Subjects: The provocative and dangerous interaction of the People’s Liberation Army – Air Force with a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) MH-60R helicopter in the Yellow Sea; Willetton stabbing attack; October 7 attacks on Israel.
E&OE
NAT BARR:
New overnight, the Federal Government has accused a Chinese fighter jet of dropping flares dangerously close to an Australian helicopter on a United Nations mission in international waters.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
The Defence Minister, Richard Marles, has branded the incident unacceptable and that the helicopter pilot had to take evasive action to avoid being hit by the flares.
For more, we’re joined by Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton. Good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning guys.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
These are very concerning reports. What do we know about what happened here?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Shirvo, it’s not the first time that it’s happened. We know that there have been other incidents – for example, with our navy divers – and the threat continues to escalate. As the Prime Minister rightly points out, we live in the most precarious period since the Second World War and this is further evidence of it.
I fear that an Australian Defence Force member or members are going to lose their lives at some point because there will be an error in judgement by one of the fighter pilots or one of the naval personnel from the China side. I think the Prime Minister should pick the phone up to the Chinese President to express his dismay – and, really, disgust – with what has happened because they have put Australian lives at risk and that is completely unacceptable.
NAT BARR:
Yeah. Would you have expected a briefing on this? Is that what they normally do with an Opposition Leader with important, sort of, global security affairs?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, normally we will have to request the briefing. They don’t normally offer them up – maybe in a really extreme circumstance – but we’ll get that briefing, Nat, and listen to what the Government’s got to say. But we know enough from what’s publicly available now to know that it was a provocative act, it was unnecessary, and it’s a dangerous act, and it should be called out by the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister should express his view very strongly to the Chinese President.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
The question is why, and to what end? Can we move on – it’s been revealed that the 16 year old who was shot by police on Saturday had built a homemade bomb that was used to blow up a toilet block at his school. Are you worried about our teens being radicalised online?
PETER DUTTON:
Very much so, Shirvo. As we know, our kids are spending hours and hours online, and sometimes, particularly if you’ve got teenage kids, it’s just not worth having the argument about, you know, ‘what are you doing online?’, ‘who are you talking to?’, etc., etc.. But the Director-General of ASIO has been very clear about this, and it only takes a week or two weeks of just constant bombardment of videos and indoctrination for these young minds to be convinced that, from scratch, they get to a point where they’re prepared to go out and commit murder or a mass casualty event. I guess this is just the latest alarm bell for us. It’s a tragic circumstance all round, but there are many other kids who – not just from ISIL, but from many other actors around the world. It used to be that you had to travel to the Middle East to get this sort of instruction and indoctrination. Now, it can be done online, and we need to be really alive to what our kids are doing in front of that computer screen.
NAT BARR:
Speaking of the Middle East, we’re hearing this morning that Hamas may have accepted a ceasefire. How hopeful are you that that could happen?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Nat, certainly very hopeful that it could happen, but it can’t happen, as we know, until those women and children are returned. Could you imagine the view of Australians if we still had women and children held hostage by a terrorist group since October 7 up until this point? There would be national outrage, rightly.
Everybody wants to see peace in the Middle East, but there was peace on the 6th of October, before Hamas went in and slaughtered people living peacefully in Israel. We want to see those hostages returned, stability back to the region. But Hamas, like ISIL, is a declared terrorist organisation, and we need to make sure that there’s not another attack, because when people talk about ‘river to the sea’, they’re talking about genocide, they’re talking about annihilating 8 million Israelis and driving them literally into the sea. That’s what that actually means. It’s outrageous.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Peter Dutton, thanks for your time. Enjoy Rockhampton there. Have a steak for us. Appreciate it.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
[ends]