Sky AM Agenda - Transcript of interview with Kieran Gilbert

The Hon Alex Hawke MP
Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection

Subjects: same sex marriage, Sam Dastyari, foreign donations, citizenship, by-elections

KIERAN GILBERT: Alex Hawke, what is your take on the Dastyari report this morning? Just before then, I asked Richard Marles about foreign donations and the register. First of all, specifically on the denial from Sam Dastyari to the extent that he says “I’ve never been briefed by any security agency or received any classified information about any matter ever. I reject any assertion that I did anything other than put to Mr Huang gossip being spread by journalists.”

ALEX HAWKE: These are very disturbing reports again this morning about Sam Dastyari, they are not the first time these sorts of reports have come forward about the activities of Sam Dastyari, this is a test for Bill Shorten, a real test of his leadership, what questions has he asked Sam Dastyari about this matter. What information was Sam Dastyari party to that he felt he was being wiretapped by a foreign power, why he told a donor that he should put his phone away, what business did Sam Dastyari have with this donor that he felt he needed to say that. Bill Shorten needs to come forward and explain to the Australian people why he proposes Sam Dastyari a senior member of his government when he has these clouds over his head when he has these clouds hanging over his head about his allegiance to Australia.

KIERAN GILBERT: Do you think there should be questions answered about the sources as well, as Richard Marles asserted?

ALEX HAWKE: All aspects of this matter should be fully enquired into, and I have no hesitation in saying that, and I’ll just make this other point Kieran, we’ve spent months with Bill Shorten and the Labor party ridiculing people like Barnaby Joyce, born in Tamworth, spent his whole life in Australia, passionate Australian. Ridiculing John Alexander, an Australian sporting champion, who has won Wimbledon, an Australian sports medal recipient. And questioning their Australian-ness. And we’ve got Iranian born Sam Dastyari, who continues to have clouds over his head about what his activities are with Chinese foreign donors. What questions has Bill Shorten asked Sam Dastyari and can Bill Shorten come forward today and unequivocally state he is confident in Sam Dastyari being a senior member in a potential Labor government.

KIERAN GILBERT: Is it a bit much to be alluding to his Iranian heritage, it’s got nothing to do with that?

ALEX HAWKE: I am just making the point, Labor has been ridiculing Australians, born in Australia and questioning if they are Australian. Bill Shorten has been gleefully laughing at Barnaby Joyce and John Alexander, this is a serious matter Kieran, this is not about a constitutional issue, this is about allegiance to Australia and loyalty to a foreign power. Sam Dastyari believes he’s being tapped by foreign agencies and foreign powers, did he report that to his leader Bill Shorten? What actions did he take? These reports are of the most concerning nature, these questions should be addressed by Bill Shorten.

KIERAN GILBERT: But he says he didn’t receive classified information, from what we can gather, he hasn’t denied suggesting to that individual that his phone might be tapped, maybe he’s just watched too many spy movies?

ALEX HAWKE: Sam Dastyari is the master of distraction, he was at the head of the Labor party in NSW for a long time, he has access to the shadow executive, he has access to Bill Shorten, he has access to a lot of information about Australia, about the governance of Australia, and to pretend that he doesn’t, or to pretend that somehow he didn’t get any briefing or information. I believe is wrong. Maybe he has never been briefed. Someone should go to Sam Dastyari’s office and brief him immediately, that dealing with people in foreign powers is a bad idea, because he doesn’t have seem to get it. But he does have access to serious and substantial information about the government of Australia.

KIERAN GILBERT: Is it time the government agrees to the foreign donations ban and register as argued by Richard Marles a short time ago?

ALEX HAWKE: There is a process in train about that right now in Parliament and they are examining it, there is a bi-partisan approach on it, and we are looking forward to that report, and I imagine there will be action on that in the near future.

KIERAN GILBERT: Are you frustrated, on another front, the same sex marriage measures that are being put forward by your colleagues David Fawcett and James Patterson last night, even those put forward by Matt Canavan and George Brandis for more modest religious protections, they’ve all been knocked back in the Senate?

ALEX HAWKE: I come from a Western Sydney, no voting electorate, and I have concerns about religious freedom as well, I’d say to everyone in Australia who is concerned about religious freedoms, freedom of thought and freedom of expression. In the senate last night, it was only Liberal and National party senators, the vast majority of them who wanted to support amendments for religious freedoms. The entire Labor party voted against them. And again Kieran this comes down to a test of Bill Shorten. We know that there were several Labor senators who wanted to vote for some of these amendments and wanted to vote No on this bill. They are not allowed to do that. They don’t feel that they are allowed to in the Labor party. And I’ve said this before to you on this program, people in Australia and in the Labor party are too afraid and they cannot exercise their conscience fully in this debate in the parliament. They are not allowed to by Bill Shorten and Labor. Why shouldn’t those 7 Labor senators be allowed to vote for the amendments they feel reasonable in relation to religious freedoms?

KIERAN GILBERT: It’s about your colleagues as well, 6 of them, cabinet ministers, 3 of them. Even knocking back Brandis’ more modest approach, is this something that come to ahead in the party room, even David Fawcett said this morning, he doesn’t think it’s a matter for the prime minister or the party room, he thinks it’ a conscience vote on the floor of parliament. Do you agree with Andrew Broad, who thinks it’s a lack of leadership from Mr Turnbull or do you agree with David Fawcett, that it’s a conscience matter?

ALEX HAWKE: It’s always been a conscience matter in the Liberal party, and I support that, I disagree with my Liberal colleagues across the floor, I’ll argue with them till I’m blue in the face about it, and I think they’ll be proven wrong over time about religious freedoms, but we are genuinely excising a conscience vote in our party, my point again Kieran is Labor is not genuinely holding a conscience vote on this. And regardless what the government did, even if we voted as a block on this, we don’t have the numbers to get these amendments up in the senate. I’ll just make this point to all of the No voters out there, but it’s important that these 5 million No voters be represented in the parliament.  

KIERAN GILBERT: But it was also a vote, 62% yes, you have to honour that.

ALEX HAWKE: Correct, we have to respect the national outcome, and that was the government process, and that was the will of the Australian people. But you have whole areas in Western Sydney; Greenway, Blaxland, Parramatta, electorates going completely unrepresented by Labor when they voted No substantially, and I think that’s wrong, I’m going to be putting amendments in the house, along the same lines as the senate, with my colleagues and we’ll be arguing for religious freedoms. Protecting religious freedoms and having same sex marriage is entirely possible.

KIERAN GILBERT: Mr Hawke, thank you for your time.