‘No place in our country’: Peter Dutton slams protesters ‘glorifying’ Hamas and Hezbollah leaders
Peter Dutton has said it is “completely unacceptable” that no arrests have been made following protests in Sydney and Melbourne where people displayed pictures of the late terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah.
NSW
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The Federal Opposition leader says it’s an “absolute outrage” that there were no arrests or visa cancellations following protests in Sydney and Melbourne where participants displayed Hezbollah flags and images of terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Peter Dutton called the situation “completely unacceptable,” highlighting that Jewish communities in Australia are living in fear.
“We’ve got Jewish schools where we’ve got armed guards out the front of, there are people who are living in the Jewish community in fear and there is an absolute outrage in relation to the glorification of a terrorist leader, which surely must be against the Australian law; and if it’s not, the parliament should be recalled to pass a law that prohibits that from happening,” the Opposition Leader told 4BC radio.
“Now, of course, the laws do provide for an offence in that regard, and the law should be enforced.
“I find it completely unacceptable that the government wouldn’t be arresting people already, or cancelling visas of people who are glorifying Hezbollah and Hamas and others.
“They have no place in our country. We are the greatest country in the world and we shouldn’t be afraid to defend and protect it.”
Also on air, Mr Dutton said people who sympathise with Hezbollah, they should be deported, noting it is listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia.
“If we’ve got people here who think that that organisation is okay, and they’re saddened by the death of this terrorist, if they’re on a visa, they should be deported because if we knew about that when they made their visa application, they wouldn’t get a visa to come here in the first place,” he said.
On Sunday night, Premier Chris Minns has warned protesters waving the Hezbollah flag and carrying pictures of the terrorist group’s assassinated leader not to “import conflict or radical ideologies” into NSW.
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said any Australian citizen waving a Hezbollah flag should be charged and visitor to the country doing the same should have their visa immediately cancelled and be deported.
“Anyone inciting violence against another group should be investigated by police,” he said
“Unless there are consequences, the extremism we have seen on our streets today will continue to flourish.”
Mr Paterson said the “shocking scenes” on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney on Sunday were the “predictable consequence” of the Albanese government’s “weakness” since 7 October.
“Instead of moral clarity and courage, Labor has displayed equivocation and ambivalence in the face of an anti-Semitism crisis,” he said.
Mr Paterson said incitement of violence on the basis of religion and publicly displaying the symbols of a listed terrorist organisation were crimes.
“The failure to enforce laws like these in the last year has emboldened extremists and led to Australia’s Jewish community feeling unsafe and unwelcome in their own country,” he said.
“It is time for the Prime Minister to finally show some strength and make it clear he expects the law to be enforced.”
Gathering at Sydney’s Town Hall on Sunday afternoon and in Melbourne, some protesters in the crowds carried pictures of the late Nasrallah as they blocked traffic.
Nasrallah was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s “central headquarters” in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the killing of Nasrallah to enable the safe return of Israel’s northern residents to their homes.
Some of the Sydney protesters also carried photos of politician Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader assassinated in July.
Both Hezbollah and Hamas are designated as terrorist organisations by the Australian government.
Men and women shed tears as they held photographs of the two dead men while a song was played in the memory of the Nasrallah.
Other protesters waved the yellow Hezbollah flag which depicts a gun raised high.
Mr Minns yesterday warned against importing radical ideologies into Sydney.
“As Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, we should not be importing conflict or radical ideologies from the region into our society,” he said.
Jewish groups also condemned the protesters and questioned how such actions were permitted on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne.
“It is unacceptable for Australians to publicly (display images of) a terrorist leader who led the slaughter of civilians in Syria, including the brutalisation and starvation of Palestinians and heaped pain on his own people by waging wars on Israel,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.
A spokesman for protest organisers Palestine Action Group Sydney, Josh Lees, warned participants not to carry images that may get them “into trouble’’.
“Israel is a terrorist state and they are the ones starting this war, not Hezbollah,” he said. “We advise people not to carry any flags or symbols which may get them into trouble.”
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke last night warned he would consider cancelling visas of anyone inciting “discord” in Australia.
“It draws the immediate attention of our security agencies … there is a higher level of scrutiny if anyone is on a visa,” Mr Burke said.
“I have made clear from day one that I will consider refusing and cancelling visas for anyone who seeks to incite discord in Australia.”
Coalition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the “shocking scenes” on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne were the “predictable consequence” of the Albanese government’s “weakness” since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year.
“Instead of moral clarity and courage, Labor has displayed equivocation and ambivalence in the face of an anti-Semitism crisis,” he said.
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