Subjects: The barbaric attacks on Israel and the ramifications around Australia; the appalling Hamas protest in Sydney.
E&OE
TOM ELLIOTT:
Our next guest is the Federal Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton.
Mr Dutton, good afternoon.
PETER DUTTON:
Good afternoon, Tom.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Firstly, what has unfolded in the Middle East over the past 48 hours – it seems to me as though it’s about to get a whole lot worse. Israel is going to retaliate or react in some massive and violent way. Is that how you see events unfolding?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, look, I guess nobody knows, but they’ll be looking at the complete intel picture – it’s probably more clear to them now. They’ll be working with allies to understand what’s happening on the northern border, what Iran might be up to, and what obviously is happening in the Gaza Strip.
I think it’s also important to point out that some of the reporting says that there are over 150 hostages have been taken, women and children included. So obviously that will be an operational response to try and recover those people or those bodies, depending on the circumstances, so there’s sort of a live element to it as well, Tom. As to, ‘yes, what’s going to happen next?’ but ‘what’s happening now as well?’.
TOM ELLIOTT:
What, if anything, should Australia do here?
PETER DUTTON:
I think Australia should make it very clear, as we’ve done in relation to Ukraine, that we stand up for certain values and we would expect our allies and friends to say the same if we suffered a similar attack. I think if Australians woke up to the news that 260 kids who’d been to a music concert had been driven into the desert and had been murdered, and that 150 Australians had been taken hostage and they were being threatened with execution on the internet, I think Australians would be outraged – and they would expect the Government to respond with the force that was necessary to rescue those individuals and respond to the threat.
I think we should make it clear to Israel, as well, that, if requested, Australia can provide munitions or other support, specialist support, if that’s going to provide support to the resolution of what is obviously a horrible situation.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Is this horrible situation going to take the West’s eyes off the ball in Ukraine?
PETER DUTTON:
I don’t think it will, but it obviously opens up another front and you’re obviously, at the same time, seeing a very close relationship now between China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, obviously – and it’s a worrying period. I think it’s why the Prime Minister rightly says that we live in one of the most concerning periods since the Second World War – if not the most concerning period since the Second World War, I think are the words he uses – and we need to be conscious of that.
We’ve lived, fortunately, with a period of peace, but there’s a reality to fanatics and terrorism. Whilst, thank God, we haven’t had an attack on our country for some time, that threat hasn’t gone away as people are still connecting online and still seek to do harm to countries like ours.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Speaking of seeking to do harm: I don’t know if you’ve seen the footage, but a large group of predominantly young men in Sydney last night – maybe close to a thousand of them – were recorded, and I’ve seen the footage and I can vouch for it as saying ‘F the Jews, F Israel’. Then later on today some more footage appeared where for a couple of minutes they’re going, ‘Gas the Jews, gas the Jews, gas the Jews’, over and over again. What do we do about that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, firstly, we’ve got to ask why the rally was allowed to take place in the first instance. People can protest within the law – we cherish the freedom of speech in our country – but I can’t imagine that in the circumstance that I just described, if it was Australians that had been threatened or had been killed or were being held hostage, that we would accept a protest at the Opera House or that we would, you know, not push back against a protest that took place in New Zealand saying it was great that Australian citizens had been killed or some outrage like that. So, I think the first question is how was this allowed to go ahead? Was the proper permitting provided by NSW Police?
TOM ELLIOTT:
Apparently it wasn’t. But you can see in the video there are large numbers of police there –New South Wales police – and they just let the chants go ahead, ‘Gas the Jews, gas the Jews, gas the Jews’. I checked out the New South Wales Crime Act – of course we’re in Victoria – and it specifically says you can go to jail for up to three years for making a threat to a group of people based on their race or religion, and yet nothing has been done about it.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think it’s an outrage and I think if you contrast that to the scenes that we’ve seen in Victoria where people have gathered to support people of Jewish faith. You’ve seen the same scenes in France, for example, or in Germany, where thousands of people have gathered at the Eiffel Tower in France to express their support of people of the Jewish faith. I think we need to see more of those events here in Australia, which I’m sure we will.
It’s also incredibly important to understand the sensitivities within the Jewish community. You know, young kids are going to Jewish schools at the moment being told not to wear their uniforms in public. There will be deep concern about places of worship or places of gathering, supermarkets, etc, that are frequented by people of Jewish faith. That is, you know, not to speak anything of the family connection that many people will have. The horror that those families are going through – Australian families are going through at the moment – I think we should be very respectful of.
TOM ELLIOTT:
Alright, thank you for your time. Peter Dutton there, Leader of the Federal Opposition.
[ends]