Topics: Tony Burke dodging questions on antisemitism report at Press Club, Gazan visas security checks.
SHARRI MARKSON: Liberal Senator Dave Sharma joins me now. Dave, Tony Burke lectures a journalist instead of admitting he hasn't implemented the recommendations three months on.
DAVE SHARMA: I've just got to say, having watched the exchange, it looked to me like Tony Burke was gaslighting Jillian Segal. I mean, he seemed to pretend that her report offered no recommendations to the government that there was no onus on the government to act. And he seemed to just 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 the government to act. One simple one, I mean, was to strengthen the provisions in the Migration Act to ensure visa cancellations for people who express anti-Semitic views. Now, Jillian Segal can't do that alone. That's a decision for government. Adopting the IHRA definition, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, again, Jillian Segal can urge that that be done, but it's the government who has to formally adopt it. There is a lot of business from that report in Tony Burke's in-tray that he is refusing to deal with.
SHARRI MARKSON: Absolutely. There's no question about it. And I think your word disingenuous is spot on. Look, Tony Burke was also asked about the number of Gazans still to arrive in Australia. He admitted that there's between 600 and 700, but then he said this...
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TONY BURKE: And I wonder why it is that I haven't been asked the question about returning for any of the Israelis who I've also provided visas for. Whenever we have taken people on a humanitarian basis and the humanitarian need has gone away, some people have completely found a home in Australia, they are valued members of our community, and they decide to stay.
SHARRI MARKSON: I mean, Dave, does he not realize that there's a murderous terror group governing Gaza right now? That's why there's concern.
DAVE SHARMA: Yeah, I don't understand how Tony Burke can make an equivalence between people arriving in Australia from Israel and people from Gaza. In Israel, we have an embassy, there is a police force, we can do criminal checks, background checks, uh, intelligence liaison checks. And people in Israel visiting Australia are not coming to seek asylum here or seek refuge. They're coming to visit family and friends on holiday. People from Gaza, we do not have any of those sorts of checks in place, because there is no functioning government that we can deal with in Gaza. So, the idea that the case loads are in any way analogous or similar is completely preposterous.
SHARRI MARKSON: Pauline Hanson in the past couple of days has said that the, Palestinians who are here on tourist visas should be returning to Gaza now that there's a ceasefire. But you've got Tony Burke talking about bringing in up to 700 more people. What are your thoughts on this?
DAVE SHARMA: Well, look, I'd firstly make the point that people were outraged when Donald Trump suggested that the people from Gaza should be moved elsewhere. And I can understand that. No one should be forcibly displaced from their home. But now it seems Tony Burke seems to be making the case that, well, Australia would help with that process. My view is, if they have legitimate claims for refugee status, we should assess those in accordance with our international obligations. But I would expect that a large number of those claims have evaporated or substantially weakened because there is a ceasefire 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 them to.
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, but departmental bureaucrats have been unable to answer questions put by a Liberal senator, Claire Chandler, about whether there are borders in Gaza, whether there is a capital city of Palestine. I mean, are these bureaucrats stupid? Are they ignorant? What is the story here?
DAVE SHARMA: Well, I think sadly, these bureaucrats have been put in an untenable position by the Albanese government, because the Albanese government has recognized a state of Palestine, which has none of the attributions of statehood. It doesn't have defined borders. It doesn't have a capital. It doesn't have a single political entity, that exercises governance over the territory. These are the questions that Claire Chandler asked them. Of course, the officers from the Attorney-General's Department, if they were honest, they would have said, "Well, no, none of those things are true." But then they would have completely undermined, Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese's claim that there is some sort of state to recognize. I think the blame for this... I feel for those bureaucrats, because they've been put in an completely untenable position by the the stupidity of the Labor government policy.
SHARRI MARKSON: Yeah. And Claire did an excellent job questioning them. Dave Sharma, you're always so sensible. Thank you very much for your time.
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