Subjects: Anti-Semitism; Newspoll; Greg Norman.
E&OE.
SARAH ABO:
We are joined by Deputy PM Richard Marles and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Good morning to you both. Good to see you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning Sarah.
SARAH ABO:
Richard, I’ll start with you. So, a caravan filled with explosives, schools and synagogues racially vandalised. The community is rightly terrified and feeling vulnerable left in the dark about developments. I mean, the PM wasn’t even informed of this discovery of the caravan.
RICHARD MARLES:
Well, I can understand why the community feels the way it does. Certainly, anti-Semitism is on a rise and at a place that it’s not been in my lifetime. It really should have no place in Australian society. I think we do need to just take a moment to understand that part of the news of this week is that this was a plot which was foiled and that reflects the fact that there has been additional resources provided to police forces around the country – in this instance, the New South Wales Police Force, but of course we have provided resources to the AFP with Operation Avalite and our police forces are working very closely with each other around the country to foil these attacks.
So we are doing everything in our power to combat this. But what underlies this is bigotry, prejudice, hatred. It has no place in Australia today and together, we need to be standing against this, which this Government is and which governments around Australia are. I mean, it’s obviously not a matter for party partisan politics. This really is a matter where we stand in solidarity as one with the Jewish community and do everything we can to stop what is just a fundamentally un-Australian act in what we are seeing people do in respect to the Jewish community today.
SARAH ABO:
Absolutely. I think it’s really terrifying as well when you think about the scale of destruction, this caravan, if it had gone ahead with whatever plan was in place, how much destruction that could have caused. The reason police kept it quiet has been well-documented from them. But as Richard touches on there, has this issue become politicised?
PETER DUTTON:
I think the frustration within the community is that it’s just escalated over a period of time since the dreadful circumstances of October 7. Two days later, there was a protest on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. We saw months and months of protests at universities and on the streets, of particularly Sydney and Melbourne. People predicted that there was going to be an escalation in violence, and I think that’s the frustration in the community.
It can start with graffiti and it can start with the doxxing, which is bad enough, but then it’s escalating to a fire-bombing of a synagogue. It’s predictable in the sense that people don’t know red lines and they’ve continued to escalate. People have warned of Australians losing their lives. Had this taken place, as I understand from the police advice, it would have been a 40 metre blast zone which would have been the most catastrophic terrorist attack in our country’s history. So, we have to take it incredibly seriously. You can understand why the Jewish community is really living on edge.
SARAH ABO:
Richard, we’re being assured that there’s no ongoing threat to the public safety. I’m not sure anyone really believes that, to be honest. I mean, the apparent ‘puppet masters’ are still out there.
RICHARD MARLES:
Well, there’s work to be done here, and no one’s saying that. I mean, we are doubling down in terms of the support we are providing to our police forces. We’ve established Operation Avalite, which is the Australian Federal Police operation dedicated to dealing with anti-Semitic hate crimes, but the state police forces have their own task forces in place. So there’s an enormous amount of effort going on, and I don’t think anyone’s being sanguine about the future.
We are very focussed on doing everything within our power to combat this and to do everything within our power to make the Jewish community feel safe, but what we are seeing is completely unacceptable. It is founded on bigotry and hatred, and that has no place in our society.
SARAH ABO:
Yeah, and I think we can all agree on that, that’s for sure.
There is a bit to get through this morning; voter sentiment for the Labor Government is down, according to a recent Newspoll. Richard, the PM’s approval is declining. Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison all lost their leadership after suffering the same fate. Is it too late for you guys to turn things around?
RICHARD MARLES:
Look, we are focussed on serving the Australian people, dealing with cost of living relief and we will tell our story at the next election and we are confident about that. I know that Peter is getting very excited about the opinion polls, you see him kind of sneaking around the ministerial wing with his measuring tape, working out where he’s going to be putting his pot plants…
SARAH ABO:
Is that right, Pete? Are you doing that?
RICHARD MARLES:
…but that’s not our focus. Our focus is on serving the Australian people, and ultimately they get a say in this and we’ll see that on election day.
SARAH ABO:
Pete, before you start measuring where to put the pot plants, you’re going to have to win over the female voters! They’ve abandoned you – the younger women.
PETER DUTTON:
Sarah, I just want to say that if you look at Richard Marles there – a) he’s lost weight, he’s got a new suit that fits in this year. He is looking sharp, and I’ll tell you what, when the leader-aspirant starts to lose weight and gets a new suit, you know it’s game on. So, Richard when are you going to fire the starter’s gun?
RICHARD MARLES:
This is not true. I wish I was losing weight. It’s not true!
SARAH ABO:
I think there is a compliment in there somewhere!
PETER DUTTON:
Get rid of this guy, for goodness sake, for the sake of the country.
SARAH ABO:
There’s a challenge!
RICHARD MARLES:
Look, we are looking forward to election day, and we are very much looking forward to telling our story. Each and every day we’re about cost of living relief. Whether it’s been tax cuts or energy bill relief, you can be sure that this Government is about trying to put that in place. You can also be sure that Peter’s out there trying to stop it, and that’s the story that we’ll be telling come the next election.
SARAH ABO:
I don’t know. I reckon there was a compliment in there somewhere! For you or Richard.
PETER DUTTON:
A little back-handed compliment.
SARAH ABO:
Alright. Well, we we’re going to get through inflation and all that, but we have heard enough about it.
I want to get to something that’s really important; not only is Greg Norman a golfing champion, a successful businessman and Aussie icon, for many, the Shark is also shaping up as our very own presidential whisper. Deputy PM, why have we waited so long to inject the Shark into global diplomacy? I mean, the guy can swing!
RICHARD MARLES:
He can definitely swing! Greg Norman is a great Australian, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve spent a lot of my life getting up early in the morning to watch this guy play, so I’m a big fan, and he’s an asset, as is the Australian community in the United States. But look, we’re focussed on our engagement with the Trump Administration. I spoke with Secretary Hegseth during the week. Penny Wong has met her counterpart. That’s what we’ve been focussed on doing.
SARAH ABO:
Careful, Richard, there might be a shark coming for you in those waters out near Geelong. But maybe you could compare, Pete, your swings on the golf course?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think you can see there that Greg Norman swings for Australia. He’s done a fantastic job standing up for our interests and he’s hard at it, there’s no doubt about that.
SARAH ABO:
There’s no doubt that Donald Trump is a fan of the Shark as well.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, yeah. That’s great.
SARAH ABO:
We might just leave it there.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Sarah. Thank you.
SARAH ABO:
Pete, Richard…
RICHARD MARLES:
Thank you.
SARAH ABO:
…Thank you both so much for your time.
[ends]