Today Show

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Interview – Today Show with Lisa Wilkinson and Anthony Albanese
Friday 16 October 2015

SUBJECTS: Terror laws, radicalisation in schools;

LISA WILKINSON: We’re joined now by Industry and Innovation Minister, Christopher Pyne and Shadow Infrastructure Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good morning to you gentlemen.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Lisa.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: It’s good to be with you.

LISA WILKINSON: Christopher, I’ll start with you, a teenager in court this morning, 12 year old on the terror watch list, control orders for children; that is an indication of the scale of the problem facing authorities…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It is, and we’ve obviously got a lot of work to do. I was listening yesterday to some of the police commissioners who met with Malcolm Turnbull and Michael Keenan and George Brandis and they weren’t saying there weren’t enough resources, but they were saying they need to use their resources very wisely, that they are not losing the battle but they are realising it’s very deep and engaging with the community is one of our number one priorities at getting the community on side to work with the government, with the police forces, is a vital priority for us. So there’s a lot to do and we’re pleased to have the support of the Labor party in these measures.

LISA WILKINSON: Do you suppose this proposed doubling of the amount of time that a 12 year old can be held if they are suspected of terror related activities?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: I think that is a proposal from the NSW Police. I think we will look at it; we’ll look at all of these measures. Our proposal at the moment is to reduce the age for control orders. That’s the legislation that we’ll be bringing into the parliament. We’ll look at other measures but I don’t think we’re proposing that one at this particular time.

LISA WILKINSON: What do you think about it Anthony? Should a 12 year old be held accountable for their actions?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, what we will do is take expert advice and it’s important that these issues are above politics. The murder of Mr Cheng, going about his work was just a real wakeup call I think about how dangerous this threat is. The fact is was a young man who committed this murder. I think that really makes you shake your head about how this could occur; but it’s real, and we need to respond to it in a real way.

LISA WILKINSON: The Prime Minister bought together key parties for the terror summit yesterday. He says combating the power of the internet to influence young people is one of the biggest challenges, but how on earth do you do that?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well I think you need to get in and work with the community and that’s what the Prime Minister and other leaders are doing and the police certainly have an enormous challenge and we’ve got to think at a time like this as well about the police. It must be of real concern that this occurred right outside Parramatta Police Station, the NSW command there, so the fact that is can occur there means we need to think about those people who put their lives on the line every day, making the rest of us safe.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: We’re now being helped at the moment by, sorry Lisa, by a better relationship, I think with Google and Facebook and Twitter with governments around the world who are now assisting in removing offensive websites and Twitter feeds and threads. I think that’s a big change.

LISA WILKINSON: And yet for all that, Farhad Jabar, he wasn’t even on anyone’s watch list…

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, and that’s why we’ve got a lot of work to do. I mean we wouldn’t want to underestimate how important it is to ensure the youth of Australia are not radicalised in schools. That’s why when I was Education Minister I proposed at the last COAG meeting of education ministers that we have a de-radicalisation program in schools. They didn’t embrace it, I think we talked about it on this show in fact that day, but I hope they will embrace it under the new Minister.

LISA WILKINSON: 125 have left to fight in Syria so far, do we really want them back?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well if they’ve got dual citizenship, we don’t have to have them back and in fact, we’ve moved to deny them Australian citizenship if they have dual citizenship. Unfortunately if they don’t have dual citizenship, they are citizens of Australia, they are our responsibility. We probably do want to get them back and put them in prison. We can’t just wash our hands of Australian citizens.

LISA WILKINSON: What about those who are heading overseas Anthony? What do we do with them if we stop them at the border, what do we do with them?’

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, it’s a challenge for authorities to try and determine whether they are a threat or not. If they are a threat to Australians, then appropriate action should be taken to protect the country from them. But you know we can’t just wish it away. This is a real challenge. The numbers of people going over to fight for these lunatics in Islamic state is quite scary but it’s real and that’s why we need to have a response from all levels of government, but importantly hear from the community as well. This isn’t something that politicians can control by themselves, or law enforcement authorities. It’s got to be a whole of community response and that’s why it’s been good this week that the Prime Minister and the NSW Premier Mike Baird, and Luke Foley met with Islamic community leaders to make sure that that cooperation is there because they’re just as concerned about is as other loyal Australians are.

LISA WILKINSON: It’d an indication that the game has changed, I think that’s the first issue we’ve ever had our pollies in on a Friday where you’ve both agreed.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Yep, well it’s important that we do.

LISA WILKINSON: Yeah. It certainly is. Anthony Albanese, Christopher Pyne, thank you very much.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thanks Lisa.

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Thank you.

[ends]