Subjects: Chinese vessel off the coast of Australia; launch of the Coalition’s strong border protection policies; strong position of the LNP in Queensland.
EO&E…………………………………………………………
GREG JENNETT: Home Affairs Minister and Member for McPherson on the Gold Coast, Karen Andrews; welcome to Afternoon Briefing. What don’t we start with this matter we just heard the Defence Minister Peter Dutton explaining – should Australians be alarmed by the presence of this ship? We’ll get to explanations as to why we’ve learned of it in a moment but the mere fact of it – should it concern Australians?
KAREN ANDREWS: Hello. Let me be quite clear in relation to the incident we are now very much aware of off the west coast of Australia. It is something that it’s very important that all Australians are aware of – so that they understand that China has tried to increase its surveillance of Australia. We’ve got the vessel that we’re currently monitoring now; there was a vessel pre-Christmas on the east coast of Australia. So their presence is here, they are clearly monitoring what is happening in Australia and so Australians need to be aware of the level of surveillance that China is putting Australia under. Now, as Minister Dutton has said, it is concerning how far south that vessel has actually come, we are monitoring it and we will continue to monitor that vessel, but its timing – the time that it’s here, its presence here, is clearly of concern to the Australian Government and should be something the Australian people are a) aware of, and b) able to closely monitor themselves.
JENNETT: What do you mean by the term ‘timing’ Karen Andrews? Timing in its proximity to our Federal election – the Saturday after next – do you believe that is not coincidental?
ANDREWS: Well I think we’ve always got to question what the timing is. We all understand that China is very strategic, it is very careful about what it does, when it does it, and how it does it. Now we did have a vessel off the east coast of Australia pre-Christmas, and obviously we should be asking questions – was there any significant about the timing of it being in those waters at that time? And clearly there should be questions asked about how long it was there and what it was actually doing. Now we have a vessel off the west coast of Australia; why is it here now? What is it doing? These are pretty normal questions that everyone should be asking, when we do find that we have a Chinese vessel off the coast of Australia.
JENNETT: But aren’t they reasonable questions that a Government could answer? Do you have an answer on why and why now?
ANDREWS: Absolutely, they are questions that we as a Government are asking and we continue to monitor the situation. Obviously we are very interesting in why that vessel is where it is and why it is here right now. You have to say it’s fairly clear that it’s gathering information; surveilling what is happening off the coast of Australia and, yes; that is absolutely of concern to us, we will continue to monitor it. What people should understand is that the Coalition will always take protecting our border incredibly seriously, and that includes looking at the threats from other nations to Australia; that’s why Minister Dutton has been out so strongly today; why Defence is doing all within its powers to closely monitor that activity off the west coast of Australia. I would like to reassure Australians that we are absolutely monitoring that situation very closely, as they would expect their Government to do.
JENNETT: Double barrelled question Karen Andrews, was Minister Dutton’s decision to make this announcement based on Defence and intelligence community advice or was it a Peter Dutton call? Secondly, when will the ALP be briefed? Why weren’t the ALP briefed before the public announcement, in caretaker?
ANDREWS: Look clearly those are questions that should be directed to Minister Dutton in terms of his announcement today, but what I can say about Minister Dutton is that he is very considered about these issues himself. He would have taken advice before he made the announcement today, in respect of a briefing for the opposition, at the moment I’m not sure of the status of that – that’s a matter that Minister Dutton would be dealing with.
JENNETT: Let’s take you to other elements of your border security policy outlined earlier today – a returned Morrison Government would seek to recover the costs of detention from non-citizens who are removed for crimes committed. What’s the value of the money that could be re-couped here? Are you plugging that into the Border Force budget?
ANDREWS: Well clearly we’ll take advice from the agencies, what we have made very clear today is that we will seek to recover costs from those criminals – the drug traffickers – that are here, absolutely we will be doing that. That is something that, as a re-elected Government, we would put all the detail around, in terms of how we would go through the processes of putting that in place – as you would expect an incoming Government to be doing. We will work through the processes in relation to that, but our policy position is very clear – and that is that we will put in place the means to recover those moneys, it is important and every cent we recover is important.
JENNETT: Why is it an election promise now, just a week or so out from polling day? When it could have been attempted to be legislated or enacted in some way at any point over the last nine years?
ANDREWS: There are a number of things that we have been working on and also delivering on during the last few years, and clearly COVID was a priority for us – to be able to manage that. We’ve also done a number of things in relation to ensuring our borders are protected and will continue to be protected – we have put in place cost recovery from people smugglers who are in this country; we are now making it very clear, as part of our election commitments, that a re-elected Morrison Government will recover money from those foreign criminals for the time they spend in detention in Australia, and many people in our communities, many Australians, would think that’s the right thing to do – so it is actually a very natural progression from where we are with people smugglers.
JENNETT: 23 seats – high-water mark for the LNP in Queensland, how much bark can the Morrison Government afford to lose here in your state, but still hang on?
ANDREWS: All of my colleagues have been working very hard for the last three years to make sure they are supporting their communities. So we remain quietly confidence and we’re actively looking at pricking up the seat of Blair – so we’re looking at increasing the number of seats we have here in Queensland. But it’s interesting, we really haven’t seen a lot of the opposition leader here, or many of the opposition shadow Ministers here. During the course of the campaign we’ve seen very little from the Queensland state Premier, so I think it’s fair to ask a question about why she’s been so silent in the campaign – I don’t know if there’s an issue between her and Anthony Albanese, but she’s not been part of the campaign. We’re confident that we’ll continue to work hard to represent the good people of Queensland.
JENNETT: I’m sure Labor are going to contest some of the assertions there about the campaigning activity of their senior leadership, nonetheless we thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to join us on Afternoon Briefing today. Thank you.
ANDREWS: Pleasure, take care.