Friday’s despicable attack on the Melbourne Jewish restaurant and the arson attacked on a synagogue mark a very dangerous escalation in anti semitic violence. A Sydney man from Toongabbie has been arrested and charged over the arson attack. So you’re telling me someone traveled from Sydney’s West to Melbourne to take part in a protest. I don’t get it. There’s a missing link there that hopefully the court case will fill in for me and a special task force has been set up by Victoria Police to investigate the restaurant attack. So hopefully we’ll see some arrests soon. The Victorian Premier is at the location as I speak this morning, but if you’ve seen the footage, it is incredibly brazen and a terrible, violent invasion of privacy. You’re sitting down having a meal, and all of a sudden, the tables go upside down, the windows are smashed, all in the middle of your evening meal. Now, over the weekend, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Senator Paul Scarr condemned the attacks. The Senator is with me in the studio this morning. Welcome to the Super Radio Network.
Senator Scarr
Good to be with you, Chris.
Chris Smith
I know you’ve got to whiz off to a media engagement with your leader, Sussan Ley in Epping. So let’s get straight to it. What do you want the Prime Minister to do because it seems to me that hate speech laws and new offenses being created through legislation does not deter these zealots. It means nothing to them.
Senator Scarr
Chris, what we need is action, not words. We actually need action. It’s all well and good to say nice things in front of a microphone. But what we need is action. And the Executive Council of Australian jury, following a summit on antisemitism in Sydney back in February, released a 15 point plan, a 15 point plan that proposes a raft of different actions, across education, across national security, across the Immigration Act, a whole range of recommendations were made by the Executive Council of Australian jury, the Coalition is calling upon the Government to take action and implement those recommendations. The strategic plan is there. The action plan is there. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Give us an example. Before we talk about what they need to do. Give us an example of some of the measures that were listed in that, you know, document that could be of assistance to us now.
Senator Scarr
So an example is coordination between all of the different security agencies across Australia with a minister given the primary responsibility of leading that from a government perspective, an example is actually getting out into the community, educating the Australian community about anti semitism, its corrosive nature, and how it tears at the social fabric of Australia. It means leading the way in terms of identifying those people who potentially seek to come to our country, who shouldn’t pass the character test because they’ve got anti semitic beliefs, and actually enforcing the law that’s on the books. We did it in the Australian Parliament, pass some important laws earlier in the year. They cover not just acts of violence, but people who threaten or advocate advocate for others to commit violent acts or to damage property, including places of worship. So there are important laws on the books, but we’ve got to align all of the federal and state agencies to enforce those laws. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
But when it comes to cracking down on any kind of anti-Australian hate, kind of attitudes within the community, of those who are arriving only recently, this government is as weak as water.
Senator Scarr
Yeah, Chris, this is so important. It is so important. It is part of the Australian way that every single Australian should be able to go to their places of worship, be free to demonstrate their cultural identity. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Go to their community cafes too, without having their table turned upside down in front of them.
Senator Scarr
Go to a restaurant, go to a private function, and be able to live in peace and harmony. It is crucial Chris and everyone in public life, every single one of us, has the obligation, and it’s a moral obligation, a moral obligation, to stand up for our minority groups, in this case, the Jewish community, when they’re subject to such vile attacks.
Chris Smith
So where is the federal police this morning with their SWAT groups bashing down doors and windows in suburban Melbourne and collecting those who had the temerity to turn up to the cafe in Melbourne over the weekend and turn that joint upside down?
Senator Scarr
The full force of the law needs to be applied to all of those who commit these crimes of hate.
Chris Smith
Yeah.
Senator Scarr
The full force of the law needs to be applied. And I think it’s only then that we’ll start to make a dent in this continuum of antisemitic acts, because this is. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Let’s get to the crux of this as to why they are as weak as water. Is it because that they’ve got so many constituents in Muslim centric areas of Sydney and Melbourne and two, they’re too frightened to upset the apple cart of the serious, violent bullies for fear of creating a terror attack.
Senator Scarr
Look, Chris. It is just so important [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Because neither excuse is fair or feasible.
Senator Scarr
There are no excuses in relation to this, the law must be applied. We live in a society based on rule of law, and all of us are subject to that law, and the law must be applied.
Chris Smith
How did how did we get to this moment? What was the sliding doors moment when all of a sudden we’ve replicated what was occurring in the Middle East, in the capital cities of Australia.
Senator Scarr
Chris, I think when this started back in and as you’ve mentioned, we saw those awful protests on 8 October, the day after 7 October, we needed the strongest action and leadership from the government then.
Chris Smith
That was it.
Senator Scarr
That was the that [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Got out of the box then, and has continued to be so. Another issue where you say the Albanese Government has failed is the release of asylum seekers with hardened criminal records into the community. I’ve got to say all that fear mongering from the Opposition at the time. They were accused of fear mongering. Oh, you can’t say that these detainees are going to commit crimes? Well, I’ve got to say, this has all been fulfilled. All those grave forecasts have been fulfilled over and over again.
Senator Scarr
Chris, we’re talking here about a cohort of 335 in many cases, hardened criminals, murderers, those guilty of attempted murder, sexual offenses, violent offenders, we passed legislation that provided that the government could make an application for a preventative detention order. And this was way back when the High Court brought down the original cases at the end of 2023. The government hasn’t made a single application for a preventative detention order in relation to any of this [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Again, as weak as water. Don’t upset those or new arrivals, because we don’t want any trouble.
Senator Scarr
Well, this this cohort includes people who’ve committed violent criminal offenses. They’ve been found to have no right to be in Australia. They’ve had their visas canceled on on character test and based on their criminal activity in most cases. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
And question without notice, what’s the number now, of those 300 odd who’ve committed crimes in this country, do you know?
Senator Scarr
It’s dozens.
Chris Smith
Dozens.
Senator Scarr
Dozens of them, and the Government needs to use the laws which parliament has given them, and you’ve got to make an application for a preventative detention order. It’s not good enough for the Minister to say the standard approves too high. Make the application, test the laws.
Chris Smith
Test the laws.
Senator Scarr
And if they need to be amended, we’ll come back as a parliament and amend the laws, because the number one priority is protecting the Australian Community.
Chris Smith
One last question, and it pertains to, no doubt, a question that will come before this press conference later today, in which you’re involved, and it’s about the deteriorating relationship with the United States. I don’t know whether it’s Trump that doesn’t want to see Anthony Albanese or Anthony Albanese doesn’t want to see Trump, but I’ll tell you what to go off and have a meeting with Xi Jinping before you actually sit down with your ally, tells me that there’s a deliberate attempt to dilute our close relationship with the United States of America.
Senator Scarr
And Chris. I don’t think the Prime Minister’s speech over the weekend helped at all either. I think it was the wrong speech where he gave the John Curtin oration, and he seemed to be attempting to distance us from the United States. [host interrupted]
Chris Smith
Some kind of independent foreign policy platform. What?
Senator Scarr
Exactly, and Chris, this is our closest strategic ally, and to give that speech in the context where he hasn’t had a face to face meeting with President Trump, it just baffles me.
Chris Smith
I don’t know who he’s trying to suck up to, but it’s not sucking up to the United States, and at the end of the day, that’s exactly who we need to suck up to, whether we like it or not. That’s my view. Thank you for coming into the program today, into the studio and all the very best for the rest of the week.
Senator Scarr
Thanks, Chris.
Chris Smith
Good on you. The Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Queensland Senator Paul Scarr. If you’ve got a comment, jump on that open line, number 131269 and let’s hear what you’ve got to say on 2SM and the Super Radio Network.
