Topics: ISIS Brides, Passports Act, Pauline Hanson’s comments

DANICA DE GIORGIO: Joining me now is Liberal Senator Dave Sharma. Dave, good to catch up with you again. Thank you so much for joining me. Look, despite repeated offers by Chris tonight, she fell some way short of a full apology. Now, in the end, she's appealing to her base, and I think a lot of what she said on the show tonight resonates with some One Nation supporters. Her point was, we don't know what extremist thoughts some people who have come to this country might have. I'll point out that even her deputy, Barnaby Joyce, wouldn't go near this today, but the checks by Labor, they've been a disaster. Does Pauline have a point?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I need to be very clear here. I don't agree with what Pauline said. I think it's wrong on principle, but it's also misguided in terms of policy. I mean, there's about a million Muslim Australians who live in our country. The idea that we should be tarring them all as bad people, is not only without any sort of principled foundation, but it's also deeply harming. I mean, it'd be like if you put any other religion or race in this example and said, "There's no such thing as a good Catholic or a good Christian," I, think people would be rightly appalled. We should be no less appalled because it was made about another faith.

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DANICA DE GIORGIO: Mm. Yeah, no, look, I, agree. I mean, in the end, the majority of Muslims in this country live very peacefully and the debate has to go back to radical Islam, because that has been the, the, the problem since the, the very beginning. I want to talk to you about these ISIS brides. The prime minister maintains Labor is not helping with their repatriation, yet has confirmed they've been issued with Australian passports. Michael Kroger just made a good point just now that the Citizenship Act is out of date. It, it needs updating. What more can Labor do here, in your view?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I do want to take on this canard that Anthony Albanese is going on about, that the Australian government is somehow obliged to give any citizen who asks a passport. If you look at the Passports Act 2005, Section 14 of that act makes quite clear that, the minister, in this case it's the Foreign Minister Penny Wong, has the discretion to refuse a passport if the person who's issued that passport might engage in conduct, might engage in conduct that would prejudice the security of Australia. Now, I think there's a very strong prima facie case here that that is the case with these set of circumstances. And the very least is the government should be examining its ability to exercise these powers under existing laws, under existing legislation. The idea that you have to give a passport to anyone who asks because they're a citizen is simply not true and it's not based in law.

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DANICA DE GIORGIO: Right. So basically, what you're saying is right now, Anthony Albanese has the powers. He could sign off on this and stop the ISIS brides from coming into this country, even if they do hold an Australian passport. Is that correct?

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DAVE SHARMA: Well, I'm saying that there is no, there is no requirement to issue them with a passport, and it is open to the minister to cancel that passport or that travel document at any time, including on security grounds, on the advice of a competent agency. So yes, we should be looking at temporary exclusion orders, but the issuing of a passport is itself a discretionary act by the government. It's not something they are obliged to do. And I don't think Labor has examined the powers available to it under existing legislation. And of course, without a passport or without a travel document, they are not able to travel and they would not be able to leave Syria.

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DANICA DE GIORGIO: Yeah. Well, look, I mean, it's an absolute mess. You can tell, though, that Anthony Albanese is trying to keep himself at arm's length from this. But as you very clearly outlined, there's a lot that he can do to stop them from coming into this country. So, let's see if they do make it out of Damascus and, and board a plane in, in the coming days. I want to talk to you about Angus Taylor's new look coalition front bench. You've been appointed as Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs. Are, are you pleased with this position?

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DAVE SHARMA: Yes, I'm very pleased. I'm happy to be serving in the new ministry. I think we have a big task ahead of us to rebuild the trust and faith of the Australian people. Not only our supporters, but those people who haven't voted us, for us in past election cycles. And I think, key to doing that is to not only point out the quite obvious failings of this Labor government, whether it's on national security, whether it's real wages going backwards, whether it's electricity and, and private health premiums and school fees all going up, but to show what we would do differently and to demonstrate that through policy development and an alternative vision for Australia. And I think Australians are hungry for that, but we have not been giving that to them this last, 18 to 24 months.

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DANICA DE GIORGIO: Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that, certainly it looks like a very stronger coalition now, and it's, and it's good to see, some unity after a very long, long time. That's for sure. Dave Sharma, I've gotta leave it there. Good to catch up as always. Thank you.

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