ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Can I begin by saying that Islamophobia has no place in Australia. Every Australian deserves to be safe, respected and at home in our country. And what we have seen is a rise in Islamophobic attacks and abuse directed at Muslim Australians. Hate directed at one community, hurts us all. Because our diversity is one of Australia's great strengths. And we won't, as a nation, let hatred divide us. It's clear that we need to do more. And our Special Envoy, I want to thank Aftab Malik for the work that he's done setting out further steps that we can take. We're already progressing recommendations while continuing work on the remaining ones. This is about practical action to keep communities safe and strengthen our social cohesion. And based on the Envoy's four guiding principles - firstly, education and awareness; secondly, protection and support; thirdly, building social cohesion; and then fourthly, accountability and responsibility.
It builds on the work we've already done, including funding security at places of worship, strengthening hate crime laws and banning extremist hate groups. Governments have a responsibility to build a stronger Australia, but all of us can play a role in that as well. And every Australian has the right to be proud of who they are and what they believe. To be able to practice their faith, whatever it is, in peace and security and with respect. And certainly every Muslim Australian has the right to feel safe, valued and respected for the contribution that they make to our great nation, Australia.
I want to thank Aftab for the work that he has done and the ongoing work that he'll continue to do as we go forward on these issues. I'll ask Aftab to make some comments and then the Ministers and then they're all happy to take a few questions.
AFTAB MALIK, SPECIAL ENVOY TO COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA: Thank you, Prime Minister. About 10 months ago, I presented the Australian Government with a National Response to Islamophobia, a report containing 54 recommendations shaped by evidence, expert advice and the lived experience of Muslim Australians. Today, the Government has responded. For Muslim Australians who continue to experience Islamophobia in their daily lives, this has been a long wait.
The Government's response contains important commitments. I welcome these measures that include addressing Islamophobia in schools and universities, the recognition of the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attack, increased support for the safety of Muslim institutions and steps to improve the reporting of hate. I also acknowledge the critical support for Muslim women, especially in mental health, the establishment of an Australian Muslim Affairs Institute and grants to improve understanding of Muslim history. These measures matter. They are important. They demonstrate that the Government recognises Islamophobia as a real and serious problem that warrants a national response - but this is just the start of the journey.
To tackle Islamophobia at its roots, we must address the challenging questions. These include stronger and more consistent legal protections for Muslim Australians, further national examination of Islamophobia and action that addresses its social, institutional and structural causes. I understand that Government must balance competing priorities, work across portfolios and navigate complex legal and policy questions. But Muslim Australians should not be expected to bear the cost of that complexity indefinitely. They are entitled to the same safety, dignity and protection as every other Australian.
My report remains my independent advice to the Government and the benchmark against which progress should be measured. Where the Government has acted, I will support that progress. Where recommendations remain outstanding, I will continue to advocate for them. That the Prime Minister established this office is important. It remains the only one of its kind in the world.
A government response is important, what matters is the difference it makes in people's lives. Today is not the conclusion of this process. It marks the beginning of the most important phase, translating commitments into meaningful action and continuing work in areas where agreement has not yet been reached. Lasting change requires the Government and Muslim communities to remain engaged, build trust, deepen understanding and work towards common ground.
I thank the Prime Minister, the Ministers and all those who have contributed to this process. While important work remains, I look forward to continuing our constructive engagement with the Government, Muslim communities and other stakeholders to advance the recommendations and help build a safer, more inclusive Australia for all. Thank you very much.
ANNE ALY, MINISTER FOR MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS: Thank you, Prime Minister. Islamophobia in Australia isn't new. Muslim Australians of my generation will tell you that we've lived with it for most of our lives, but for the first time in my life, there is a government that is talking about it, there is a government that's recognised it and there is a government that's doing something about it.
This response that we are presenting here today is more than just about policy, it's a response about people. It's a response that says that Islamophobia is not just a religious issue, it's an Australian issue. It's an issue that goes against Australian values - our values of fairness, our values of equality, our values of a fair go.
The 35 recommendations that we are responding to in this report go right across Government, particularly in places like educational institutions, universities and schools, but right across through to recognising the significant impact that Islamophobia has on Muslim women and on their mental health.
I'm really pleased that we were able to work very closely with Aftab and his office. And I do want to thank the Special Envoy and his office for the collaborative way in which he has worked with us and approached this to come up with a set of responses, 35 responses, that go to addressing some of the most significant manifestations of Islamophobia.
