Latest / The Front / Should Muslim preachers be monitored?

Transcript

Should Muslim preachers be monitored? · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, January twenty eighth, twenty twenty six. Giant data
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: centers that power artificial intelligence can't run on wind and solar.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: That's the warning from one of Australia's biggest operators, next DC,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: revealed in The Australian today. They say colon gas have
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to be part of the system to guarantee the reliability
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: huge data loads require. The Muslim community must keep the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: wolves from their own flock. That's the view of Scott
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Morrison in a sweeping new proposal to crack down on
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: anti Semitic hate speech. Today the big new idea from
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the former Prime Minister and how it fits into his
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: feud with Anthony Albinizi. Richard Ferguson is The Australian's Canberra
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Press Gallery Bureau chief, and today he's reporting on a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: speech made overnight by Scott Morrison in Israel to an
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: audience of leaders from around the world about antisemitism, but
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: specifically bringing the problem home to what Scott Morrison would
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: call hate preachers, people in Muslim communities and Muslim congregations
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: who are preaching antisemitism. Scott Morrison says this is something
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: for the Muslim community to sort out. Richard, this is
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a very sensitive issue that Scott Morrison is now wading into.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: We haven't seen a national leader really cheat the problem
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of antisemitism home to the Muslim community in quite this
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: way yet, have.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: We Absolutely not, Claire. We have seen Josh Friedenberg Susan
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Lee make a wader philosophical point that radical Islam is
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the key problem that has fueled off the Bundai massacre
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: and the two year antisemitism crisis in Australia that led
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to it.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Those who practice and preach this radical Islamist ideology. First
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: they come for the sat Day people, then they come
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: for the Sunday people. And the lesson of history is
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: that we're all infidels according to these radicals, and they
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: are here in Australia and the government needs to take
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: them on.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Radical Islamist extremism caused this. I repeat, radical Islamist extremism
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: caused this. Leaders need to be able to express this clearly,
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: because if you can't name the problem, you can't possibly
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: defeat it.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: But never have we seen such a detailed police Dreven
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: agenda for reform in the Muselim community coming from a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: national leader. So mister Morrison at the International Conference on
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Anti Semitism in Jerusalem as laid out quite a list
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: of things he believes that the Muslim community must do.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: That includes accrediting preachers, a national register of Amams, translating
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: their religious teachings in mosques and in Muslim schools in
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: the country into English so that people can access them
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and see what's being said. Expanding the country's foreign transparency
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: scheme to include links with overseas religious groups. It is
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: a widespread reform that he says he wants the Muslim
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: community to lead, not the government to lead. That would
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: completely change the way the Muslim community is essentially run
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: in Australia. It is a very radical proposal. It is
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: a proposal that I think will be met with a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: lot of criticism. But Scott Morrison has really prevented this
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: saying I know I'll be called islamophobic. That is not
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: what I am doing. What I am doing is trying
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: to say we have to have this conversation and we
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: need Muslim leaders to be part of this faith.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: All governments should have done better.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: That is my point.
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: Did the Morrison governor point a special envoy to combat
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: any Semetism?
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: No?
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: Did they establish the Joint Operation bringing together the AFP
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: and Asia to combat acts of any Semetrism? No?
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Sorry, primunist, Scott Morrison has today described you delusional and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: cheap for trying to shift blame.
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: Where are you trying to shift blame?
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: And what do you make of his comments?
