Television Interview – Sky News First Edition
DANICA DE GIORGIO, HOST: Prime Minister, appreciate your time this morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.
DE GIORGIO: The US has offered military assistance without Israel even asking for it. Are we going to give the same support?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have not been asked for military assistance. The Israeli Defence Force, of course, is very formidable. What we have done is to give political support. We are engaging between our Foreign Ministers, between Australia and Israel, discussed issues overnight. I spoke to the Israeli Ambassador to Australia, who’s there in Israel yesterday as well. And I say to any of your listeners who might be concerned about Australian citizens who are present in the region, they can ring 1300 555 135 in order to get information or to provide information indeed about people who might be in the region if they have concerns. This is a very traumatic time for, not just for Israel, but for the world. We saw more than a thousand Hamas fighters go into southern Israel and have indiscriminate killing, including of civilians. We’ve seen more than six hundred deaths there. We’ve seen hundreds of deaths as well in the Gaza Strip. And this is a very dangerous period in a very volatile part of the world.
DE GIORGIO: The US President has squarely blamed Iran. Even the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iran gave the go ahead last Monday. Do you agree with the US? Is it your view that Iran is to blame here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, certainly those examinations will take place over coming days, but this is an aggression initiated by Hamas that was not anticipated. There was no foreshadowing of this. We saw quite unprecedented actions, the most dangerous day in that part of the world for fifty years, and quite an extraordinary attack targeting civilians in an indiscriminate way and the capturing of hostages, of innocent people, young people, families, just going about their business. Young people going to a rave, people on Kibbutzs just going about their lives in a peaceful way is quite unprecedented and quite horrific and it’s been quite rightly condemned by the world.
DE GIORGIO: Do you regard this as a terrorist attack?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, quite clearly when you target innocent civilians, that is terror being created here. People going about their lives. This wasn’t a military to military conflict, this was targeting people in more than twenty towns and villages in southern Israel who were just going about their daily lives.
DE GIORGIO: There’s a lot of Australian families here, of course, who are Jewish or Israeli. They’ve lost loved ones and might still yet lose loved ones. What do you have to say to them this morning?
PRIME MINISTER: My heart goes out to anyone who loses an innocent civilian in such a dramatic and terrible way. This is a very difficult time for the community here, as well as the community in the Middle East. And the targeting of civilians is not acceptable, no matter who does it. This was worked through for, obviously a lot of planning went into this attack, which is why it’s been quite rightly condemned around the world. Israel does have a right to defend itself. It will do that, as you would expect.
DE GIORGIO: Do Jewish or Israeli Australians living here need to up their security? Have you been given any advice to suggest that?
PRIME MINISTER: No, but there are issues here. We know that there’s been a rise in anti-Semitism. We recently introduced increased support for people, including some schools and facilities in the Jewish community. I know that this will cause real concern amongst people and anti-Semitism, unfortunately, I’ve seen even during the debate about constitutional recognition for First Australians. I’ve seen stuff online about the worldwide Jewish conspiracy being a part of this. Anti-Semitism, unfortunately, is present and is just wrong. And I know that racism is always wrong, no matter who’s targeted. Whether it be anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or other forms of racism, is always a bad thing and my government will do what we can to combat it, but also to provide support for vulnerable communities.
DE GIORGIO: Just another question on this. Are these war crimes? I know you mentioned before there’s so many young people that have been caught up in this. They’re in the prime of their lives. We’re talking about two hundred and sixty. Has this attack, is it a war crime?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, You can go through a whole range, this is a horrific attack, it’s unprovoked. It is certainly the targeting of people is a definition of terror and that is what it’s aimed, clearly at creating fear in the community of Israel by having such an unprovoked and quite drastic action, widespread. I mean, a thousand people travelling into southern Israel is quite a concerted effort by Hamas to create fear and to target in an indiscriminate way.
DE GIORGIO: We have to let you go, Prime Minister. But just quickly on the Voice, I’m sure you’ve seen the latest Newspoll. A third of voters now only backing that change. Is it over? How can you come back from this?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, Australians will, as they go to the polling booths we know that one in four haven’t made up their mind, haven’t been certain about what way they’re going to go. And I just urge Australians to examine what the actual referendum change is to the constitution. It does just two things, it one, recognises first Australians in our constitution. That’s just a fact of our history, it did not begin in 1788. Every other country in the world has done that except for Australia. And the second thing is the form of recognition is just a non-binding advisory committee. It doesn’t change the way that Parliament works, doesn’t have the right of veto, isn’t a funding body. Nothing to fear here, just the opportunity to listen to first Australians about matters that affect them, so that we can get better results and so that, as well, you can have accountability and that sense of ownership. With that comes a sense of responsibility for those outcomes. We want to do things with Indigenous Australians, not for or to them with the best of intentions, that is not working. We need to do something better because No is where we are right now, with an eight year life expectancy gap and a greater chance of an Indigenous young male going to jail than to university. And I’m very hopeful that Australians will over coming days, as they enter the polling booths on Saturday or beforehand, look at the proposal and see not just in their heart, but also in their head, that this is a very sensible and modest proposal and a modest request from Indigenous Australians. A hand out stretched of friendship just asking for non-Indigenous Australia to join with it.
DE GIORGIO: Prime Minister, a busy morning. We really appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.