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Transcripts
October 8, 2025
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SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Chris, I think it's very clear that these ISIS brides and their children are in Australia with the blessing and support of the Albanese government because they not only provided them with citizenship by descent overseas, they not only provided them with passports which allowed them to enter our country, they also declined to use the temporary exclusion powers that the government has to keep these people offshore given that they've been associated with a listed terrorist organisation. So they can use weasel words all they like, they are responsible for the fact that these people are home and more importantly than that, they are responsible for refusing to be upfront with the Australian people about that to reassure them that the security risks are being adequately managed.
CHRIS KENNY: Indeed, police were even aware of this impending arrival for their security needs. This was revealed on Sydney Radio. Ben Fordham on 2GB was asking the police, and having this confirmed weeks ago. So how can the government possibly plead ignorance?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Exactly right, Chris. The only way that New South Wales police would be told is if they were told by the Albanese government. So many weeks ago, if not months ago, they were, but the public wasn't told. And that's unforgivable, particularly when you think about the persecuted Christian minorities, like the Assyrian Christians, when you're thinking about other minorities like the Yazidis, who we have offered a home to after the rise and fall of Islamic State and said to them, you will be safe here. Well, now they know that people who are members of the terrorist organisation that was their jailer, that was their torturer, that was the abuser, have returned to our country, but they have no idea where they are.
CHRIS KENNY: It is just extraordinary, and the Government wasn't forthcoming with any more information today. Here's the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, in Parliament.
[CLIP START]
HON TONY BURKE MP: What we have is a situation where we have a number of Australian citizens who made a terrible decision, an absolutely dreadful decision, to go off and join others who were involved in what has been described as one of the most horrific organisations that the world has seen and this is not the first time that Australian citizens who made that decision have returned. When Australian citizens seek to return to Australia, they are able to do so.
[CLIP END]
CHRIS KENNY: It's almost pretending as if there is no government. This is just happening around them. They don't have anything to do with it. Now, there are two contrasts that I would draw here. One is that this is the same government that has been blocking the entry of Israeli commentators and even a sitting Israeli Parliamentarian. And this is the same minister who's been down at Sydney Airport welcoming the unknown number of people coming into this country from Gaza. Your thoughts?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Chris, I think it's very clear the kind of people that Tony Burke welcomes to Australia and the kind of people he doesn't want in Australia. And he's out and proud about those people, but he's been running for cover in this instance. That question that he answered today from Dai Le was the first time he'd made any public comments on this issue, despite the fact that he had meetings about this with the charity Save the Children in October last year. That was the time he discussed the repatriation of these people to our country. He had another meeting with them in June this year and the government has known for weeks if not months that this was on the cards, but they never felt the need to tell the Australian people, they never even felt the needs to reach out to Australian Assyrian Christians or Australian Yazidis to warn them, or to comfort them, and reassure them, that they would be safe.
CHRIS KENNY: Yeah, it is extraordinary stuff. Now I've got to talk about something I opened the program with, and that is Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun, who is, in my view, infamous in this country for the way he celebrated the October 7th atrocities two years ago. In fact, exactly two years ago tonight is when he celebrated them. Well, last night he spoke in Bankstown, he talked about liberating all of Palestine, about getting rid of all Zionists effectively. He obviously doesn't want a two-state solution. He wants Muslims or Arabs to run all of Palestine. He's been associated with Hizb ut-Tahrir, and their statements in the last few weeks have rejected a two state solution. They want all of Palestinian liberated. They want to caliphate. Isn't it time, yet again, to revisit this issue of Hizb ut-Tahrir, this extremist organisation that is banned in so many Muslim countries and in the UK and Germany? Shouldn't Australia ban this dangerous organisation?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think we need to look very closely at the legal thresholds that have previously been declared that this organisation doesn't meet that threshold. The advice has previously been that they don't qualify as a terrorist organisation. Well, what I'm concerned about is that they know what those thresholds are and they deliberately stay right under it, but are engaged in extremely dangerous incitement in this country, which has contributed to the worst state of social cohesion we have seen in our modern history and the most unprecedented anti-Semitism crisis in our history. It's very clear that people like this have been emboldened by the Albanese government's weakness and inaction over the last two years. They do not fear the consequences of their behaviour. That is why they are repeating it. That is what they're escalating it. And until this government gets serious about prescribing organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir, consequences for people like Sheikh Dadoun, consequences for the organisations who promoted that rally who have charitable status, then it's only going to continue and it's only going to get worse.
CHRIS KENNY: Absolutely. Thanks so much for joining us, James Paterson.
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Thank you, Chris.
ENDS