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: Mister Morrison can make whatever comments he likes, as entitled
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: to simply making the point by quoting what members said
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: at that time in twenty eighteen nineteen. We have strength
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: and hate laws. We have not sought to go over
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: all the detail of the time when we had an
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: Attorney General in this country who said that you have
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: a right to be a big.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I think that Scott Morrison was definitely exercise when Anthony
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Albinizi in Parliament last week tried to suggest that all
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: governments were to blame for the rise of anti Semitism
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: in Australia and singled out his government when using historical
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: facts and figures. And mister Morrison has definitely felt very
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: passionately about one our relationship with Israel into the ex
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: incredibly horrific rise in anti Semitism in this country on
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: our shores. Instead of support, we have seen that I
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: was leaving under the freedom of democracy in this country,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: calling for the extinction of the side of Israel from
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the river to the sea. That is antisemitism. But I
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: think that his intervention Claire is very different than what
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: we've seen from some former prime ministers. Usually the rivor
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: are defending their legacies, like Malcolm Turnbull being against August
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: in order to defend his deal with Emmanuel Macron for
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: French subs. It's different than the kind of the big
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: philosophical things like Paul keating on China and the American
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: in Alliance. It's even different really to prime ministers reacting
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: to events like John Howard intervening on the Voice successfully
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: and less successfully on the gay marriage postal survey. This
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: is a detailed agenda. Scott Morrison is putting ideas out there,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: multiple ideas, ideas about reforming schools, ideas about reforming community bodies.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: He is doing this because he believes the government is
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: not filling this space and that the government is not
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: willing to have a conversation about Muslim leadership.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: You'd have to think he's also stepping in to avoid
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: that the opposition has left. You know that there's no
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: actual opposition coming from Susan Lee and David Little Proud
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and what used to be the Federal Coalition. They of
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: course have torn themselves apart over this issue, and it's
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: been a long term tearing apart on this particular issue
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: of the balance between freedom of speech and religious freedom,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: hasn't it, Richard? The Federal Coalition has been trying to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: create legislation that finds a balance between stopping anyone discriminating against,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: for example, gay people, and allowing religious organizations religious schools
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to have the ability to make choices about who they employ,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: for example. They haven't actually got to a successful piece
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: of legislation about that yet. And yet religious leaders have
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: been urging both sides of politics for many years to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: give them the freedom to practice their religion as they
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: see fit. How does bond I shake up that conversation.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Religious leaders want reform, they want protection from anti discrimination legislation.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Do they now have to give up on that idea
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: given that Bondi has swept that conversation aside.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Think that the Prime Minister has made it very clear
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: that there will be no religious Discrimination Act or a
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: revival of the bits of the hate speech laws that
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: were dumped in this term of parliament, because religious leaders
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: all want some sort of protection, but they can't agree
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: on what protections they want. Some people want wider protections
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: to be able to fire people. Some like the Jewish community,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: are actually more aligned with the gay and trans lobby
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: on basically just having a clear clamp down on speech.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: It is an odd alliance in this kind of hate
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: speech religious speech battle that has gone on for decades now.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: But I think that that will be the other reason
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: why Scott Morrison has tried to pitch these registers and
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: auditing as being self sufficient, as being Muslim led, not
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: government led, because he knows if he was suggesting it
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: the government led one, it would never get through Parliament
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: and two you would start to get other bodies being
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: feared that they would be held to the same standard
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: by a government and therefore by a future government that
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: maybe imagine God forbid a world where there's a labor
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Greens government and the Greens push for registers of priests etc.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Or registers of evangelical Christian preachers. That's why Scott Morrison,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: I think has been very clever and very mindful of
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: what he's stepping into by saying, no, this isn't about
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: government intervention. This is about Muslim intervention. This is about
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Muslim leaders intervening in their communities and saying we can't
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: put up with this anymore in our own communities.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Coming up? Will this big idea go anywhere? He's saying
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: this from the safety of Israel, He's a long way
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: away from the Australian debate that's going to follow this
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: revelation in the Australian today, Richard, where do you see
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: this going? Is this going to be a serious conversation
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: where we look at this idea or is this going
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: to blow up into division and more controversy.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: The problem that Master Morrison does have is that his
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: relationship is so acrimonious with Anthony Albanisi. This is not
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: a normal relationship between prime ministers. Now we all know.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's any secret player that most of
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the Prime Ministers of Australia hate the other Prime ministers
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: of Australia for all different reasons. You know, we all
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: know that. But there is something deep and the relationship
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: between Morrison and Albanesi that has broken Obviously Albanzi pursued
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Master Morrison over the Secret Mena Street scandal and had
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: a review that is now being led by the Anti
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Semitism Royal Commissioner, Virginia Bell. That was the same person
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: who reviewed mister Morrison's Secret Ministry choices. But I think
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Scott Morrison has said I have a platform, I have ideas,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I'm going to put it out there. Let's be honest.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Mister Morrison is not the most popular former Prime minister
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: in the country, but he has a platform and he
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: is using it and in this speech he's using it
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: for an extraordinary effect. He is using This is not
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: just one philosophical foot bubble. He has come with a
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: list of things the country and the Muslim community could
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: do to what he says to safeguard the Jewish community
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: but also safeguard the Muslim community.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Richard Focusing, thank you very much.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: You can read Scott Morrison's full speech and check out
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: all our reporting of this story live right now at
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au