THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SUNRISE
MONDAY, 11 DECEMBER 2023
SUBJECTS: ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK; HIGH COURT DECISION.
NATALIE BARR: Queensland is set to get its 40th Premier after Annastacia Palaszczuk announced her retirement in an emotional media conference. She is the longest serving female leader in Australian history, and her departure sets up a major battle for Labor leadership in that State. For more we're joined by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Good morning to both of you.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Good morning.
BARR: Tanya, Annastacia Palaszczuk has been one of the most prominent political leaders in this country, but the commentators this morning are saying the unions forced her out, her personal popularity was down, and she wasn't going to win the next election. That sounds a bit harsh, does it, so she forced her out?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Oh look, I think it's such a negative take on what is an incredible record. She's been Premier for over eight years, she's delivered free kindy, free TAFE. Huge. I mean Brisbane is a different city from when she first became Premier. She's the longest serving female Premier we've had. She's the only one to have been re‑elected. I think it's an incredible record and it's a day to celebrate and acknowledge that incredible record. I wish her all the very best. I think she's been a great leader for Queensland, particularly during COVID.
BARR: Barnaby, these are the toughest of jobs, as few of us know, I guess. She's the last of the COVID Premiers. In her final speech she said renewal is a good thing. Do you think it's a message politicians at all levels of government should take to heart?
BARNABY JOYCE: Well, I think we know why she's gone. It was only a matter of weeks ago that she said she was staying. The union thugs have got in there and said that she's going and that's it. Now we'll see Milton Dick and Steven Miles scratch each other's eyes out to try and become the next.
They keep saying now that they're going to refocus the Government. Well, if you're going to refocus the Government, as Tanya would always say about us, what were you doing for the last nine years? You have to refocus on services and health. Well you were part of the government that apparently wasn't focussed.
I wish Annastacia all the very best. I must admit I was there at on election night after they lost the State election to Campbell Newman. I spoke to Anna. She was one of I think seven that were left and a very desolate place she was in. Remarkable for her. She came back to become the Premier for nine years. So well done, Anna.
But this is not by Anna's choosing. This is by her union bosses, or not even bosses, the union stand over thugs choosing, and now we'll see, you know, the interesting process of people scratching each other's eyes out saying they're going to do a different job than what they were doing a few weeks ago.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You know, Barnaby knows so little about the internal workings of the Queensland Government and the Australian Labor Party. He’s talking about the speaker of the House of Representatives being a candidate for Labor Party leadership. I don't know.
JOYCE: I said, I said ‑ oh sorry, Cameron Dick. Cameron Dick. They're brothers. Viewers, they're brothers. I'm sorry I got the two brothers' names confused.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Right in there. There's a bit of expert commentary there.
JOYCE: Oh, wow, bang. Oh, bang. Wow, what a hit. Wow.
BARR: We'll leave State politics there and move on to this one. This is breaking news this morning. One of Australia's most notorious terrorists Abdul Benbrika, who plotted an attack on the MCG, is set to be released into the community. It's going to happen apparently within two weeks. The Victorian Supreme Court is due to rule imminently on what restrictions he will face amid fears the public will be put at risk. But after a series of blunders by successive governments Attorney‑General Mark Dreyfus has confirmed there are no ongoing moves to keep the dangerous terrorist locked up. Tanya, is that true? Can the Government do nothing to prevent this release?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well the courts are still looking at this case but obviously whatever can be done to keep Australians safe from someone who has a history of planning violent attacks on the Australian community, must be done. This guy is a bad dude.
BARR: So he's going to be let out, Tanya?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the case is still before the court so I'm not going to comment on that.
BARR: Sounds like it.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: But, you know, here is someone who has had, you know, been under a continuing detention order because of the laws that the previous Government set up. I mean he went in under them. If there was a way of keeping him in longer they should have considered that when he was first kept in detention.
BARR: Barnaby, why didn't your government change the law to keep this convicted terrorist behind bars when you were in power?
JOYCE: You're right, Tanya. He went in under us and he's coming out under you.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, with a three year ‑ you put him in for three years.
JOYCE: Now he's not just a bad dude. He was going to blow up the MCG. He was going to blow up the MCG. So he's a little bit higher than a bad dude.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think we agree on how bad he is.
JOYCE: He's a really bad dude.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah.
JOYCE: And like the other people, like the paedophiles and the rapists and the murderers, we now have a terrorist about to go wandering down the streets of Melbourne. And this is happening under you. See, you are the Government. Mr Albanese's the Prime Minister and you are part of the Government. Mr Dreyfus is the Attorney‑General of the Government. This is your problem and you have botched it yet again.
BARR: What could they do, Barnaby?
JOYCE: Well six months ago they should have been ‑ rather than racing to the Parliament about six minutes before we leave, six months ago they should have been taking the legislation into the Parliament so that we had the proper controls, and we had the capacity to keep these people detained. But they didn't do that. They waited until the High Court had made their decision and then tried to retrospectively change the decision the High Court made, yet they had warning that the High Court was going to make that decision.
BARR: Barnaby, could that have prevented the High Court from releasing them though?
JOYCE: It would not prevent the High Court from making a decision, but it would mean you had laws already in place ‑‑
BARR: Like what?
JOYCE: ‑‑ when they did, right.
BARR: Like what?
JOYCE: And that is a difference which this crowd ‑‑
BARR: What sort of laws, Barnaby?
JOYCE: ‑‑ could not do because they were so fascinated in The Voice referendum.
BARR: Barnaby, what sort of laws would they have been able to introduce?
JOYCE: You have better ‑ capacity to detain the laws, capacity to track, capacity to basically fight ‑ well, there's a whole remit. We could go through it all morning about all the laws that could be brought in place so that a person basically remains incarcerated. You just do it under ‑‑
BARR: So you're saying they could have kept them in jail?
JOYCE: Well yeah, they certainly could have done a vastly better job than what they did, which is waiting until the High Court had made their decision and then saying, "Oh gosh, we've got a problem". Because they were warned about it. It didn't come out of the blue.
BARR: No, but a lot of lawyers and the Government dispute that. I was just checking what you say they could have done, that's all.
JOYCE: What do you mean? No, no, they were ‑ there was a ‑ well they say a 50/50 per cent chance that this was going to happen. They got a six-month warning on it.
BARR: No, but what they could have done to prevent the High Court from releasing them, that's all.
JOYCE: They can't prevent the High Court from making a decision.
BARR: No.
JOYCE: But you can have in place laws to deal with it when they do.
BARR: Okay. Okay, we thank you both. We'll see you next week.
END
