Topics: Cybersecurity, assistance for Ukrainian siblings to come to Australia, Leader of the Opposition’s ongoing refusal to undertake an inquiry into treatment of Kimberly Kitching by the Labor Party.
NEIL BREEN: Home Affairs Minister, Cabinet Member, MP for McPherson on the Gold Coast, Karen Andrews joins me every Wednesday. Good morning to you, Minister.
KAREN ANDREWS: Good morning. How are you?
NEIL BREEN: I’m well, thanks. You’re in Newcastle. What’s happening in Newcastle?
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, there’s lots of things happening in Newcastle at the moment. I’m actually up here working with a couple of our female candidates that are in very winnable seats. I’m working Nell McGill who’s standing for the seat of Shortland, and Brooke Vitnell who’s standing for the seat of Paterson. But I’m also here talking with businesses about cyber security, because that is front of mind for us. We know we’re under a lot of pressure because of what is happening elsewhere in the world, particularly with Russia and Ukraine. Cybersecurity is front of mind for all of us. So the primary reason I’m here is to speak with businesses.
NEIL BREEN: Yeah, well, cyber security, the United States is worried about it, too. I’ve talked to you about it for a year, so we know the Australian Government’s aware of it. Hey, there was a lovely story where the Australian Government had to step in and help these young Ukrainian siblings that came to Australia. So we had a nine-year-old Kyrylo and 12-year-old Anastasiia. Their parents put them on a plane to the safe haven of Australia. They stayed in Ukraine to fight and to probably try and salvage whatever’s left of their lives. But Kyrylo was put on the plane and Emirates Airlines put the 12-year-old Anastasiia, sent her to a Polish refugee camp because she wasn’t vaccinated. In the end the Australian Government stepped in because the poor nine-year-old kid flew here on his own, brought the 12-year-old out and reunited the siblings. It’s a lovely story.
KAREN ANDREWS: Look, and fortunately it’s had a happy ending – at least for the time being – for those two children now that they are reunited. I am so proud of the work that was done, particularly by the Australian Border Force. We have Airline Liaison Officers that are responsible for assisting passengers who need support. Our Airline Liaison Officers worked to get another ticket for that young girl and got her on to a plane to Australia so she could be reunited with her brother. So it is, it’s a fantastic story. I think it just demonstrates that, you know, our Government and the agencies that we have are really focused on helping people whenever they can. So this has got a good outcome for those two kids. So that’s a great outcome.
NEIL BREEN: So kids like that who are coming to Australia – it’s hard to know every different circumstance – but some of them might have relatives in Australia or that. It’s a little bit random as to why they come to Australia?
KAREN ANDREWS: Yes, look, I won’t go into the circumstances behind those two children in particular.
NEIL BREEN: Fair enough, yeah.
KAREN ANDREWS: But, yes, there are people that come to Australia and we support to come here legally. We will do all that we can as a Government to make sure we are supporting them to come here. Now, it may well be that some of the people who come here from the Ukraine will be here very temporarily and as soon as it’s safe to do so they will return to Ukraine. And that, quite frankly, is one of the reasons why we’re providing so much humanitarian support into Poland, because we know that many of the people who are coming out of Ukraine do want to return as soon as it’s safe to do so. And they will return.
NEIL BREEN: And they’ll return mainly from Poland. Now, Karen Andrews, it’s been an extraordinary fortnight with regards to federal politics all to do with Kimberley Kitching and the so-called mean girls – it was her term, not the media’s term. Anthony Albanese won’t call an inquiry. Her husband called them a ‘cantankerous cabal’ in the eulogy. Can I play you what Anthony Albanese said this morning when Karl Stefanovic asked him if he’d call an inquiry? Here’s Albanese.
[Excerpt]
ANTHONY ALBANESE: No, Karl. What I will do is take the words that came out of Bill Shorten, for example, at the funeral, which is that Kimberley Kitching would want us to move on, to dedicate ourselves to a Labor victory at the election.
[End of excerpt]
NEIL BREEN: So he took the words of Bill Shorten that Kimberley Kitching would want us to move on and win the election. He didn’t take the words of her own husband who had a fair bit to say. What do you make of all that?
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, I think it is absolutely extraordinary. Here you have in Anthony Albanese someone who wants to be Prime Minister of Australia and he’s saying he’s not going to investigate or review an issue that is of importance to all women, all Australians. He’s just going to focus on how he’s going to win the election. Wow. Just wow.
NEIL BREEN: It’s quite stunning. Absolutely.
KAREN ANDREWS: I mean, it’s just extraordinary. It’s “Let’s paper over everything,” if you’re from the Labor Party. “Let’s just paper over everything because we have to win the election. We won’t worry about the issues are. We’re just focused on winning the election.” And that is exactly what Labor has always stood for. They are just focused on winning government, and the issues of the day that are important to everyday Australians don’t matter.
NEIL BREEN: And the reason, like, people will listen me and think that I’m Labor-bashing on Albanese about this – I’m not. I’m trying to hold him to the same standards he held the Government to when the Government was having its own issues. It’s quite extraordinary. He’s also done these big interviews in the News Corp tabloids today where he’s repositioned himself on everything. He’s now going to be as tough on China as you are. He’s now a great friend of business because business prosperity leads to employment. I don’t know whether he checked in with the unions before he said that. He’s now going to be a friend of all religions, and he’s gone off to this church and that church. Suddenly he’s got an agenda that he stands for despite being the Opposition Leader for three years.
KAREN ANDREWS: Well, he doesn’t have an agenda; he just has, as he’s clearly identified today, he’s just got a focus on winning government. And that’s it. That’s all he’s focused on. He wants to be the Prime Minister. He wants Labor to be in Government, and he will say and do whatever it takes to get them there. And people of Australia have now been well and truly warned that that is what he and the Labor Party will do. They don’t care about issues of the day. They don’t care about having developed any policies. They just care about being on those government benches and which office they’re going to be in.
NEIL BREEN: Karen Andrews, the Home Affairs Minister, enjoy your day in Newcastle.
KAREN ANDREWS: I will. You take care.