Topics: Antisemitism, PM’s weak leadership, universities
Sharri Markson: All right, let’s return now to today’s top story in Canberra – Peter Dutton’s demand for an inquiry into when the Prime Minister was briefed on the caravan terror threat. And joining me now is Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson. Sarah, great to see you. Look what answers does the Coalition want from an inquiry?
Senator Henderson: Sharri, terrific to join you. And of course, as we’ve seen, and Australians have seen, continuing weakness of leadership from Prime Minister Albanese over the antisemitism crisis in this country, in contrast to the very strong and decisive leadership from Peter Dutton and the Coalition. This Prime Minister has been ducking and weaving. We know that Premier Minns was briefed back on the 20th of January. Why won’t the Prime Minister say what he knew and when? The inquiry does need to get to the bottom of this, it’s just not good enough. He’s meant to be the leader of our country, Sharri. So why is he ducking and weaving on an incident that could have been the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil in our history. This was a caravan laden with explosives, and the target was a Jewish synagogue. So we also need to know what steps were taken to protect the Jewish community, and frankly, are there any other threats that we don’t know about?
Sharri Markson: Exactly. It’s a good point. Dutton implied today that one of the reasons the Prime Minister may not have been briefed in on this is that their agencies were concerned he’d leak. Sarah, is there any evidence behind this? Is this something that the Coalition is hearing from sources in the agencies?
Senator Henderson: Well, I think this is a very serious concern, and perhaps that explains why the Prime Minister has been ducking and weaving. We certainly know that many Australians do not trust Labor, and this Prime Minister when it comes to national security and keeping our community safe. We had to drag Labor kicking and screaming to support our proposal for minimum mandatory sentences for terrorism and, of course, for displaying Nazi and terrorist organization symbols. That legislation went through the parliament today, which is a very positive move for this country, but it took Labor two weeks to come to the table. It opposed these tougher laws, and again, it’s more indication that Labor and this Prime Minister cannot be trusted on national security, on keeping our community safe. And frankly, Sharri it’s no wonder that I think law enforcement agencies are also looking like they don’t trust this Prime Minister as well.
Sharri Markson: Sarah, today in the Senate, you were very frustrated because the Greens blocked one of your moves. You wanted to pass a bill that would have set up a commission of inquiry into antisemitism at universities. How frustrating is this?
Senator Henderson: Just shocking. I would have thought that Labor would have had a change of heart after the firebombing of a synagogue and a childcare centre, after the antisemitic attacks on schools and homes, and, of course, after the discovery of the caravan laden with explosives. But no Sharri, in the Senate this morning, Labor combined with the Greens to block our bid to set up a commission of inquiry on antisemitism at Australian universities. We know that this is a very serious problem. There have been many serious incidents. Again, we saw it rear its ugly head at the Queensland University of Technology just two weeks ago. This is appalling. Labor won’t even listen to its own antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal. It will not listen to every major Jewish organization which wants a full blown commission of inquiry to investigate these incidents and to curtail what is happening on our universities. It’s just not good enough and it just shows continuing weakness of leadership by Labor.
Sharri Markson: Yeah, indeed, all right, Sarah Henderson, keep on pushing for the inquiry we desperately need one we need to remove the right in university, so it’s safe for everyone to go, they really appreciate your time.