Just one day after the horrific 7 October terrorist attacks we saw the disgraceful scenes of a mob chanting ‘death to the Jews’ outside the Sydney Opera House. The Albanese government should have realised we had a dangerous situation on our hands, and there should have been a national security committee of cabinet called for the next day. The Prime Minister should have made clear to his Labor colleagues that there was not to be any ‘both sides’ rhetoric or equivocation, but instead we have seen them try and play internal politics by appealing to their radical left base. We have seen that for a long time now with the Labor Party’s changing policy on Israel, changes welcomed by none other than Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Senator CHANDLER (Tasmania) (16:51): I am pleased to speak on this incredibly important urgency motion moved by my friend and colleague Senator Paterson. The government’s first role and core duty is to keep Australians safe, yet this Albanese government has been timid, reactive and wrongheaded on almost every national security and public safety issue that has emerged in recent months. We have seen the failure to properly enforce Operation Sovereign Borders. We have seen the failure to prevent unauthorised maritime arrivals. Australians don’t need any reminder about how dangerous those arrivals are, especially those people who are fooled by people smugglers into getting into those vessels. The government is still yet to explain how that recent arrival went undetected before reaching the Australian coastline.
We have seen the horrendous failures of the government enabling dangerous criminals to be released into the community without adequate safeguards. First, they said all possible measures had been taken. Then it quickly turned out that wasn’t true. They then said it was impossible to bring in legislation to fix the issue, but that wasn’t true either. Perhaps the most dangerous and damaging failure was the Prime Minister and this government failing to recognise the urgency of responding emphatically and unequivocally to the clear evidence of antisemitism that is sadly festering in the hearts of our community in recent weeks. Just one day after the horrific 7 October terrorist attacks we saw the disgraceful scenes of a mob chanting ‘death to the Jews’ outside the Sydney Opera House. The Albanese government should have realised we had a dangerous situation on our hands, and there should have been a national security committee of cabinet called for the next day. The Prime Minister should have made clear to his Labor colleagues that there was not to be any ‘both sides’ rhetoric or equivocation, but instead we have seen them try and play internal politics by appealing to their radical left base. We have seen that for a long time now with the Labor Party’s changing policy on Israel, changes welcomed by none other than Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
We know for a fact that, alongside Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the major purveyors of antisemitism in the world is the Islamic Republic of Iran, yet this government refused to accept and implement nine of the 12 recommendations made by the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee to hold that regime to account. It has refused to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, even though they have been urged to do so not only by the Senate committee but also by the Biden administration and the Australian Iranian community, who know how dangerous the IRGC is not just in Iran but here in Australia as well. This is one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organisations. It is also proficient in cyberattacks, assassinations, hostage-taking and foreign interference, yet the government refuses to take action to list it as a terrorist organisation. Meanwhile, we have the Islamic republic embassy here in Australia spreading antisemitic propaganda and meeting with Australian universities.
This Prime Minister and this Labor government are failing over and over again to show leadership and take decisive action to protect Australians. They always have an excuse for failing to act. When we point out these failures they say that we’re just politicising issues, but they are failures to act. They invent an excuse, as the Prime Minister did when he claimed that he doesn’t talk about topics he raises with the Chinese President; when he claimed that he doesn’t talk about when National Security Committee meetings are held, even though he often does; when the government say they can’t legislate to protect public safety, even when it turns out they can; or when the government said they were advised they were going to win a court case it turns out they expected to lose. The Albanese government is failing to do what is necessary to keep Australians safe, and every day more evidence of that is emerging. No more excuses; it is time for action.