reckless and irresponsible thing to do because not only have they abandoned our values, not only have they abandoned our interests, they've also put an enormous gulf between Australia and our closest and most important ally, the United States, and that's under the Biden administration. The Trump administration will be even more forthright in its support for Israel than the Biden administration has been. And that gulf is getting bigger and bigger, and I don't see how it's in our national interest in an uncertain strategic environment to have distance between Australia and the United States. But apparently the Foreign Minister does.
MARKSON: And it's a national security issue as well, of course. You just mentioned then the Muslim vote campaign. Well, they've come out in a report in The Australian today and actually said that it might be better to have a Dutton government to send a message to Labor, this is some parts of that campaign. What do you think about this? Because Labor has shown no leadership on this issue and instead, as you just said, their foreign policy is designed to try to win back over radical activists.
PATERSON: It shows you Sharri, that appeasement doesn't work. The Labor Party has compromised our foreign policy, our national security policy, and our national interest in an attempt to shore up votes in these seats. And it doesn't even work. And I think the antidote to appeasement is strength. I think the antidote to the moral equivalence we've seen is moral clarity. And I think the antidote to the impotence we've seen is moral strength. And those are the things that we will get from Peter Dutton as Prime Minister if he’s elected at the next election. He will always put our national interest first. He will always stand closely with our allies. He'll stand shoulder to shoulder for our values on the international stage and at international forums. And in Peter Dutton we would have the most pro-Israel Prime Minister in Australia's history, and we've had some very strong pro-Israel Prime Ministers like Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott and John Howard, but he would be even stronger than them.
MARKSON: Look, music to my ears. And that would also be a reflection of Trump's Cabinet, because we've seen with his cabinet, I mean some have said are even more pro-Israel than Israel's own cabinet. But, you know, Israel so far has had its allies basically desert them. So it needs friends at this time as it fights for survival. James Paterson, really appreciate your clarity as always. Thank you.
ENDS
