Subjects: Middle East tensions and the ramifications around Australia; Labor’s inaction on public safety and anti-Semitism allows Hezbollah hate symbols onto the streets of Melbourne and Sydney; the Prime Minister’s weak leadership; Qatar bid for Virgin Australia stake.
E&OE.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
The Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Minister are threatening to cancel visas and deport protesters who held up Hezbollah flags on the weekend, even proposing possible jail time for some.
Joining us live now in Sydney is the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Peter, good to see you. Thanks for your time this morning. So, is that strong enough?
PETER DUTTON:
Pleasure Pete.
No, it’s not. I think it’s interesting that Tony Burke’s had a train wreck interview this morning where he just can’t confirm anything. I mean this is a Government that talks a big game, but in the end, as we know on October 9, on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, people were allowed to get away with anti-Semitic conduct and behaviour, and it’s really escalated since then. The months and months of protests on university campuses, nobody’s had their visas cancelled and this Government talks out of both sides of its mouth. What they’re trying to do is stop the haemorrhaging of votes from the Labor Party to the Greens and they’re compromising our national security interests, and I think the Prime Minister should really be condemned for that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So what would you like to see?
PETER DUTTON:
Well firstly, I believe millions of Australians, firstly, are happy for people to practice their religious beliefs and go to a mosque, go to a church, go to a temple, whatever it might be, but not to go there to celebrate and to glorify somebody who is the leader of a listed terrorist organisation. That is not consistent with Australian values, it’s not consistent with the obligation that people undertook when they took out Australian citizenship. We live in the best country in the world Pete, and we should be prepared to defend it and to protect it.
At the moment, the weakness of the Prime Minister has allowed these protests to go on for over 12 months. What we’re seeing is a culmination in the streets where people are holding up flags and photos of a listed terrorist organisation and its leader – somebody who’s been responsible for killing people, including Muslims…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Right.
PETER DUTTON:
…And it has no place here.
So enforcement of the law is required, and if there are laws that need to be passed to make sure that our values are upheld, then the Prime Minister should be doing that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. There are those laws that are in place, though, at the moment. Are you saying that they’re not working? They’re not strong enough?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Pete, the police aren’t there simply to keep peace. The police are there to enforce the rule of law, and the direction ultimately is taken from the Prime Minister and the Minister. If the Minister’s saying to the Commissioner, ‘look, you know, we don’t want to see arrests’ or ‘we’re just happy if you keep the peace, but not enforce the law’, that needs to be made publicly known because it’s inconsistent with where the vast majority of Australians are at the moment.
To be out there waving a Nazi flag, or a Hezbollah flag, to be out there glorifying a terrorist leader or somebody like Osama bin Laden, it’s completely and utterly unacceptable, and it’s unacceptable that the Government isn’t demonstrating the leadership that Australia needs at the moment.
If it continues to compound, if these people know no boundaries, then it will end in tragedy in our country, and that’s something that the Prime Minister really should be very cognisant of.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So there were these services at a mosque in Sydney last night. Reportedly others are being considered as well to mourn the death of the late Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. How comfortable are you with those happening?
PETER DUTTON:
I’m not at all. As I say, I’m fully supportive of people practising their religious belief, of course. I mean it’s a fundamental principle of our democracy that people are able to do that, encouraged to do that; but to go to a mosque, or to a place of worship, or just a protest on the street, and to be glorifying a terrorist leader, is not acceptable.
The police and the Government need to apply every resource to speak with the leaders in the community, with the Imams, etc., to say that these celebrations should not proceed, and there should be very significant pressure applied to the leadership group within the communities to make sure that these celebrations are called off.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So what about the Minister now proposing deportations, tearing up visas, even jail time? I mean that on its own, is that tough enough?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again Pete, they’re all words, because if you look at the actions over the last 12 months, how on earth did somebody protesting at Sydney University for months and months with anti-Semitic slurs and jibes and racist comments, how has that person not faced the full force of the law?
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Right.
PETER DUTTON:
If people think that they can get away with additional comments and these racist tones of the signage, etc., well, they’ll continue to do it, and Tony Burke hasn’t cancelled anyone’s visa. He keeps talking about it, but he doesn’t do it. That’s why people continue to act out in such a brazen and anti-Semitic way.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
How do you feel about the new Envoy for Islamophobia?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again, I mean, nobody wants to see any Islamophobia, any racist conduct, discrimination against anyone. I don’t tolerate any of it, but what we’re seeing in our country at the moment is not levels of Islamophobia that are where the anti-Semitism is at.
Let’s be very clear, when people talk about ‘from the River to the Sea’, they’re talking about exterminating an entire race of people. They don’t have any tolerance for people of Jewish faith. The schools at the moment with armed guards are not the Muslim schools, they’re the Jewish schools. The threat of a terrorist attack and people being discriminated against at the moment are against the Jewish community, and not against people within the Islamic community. Let’s call it out for what it is.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Right.
PETER DUTTON:
If we’re seeing the sorts of conduct by people in the Jewish community against people of Muslim faith at the moment, I would call it out in a heartbeat. But that’s not what’s happening in our country and across the West at the moment, and the Prime Minister needs to stand up and show some leadership.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So you don’t think we need an envoy?
PETER DUTTON:
I’m happy for there to be an envoy, and I don’t want to see any Islamophobia. I want to see peace in the Middle East. I don’t want to see children of any region harmed or killed, but we need to deal with the facts, and the facts are that in our country at the moment, there is a level of anti-Semitism that has resulted in armed guards being put outside preschools and schools where Jewish kids are going to school today. That has no place in our society whatsoever.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Just a final one here, Peter, on this business deal. A proposed acquisition this morning – well it’s a minority stake – that Qatar Airways wants 25 per cent of Virgin. Do you think that should be approved?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Pete, obviously that’s a question for FIRB, but we welcome competition and Virgin is stronger as a result of this investment. And it’s good for consumers in our country if there’s competition, which is obviously not the case necessarily at the moment.
So, let’s see what comes out of the FIRB process, but on the face of it, we welcome the announcement.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Alright. Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader, thanks for your time as always, Peter. We’ll talk to you soon.
[ends]