Topics: Liberal Party; national security statement

E&OE…

KIERAN GILBERT

This is AM Agenda and with me is Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite and Liberal frontbencher Senator Scott Ryan, gentlemen good morning to you both. Senator Ryan first to you I want to ask you about these emails from Phil Higginson the Honorary Federal Treasurer. He has written in very blunt terms to the federal executive about the relationship between Brian Loughnane and the PM’s office, that it is a conflict of interest in his view. What is your reaction to this?

SCOTT RYAN

Well I haven’t seen the emails, I’ve seen the coverage of them and I can’t pretend that having emails like this in the public domain is helpful. I will say that the fact that members of my federal executive of the Liberal Party feel confident to have full and frank exchanges is something that gives me confidence, but as I said it is not helpful in the public domain.

GILBERT

He is threatening to quit?

RYAN

Well that’s what’s reported, these are what I’m told very long emails and I think context is important – they were intended to be private and they have obviously made their way to certain journalists but…

Interrupted

GILBERT

When you say that – that you believe they were intended to be private, because if you write that sort of stuff to 27 individuals in the current climate, surely he would know that that was not going to remain private?

RYAN

I have only met Phil Higginson a couple of times, you pointed out that he is the honorary Federal Treasurer, he is not a former political staffer, he is not a former member of parliament, he is one of the fifty or sixty thousand voluntary members of the Liberal Party. So I don’t think that necessarily…

Interrupted

GILBERT

And so he is a straight shooter, that is his reputation?

RYAN

Exactly, and I don’t think that he might be as cynical as some people in this building who might always say that everything you write to members of the federal executive might make its way into the public domain. To the point you raise, I have long had a policy of not commenting on staff matters, staff are not public officials, we are public officials and they assist us in our work. I am not going to break that tradition today.

GILBERT

That is true, and that is a pretty long standing tradition in terms of staff members, although this particular staff member is on the front page more often than not in the last couple of days.

THISTLETHWAITE

Well according to the Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party, the party is dysfunctional and indeed the Government is dysfunctional, and that is a big concern for Australians. It is a tough time for Australia at the moment with the economy in a difficult position and here you have the Government focussed on itself and its internal machinations rather than what is in the best interests of Australia.

RYAN

He is not a member of the Government.

THISTLETHWAITE

This interview has been devoted so far to the Liberal Party and its dysfunction rather than policy. The front pages of the papers today are devoted to the dysfunction in the liberal party. We are not focussing on policies and what is in the best interests of Australians, and that is damaging for our economy and our nation.

GILBERT

The Prime Minister is trying to, you have got to give him that, he wants the focus on policy on national security which was the big focus yesterday. This was something that undermined that coming from admittedly within the liberal party.

RYAN

The Treasurer of the Liberal Party is an honorary unpaid position, he is a businessman of some standing, but he is not a member of the Government. The Government is getting on with the job, we saw the Prime Minister make a very important national security statement yesterday following on from the review of the tragedy in Sydney and the national security strategy. So the Government is getting on with the job.

GILBERT

There are members of the Government on the executive who received that email.

RYAN

There would be, if I am correct in my knowledge of the Liberal Party Constitution there would be four members, four parliamentary leaders who probably would have probably received that email, assuming that the newspaper reports are correct that it went to all the members.

GILBERT

Do you think it is comparable to the Shane Stone email of years ago during the Howard Government the ‘mean and tricky’ email, does it have that sort of input?

RYAN

No I don’t think so. From what I can gather, again not having seen the full context of what I’m told were several emails and quite lengthy, I think we have got to be careful about jumping to conclusions because context is all important. This is a person who hasn’t been an MP or political figure; he serves in an honorary capacity. He is a businessman of some standing but not a member of Government. He has expressed some concerns that have sadly made it into the public domain.

GILBERT

Matt Thistlethwaite the Prime Minister’s national security statement yesterday, I will put to you the same question that I put to Senator Milne, wasn’t he simply being up front with the Australian people on a whole range of issues from the doubling of high priority cases that ASIO is looking at, to that message to the Islamic community to Muslim leaders to speak out more often and to mean it, in his words.

THISTLETHWAITE

We need to be ever vigilant about our nation’s security and there has been an increase threat, that is evident in what occurred in Martin Place in Sydney last year. The Parliament has been responding to that threat there has been a number of reforms that have gone through the Parliament in recent months that have strengthened our security and intelligence forces, and has given them the legislative backing to do their job. Labor has taken a bi-partisan approach with this. When it comes to national security we are at one with the Government. The reforms that were announced yesterday will be subject to the proper processes of scrutiny of the Parliament.

GILBERT

Do you agree with the Prime Minister that Muslim leaders need to speak up more often about Islam being a religion of truth and to mean it,  or do you agree with Craig Laundy the Liberal Member for Reid in Sydney that a number of leaders, certainly in his electorate, are already doing that.

THISTLETHWAITE

I can only go off my experience of the Muslim community in my area. The Muslim leaders in my area are good people, they are good Australians, they work hard, they want their kids to get a good education, and they are community minded.

They do speak up against preaching hatred and violence and I would expect that any Australian that does try to incite hatred and violence would be dealt with under Australian laws appropriately. That is the approach that we should be taking in circumstances such as this.

GILBERT

Was it unnecessary for the Prime Minister to make that comment yesterday?

RYAN

I don’t think so, I think the context here is very important. When the Prime Minister started talking about these risks in the middle of last year quite a few commentators criticised him for fear mongering, it was one of the expressions used that I remember hearing. Yet the fact that the Prime Minister has had a long and lengthy discussion with the Australian people about these risks has actually meant that the tragedies in Dandenong and in Martin Place, in my view the community was a little but more prepared for. Those could have posed quite substantial risks to our social cohesion, but the Prime Minister, by taking the Australian people into his confidence, as much as you could, prepared people for those sorts of events. The point the Prime Minister was making in my view about the Islamic community, and let’s be honest it is as diverse as any other community that we want to define by either a faith or another matter – because when you do go and meet leaders or go to different mosques, there is the Albanian mosque not far from my house, there are the African Islamic community, there are different paths of the Middle East, so it is very diverse. The point he was making was that the best and most effective pressure against hate speech and racism or any destructive speech is from one’s peers. What used to happen on the football field was made unacceptable by our football fans and our players, what used to happen in our schoolyards is now made unacceptable by kids knowing that you can’t say that and other kids putting peer pressure on them. What the Prime Minister was saying was that in our own communities, yes we all do speak out against racism but we also have a responsibility to continue to do so, especially where we have got the risks of some of these tragic events coming out of people inciting within certain communities.
GILBERT

And he also did point out that members of the community do cooperate with the authorities, which is pivotal. You speak to any of those agencies and that sort of engagement –I know that David Irvine the respected former Director General of ASIO said in his valedictory speech that that underpins everything they do.

THISTLETHWAITE

That is right. Leaders in my community are very responsive and consultative and do speak out against those sort of issues and I think that is very important because they do have a leadership role and young people, particularly young men do look up to them.
GILBERT

Matt Thistlethwaite, Scott Ryan thanks gents, have a good day.

RYAN

Thanks Kieran.

THISTLETHWAITE

Cheers.

 

**ENDS**