Subjects: The Prime Minister’s divisive Voice, Treaty, Truth proposal; the barbaric attacks on Israel; AFL.
E&OE
HOST:
If you’re watching along on the Foodlands Supermarket Facebook and YouTube livestream you know we’ve been joined live in the FIVEaa Breakfast studio by Federal Liberal Leader Peter Dutton.
Peter Dutton, good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Morning Will, morning Penbo.
HOST:
Great having you here, Leader.
We’ve got the Prime Minister in South Australia as well, today. All eyes are on SA, and we’re going to kick off with you, asking you the same question we asked your opponent, Mr Albanese, who’s obviously a big ‘yes’ man. You’re one of the most vocal ‘no’ advocates in Australia. What would your final sort of statement be to the people of SA ahead of the vote this Saturday?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Penbo, I think when the proposal was first put, 65 per cent of Australians instinctively supported the Voice. They were expecting the detail and the detail’s never been given to them.
I think part of the reason that the Prime Minister’s in all sorts of trouble is he just doesn’t get across the detail and if he doesn’t understand the detail of the Voice, how can Australians understand it?
So, whilst people instinctively want to do the right thing by people in Indigenous communities – we all want better health outcomes and better educational outcomes and housing outcomes, etc. but it’s clear, I think to the majority of Australians now, that the Voice is not that vehicle.
The design of the Voice doesn’t start until next Monday – so after the vote’s taken place – which is without precedent. We haven’t had a constitutional convention – so the merits haven’t been properly argued – there’s legal ambiguity about what the High Court would interpret, but certainly the breadth of the words mean that the Voice would have a say on every aspect of government consideration and it divides our country. People who came here yesterday, who will become citizens tomorrow, or if you came here 60 years ago or 65,000 years ago, we’re all equal Australians, and the Voice I think divides Australians, it’s cost $400 million and that money could have been much better spent helping families or helping Indigenous communities, whatever it might be.
So, I think there are many reasons to vote ‘no’, and when the Prime Minister says this is just a mild request and it’s just the right thing to do, it’s the biggest proposal to change our Constitution since Federation.
HOST:
Well, that point you make about the Constitution is one that repeatedly comes up from our many listeners who have qualms or concerns about the proposal. We are going to have our own Voice here in South Australia regardless of what happens on Saturday. The legislation passed earlier this year and it’s going to be set up in February or March next year, but that’s involved no change to the Constitution Act that underpins South Australia.
If the PM had come to you 18 months ago and said, ‘hey mate, we’re thinking about the Uluru Statement and it advocates this Voice idea, we don’t see that it necessarily has to involve a change to the Constitution, so how about we go for recognition? We have a Referendum about recognition and then we try to have a bipartisan discussion around a draft bill that could create some kind of Voice’. Would you have been open to that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Penbo, I mean, that’s the conversation we’ve had during the course of this year. I’ve met privately with the Prime Minister, I’ve engaged respectfully, I’ve listened to the arguments. I said to him very early on that this is not going to get through on the vibe. My Party Room won’t support something that they don’t understand or that is deliberately not being explained to them – and I think that is reflective of the mood of the Australian public at the moment. I think there would be 80 per cent support for recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution just to recognise the historical connection that Indigenous Australians have with our country and the Prime Minister’s rejected any of that.
We’ve said as recently as the last parliamentary sitting that the Prime Minister should stop or delay this vote because it will divide the country. It’s going to take a lot for our country to heal after the 14th of October and I think the Prime Minister’s got to stand up and accept responsibility for the mistakes he’s made here.
There are now four in 10, in fact almost I think the number’s just about to tip over 50 per cent of Labor voters who don’t support the Voice. If he hasn’t been able to convince them, how can he convince swinging voters, let alone Liberal voters?
HOST:
Some pretty ugly scenes played out on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in the last 24 hours – a protest or celebration if you will, of the atrocities that played out in southern Israel. But also there was a – I’m not sure if you’re cross the story – a man who turned up with an Israeli flag who was arrested and taken away by police. How should that scenario be handled in Australia?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Will, everybody accepts the right to protest peacefully, but there’s no taste or class or decency in a rally which is chanting ‘F Jews, ‘F Israel’ and the scenes that we saw last night in Sydney has no place in our country and it should be condemned without reservation.
There are many Jewish friends, and all of us will have spoken to many within our own friendship groups over the last 24, 36 hours. People have a family connection. There are families here with kids going to Jewish schools who have told their kids not to wear their uniforms to school, and that we would have that level of hate and that anti-Semitism in our country is something that we need to really reflect on.
So, I find it quite astounding that the police – at least as it’s been reported this morning – have moved this person on, obviously of Jewish faith, supporter of Israel. He turns up with an Israel flag to the Sydney Opera House, where the New South Wales Government has the Opera House lit up with the Israel colours, and he’s marched out of the city – that’s his account this morning.
Now, I think the Premier of New South Wales needs to provide a proper explanation to this and understand the investigation overnight of the police conduct, because people should be able to protest peacefully. Now, the police will want the separate groups to make their comments and to do it peacefully, but this wasn’t something that caught the police or the New South Wales Government by surprise last night. It was obvious that the protest was taking place.
The Prime Minister had met with community leaders at the Lakemba Mosque earlier in the week, or last week and he should have reached out to those community leaders to say that this distasteful protest shouldn’t have gone ahead. Contrasted to what you’re seeing in France, where people are gathering around the Eiffel Tower chanting support for Israel.
The scenes of women and children being abducted, people being marched into the desert and slaughtered – that’s the reality of what we’re dealing with. This is a 9/11 moment, and the thought that Osama Bin Laden protesters could be lining up here in Australia to protest with joy at the death of Americans after the 9/11 horrors is something that our country wouldn’t accept and we shouldn’t accept it now.
HOST:
One hundred per cent. Great having you here Peter Dutton. We know you’ve got a packed dance card today here in the best state in Australia.
PETER DUTTON:
Great to be back. Mate, I’m just getting over the Lions loss so I’m really glad, really glad you didn’t mention that.
HOST:
Well, so are we. We we’re all on board.
PETER DUTTON:
Everyone was on board.
HOST:
Any non-Victorian side.
PETER DUTTON:
Exactly.
HOST:
Well, you have the double misery too with the Panthers win.
HOST:
It was a triple as well – with, I think, the Roar with the Australian Cup.
PETER DUTTON:
And the Titans girls went down as well. So, yeah thanks for bringing it up. Thanks guys.
HOST:
Well, you’ve pinched one of our favourite sons here, Tom Doedee from the Adelaide Football Club signed on with the Lions yesterday. So, your defence has just picked up a lot for next year.
PETER DUTTON:
There’s always next season, right? That’s what they say.
HOST:
That’s right. Thanks for coming in Peter Dutton.
[ends]