Topics: Tony Burke dodging questions on antisemitismreport at Press Club, Gazan visas security checks

E&OE.......................

‍

SHARRI MARKSON: Liberal Senator Dave Sharma joins menow. Dave, Tony Burke lectures a journalist instead of admitting he hasn'timplemented the recommendations three months on.

DAVE SHARMA: I've just got to say, having watched theexchange, it looked to me like Tony Burke was gaslighting Jillian Segal. Imean, he seemed to pretend that her report offered no recommendations to thegovernment that there was no onus on the government to act. And he seemed tojust want to fill the airtime with saying what a great job she's doing. Well,that's nice to hear, but her report contained recommendations for thegovernment to act. One simple one, I mean, was to strengthen the provisions inthe Migration Act to ensure visa cancellations for people who expressanti-Semitic views. Now, Jillian Segal can't do that alone. That's a decisionfor government. Adopting the IHRA definition, the International Holocaust RemembranceAlliance definition, again, Jillian Segal can urge that that be done, but it'sthe government who has to formally adopt it. There is a lot of business fromthat report in Tony Burke's in-tray that he is refusing to deal with.

SHARRI MARKSON: Absolutely. There's no question aboutit. And I think your word disingenuous is spot on. Look, Tony Burke was alsoasked about the number of Gazans still to arrive in Australia. He admitted thatthere's between 600 and 700, but then he said this...

[CLIP STARTS]

TONY BURKE: And I wonder why it is that I haven'tbeen asked the question about returning for any of the Israelis who I've alsoprovided visas for. Whenever we have taken people on a humanitarian basis andthe humanitarian need has gone away, some people have completely found a homein Australia, they are valued members of our community, and they decide tostay.

SHARRI MARKSON: I mean, Dave, does he not realizethat there's a murderous terror group governing Gaza right now? That's whythere's concern.

DAVE SHARMA: Yeah, I don't understand how Tony Burkecan make an equivalence between people arriving in Australia from Israel andpeople from Gaza. In Israel, we have an embassy, there is a police force, wecan do criminal checks, background checks, uh, intelligence liaison checks. Andpeople in Israel visiting Australia are not coming to seek asylum here or seekrefuge. They're coming to visit family and friends on holiday. People fromGaza, we do not have any of those sorts of checks in place, because there is nofunctioning government that we can deal with in Gaza. So, the idea that thecase loads are in any way analogous or similar is completely preposterous.

SHARRI MARKSON: Pauline Hanson in the past couple ofdays has said that the, Palestinians who are here on tourist visas should bereturning to Gaza now that there's a ceasefire. But you've got Tony Burketalking about bringing in up to 700 more people. What are your thoughts onthis?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I'd firstly make the pointthat people were outraged when Donald Trump suggested that the people from Gazashould be moved elsewhere. And I can understand that. No one should be forciblydisplaced from their home. But now it seems Tony Burke seems to be making thecase that, well, Australia would help with that process. My view is, if theyhave legitimate claims for refugee status, we should assess those in accordancewith our international obligations. But I would expect that a large number ofthose claims have evaporated or substantially weakened because there is aceasefire in place, people can return home, and unless they have a particular,well-founded fear of persecution in accordance with the Refugees Convention,there is no reason why they should be longer than the tourist visa permits themto.

SHARRI MARKSON: I just want to ask you very quickly,and this has been played already on Sky this evening, so I won't replay it, butdepartmental bureaucrats have been unable to answer questions put by a Liberalsenator, Claire Chandler, about whether there are borders in Gaza, whetherthere is a capital city of Palestine. I mean, are these bureaucrats stupid? Arethey ignorant? What is the story here?

DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think sadly, these bureaucratshave been put in an untenable position by the Albanese government, because theAlbanese government has recognized a state of Palestine, which has none of theattributions of statehood. It doesn't have defined borders. It doesn't have acapital. It doesn't have a single political entity, that exercises governanceover the territory. These are the questions that Claire Chandler asked them. Ofcourse, the officers from the Attorney-General's Department, if they werehonest, they would have said, "Well, no, none of those things aretrue." But then they would have completely undermined, Penny Wong andAnthony Albanese's claim that there is some sort of state to recognize. I thinkthe blame for this... I feel for those bureaucrats, because they've been put inan completely untenable position by the the stupidity of the Labor governmentpolicy.

SHARRI MARKSON: Yeah. And Claire did an excellent jobquestioning them. Dave Sharma, you're always so sensible. Thank you very muchfor your time.

[ENDS]