March 5, 2024
SHARRI MARKSON: Let's bring in now to discuss this, the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, James Paterson. James, look Paul Keating absolutely smashing the Labor government over ASIO. What's your response to his accusations?
JAMES PATERSON: Sharri, this is a very serious attack by a former Prime Minister on two very professional, very highly regarded public servants in our intelligence community and it cannot go unanswered, and it particularly cannot go unanswered by our own government. This is not the first time Paul Keating has done this. Last year at the National Press Club he attacked the intelligence community and Penny Wong as Foreign Minister. And the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister rushed to the public defence of Penny Wong, the one person in that group who is perfectly capable of defending herself. But our intelligence community leaders can't defend themselves. They are public servants, and they work in the intelligence community. They can't respond to Paul Keating. And so it's incumbent on the Prime Minister and the ministers for those intelligence agencies to publicly back them against Paul Keating's attack, because these are very dedicated public servants, professional public servants. You know, Mike Burgess is a patriot. He's done an outstanding job at ASIO. Andrew Shearer is the intelligence professional of his generation and the best connected Australian in Washington, DC. And it is not fair to have their reputations besmirched by Paul Keating and not responded to by the government. Let's not forget Sharri, that the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in responding to one of Mr. Keating's previous outbursts, has said Paul Keating is always worth listening to. Well, it's up to the Prime Minister, I think, to say to tomorrow whether or not these comments are worth listening to or whether or not, in fact, he refutes them and backs the intelligence community leaders that he works with.
MARKSON: Yeah. And look, you know, you have to wonder why Paul Keating has said this. I mean, Mike Burgess just trying to raise awareness about foreign interference in Australian politics. That's why he said he put this high profile example forward, although refusing to name anyone and you just have to wonder why Paul Keating is jumping to China's defence yet again so quickly. Look, also, there was a shadow cabinet reshuffle today by Peter Dutton and you were one of the winners, James Paterson. You'll now be adding the position of Shadow Cabinet Secretary along with, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs. So this means you'll be playing a leading role in developing policy. Look, I think the Dunkley result indicates that liberals do have some more work to do. Are there any areas that you think the Coalition needs to focus on, to get in the game for the next election?
PATERSON: Sharri, there is absolutely more work to do, but we knew that before Dunkley. In fact, we've known that since the election and the good news is that my shadow cabinet colleagues have been hard at work doing the boring but necessary policy detail to be able to offer the Australian people a very comprehensive, very ambitious and very serious agenda at the next election. Those costings are being done right now. Stakeholders are being consulted, experts are being brought in and issues are being debated. And I'm very pleased to be joining that process formally and working with my shadow cabinet colleagues to bring it forward. There's obviously a pressing need in a lot of areas, in the housing portfolio, in energy, in national security, in immigration, in tax. And the Shadow Ministers have already publicly outlined their intentions in those areas. And now it's our task to bring forward that, bullet-proof policy publicly and I assure you we will do so.
MARKSON: Now, James, you did a sensational job at Senate estimates, getting answers and exposing the failings of the Albanese government. One area that you asked about that hasn't been reported yet is funding packages for both the Jewish and Muslim communities of up to $25 million each. The Jewish grants, or the grants to the Jewish community by the Albanese government were under the category of community safety, and they were awarded to rapidly and I'm quoting here, rapidly implement additional security measures for the Jewish community. So physical security measures for mostly schools and preschools. But on the other hand, Australian-Palestinian and Muslim communities received social cohesion grants, which can go towards activities like media monitoring and fact checking. James, what does this tell you about the where the funding for both communities are going and what it's going to be used for?
PATERSON: Sharri, there's no doubt that both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are equally morally repugnant. But we also know from the data provided by Victoria Police that one of those problems is far more prevalent than the other problem. In fact, Victoria Police data shows there's been ten times as many reports of anti-Semitism and arrests than have been of Islamophobia. And yet the government is treating these as equally serious problems but giving different types of assistance. So the Jewish community is told here's $25 million to deal with the consequences of anti-Semitism. You can build a bigger wall, or you can install an extra security camera at your schools and synagogues. The Muslim community is told, we're going to help you deal with the causes of Islamophobia. We're going to give you taxpayers money to effectively engage in public activities and publicly funded activism to deal with things like misinformation, fact checking and media monitoring. What is the reason for the Albanese government not treating these communities equally, particularly when we know the problem of anti-Semitism is far more prevalent? I think it reflects a failure to approach these issues with equal seriousness, and that's unfortunately been consistent since we've dealt with this unprecedented crisis of anti-Semitism.
MARKSON: Yeah, yeah. Which the Albanese government doesn't want to know about. This crisis has been purely, completely under their watch. James Paterson, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
ENDS
