Subjects: Visit to Parramatta; Labor’s cost of living and energy crisis; 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.
MARIA KOVACIC:
Good morning everyone, or good afternoon, almost…It’s my pleasure to welcome the Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton back to Western Sydney, to the electorate of Parramatta, with our wonderful candidate, Katie Mullens here in Girraween to see a really impressive facility and to highlight how important this community is.
Katie, I’d like to hand over to you and thank you for having us in Parramatta.
KATIE MULLENS:
Thank you so much. Thank you, Maria.
My name’s Katie Mullens and I’m the Liberal candidate for Parramatta. As you may know, we’ve recently had a redistribution of the boundaries and we’re standing currently in Girraween, which is a new part of the Parramatta electorate.
I’m being joined here today with Senator Maria and Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton to visit Cordina Chickens, which is a fourth generation business still operating in Western Sydney. It’s great to see a business running so well and taking care of their staff and the community.
We’ve heard here today, though, that they’re suffering with Labor’s cost of living crisis, including a 50 per cent increase in their electricity bills, which is just unsustainable. So I’m very proud to be part of the Liberal team, which has a plan and a reputation and a background of good economic management, because what we’re seeing here is people suffering under Labor’s mismanagement of the economy.
I’ll pass over now to Peter Dutton to talk with you. Thank you Peter.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Katie, thank you very much. Great to be here with you this morning and Maria, as well, thank you.
I want to say to the Cordina family, and to the Cordina group here, thank you for having us in. Australians consume about 50 kilos of chicken a year and when you go to a Grill’d, or to a Nando’s, or into Coles, you can buy the pre-packaged product, or a value add product – that’s the sort of production that goes on here.
So when we talk about the need to get the energy picture right in our country, this is an exact example of why we have to get it right. They process over 100,000 chickens a day here and when you think about the cold room storage that’s required and to have an increase in their electricity bill over the course of the last 12 months, of about 50 per cent, they can’t absorb that because they employ 900 people here, and to their great credit, the business continues to grow.
So, when we go into Coles, or you go into Woolies, or you go into the IGA, when you’re paying more for every product at the checkout, you know, in part, it’s because of the Government’s renewables only policy. That’s why we’ve got a sensible policy on the table to make sure that we can firm up with a 24/7 baseload power, our renewables that are in the system. If we don’t get the balance right, which the Government’s not doing at the moment, then we just see a continual increase in costs. So when you go to the check out and you’re paying more and more under Labor, you can understand that it’s in part because of their energy policy – and that’s an important point to make today.
We know that over the course of the last couple of days, the Treasurer, the Prime Minister, have been out patting themselves on the back. But the reality is for Australian households who are struggling at the moment, they’ve been in 18 months of household recession. The Government can go out there and tell people that ‘they’ve never been better off’ and that ‘it’s all good’ and ‘there are bright days ahead’ and the rest of it, but families at the moment are struggling to pay their grocery bill. Families are struggling to pay their mortgage repayments because they’ve gone up on 12 occasions under this Government. In the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Canada, in New Zealand, interest rates have already come down, and in our country, interest rates should already have come down, but the Government’s economic settings are all wrong.
Instead of – over the course of the first 16 months – the Government being obsessed with the Voice, they should have been making decisions to weather us from this storm. But as we know from families across the country, they are really struggling under Mr Albanese at the moment and I don’t believe that Australians can afford three more years of a bad Labor Government.
Now, we’ve been seeing obviously in protests, and not just in Sydney, but in Melbourne as well, people who are out there glorifying a terrorist organisation leader and a terrorist organisation.
Now, we don’t do hate in Australia, we are an inclusive society, we are a respectful society, we believe that people should be able to express their point of view. People should be able to be respectful of each other and to act according to the law. But it’s obvious now that the Government sowed the seeds on October 9 when they didn’t respond to the violence that we saw on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. The protests that we’ve seen going on and on and on at university campuses – the Prime Minister has just sat there for 12 months and done nothing. He says all the right things, but nothing ever happens under this Government, and I think we are a less safe community today because of Anthony Albanese’s weakness.
For Tony Burke to be out there saying he’s going to cancel visas, or maybe he will, possibly he could – that is not the message that should be coming out of our Government at the moment. We don’t have tolerance for hate in this country and we’re not going to tolerate the situation where people, particularly of the Jewish faith, at the moment feel unsafe sending their kids to school, or unsafe gathering at places of worship – that does not have any place in our society.
The Minister, the Attorney-General should be very clear to the Commissioner of the police, to the Director-General of ASIO that we don’t have any tolerance of this sort of glorification of a terrorist leader. Hezbollah is a listed terrorist organisation in our country. They’re responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and that we would somehow tolerate a situation where people are out there waving flags of a listed terrorist organisation, or holding up pictures of a known terrorist leader who has been responsible for the slaughter of thousands of people – that is unacceptable and it’s unacceptable for the Prime Minister of our country not to stand up for our best interests.
