SUBJECTS: Hamas-Israel Conflict; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament Referendum.
NATALIE BARR: Returning to our top story and more on the deadliest day Israel has seen in decades. Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured after Palestinian militant group Hamas unleashed a surprise attack. More are dead on the other side of the border in Gaza following a wave of Israeli retaliation strikes. Israeli civilians and soldiers have also been kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas fighters, with Israel's Prime Minister telling his nation, "We are at war." For more on Australia's response to the escalating conflict, let's bring in 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: Barnaby, some Coalition members have slammed the Prime Minister's response to the attack, labelling it "delayed" and "a failure of leadership." Do you agree with this?
BARNABY JOYCE: I think the main thing we have to concentrate on is that the facts of it, what's happened is a terrorist organisation has gone into Israel, murdered and captured people, and now there's a war, and in this war people are going to get hurt, people are going to get killed.
But there has to be a response when a terrorist organisation goes into another country and starts murdering, capturing people; we've seen women on the back of trucks being spat on, their bodies being spat on, as they're taken back to be paraded around the Gaza Strip. It's horrendous, and of course Israel has to defend itself, and it will, and has to basically root out the people who did this, and the terrible tragedy of that is other people who had nothing to do with this are going to be killed, and so what a diabolical chain of events that has been unleashed by this terrorist organisation.
BARR: Yeah. Tanya, you know in this age of social media, this is how wars are played out around the world. That woman that we just saw, we know her name now, Noa Argamani. She’s 25, she was at a music festival. She texted right before this thinking she was okay, then we hear her screams, "don't kill me." It is just horrific what's happening, but the response around the world, some of it's been criticised, Penny Wong criticised for urging restraint on both sides.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think it's just a shocking time, and I agree with Barnaby that what we're focused on now is sending a very strong message that the attacks on civilians must stop, the bombing must stop, taking of hostages must stop.
This is a time when the whole world should unite to say there is no justification for these attacks on innocent civilians.
BARR: Tanya, will Australia be drawn into this? I know Penny Wong's just spoken and said there is no request for the ADF to be involved yet. Is that likely to happen?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, the Foreign Minister's been in touch with the Foreign Minister of Israel, and as she said earlier ‑ you played the comments from Penny Wong ‑ she hasn't been asked, and Australia hasn't been asked for assistance at this stage. But what we can do is say ‑ unequivocally, join our voices to the voices of other countries saying that these attacks on civilians must stop, the bombing must stop, the taking of hostages, and there is no excuse, no justification for what is happening at the moment.
BARR: Moving on, a viewer poll conducted at the end of last night's Seven News Spotlight special on The Voice Referendum found 72 per cent will vote against constitutional change this weekend; only 23 per cent said they would vote yes, 5 per cent are undecided. Tanya, the no result was higher from when viewers were polled at the beginning of the special. How confident are you this weekend?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think it's a tough campaign, and in the final week I'll be focusing on spending every minute explaining to people why I'm voting Yes. I'm voting Yes to recognition, I'm voting Yes to reconciliation, I'm voting Yes to listening, I'm voting yes to better results.
And the problem, Nat, is most Australians agree that what's happening at the moment isn't fair and isn't right; they don't think it's fair that if you're Aboriginal you're more likely to die young, you're more likely to have a baby that dies in childbirth, you're less likely to have a job, you're less likely to finish high school, most people agree that that's not fair.
And so what we're saying, the Yes case, is that through constitutional recognition and setting up a body called "The Voice" which would give advice to the Parliament, we can start to tackle some of this disadvantage.
We are living in the No right now, Barnaby. A vote for No is a vote for more of the same, a vote for Yes is a vote for advice that will change people's lives sand reduce the gap between Indigenous and non‑Indigenous Australians.
BARR: Barnaby.
JOYCE: Look, I think this encapsulate it best: an Aboriginal boy handing out, in my electorate, had a person from the Yes campaign, a white man, give him the finger and tell him to F off. It is a divisive debacle, and it is a disgrace that this was put forward in the manner it was without a constitutional convention. You have divided Australia up, and the sooner we can get to Sunday and park this rubbish the better.
But right through this week we'll be continuing to tell people why this is a divisive debacle, how it could have been done so much better, how we've been basically grabbed by the nose and taken to a position ‑‑
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You had 10 years to do it better, Barnaby, and you didn't.
JOYCE: Where people have got no choice but to vote No. You have done this atrociously.
BARR: Okay.
JOYCE: This is a total and utter atrocious mess, Tanya, and you've got to accept responsibility for it.
BARR: Okay. People have started voting, but the official vote is on Saturday. Thank you both. We'll see you next week.
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