But the thing I'm most pleased about is that for the very first time, the very first time in the history of this country, we have a government that is willing to recognise that Islamophobia exists, that it is dangerously close to becoming normalised, and that it has traumatising, detrimental and long lasting effects on a significant number of Australians. I think that's something that all Australians can recognise as a significant move in how this Government deals with and promotes the social cohesion for all Australians.
So, once again, just a huge thank you to Aftab and everybody involved in where we've come to this day. Thank you also to the Prime Minister for his championing of this process as well.
TONY BURKE, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thanks, Anne. And thanks, Prime Minister. And thank you to Aftab for the extraordinary work. Aftab has been a very thoughtful leader in this role.
One of the most important parts of today is the simple statement and concept by a Government of Australia that Islamophobia is real, it is debilitating and it is wrong. And with my particular responsibilities for social cohesion and my particular responsibilities for national security, we've heard many times both the Prime Minister and the heads of agencies say we need to turn the temperature down. When Australians start to turn on each other, every risk goes up. And effectively the risk to the Muslim community of Islamophobia is real as well. We've seen the stories that get reported, whether it's the bomb threats against a school, whether it's an Imam in Victoria dragged out of his car and beaten, whether it's a threat made directly to worshippers at a mosque in Queensland. But we also have so many examples that we don't necessarily see. The person having to change their name on a job application because they're worried about how they'll be viewed. A woman deciding whether or not she feels safe on public transport because she chooses to wear a hijab. These tiny decisions that happen are debilitating for the individuals involved. And so part of the statement today from the government is not simply aimed at the stories that make the news, but those that don't, that affect whether or not someone feels safe, as safe to go about their daily lives as the rest of us do. And so as part of the response, there's also work being done by the Australian Federal Police because Islamophobia continues to be chronically under reported and people wonder, will anyone do anything? Today's statement makes clear the strength of the view of the Government that as with any other form of bigotry, Islamophobia remains unacceptable.
The final thing I should say, which touches on this, but touches on broader issues. I never thought when I entered Parliament that in my political lifetime, anyone who'd been elected to Parliament would be calling for white Australia. I thought we were in a country where everybody just accepted that we had moved on and we were better because we'd moved on. Part of saying you love Australia is to love Australia for who we are, not some perverted concept of a country where we would turn on each other, where Australians would basically lose capacity for kindness towards each other. We are a good country with a really simple covenant that the Prime Minister has spoken about so many times. You leave any hatreds at the door, but other than that, we want you for who you are and we build a country together. You'll never find an orchestra that performs where every instrument's the same, but with that diversity you get harmony and you get strength and you get opportunities in Australia, where we build a nation like no other. Those who hate Australia shouldn't pretend they love Australia and we need to be honest and proud of the Nation that we are. Where people have come from all around the world and joined with the First Nations who've had a history here that dates back to the first sunrise and we build the best country in the world together.
JOURNALIST: Across both the Islamophobia report and Malik's submission to the Royal Commission the Special Envoy has called for a review of counter terror laws. On Monday, the Home Affairs Minister ruled out any changes to religious motives in counterterror legislation. Are you open to any sort of revision or negotiation with the Special Envoy on how our terror laws operate in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We operate our terror laws on the basis of appropriate advice from national security agencies. We operate that way, people will have different views they will put forward, and they're entitled to do so. And of course, everyone's view is given consideration. But primarily we sit in the National Security Committee of the Government and we take advice from our security agencies. I have confidence in them. They get it right, and that is what is appropriate.
JOURNALIST: Why has it taken so long for the Government to respond to this report?
PRIME MINISTER: We are a government that gives proper consideration to issues. We've consulted, it is an independent report to the Government - and that's important. That when you have independent advice that you give consideration to it. Some of the recommendations, of course, are things that we are doing already, and we haven't waited for this comprehensive response to act on a range of the recommendations.
JOURNALIST: Will all of those recommendations be implemented?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we've said it's independent advice. What we don't do is we don't contract out Government. Decisions are made by our cabinet. But what we've done is to respond to all of the recommendations. Some of them we have adopted in full and are acting on already. Others we'll give further consideration to.
JOURNALIST: Pauline Hanson told a podcast in April, a lot of Islam is based on terrorism. What's your response to that?
