Circling back to a breakfast TV interview this morning, in which Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie accused the government of being “weak and timid” in its response to protesters displaying symbols of the terrorist group Hezbollah in Melbourne and Sydney over the weekend.
Speaking on a Today panel with Labor Minister Amanda Rishworth, McKenzie accused Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke of being too slow to respond to instances of support for terrorist organisations in Australia since October 7 last year.
“If Tony Burke wants to say, ‘We will not hesitate to cancel visas,’ well, Mr Burke, you’ve hesitated for 12 months on this. We want to see action,” McKenzie said.
A demonstrator holds an image of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at a protest in Sydney on Sunday.Credit: Isabelle Dellerba
“If you’re a visa holder supporting a terrorist organisation, you need to be deported. If you are an Australian waving one of those flags, you need to be charged.”
McKenzie then accused Labor of taking a “weak, timid and soft approach”, calling on the government to take “swift, determined action that sends a very clear signal”.
Rishworth opened her response by stating she “completely disagrees” with McKenzie’s assessment, asserting that the government had been “unequivocal” in its condemnation of those indicating support for terrorist organisations.
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“More importantly, we put laws through the parliament to say that the displaying of terrorist symbols such as flags like this was a criminal offence, that glorifying terrorism was a criminal offence ... the previous government didn’t put those laws through. We put those laws through.”
Rishworth concluded that the AFP was investigating, saying she had trust in law enforcement.
On the issue of visas and deportation, Rishworth said we don’t yet know if the protesters had visas or were Australian citizens.
“There are a lot of assumptions being made here,” Rishworth said.
“But Tony Burke’s been very clear; he will not hesitate to cancel or cancel visas of people that are inciting terrorism. We’ve been clear and we’ve been strong on this, and it’s disappointing the politics that the opposition is making with this.”
This masthead does not suggest that any person pictured at these protests will or should be charged, given the context of their presence at the protest is not known.