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 CAMERON REDDIN, SKY NEWS

THURSDAY 4 JULY 2024

Topics: Protest at Parliament House

E&OE…

CAMERON REDDIN: I want to bring in the Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie, who's down with me on the grassy hill here next to Parliament House. Andrew, thank you for your time. Behind us is the fence which we believe the protesters managed to scale. And if you look a little closer to next to where that security camera is, you can see the pigeon wire or pigeon spikes have all been dented, perhaps they've climbed over that particular part of it. Just your first reaction initially, from when you've seen these banners hanging from the top of Parliament, four protesters yelling phrases – pro-Palestinian phrases – from the top of Parliament House, what's your reaction to that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I was in the House when it happened and I was speaking on a motion reiterating our support for Israel's right to self-defence, so it's very troubling to see this. It's a very ugly protest. It obviously indicates support for Hamas. It's antisemitic and it also attacks Australia's foundation saying essentially, we're a country built on genocide. So there's the political ugliness of this but also, there's security implications here as well. These pigeon spikes here, they might stop a pigeon, but they're not going to deter a fit, able-bodied radical activist. Clearly, they jumped the fence and looking at that, I reckon you or I could do that as a team together right now. So I think there are implications for the security of Parliament House.

CAMERON REDDIN: Does there need to be a full inquiry into one; how this happened, and two; what security changes would need to be made to prevent something like this from happening again?

ANDREW HASTIE: I think absolutely we need to look at security. These people could have gone up there, they could have had weapons, they could have done anything. We're just fortunate it was a disgraceful protest and not something that was more violent.

CAMERON REDDIN: I know you've spoken in the past, as have some of your colleagues, about concerns around the social cohesion around this particular matter. We've seen protests around the country, now hanging from the ceiling really at Parliament House. How should the Prime Minister respond to this particular incident?

ANDREW HASTIE: We need to see more leadership from Prime Minister Albanese. We've seen the attacks on our war memorials, desecrating and dishonouring our war dead, now we've seen an attack on the people's House. There's something at the heart of our education system which is rotten. Why are young Australians wedding themselves to Hamas and their violent cause? We need political leadership because political leadership sets the tone. The Prime Minister is having a bet each way – it's not good enough. Just today in the Herald Sun, we saw that story by James Campbell where Amir Maimon, the Israeli Ambassador, was hauled into Parliament House and apparently given a dressing down by the Assistant Foreign Minister, Tim Watts. We absolutely stand by Israel and its right to self-defence, particularly in the wake of attacks by Hamas, and Hezbollah.

CAMERON REDDIN: And just finally, whether they're young people, old people, wherever they are, clearly there are a number of people who feel strongly enough about this issue to climb Parliament House to go to protest. What would you say to those people about one; the aspect of social cohesion, but what would your message to them be if they feel strongly enough to do something like this today? How would you communicate to them? What would your message be?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'd say join a political party and get involved in the democratic process. I absolutely believe in freedom of speech and the right for every Australian to communicate their views. But Hamas and Hezbollah are listed terrorist organisations and what we saw up there was support for Hamas. Hamas killed more than 1,000 Jews, the biggest single loss of Israeli life since the Holocaust on October 7 last year – that is a fact – so to see this here, it's really disgusting. And I feel for a lot of Jewish Australians who feel unsafe in this country right now.

CAMERON REDDIN: Andrew Hastie, thank you for your time.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thank you.

[ENDS]