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The Hon Richard Marles MP
Deputy Prime Minister
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31 January 2025
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
FRIDAY, 31 JANUARY 2025
SUBJECTS: Anti-Semitism; Polls; Trump Administration
SARAH ABO: Well, it's a crisis dividing our politicians and fuelling fear in our community, and anti-Semitic attacks escalating in Australia every week. And in a chilling development, there are concerns it's all being orchestrated by so called puppet masters. To discuss, we are joined by Deputy PM Richard Marles and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Good morning to you both. Good to see you. Richard, I'll start with you. So, a caravan filled with explosives, schools and synagogues racially vandalised, the community is rightly terrified and feeling vulnerable, left in the dark about developments. I mean, the PM wasn't even informed of this discovery in the caravan.
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can understand why the community feels the way it does. Certainly anti-Semitism is on a rise and at a place that it's not been in my lifetime and it really should have no place in Australian society. I think we do need to just take a moment to understand that part of the news of this week is that this was a plot which was foiled and that reflects the fact that there has been additional resources provided to police forces around the country. In this instance the NSW Police Force. But of course we have provided resources to the AFP with Operation Avalite and our police forces are working very closely with each other around the country to foil these attacks. And so we are doing everything in our power to combat this. But what underlies this is bigotry, prejudice, hatred. It has no place in Australia today. And together we need to be standing against this, which this government is and which governments around Australia are. I mean, it's obviously not a matter for party partisan politics. This really is a matter where we stand in solidarity as one with the Jewish community and do everything we can to stop what is just a fundamentally un-Australian act in what we are seeing people do in respect to the Jewish Community today.
ABO: Absolutely. I think, Pete, it's really terrifying as well when you think about the scale of destruction. This caravan, if it had gone ahead with whatever plan was in place, how much destruction that could have caused. The reason police kept it quiet has been well documented from them. But as Richard touches on there, has this issue become politicised?
PETER DUTTON, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: I think the frustration within the community is that it's just escalated over a period of time since the dreadful circumstances of October 7th. Two days later there was a protest on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. We saw months and months of protest at universities and on the streets of particularly Sydney and Melbourne, people predicted that there was going to be an escalation in violence. And I think that's the frustration in the community. It can start with graffiti and it can start with the doxxing, which is bad enough, but then it's escalating to firebombing of a synagogue. And it's predictable in the sense that people don't know red lines and they've continued to escalate and people have warned of Australians losing their lives. Had this taken place, as I understand from the police advice, it would have been a 40 metre blast zone, which would have been the most catastrophic terrorist attack in our country's history. And so we have to take it incredibly seriously. And you can understand why the Jewish community is really living on edge.
ABO: Richard, we're being assured that there's no ongoing threat to the public safety. I'm not sure anyone really believes that, to be honest. I mean, the apparent puppet masters are still out there.
MARLES: Oh, there's work to be done here and no one's saying that. I mean, we are doubling down in terms of the support we are providing to our police forces. We've established Operation Avalite, which is the Australian Federal Police operation dedicated to dealing with anti- Semitic hate crimes. But the state police forces have their own task forces in place and so there's an enormous amount of effort going on and I don't think anyone's being sanguine about the future. I mean, we are very focused on doing everything within our power to combat this and to do everything within our power to make the Jewish community feel safe. But, you know, what we are seeing is completely unacceptable. It is founded on bigotry and hatred and that has no place in our society.
ABO: And I think we can all agree on that, that's for sure. There is a bit to get through this morning. Vote of sentiment for the Labor government is down, according to a recent news poll. Richard, the PM's approval is declining. Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison all lost their leadership after suffering the same fate. Is it too late for you guys to turn things around?
MARLES: Look, we are focused on serving the Australian people, dealing with cost of living relief, and we will tell our story at the next election and we are confident about that. I mean, I know that Peter is getting very excited about the opinion polls. You see him kind of sneaking around the ministerial wing with his measuring tape, working out where he's going to be putting his pot plants-
ABO: Is that right, Pete?
MARLES: But you know, that's not, that's not our focus. Our focus is on serving the Australian people and ultimately they get a say in this. And we'll see that on election day.
ABO: Pete, before you start measuring where to put the pot plants, you're going to have to win over the female voters. They've abandoned you, the younger women.
DUTTON: Sarah, I just want to say that, I mean, if you look at Richard Marles, there- A, he's lost weight, he's got a new suit that fits him this year. He's looking sharp. He's looking sharp. And I tell you what, when the leader aspirant starts to lose weight and gets a new suit, you know, it’s game on. So, Richard-
MARLES: This is not true. I wish I had lost weight, it’s not true.
DUTTON: Get rid of this guy, for goodness sake. For the sake of the country.
MARLES: Look, we are looking forward to election day and we are very much looking forward to telling our story. And, you know, each and every day we're about cost of living relief. And whether it's been tax cuts or energy bill relief, you can be sure that this government is about trying to put that in place. You can also be sure that Peter's out there trying to stop it. And that's the story that we'll be telling come the next election.
ABO: I don't know, I reckon there was a compliment in there somewhere. All right, well, I mean, we were going to get through inflation, and all that, but we haven't heard enough about it. I want to get to something that's really important. Not only is Greg Norman a golfing champion, a successful businessman, an Aussie icon, for many, the Shark is also shaping up as our very own presidential whisperer. Deputy PM, why have we waited so long to inject the Shark into global diplomacy? I mean, the guy can swing.
MARLES: He can definitely swing. Greg Norman is a great Australian, there's no doubt about that. I spent a lot of my life getting up early in the morning to watch this guy play, so I'm a big fan. And there's no- he's an asset, as is the Australian community in the United States. But look, you know, we're focused on our engagement with the Trump Administration. I spoke with Secretary Hegseth during the week. Penny Wong has been- has met her counterpart. That's what we'll be focused on doing.
ABO: Careful, Richard, there might be a shark coming in those waters out near Geelong. But, you know, maybe you could compare, Pete, your swings on the golf course.
DUTTON: Well, I think you can see there that, I mean, Greg Norman swings for Australia. He's done a fantastic- done a fantastic job standing up for our interests. And he's- he's hard at it, there's no doubt about that.
ABO: There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a fan of the Shark as well. We might just leave it there.
ENDS