The Prime Minister, all he could muster up was; ‘it’s a worrying, concerning sign that we’re seeing here’. No wonder people are shaking their heads at his Prime Minister and quickly realising that he doesn’t have the capacity or the strength or the ability to lead our country.
I’m very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the AFP says people can’t be charged under existing laws simply for displaying terrorist symbols. Does the law need to change and if so, how?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, this is an issue for the Government. It was entirely predictable that these protests were going to take place. I sought a briefing about two months ago, or so from the Government in relation to their plans to evacuate people from Lebanon if there was an incursion into Lebanon by Israel. People have been warned for months by the Government to leave Lebanon and to come back to Australia if they’re Australian citizens.
So, the thought that the Government hadn’t planned for this, or hadn’t thought about what would happen in this circumstance is completely inconceivable. I mean what is the Albanese Government doing? What’s the Albanese Government about?
QUESTION:
Should it be illegal to hold a terrorist symbol?
PETER DUTTON:
Of course it should. Of course it should. The laws already exist, and if the laws are inadequate then the Australian Federal Police Commissioner should advise the Minister and the Parliament should deal with it as a matter of urgency. We would support the Government in any changes that are required to stop the glorification of a terrorist organisation.
This is an organisation who has been responsible for the death of women and children – Islamic children, children of the Muslim faith have died at the hands of Hezbollah. This is an organisation that should have no support in our country whatsoever. If you’re applying for a visa to come to our country, and you indicate support for Hezbollah, or for Hamas, or for the Houthis, or for Islamic State, you wouldn’t get a visa to come to our country. If you’re here on a visa at the moment supporting these organisations, then you are not welcome in this country. The Minister should not hesitate in cancelling the visas of those people and deporting them back to the country from where they originate.
QUESTION:
Where do you draw the line for – should it be illegal to hold a terrorist symbol if you’ve done it by accident, you don’t realise what you’re doing?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, I mean there are defences under the law, but I’d like to understand how that defence could be made out.
QUESTION:
Just on that point with Hezbollah, you’re saying being responsible for the deaths of women and children. Groups have commented on the hypocrisy of that situation because there are no bans currently on Israeli flags being raised, despite 45,000 people dying at the hands of the Israeli Government.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Israel is a democracy. It’s not run by a terrorist organisation. Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. They’re a listed terrorist organisation. If people are in favour of a terrorist organisation, they should declare it and the authorities should deal with them.
QUESTION:
And if not the number of deaths, what determines the fact that Hezbollah’s…
PETER DUTTON:
What, sorry?
QUESTION:
What determines the fact that Hezbollah’s a terrorist organisation, even though many…
PETER DUTTON:
Where are you from, I’m sorry? Which organisation?
QUESTION:
Ah, ABC.
PETER DUTTON:
ABC. So what’s the question from the ABC? Just to be very clear.
QUESTION:
I just wanted to find out because groups have commented on the hypocrisy…
PETER DUTTON:
No, no but you asked about the listing of the organisation. I just didn’t understand that question, sorry.
QUESTION:
Ah, yep, so…
PETER DUTTON:
Is this a question from Canberra, is it? You’re reading it from your phone?
QUESTION:
Ah no.
PETER DUTTON:
Right.
QUESTION:
So I just wanted to ask in terms of looking into that, for the investigation, you’ve asked the Prime Minister and the Minister to direct the AFP in its investigation…
PETER DUTTON:
No, that wasn’t the question you asked. What was the question you asked?
QUESTION:
I just wanted to understand…
PETER DUTTON:
No, you asked the question about the listing, so I just want you to – just ask that question again.
QUESTION:
Yeah. So, if you could just sort of explain what determines something as a terrorist organisation?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I had presumed up until this point, at least, that the ABC supported the Government’s laws and the Government has passed laws – supported on a bipartisan basis, but not by the ABC it seems – in relation to the proscribing, or the listing of a terrorist organisation.
Hezbollah under Australian law is a listed terrorist organisation. Now if the ABC doesn’t support that, they should be very clear about it because I think that’s quite a departure…
QUESTION:
Oh, that’s not what I’m saying.
PETER DUTTON:
But you asked me why our country has listed Hezbollah. They’re a terrorist organisation, they organise terrorist attacks and if that is not clear to the ABC, then I think the ABC is in greater trouble than even I first imagined.
QUESTION:
That wasn’t my question, but sorry about that.
Could I ask, you’ve said the Prime Minister and the Minister should direct the AFP in its investigations, but shouldn’t that be independent?
