Interview: Peta Credlin, Sky News

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNU12cIKvto

 

THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

 

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH PETA CREDLIN, SKY NEWS

MONDAY 29 JULY 2024

Topics: Cabinet reshuffle, Labor’s ASIO backflip, Labor’s refusal to list Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation, Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

E&OE…

PETA CREDLIN:
To discuss this and more I’m joined now by the Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie. No big surprise that the PM has moved Andrew Giles and Clare O’Neil, Andrew Hastie, I’m just surprised it took so long.  What’s significant here is that the Prime Minister has basically gutted the Home Affairs department. First out went the AFP, now ASIO – both moved into the Attorney General’s portfolio. What sort of concerns do you have about this move?

ANDREW HASTIE:
This is a weak national security government. They're very weak on borders. I'm surprised they took so much water on before they moved Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles out of the portfolio. What they've done here is they've gutted the Home Affairs portfolio of the key operational agencies. Home Affairs no longer has operational authority for the Australian Federal Police, or ASIO – they've instead gone to the Attorney General's portfolio who issues the warrants. Before this, under the Coalition, we had a good healthy balance, a healthy tension at the Cabinet table with the Home Affairs Minister running operations and the Attorney General holding essentially the Home Affairs Minister accountable and also issuing the warrants. Labor have broken that down and Home Affairs is all but name only.

PETA CREDLIN:
Just so people at home understand that point you’re making, it’s like giving the judge all the powers as opposed to the barrister presenting the case to the court, and the judge being persuaded whether or not to sign off the warrants. We call it contestability, don't we Andrew? Around the Cabinet table, having contestability or having two different ministers battle it out on a decision, I think makes for good government and that's been eroded with this change. I'm also concerned to be honest – Tony Burke is under pressure in his seat, we know, from a very high Muslim vote. Labor's under pressure to give more visas to people coming out of Gaza. Now surely putting him in charge of this vital portfolio with these changes, that's also a risk?

ANDREW HASTIE:
That's right, Peta. This isn't about the national security or strengthening our border. In fact, Tony Burke, when he was last Immigration Minister, let in about 83 boats and more than 6,500 illegal arrivals. He's not tough on borders. This is about empowering Tony Burke who is under immense pressure electorally. We know that there is a very strong Muslim vote in Western Sydney, they're very energised around the Gaza issue and Tony Burke is under pressure. And so this is about giving him a portfolio that has cachet with the migrant community and empowering him so that he can hold his seat. We don't expect any significant change or toughness out of Tony Burke on some of the pressing questions around border policy.

PETA CREDLIN:
Can I get a comment from you? Labor’s decision to reverse the decision it made to throw out ASIO boss, Mike Burgess, out of the National Security Committee of Cabinet. I mean, I think it's good that they've now reversed that poor decision, they should never have made it in the first place. Why on earth has it taken them so long to put Mike Burgess back in given the terror threat we know we face in this country?

ANDREW HASTIE:
That's right, Peta. We've got a huge espionage foreign interference problem. Mike Burgess has told us multiple times on the public record that it's unprecedented—at historic highs. We have a growing terrorist threat and it's really odd that it's taken this long for him to be reinstated back to the National Security Committee of Cabinet. All it shows, again, it's just another data point that this is a weak government on national security. They can't be trusted with national security and if their first instinct was to kick Mike Burgess off the National Security Committee of Cabinet, it makes sense with all the other bad decisions they've made as well. I'm just glad he's back on there because Mike Burgess is a serious operator who wants to keep our country safe.

PETA CREDLIN:
Why on earth, Andrew Hastie, have they not listed Hizb ut-Tahrir? We know they are a listed terror organisation around the world with many of our allies. Why is Labor still refusing to list them here?

ANDREW HASTIE:
Hizb ut-Tahrir celebrated the October 7 attacks on Israel. They're basically soft support for terrorism. They tread the line very carefully, but in the UK and Germany, they are both listed as terrorist organisations. On the Coalition side, we would welcome a listing. If we want to have good social cohesion in Australia, if we want everyone to feel safe, we can't afford to have people who provide support for terrorism, and I think that's what Hizb ut-Tahrir does.

PETA CREDLIN:
Just on another matter, I know you take your Christian faith very seriously. A lot of criticism around the world for the mocking of Christianity over the weekend at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. This is a country, France, obviously where we've known Catholic priests to be murdered by radicals in recent years, where we’ve had teachers issued with death threats because they've had depictions of Muhammad shown in the classroom. I mean, who can forget the cartoon and Charlie Hebdo, the terrorism there? Why is Christianity fair game yet again?

ANDREW HASTIE:
I think people think Christianity is fair game because Christ teaches us in the New Testament to love your enemies and to turn the other cheek. That's not always easy, but that's the commandment. But I think here the deeper point with the Last Supper parody, which was shameful for a number of reasons – it was sexualised, it was debased but it was also ugly – the deeper point here is the decay that's happening inside the West. If this is the best that France can do at an event that's watched by the whole world, we are in big trouble. Our great Western cultural achievements have always celebrated the good, the true and the beautiful. This parody celebrated the bad, the false and the ugly. And on the third point, don't take my word for it, you've seen it with your own eyes. So if this is the best that we can do in the West right now with woke ideology becoming part of the establishment everywhere, if this is the best we can do, we've got more to worry about I think than just terrorism and autocrats. We have serious cultural decay at the heart of the West, and that has consequences if we don't fight back.

PETA CREDLIN:
Beautifully said, Andrew Hastie. Thank you for your time.

[ENDS]

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  • Andrew Hastie
    published this page in Latest News 2024-07-30 11:46:32 +0800