SPECIAL ENVOY MALIK: So if she did indeed say that, I would say the following. As a Muslim Australian, I would say a verse of the Quran comes to my mind right now that says "the true servants of the most compassionate of those that tread lightly and humbly on the earth. And when the ignorant jostle at them, they respond with peace." So, while one nation continues to wage a war against 1 million Australian Muslims and 2 billion Muslims, we will respond with in kind as we will wage peace upon peace. We're not interested in getting into the arguments. But also, I would say that Islam is based upon five foundations, and they basically revolve around the purification of the tongue, the purification of the heart, purification of the body, purification of wealth, and purification of intention. There is no 6th pillar that seeks to subvert or destroy or humiliate or usurp civilisation. Now, as the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, I also have some thoughts. Initially, I would say that words have consequences. Words have consequences and we've seen that in America, we've seen that in England, and we've seen it across Australia of late - post Bondi specifically. In which these damaging, dehumanising words not only do they isolate and marginalise Muslims, it lends itself to threatening behaviour, harm, physical and ultimately we've seen Christchurch. But I think it's really important that I have the Leader of the Nation behind me and I really would like to hear what the Prime Minister has to say with those comments, especially for those young Muslim women who wear hijab and those young Muslims who feel that they do not belong into this country when they hear such rhetoric from political leaders.
PRIME MINISTER: I have seen Senator Hanson's comments that say that Australia has got it wrong when we moved fully away from, the white Australia policy in 1973. It is important to recognise that the movement away from the white Australia policy wasn't just the Labor Government of Gough Whitlam. It was actually a bipartisan position that began in the 1960s. And that was a good thing. A good thing. Modern Australia is made up of, with the exception of First Nations people, people who've come from all over the world to make Australia their home, to have a better life for themselves, but importantly for their children and grandchildren, generations to come. And with that comes respect for who people are. The right to practice their faith in peace and security, but also loyalty to Australia. And that's what I see from people right across the board who are proud to be Australian. We saw that recently with the wonderful Socceroos, who represent the richness of Australia. They're proud of who they are, where they've come from, but also proud to wear the Australian jersey. And Australians were proud of them.
JOURNALIST: How do you think the report will be received, considering, as you say, the temperature at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: We want this to be received constructively. Aftab has done amazing work and this is a contribution towards what I believe overwhelmingly most Australians want to see, which is people living in harmony. I mean, I lived for a long period of time in Marrickville - people of different backgrounds, of different faiths, live side by side, overwhelmingly in harmony. Overwhelmingly. Christians, people of Orthodox religions, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, live side by side, respecting each other. And when you go into any child care centre or any primary school, one of the things that I always find is really uplifting is kids just see other kids. They don't see colour, race, religion, they just see other kids. Prejudice is something that isn't normal, isn't intrinsic to human endeavour. It's something that is taught. And political leaders have a responsibility to promote social cohesion in this country. And that's what I want to see and I want to see this report as part of that contribution.
JOURNALIST: Just given some of Ms Hanson’s comments that have been today, just on that point of social cohesion, her language this week and some statements about the Muslim community and about faith and Islam. Do you think Pauline and or her comments, are they a threat to social cohesion?
PRIME MINISTER: Pauline Hanson has been undermining social cohesion for 30 years, not even since her first speech, but since her comments led to her being disendorsed by the Liberal Party in the lead up to the 1996 election. The Liberal Party at that time disendorsed Ms Hanson and dissociated themselves from her and indeed then refused to give preferences to One Nation.
The test for Angus Taylor is will he rule out preference deals and arrangements with One Nation going forward? Will he stick with mainstream Australian politics? Because at the moment it's very clear that there's a lot of similarities and adoption of policies that are One Nation light. The sort of statements that were made in the Budget reply about permanent residents, for example, go to that.
My job is to promote unity in this country. And that is something that people of the Liberal Party, as well as the Labor Party have had a fine tradition of doing so going back to the changes that were made in Australian migration policy in the 1960s.
JOURNALIST: The Special Envoy has promoted the idea of an office or a commissioner of social cohesion and suggested that we move away from ad-hoc appointments. Do you think your Government would at any point be ready to adopt such a proposal or move away from specific envoys for specific demographics?