PETER DUTTON:
The AFP has a responsibility – and they do an outstanding job – but the AFP will take their lead from the Minister and from the Prime Minister. What – not just the AFP, but our country’s seen, is a weak Prime Minister and an incompetent Minister.
This is a Government that released 152 hardened criminals from immigration detention, people who have gone on to commit crimes. This is a Prime Minister who didn’t respond, as you would expect any of his predecessors to have responded on October 9, when the anti-Semitic chants started on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. And because of that passive acceptance of that conduct, that anti-Semitic conduct, that racist element that we’ve seen creep into this debate from the time of October 7, you now see an escalation.
An escalation to a point where I can’t recall a precedent where we have allowed people to be out on the streets praising Osama bin Laden – at the time the leader of a listed terrorist organisation. We don’t allow people to go out into the community trumping the benefits of being a neo-Nazi, or being involved in ISIL, or ISIS, and so we don’t have any comfort at all for hate, or for terrorist organisations, or discrimination against anyone in our country. That’s the basis on which the AFP should be operating and enforcing the law.
They’re not just to keep the peace, and the Government should make it very clear to the Australian Federal Police and to the Australian people, that if offences have been committed – and I understand that matters have been referred to the Australian Federal Police by the Victorian Police, they must believe that there is at least the basis for some investigation and therefore the prospect of some crime having been committed.
QUESTION:
What about the mosques holding vigils for Hassan Nasrallah? Should the security agencies be looking into that?
PETER DUTTON:
Look, I think it’s completely unacceptable that a mosque, or any other place of gathering, or of worship, is there to praise the work of a terrorist.
Let’s be clear about this: we respect every Australian, and I, like any other Australian, strongly support the ability for people to be able to practice their religious belief, whether it’s at a mosque, whether it’s in a church, whether it’s in a temple, a synagogue, whatever it might be. I don’t discriminate against anybody on any basis, but I cannot accept that it is in meeting with Australian values that we are gathering people at a protest, or people are gathering in a mosque, and praising a terrorist organisation or the leader of a terrorist organisation.
The Prime Minister should be on the phone to the leaders within the mosque, with the Imams, with leaders in the Islamic community, to make sure that this doesn’t take place. Predecessors before the Prime Minister; Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Bob Hawke, John Howard, Paul Keating, all would have taken a leadership role here, but Anthony Albanese hasn’t. That’s why we’re seeing these red lines continuously crossed. It’s not acceptable.
We are a peace abiding country, we will not tolerate the presence of sympathisers for terrorist organisations in our community and people who are here on visas, or people who have the ability to have their citizenship stripped should be subject to the full force of law, and send a very clear message to people that we are a tolerant society, but we are not going to accept the glorification of somebody who has led a terrorist organisation.
QUESTION:
Why have you focussed on visa holders when there’s no indication that these protesters aren’t citizens?
PETER DUTTON:
Well again, the ABC should be asking that question of Tony Burke. Tony Burke made the comment in relation to visa holders. So, he’s the Minister and presumably he knows what’s going on. If he’s suggesting that there are people there…I don’t know, I mean, this is why the Government has been elected, the Government’s been elected to govern. It’s not a strange concept. I think Australians are rightly angry and growing anger in our community is understandable at the Albanese Government because the Prime Minister is weak and he’s incompetent and it’s been demonstrated on a daily basis.
QUESTION:
Can I just clarify, do you think that people’s visas should be stripped if they attended the vigils?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, I do. If they’re celebrating in any way, a terrorist leader, they should not be here on a visa in our country.
As I said before, if you, in filling out your application for a visa to come to our country indicated that you are supportive of Hezbollah, or Hamas, or ISIL, you wouldn’t get a visa to come here. So why would you expect to stay here if you’ve expressed that support once you’ve arrived?
QUESTION:
You supported the counter-terrorism amendments last year, and they’re yet to be tested in court, but why advocate for the changes before they’re tested?
PETER DUTTON:
You’re asking me about the adequacy of the law, and if there’s a view that the law is inadequate, we’ll support a strengthening of the law. But as I understand it, no arrests have been made yet.
If the Government is giving direction to the Federal Police just to be there, or the State Premiers are giving instruction to the Police Commissioners, ‘just be there to keep peace and order’, and ‘we don’t want any arrests’, well that’s something the Prime Minister needs to explain.
QUESTION:
Just on another issue, should Qatar Airways be able to buy 25 per cent of Virgin?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, what we want to see for every Australian, every member of the public who travels to see family, or for business, we want to see competition in the airline space. So, obviously FIRB has a process to go through now. If it strengthens competition and it provides a downward pressure on airfares for Australian citizens, then that’s a good thing. But there’s a FIRB process to go through now and we’ll see what FIRB has to say; but otherwise we welcome the announcement today from Virgin.
Alright, thank you very much.
[ends]