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SCOTT:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Scott Mitchell. This is 7am.

As social harmony in Australia is under threat - with concerns about rising anti-semitism and Islamophobia - these deeply felt and wounding subjects are being debated in our Parliament.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese clashed over them this week, in what has to be one of the most fiery confrontations they’ve ever had.

But are our politicians equipped for this debate? Or are they doing more harm than good?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno, on tactics in Parliament that have been labelled ‘extremely dangerous’.

It’s Friday, November 17.

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SCOTT:

Paul, this week we saw the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese take an enormous swipe at Peter Dutton in Question Time. It was heated even by Parliament standards. What was it about?

PAUL:

Well, Scott, in the first instance the Opposition saw a great opportunity to play to its strong point - well, it thinks of it very much as a strong point - of border security and law and order.

Audio excerpt – Speaker:

“The call to the honourable the Leader of the Opposition.”

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, I seek leave to move the following motion…”

PAUL:

Peter Dutton accused the government all week in Question Time of leaving the community vulnerable after the release of what he called 83 hard core criminals and they were set free after the High Court ruled indefinite immigration detention when there's no prospect of resettlement elsewhere in the world. Well, it's unconstitutional.

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“How can the Government release 83 of the people who have criminal records, significant records and keep in detention nine when they are all subject to the same finding from the High Court? How can that be the case? How can you not have legal capacity or legal capability to keep the 83 in.”

PAUL:

Dutton knowing that Albanese was about to get on another plane - this time to the Asia Pacific Economic Forum in San Francisco - well, he moved a motion interrupting Question Time to suspend standing orders. And the idea here is that question time is the opposition gets one minute to ask a question and the government gets 3 minutes to reply. Once you remove standing orders, the opposition gets 20 minutes to attack the government, although there's always a risk in this because the government itself then gets a right of reply.

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“And this Prime Minister is flying off overseas again when he should be staying in this country to deal with the issue. What could he do? He says, What can he possibly do about it? Well, Prime Minister, I've written to you and what you should do is consult with the premiers and the chief ministers and immediately convene.”

PAUL:

Of course, it's a ploy that enables the Opposition well to dominate the news headlines and in this attack conflated the response to the High Court with community safety and the Government's failure to combat rising anti-Semitism in Australia.

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“And this Prime Minister had a solemn duty, Mr. Speaker, to stand up to make sure that his government spoke with one voice. But did they do that? No. And what the Australian public has seen and what has shocked the Jewish community in recent weeks…”

PAUL:

This is since the Israeli response in Gaza to the October 7 Hamas raid into Israel. Well, Dutton expressed grave concern at quoted “the vicious rise of anti-Semitic vilification” and said the Prime Minister was not doing enough.

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“So the Prime Minister should not leave this country until the National Cabinet has been convened to provide assurances and support and comfort and safety to people of the Jewish community.”

PAUL:

But Scott, it was this linking of the High Court's decision and the accusation that the Prime Minister was too distracted with frequent overseas travel and his gratuitous attack on Albanese's character and commitment to combating bigotry and hatred that really incensed Albanese.

SCOTT:

And so when Albanese responded, Paul, what did he say?

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“This is the same political party…”

Audio excerpt – Peter Dutton:

“The member for Fairfax!”

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“...that tried to repeal Section 18 of the Racial Discrimination Act. And I stood with Peter Wertheim and other members of the Jewish community at that time.”

PAUL:

Well, the Prime Minister was outraged.

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“And the weaponization or gentle weaponize anti-Semitism in this chamber and make it a partisan issue is, frankly, beyond contempt. Frankly, beyond contempt.”

PAUL:

The Prime Minister recalled that he'd spoken in the chamber about threats of anti-Semitism, specific incidents in various suburbs around Australia without qualification or equivocation, and that his record spoke for itself and it was something he was proud of.

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“So to come in here and move this resolution and link anti-Semitism with the decision of the High Court is beyond contempt.”

PAUL:

He added that he also has a track record of standing up for the rights. And justice for the Palestinian people as well.

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“But I set a track record of standing up for the rights and for justice of Palestinian people. And I make no apologies for being a consistent supporter of a two state solution.”

PAUL:

Prime Minister added that a responsible democratic country has a duty to stand up for human rights for everyone and not just do it selectively.

Audio excerpt – Anthony Albanese:

“…because the leader of the opposition is incapable of saying anything positive.”

Audio excerpt – Speaker:

“Order! The Prime Minister's time has concluded.”

Audio excerpt – Speaker:

“Order! Members on my right.”

PAUL:

Well, once the exchange was finished, some in the chamber were appalled by the debate that had been forced onto the floor of the Parliament. Independent Zoe Daniel said the Opposition is promoting social division, not social cohesion, with its outrageous games. The independent member for a seat in Melbourne that has a significant Jewish population said this is extremely dangerous.

SCOTT:

Why is it, do you think, that Peter Dutton is risking taking such a combative approach right now? What's in it for him to try and create even more tension over this issue?

PAUL:

Well, Scott, I think overall taking a combative approach has worked for him. There is no doubt that he's taking quite a leaf out of Tony Abbott's book, which shows that divisive politics, you know can work in the favour of conservative oppositions.

