Subjects: Labor’s watering down of Operation Sovereign Borders; visit to Alice Springs; improving community safety in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory; the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia and the need for stronger action from the Prime Minister; the Prime Minister claims election victory while Australians are hurting; financial literacy and home ownership for young Australians.
E&OE.
BEN FORDHAM:
We’re going to hear a fresh election pitch from the Coalition today, and it centres around Australia’s national security. If Peter Dutton becomes Prime Minister, he will start cancelling visas and deporting high risk offenders. The Coalition’s also promised to strengthen Operation Sovereign Borders and to do so from day one. They say they’ll also bring operational agencies like ASIO and the AFP back under the same roof and they’ll work together and report to one Minister. What difference will this make? Well, let’s find out from Peter Dutton. The Liberal leader is live on the line right now from Alice Springs this morning.
Good morning to you, Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning Ben.
BEN FORDHAM:
How’s Alice Springs?
PETER DUTTON:
Mate, it’s a great part of the world, but there’s a huge law and order issue up here that the Chief Minister has started to address. Labor’s left a big mess up here and a lot of people have decided just to sell their businesses or pack up and leave. People aren’t going out to friends places or are worried about going to the shops. It’s a really, really significant issue. I think it shows what happens when you just don’t take national security and security issues seriously. It gets away from you, and unfortunately up here in Alice Springs, for what should be a tourist mecca, at the moment it’s not, but there’s a lot of rebuilding to do. It’s the most beautiful part of the world, and I hope that the best days are ahead.
BEN FORDHAM:
Speaking of law and order, you helped create Operation Sovereign Borders, but you say it has been weakened under Labor and Anthony Albanese. So what can you do to return it to full strength?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Ben, part of the reason that we’ve got boats arriving on our shore at the moment in the north and not being detected – so the Aboriginal communities are alerting police to people from boats walking down the local road, and part of the reason for that is that the Government’s taken out some of the maritime patrol days, which are down by about 16 per cent and aerial surveillance has just been smashed – it’s down by 21 per cent. So they’ve taken money away from Operation Sovereign Borders, and this was one of the Prime Minister’s core promises at the last election, that he would just keep Operation Sovereign Borders as it was, as we’d set up, which allowed us to stop the boats after Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard lost control of it the last time, and they’ve obviously taken away key elements of it, but now they’ve taken away funding and this aerial surveillance which helps detect boats before they get to our shores.
So, there are biosecurity risks as well – particularly in the north, where we’ve got a big cattle industry and obviously agriculture is a huge part of the economy. I just think Labor has dropped the ball on this and I want to make sure that we can re-establish Home Affairs. I think people see now in James Paterson, somebody who is a very serious player, has a deep knowledge of the national security space and I think will do a great job as the Home Affairs Minister.
BEN FORDHAM:
On the issue of threats, there’s been a worrying discovery in Sydney. Police have located a caravan filled with explosives in Dural with the addresses of Jewish locations inside. Now, police are investigating all of this, but everyone should be concerned about this when we hear about a caravan packed full with explosives.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s devastating and it’s shocking. Already people were living in fear in the Jewish community. Armed guards already patrol outside Jewish schools at the moment. This is in our country in the 21st century and it’s completely unacceptable.
The mobs who gathered on the steps of the Opera House a couple of days after the October 7 terrorist attack, that just morphed into the protests on our streets, the protests at universities for months and months, the hate that was spewed, the bile that was directed at people of the Jewish community wasn’t stamped out. It was tolerated. The police were standing back under direction, watching and observing, but not arresting. So the red lines keep getting crossed. We’ve warned before that this will end in a terrible event where somebody will lose their life if there is not a serious effort. Fortunately, Premier Minns has I think, really stepped up and the Prime Minister has been dragged kicking and screaming to a position.
As a Jewish friend texted me this morning to say, ‘this is Australia under Labor’ – and that’s really something that is quite tragic and unacceptable because we’ve spent a lot of time dealing with a terrorist threat that will never go away in our country, or any Western democracy, but the way in which the extremists have been allowed to conduct themselves on campuses and online without the heavy hand of law enforcement coming down to try and provide that deterrence, I think is completely unacceptable.
BEN FORDHAM:
We’re talking to Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader. I was interested to hear the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese on a podcast for The Squiz this week. And even though the polls are saying that it’s neck and neck at the moment, Anthony Albanese said that he can’t see a path to victory for you.
[excerpt]
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
I think only Labor can form government in our own right. The Liberals…
KATE WATSON:
No chance of majority government for Peter Dutton?
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Well, they’re a Coalition for a start between the Liberals and Nationals and don’t often agree with each other. And I can’t see any path for Peter Dutton and the Nationals for that matter, to get to 76.
[end excerpt]
BEN FORDHAM:
So Anthony Albanese says you can’t get there. No path to victory.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, he’s claimed victory already which is a big call this far out from the election. Look, on a number of these things Ben, I just think the Prime Minister must be just talking to people within his own bubble and not talking to average Australians because people are hurting. People can’t pay their bills. And if he thinks that people are going to give him a tick of approval for the way that he and Jim Chalmers have managed the economy, or somehow mission accomplished and people, you know, should be grateful for what the Government’s done for them.
That’s not the mood that I’m detecting as I move around the country. It’s going to be a tight election. There’s no question about that. There’s not a political commentator in the country at the moment – even those on the far left who are predicting that Anthony Albanese could form a majority government, there’s only a prospect of a minority government which would be with the Greens, which would be an even bigger disaster than his first term.
BEN FORDHAM:
You’ve both been on podcasts, you were on the Mark Bouris podcast recently and I was listening to some of that this morning. I noted on there that you were talking about how, like kids everywhere, that your children are thinking, how are they ever going to be able to afford a home? Your son, in particular, one of your children, is obsessed at the moment and trying to learn as much as he can about saving up and getting into the property market. You reveal on there that you bought something for him. And I thought, ‘oh, this is going to be nice. What, Mr Dutton is obviously doing so well that he’s bought a little investment property for his son’, but, no, you bought him a subscription to the Australian Financial Review.
PETER DUTTON:
That’s true – hopefully he doesn’t read Laura Tingle in there, but read the financial advice that’s contained in the pages. I just think financial literacy is incredibly important for young kids. I think going into relationships as well, which can cause financial devastation, people splitting assets and particularly where kids are involved. So, I think making sure that they have a basic understanding of the economics.
He’s a first year apprentice carpenter and wants to be a builder. He’s got a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. So hopefully he can get the business side of it as well and work hard and do well and that’s what I hope for him.
So, yes, I thought instead of just reading social media or looking at social media constantly, it’d be good to try and encourage him into reading a newspaper.
BEN FORDHAM:
Well, our colleagues at the Fin Review will be very pleased to know they’ve got one more subscription.
Have a good day there in Alice, and we’ll talk to you soon.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Ben. Take care mate.
[ends]