PRIME MINISTER: My Government has, with the Ministerial appointments behind me, sees social cohesion as something that not just these Ministers have particular responsibility for, but our whole Government has responsibility for. So, it's something that's enshrined in the way that we act. I see that as a core responsibility. A core responsibility of mine as Prime Minister is to bring the country together, is to look for unity, not division. To look for social cohesion, not social division as we go forward and that's what I'll continue to do.
PRIME MINISTER: This week's fuel update is that Australia currently has 46 days worth of petrol. This is up five days on last week. We have 39 days worth of diesel, two more than last week. And 34 days of jet fuel, one more than last week. What that means is that we currently have 6.5 billion litres of fuel in Australia in total, across all fuel types, which continues to be more than we had at the start of this conflict. And indeed, this is the highest total amount of fuel in Australia since we introduced our fuel stockholdings. Highest ever. We have 55 ships on the water to Australia right now and 3.2 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks. Already in July, we have had 47 ships arrive after 91 arrived in June.
So, Australians can continue to have confidence in the work that the Government has done to ensure that we have fuel security. I say again, we remain at level two. So, we ask Australians to just take what fuel you need. No more, but no less also. To go about your business. And I do want to say that the work that we've done with industry and our international partners to ensure that Australians are well placed in spite of the ongoing international turbulence has been extraordinary. We have had a view the whole way through, reflected in my National Address prior to Easter, that what we needed was a calm and practical approach. An orderly approach to securing fuel supplies in order for the Australian economy to continue to function, for Australian agriculture to be able to see plantings and then harvesting of agricultural produce for food to still be delivered to people's shelves through our heavy vehicle industry as well. That is what we have done and it's working.
And I note that around that time, prior to Easter, it was said by the Liberals and One Nation that the fuel supplies would need to be constrained, that we'd need to have restrictions - none of that was necessary. And they were critical of my engagement with our international partners as well, and said that that was a pointless exercise. Well, it was worthwhile. We are delivering and these results are very positive. We continue to closely monitor, of course, developments in the Strait of Hormuz and the implications for Australia's fuel supply. And it is stating the obvious to say that we're not through all of this conflict yet. So, we'll continue to monitor these issues and to be responsible.
JOURNALIST: Can you confirm, as per reporting in the AFR today, the Government will adopt gas tax at next week's ALP National Conference?
PRIME MINISTER: The actual statement, what I can confirm is that the AFR have put 2 and 2 together and came up with 87. It is such a long bow. Have a look at what the resolution says. And it certainly does not say that.
JOURNALIST: Just on the back of our splash this morning in Saturday Telegraph we've reported the fact that about three men on average a day in New South Wales spends a little as $73 to change their gender to female on their birth certificate. Just given it's our splash this morning, can I get your reaction to that?
PRIME MINISTER: It's a New South Wales Government issue. I suggest you ask the New South Wales Government.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of new allegations of intimidation by the CFMEU in Queensland and Victoria? And would you establish a [construction] industry regulator?
PRIME MINISTER: We've intervened in the CFMEU and placed it into administration. We've taken the strongest action that any government has ever taken. And I note when the previous government was in office, what we saw was no action. These measures, these people still in place was what occurred. We've taken action.
JOURNALIST: Today it’s emerged that One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccination dramatically increased miscarriage rates. Does he need to resign?
PRIME MINISTER: Senator Roberts has had a history of promoting conspiracy theories, saying things that were simply not true, in many cases saying things that are dangerous, such as being anti-vaccination.
To give Governments credit across the board, it was the Morrison Government was in office federally, here you had the Berejiklian Government, in different states - all of them promoted the need to get vaccinated on COVID.
I've seen all sorts of conspiracy theories, including Senator Roberts describing the United States as the world's largest terrorist organisation, you know, our major ally. You have all sorts of conspiracy theories promoted. And bear this in mind for people who are toying with One Nation - that this is someone who's not one of their random candidates. And we've seen election after election with people including here in New South Wales people being elected and then leaving One Nation very soon afterwards. We've seen people resign, including one of the Senators who was elected at the last federal election resigned within weeks of taking up office. This is a guy who's been elected and re-elected and endorsed and re-endorsed multiple times by Pauline Hanson and One Nation. And his views are not worthy of being a Senator. But he's elected. This is the risk that people take when they vote for people who are on the fringes of politics. In this case, someone who has had a long history of supporting conspiracies.
Thanks a lot.