Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivers a strong and emotional message following a tragic antisemitic terrorist attack, reaffirming that Australia stands united with the Jewish community. Condemning hatred and division, Albanese vows that antisemitism will not succeed in tearing the nation apart. As the government ramps up mental health support, strengthens national security efforts, and moves to tighten gun laws through National Cabinet, the Prime Minister emphasizes unity, resilience, and compassion in the face of terror. The address highlights heroism, community support, and decisive action to protect Australians and uphold national values.
00:00What we know already is, as part of the investigation, is it goes to motive and what is being investigated, as the Commissioner has said, is that it would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organisation, by ISIS.
00:20Now, some of the evidence which has been procured, including the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized, are a part of that.
00:35Radical perversion of Islam is absolutely a problem.
00:43It is something that has been identified globally as a problem as well.
00:49ISIS is created by an evil ideology that has been called out, not just by the Australian Government, but globally as well.
01:01What do you do in crime now to combat hate preaching, to crack down on hate preaching?
01:11Yeah, we have passed legislation to outlaw hate speech, the first government to do so, to put in place those laws as part of our response to anti-Semitism.
01:26Prime Minister, can you just confirm there's been a lot of misinformation flying around about the student visa that Tony Burke mentioned yesterday?
01:35Can you confirm the country of origin, whether it's India or Pakistan, and also, how long were they in the Philippines, and was that monitored by Filipino intelligence agencies?
01:47They are all part of the investigation, so I can't go into that detail, and it wouldn't be appropriate to undermine the investigation by going into it.
01:56The question on the National Cabinet yesterday, we've just brought the story of the Australian newspaper in relation to that meeting.
02:03It says, state leaders were forced to push you on solutions to anti-Semitism that you didn't offer any yourself.
02:09The draft document that was presented to state premiers contained one paragraph about the issue of anti-Semitism, and this was later changed to add a second paragraph that included existing policies that you were already working on.
02:20Why are you not announcing a sweep of anti-Semitism measures right now instead of talking about gun control?
02:24That's not true. The report is not accurate. The meeting yesterday had front and centre a commitment.
02:35The Prime Minister today convened a meeting in the National Cabinet following the evil anti-Semitic terrorist attack directed at members of the Jewish community celebrating Hanukkah at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
02:44The document that was presented to the state.
02:47No.
02:47Does they have to push you on...
02:48Well, that is not accurate. It's just not right.
02:52In that meeting, did you specifically raise Julian Siegel's plan to combat anti-Semitism or hand-picked envoy? Was that referenced?
03:00What we did was we referenced the ongoing work, including the National Hate Crimes and Incident Database.
03:07Not ongoing work.
03:07The enhancing...
03:08That is what it is. We have taken the report from the anti-Semitism envoy, and what we are doing is busy implementing it.
03:17And we talked about that yesterday. We went through the full range of measures which we are doing.
03:24I talked about it, including the hate speech, Nazi symbols, what we're doing on doxing, what we've done with the creation of the National Student Ombudsman,
03:34what we're doing with the education program on Together for Humanity and Schools, as well as security, migration issues, and cultural issues as well.
03:44What would an appropriate limit on gun numbers for ownership be, and when can we expect to see a national register?
03:54What we have done is to task, through National Cabinet, Premier Minns and Premier Cook, who's the incoming Chair of the Council of Australian Federation,
04:06to work on that and come back to National Cabinet.
04:08The Premier, how soon could New South Wales Parliament be recalled to legislate that?
04:16Have the Coalition offered new bipartisan support for that?
04:20And also for Mr Albanese, are you disappointed?
04:22Sorry, Paul. There's a lot of questions.
04:25So, look, I would say pre-Christmas.
04:31Logistically, we're working with our MPs to get back into Parliament as soon as possible.
04:39I haven't had a detailed discussion with the Leader of the Opposition, but in fairness to her, we don't have a draft bill.
04:44What I have been able to say is that she's been incredible working with us over the last 24, 48 hours.
04:51She's the member for that community, and I can't speak highly enough of the bipartisan way she's approached this incredible tragedy.
04:59So, I don't want to speak for the Coalition, but I think we'll be in a position to do this together.
05:12Yes.
05:13What are you doing? Are you considering any kind of crackdown in the Albagina-Dala Centre?
05:17And do you believe that any sort of action on extremism and curving antisemitism should take precedence over gun reform?
05:24Well, we have to do all these things together.
05:26I mean, that's the truth. This is just a horrible, horrible crime.
05:31And I think taking one action would be nowhere near enough, nowhere near enough to combat the scale of the challenges that are in front of us.
05:41So, yes, we do have to do gun reform.
05:43But Premier, what action?
05:45Sorry, folks. I know you want to get your questions out, but I think it's reasonable we get an answer out.
05:49Yes, we have to do gun control. It's incredibly important that we fight antisemitism.
05:54And one of the things about antisemitism is that it begins with hate speech, then it might be a chant at a rally, then it moves online, then it becomes graffiti on a Jewish building, then it's malicious damage, then arson, and then it escalates to the kind of horrific violence that we saw yesterday.
06:13We have to combat it across the board.
06:19Do you support the Royal Commission into the back of the Prime Minister?
06:23Damien?
06:24The Royal Commission, is there any suggestion you might call the Royal Commission on this, or invite the President or the Prime Minister of Israel for Australia?
06:33Look, we're working through all of these issues. Our focus has been on the immediate response, the investigation, our National Cabinet meeting yesterday, our National Security Committee will meet again this afternoon.
06:49We'll continue to monitor all of these issues. And to Paul's question that was, I didn't get to...
06:56I was going to ask if you were disappointed about a lack of bipartisan issues on the Federal level.
07:01Look, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for national unity.
07:08And I think that, you know, we have organised for the Leader of the Opposition to receive a briefing from the security agencies yesterday.
07:18I think that her statement on Sunday night was entirely appropriate.
07:25And we stand ready to work across the Parliament.
07:28I've had a number of discussions with the Leader of the Opposition on Sunday night, on Monday.
07:34I discussed with Allegra Spender as the local member for Wentworth as well.
07:39We particularly have had a range of discussions.
07:41But I think what Australians want is to come together.
07:46What terrorists seek to do is to create division, is to create conflict, is to undermine social cohesion.
07:55At that time, we're a better country than that.
08:00And we can't allow their objective to be successful.
08:06And that is why we must come together as a nation, I think, overwhelmingly.
08:11That is the feedback that I get across the board of what people want to see.
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