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February 10, 2025
SHARRI MARKSON: All right. Let's return now to these shocking results for Albanese on the weekend and Trump's tariffs as well. And joining me now is Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. James, great to see you as always. Look, the Albanese government was today scrambling after Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium. As you know, these are two of Australia's biggest exports to the US. The Prime Minister has now said that he scheduled an emergency call with Donald Trump. James Paterson, clearly, Australia needs an exemption here. We had one before when Trump imposed lesser tariffs during the Turnbull government. But do you have confidence that Albanese, let alone Kevin Rudd, can negotiate their way out of these tariffs?
JAMES PATERSON: Well, you're right, Sharri. This is a very big test for the Albanese government and their ambassador in Washington D.C. The template has been set; when these tariffs were applied in President Trump's first term, Australia secured an exemption from it, and that's the bare minimum that Australian workers and industry should expect from this government. It will be a test for the Prime Minister whether he can do that. I'm not sure he's putting sufficient energy and effort behind this task. Other world leaders, whether it's the Japanese Prime Minister, the UK Prime Minister, the Canadian Prime Minister, the French Prime Minister or many others, have been beating a pathway to Donald Trump's door both before his inauguration and since his inauguration to have meetings with him, to transact business with him, to do negotiations with him, and to assert their national interest. Our Prime Minister has no plans to go to Washington D.C., no plans to meet with President Trump. And I'm starting to wonder whether that is deliberate political strategy on his behalf because he's worried what the Greens would do with a photograph of him in the Oval Office shaking President Trump's hand. I think he's worried that will be letterboxed to every household in an electorate like Wills, in Melbourne, which Peter Kahlil holds and is under threat from the Greens. And I wonder whether he's now putting politics ahead of the national interest. The national interest dictates that the Prime Minister form a rapport with President Trump. That cannot be done over the phone. It must be done in person and that's the only way we're going to secure exemptions on issues like this.
MARKSON: And I think the fact that we saw Scott Morrison attend Mario Lago already, you know, I played the video on this show of him chatting with Donald Trump and Melania. So clearly, Trump would be open to a relationship, of course, with Australia if they were supportive leaders. But he's not stupid. He knows what Kevin Rudd said in the past. He knows what Albanese has said in the past. But James, I want to ask you this. Given Malcolm Turnbull was able to negotiate an exemption previously, do you think the Albanese government should be able to do the same now?
PATERSON: Well, you wouldn't necessarily think that Malcolm Turnbull and President Trump were simpatico in personality types. You could imagine they would have different world views on many issues. But Malcolm Turnbull put the national interests first. He beat a pathway to President Trump's door. He very assertively stood up for Australia's interests and he persuaded President Trump on that and a range of other issues to do things in Australia's national interest, including on a refugee transfer arrangement as well. So the Albanese government should be able to do at least as much as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was able to do and at least as much as Prime Minister Scott Morrison was able to do.
MARKSON: Now I want to ask you about the by-elections on the weekend. The Allan government has only just held on to Werribee. This is meant to be a safe seat. Does this give you optimism for the Coalition at a federal level picking up seats in Victoria?
PATERSON: Well, make no mistake, Sharri, on Saturday night, when the returns were coming in Labor MPs in the western and northern suburbs of Melbourne were watching it with horror and shock because if even a fraction of those swings are replicated on election day, many of them will lose their seats or be holding marginal seats after the next election. And it's no surprise. Victorians are suffering under the weight of not just one but two bad, very bad, Labor governments. And it's not just our economy but on crime and community safety that they're suffering under. And so a protest vote has been lodged here, and I think they should heed that message and act appropriately.
MARKSON: Look, we saw some quite aggressive scenes in Question Time in Canberra today where Mark Dreyfus, in a very strong way, accused the Coalition and Peter Dutton of politicising the antisemitism issue. Let's have a look. Sorry, we'll bring you those comments a bit later in the show. He really attacked the Coalition and Peter Dutton for politicising antisemitism. But James, you know, this isn't Dutton politicising this issue. The Jewish community, for 16 months, has been begging the Prime Minister for action on this. We do have those comments now, have a look.
[CLIP START]
MARK DREYFUS: But those offered opposite have taken every opportunity since the 7th of October 2023 to politicise the trauma and the experiences of the Jewish people, you are disgusting.
MICHAEL SUKKAR: There's nothing more serious than the opposition being accused of politicising an issue like this.
[CLIP ENDS]
MARKSON: James Paterson, I want to get your response to this, to Dreyfus's attack.
PATERSON: When I go to events in the Australian Jewish community, as I was on Sunday at a family friends event, the message I hear from the Jewish community is not that you are politicising this issue. The message I hear overwhelmingly is thank you for standing up for us. Thank you for speaking out for us. Please hold this government to account, and please make sure you win the next election because we think antisemitism is going to get even worse if this government gets re-elected again. I've not heard once from a member of the Jewish community that they didn't want us to be taking up this fight on their behalf. That they didn't want us to be loud. That they didn't want us to continue to drag the Albanese government kicking and screaming into the tough decisions that are necessary to protect our community, as we did last week on mandatory minimum sentences. That's what Mark Dreyfus is upset about. He's got a long standing opposition to mandatory minimum sentences, I understand that. But no one here is politicising antisemitism. We're fighting to get our country back on track.
MARKSON: I couldn't agree more. I think the suggestion is so offensive that this issue is being politicised. We need stronger protection from the Federal government. This is the Prime Minister of the country who has overseen this shocking and dramatic, and unprecedented rise of antisemitism in this country. You know, every one of us needs to be begging and campaigning for stronger action. Every single Australian needs to do that because we can't accept what we're seeing here. James, just finally, you've written to Tony Burke. You're urging him to update the prohibited hate symbols legislation, yet another law that you are campaigning the government on, that perhaps they will turn around after opposing and do a backflip and support. So what exactly are you asking for here?
PATERSON: So on the weekend in Melbourne, we had a very disturbing scene. Someone allegedly flew the flag of a terrorist organisation, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Now there's no question this is a terrorist organisation. Many of our allies list it as a terrorist organisation. We have sanctioned them for the purpose of financial sanctions, but they're not listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia. And that introduces uncertainty as to whether it is a crime to publicly display their symbols and logos and fly their flags. And we have to make it very clear that it is a crime to display the flags of a terrorist organisation like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. So I've asked Tony Burke to commence a process to list them as a terrorist organisation in Australia, which would also criminalise membership of them and criminalise associating with them because we need to send a very strong message that whether it's Hamas or Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda or ISIS or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, nobody should be publicly praising and glorifying terrorist organisations in our country.
MARKSON: Indeed, alright. James Paterson, really grateful for your time; thank you very much.
ENDS
