August 5, 2024
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SHARRI MARKSON: Now, we've been talking about the major story today that Australia's terror threat level is now at probable. So for more analysis. Let's bring in Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. James, great to see you. Look, do you agree that this should have happened months ago now?
JAMES PATERSON: Sharri, the opposition strongly supports ASIO and the Director-General, Mike Burgess, and I'm sure they went through very, very careful and deliberate process, going through all their intelligence feeds and their structured analytical process to reach this conclusion. But I also think it's been self-evident in our community for months now, at least since the 7th October, that we have faced the increased level of the threat of terrorism. I mean, all you have to do is notice that there have been half a dozen teenagers in Western Sydney, charged with offences that police allege are motivated by terrorism and courts will ultimately decide the validity of those charges. But that's a pretty strong data point that suggests we're living in an elevated threat environment. But you can also look at the massive increases in anti-Semitism, or, frankly, the people who have been publicly displaying the symbols of terrorist organisations on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney and other cities proudly, in contravention of federal hate symbols legislation.
MARKSON: Yeah and yet the laws are just not being used. The Prime Minister spoke today about social cohesion and how we need to nourish it, his words. Would you say he's nourishing social cohesion by bringing into Australia people from a war zone who have been indoctrinated to hate Westerners without adequate security checks?
PATERSON: I think the Prime Minister has failed to uphold social cohesion for the last nine months at every opportunity. He's failed to adequately condemn the instances of anti-Semitism that we've seen in our community. He's failed to ensure that the laws are enforced to stop people doing it. And he's playing with fire with issues like this, when he brings people into our country from an area which is a war zone, which is controlled by a terrorist organisation without adequate vetting or checks. We don't understand how it is possible in 24 hours on average, but in some instances just one hour, to do an identity check, let alone a security check on someone, and to now contemplate extending their stay in Australia on a more permanent basis is in total contravention to the original visas they were granted, which are temporary visitor visas. And so really, it is up to the new Immigration Minister, Tony Burke, to demonstrate why this will not in any way threaten Australia's safety, security or social cohesion.
MARKSON: As you just said there, Tony Burke, just yesterday in an interview with Andrew Clennell, said he was looking at other visa types. This is despite the fact that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister said these were just going to be visitor visas. Do you think there's reason for Tony Burke to be extremely cautious, or are you concerned that he's acting out of purely political reasons that might benefit him in his own electorate?
PATERSON: Well, based on Tony Burke's performance last time he was the Immigration Minister in the Rudd-Gillard era, it's hard to have any confidence in the way in which he would conduct himself in this portfolio, even if he didn't have very severe local political pressures which he's clearly responding to. The Labor Party lives in fear what will happen to them at the next election is what happened to the UK Labour Party counterparts, which, despite a landslide election victory for Keir Starmer, saw four of their seats fall, including two frontbenchers to pro-Gaza independents backed by independent Muslim community groups. There are groups like that organising in Australia. The government is under huge pressure on that front. I think it explains a lot of their weakness in confronting anti-Semitism since the election, and I worry that that is one of the main reasons why Tony Burke was appointed to this portfolio. It's certainly not because he's got a great record in it. Given that in just eighty days as Minister, he allowed 83 boats to arrive, 6634 people and a record of 1992 children in detention. That's nothing to be proud of.
MARKSON: James Paterson, you were off last week, but while you were off, both the Prime Minister and Tony Burke attacked you personally when it came to this issue of border security. They were quite personal remarks. What did you make of them?
PATERSON: That does not worry me too much, Sharri. I'm not surprised that I'm a target for the government, having just helped remove their first Home Affairs Minister and their first Immigration Minister. I'd be pretty cranky, too, and I'd be pretty sensitive about my record, as Tony Burke is, if it was such a bad one. He's attacked me for not having been a minister. I would rather have not been a minister than been a minister with such a shabby record like he has.
MARKSON: Just before you go, the former ADF chief, Mark Binskin's report into the death of Australian aid workers by Israel reinforced the findings of Israel's own investigation. It found that the armed, locally contracted security on the World Kitchen convoy gave the appearance of the presence of Hamas. It actually said that the Australian Defence Force could not have imposed equivalent reprimands as quickly as the IDF was able to. Now, the Israeli government hasn't criticised the report itself, but they have criticised the Australian government's statement about the report. Israel says it included misrepresentations in omitted crucial details. James, what's your view on how this has been handled by the Albanese government?
PATERSON: Well, Zomi Frankcom's death is a tragedy. Everyone, including the IDF, agrees that it should not have happened, and they took steps very swiftly to investigate it and to take action to have punishment for the people involved in violating the IDF's processes and procedures which led to these deaths. Now, to appoint our own person to independently investigate it and to angrily, publicly demand that they have unimpeded access would have to be done by an Australian Prime Minister with very good grounds. And it turns out in Mark Binskin's report that those grounds weren't there. He has essentially upheld the IDF version of what happened. He had no issues with access. And yet the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister have treated an ally and a friend, Israel, very shabbily throughout this process. I think we're all left to draw just only one conclusion from that, which is that the Albanese government's approach to these issues continues to be driven by domestic politics. That's exactly why we should be worried about someone like Tony Burke being Home Affairs and Immigration Minister, why we should be concerned about national security on this government's watch, because they put domestic politics ahead of the national interest.
MARKSON: Yeah, indeed. Right. James Paterson, really appreciate your thoughts tonight.
ENDS