But Scott it has to be said that as the term of government record renews its halfway mark - we’re 18 months to the next due election - the Coalition's more confident that it has a sniff of victory at the next election than they did to imagine over the past 18 months.

Dutton says Albanese's broken every promise made at the election to reduce living costs, and he says the Prime Minister has made poor decisions every day since. And on that the Prime Minister realises he has a daunting challenge on his hands.

SCOTT:

Coming up – why cost of living is still the government’s number 1 problem.

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SCOTT:

Paul, We're talking about the background to the anger we've seen in Parliament this week. And part of the political background to all this is the Opposition is sensing a political opportunity. Cost of living is taking a toll on the government, as you said. So what is the latest on that cost of living debate?

PAUL:

Well, Scott, I have to say the opposition is putting forward quite a strange argument on the economy. Senior shadow ministers say government spending should be cut to help fight the inflation, but at the same time, they are attacking Treasurer Jim Chalmers for delaying $33 billion dollars worth of infrastructure spending and demanding the states stump up at least half of the funding for major projects.

So what do they want? Less spending or more spending? It's hard to say, but they're in opposition and well, they have the luxury of not having to immediately come up with coherent answers, it seems.

Albanese says his government's decision to shield the budget surplus is important in keeping inflation in check. And he signalled in Labor caucus this week that voters won't be promised more cost of living relief beyond targeted and limited measures. But to come back to how Peter Dutton is approaching his politics at the moment, well its focus on deeply conservative right wing issues and of course, being very competitive. But amid this busy news week focussed on acrimony in Canberra between the Government and the Opposition, the Coalition actually lost a member to the crossbench.

SCOTT:

Right, Paul. We saw Liberal MP Russell Broadbent call it quits this week. What exactly happened and why has he made the decision to leave the Coalition?

PAUL:

Well, Russell Broadbent is a 25 year veteran MP and a moderate in the party, unafraid to be outspoken in standing up for his convictions. He famously crossed the floor to vote against one of the Howard government's more contentious issues to stop asylum seekers making refugee claims.

But at the weekend, he suffered a humiliating defeat in Liberal Party preselection for his seat of Monash in Victoria. And that means he won't be the party's candidate at the 2025 election. He counted less than 10% of the vote, which is maybe a sign of how far the Liberal Party rank and file as well as head office, have moved to the right over the years.

Well, Broadbent, in a message to his constituents on social media, said he was a liberal at heart and his values had not changed. Broadbent informed Dutton on Monday that he'd moved to the crossbench and not recontest the next election and that was a message he repeated to the Liberal Party room on Tuesday. He said he wasn't quitting in anger and urged the party to support its leader, but he no longer had, quote, the licence to remain representing his constituents as a Liberal. But he did warn his party room that he thought there were storm clouds ahead for the nation and while by not quitting altogether immediately, he avoided his party having to run a by-election in what is a marginal seat.

Anthony Albanese was pretty quick to jump on these events. He pointed out this week that under Dutton's leadership the Coalition is shrinking in Parliament. It's down from 58 immediately post-election to having 55 members today, a rare feat for any Opposition leader.

SCOTT:

And so then just finally, Paul, while Peter Dutton may think he's getting signals from the opinion polls that this combative approach is working, in some ways it could be also costing him? And perhaps the struggles of the government are of their own making?

PAUL:

Well, I guess Scott will find out in 18 months time. The easy part for oppositions is to amplify the pain voters feel and paying their bills, paying the rent or the mortgages and paying groceries. But being seen as a credible alternative with better solutions come election time, well, that's much harder. Albanese's challenge is to show his government is better suited to the task, even though it has no magic wand.

And in the meantime, we can only hope that the government has something of a rethink. On how he scores political points on social cohesion. You know, the tensions are so high in the community and the mood so febrile. It's time for our political leaders to lower the temperature and to work for unity rather than division.

SCOTT:

Paul, it's been a pleasure. Thanks so much for your time.

PAUL:

Thank you, Scott. Bye.

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SCOTT:

Also in the news today…

Qantas will face sentencing in a criminal court after the airline was found to have breached workplace health and safety laws in the early days of the COVID pandemic.

The case was brought forward after a worker was stood down in February 2020 after raising concerns about the COVID risk to staff who were cleaning aircraft arriving from China.

And …

Defence Whistleblower David McBride has lost a legal bid to strengthen his defence against charges that could see him jailed.

A previous judge had ruled that his lawyers could not argue at trial that he was duty-bound to act in the public interest by leaking confidential information about war crimes to journalists – McBride’s appeal against that decision has now been lost.

McBride’s barrister said that he may now have no alternative but to plead guilty.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Cheyne Anderson and Zoltan Fesco.

Our senior producer is Chris Dengate. Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Our regular host and executive producer is Ange McCormack. Our editor is, me, Scott Mitchell.
Sarah McVeigh is our head of audio. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Mixing by Andy Elston, Travis Evans, and Atticus Bastow.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

It’s been such a pleasure to step out of the chair as Editor of the show and host for you this week. Ange McCormack will be back next Tuesday. Until then, thank you for listening. Take care.

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