ANNA HENDERSON, HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for joining SBS World News.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you, Anna.
HENDERSON: The Interim Report has stated that despite an increase in funding for the national intelligence community, the proportion allocated for counter-terrorism significantly declined between 2020 and 2025. Did those funding decisions leave the intelligence agencies without essential resources?
PRIME MINISTER: No, indeed, the report shows the opposite. The report shows that funding for all of our security agencies has increased since we came to office.
HENDERSON: It does show that Prime Minister, if I might just take you to the point, it shows that overall increase, but it says there was a decline in the funding for counter-terrorism. So, do you need to link the funding more clearly to ensure it goes to the right places?
PRIME MINISTER: The report makes it clear that there was no inadequacy when it comes to preventing terrorist acts as a result of government agencies. So, it makes that very clear in the report. We will go through the report in detail that we received this morning. We've adopted all of the recommendations that relate to the Commonwealth in the report, but I take some considerable comfort from the fact that it says there's no urgent action required in order to keep Australians safe. There'll be of course, this is an Interim Report, and what it's aimed at doing is making sure that the examination of the security agencies be the first priority. The report and the Commission will continue to undertake its work between now and the end of the year before it releases its final recommendations.
HENDERSON: The internal reviews that have already been conducted reportedly found a fixation on Israel's war on Gaza was a key motivation for Sajid Akram. Do you believe that conflict did play the key role in radicalising him?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm not going to pre-empt what will be, what have been, frankly, media reports, not reports from the agencies. What I'm going to allow the Royal Commission to do is to do its work and to support them in that work. Our security agencies do tremendous work. There's no doubt that there has been an increase in antisemitism in Australia, particularly since October 7, the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. And that there has been an increase in disputes and a decline in social cohesion here as a result of that conflict. I think Australians very clearly want a couple of things. One is they want conflict to end wherever it's occurring around the world. And the other thing is that they don't want conflict brought here, and that is one of the concerns with the rise of antisemitism, clearly, is people who might object to actions of the Israeli Government somehow blaming Jewish Australians for those actions. Now, that is completely unacceptable. It is one of the factors that has led to the rise in antisemitism, as for the motives of the Akrams, one of the things that the Royal Commissioner has made very clear as well is that, given these matters are before the courts, some of this speculation does not assist the appropriate legal processes to be undertaken. And the Royal Commissioner has made her views very clear on that.
HENDERSON: Some Jewish community representatives continue to maintain you didn't do enough to stamp out antisemitism. You say you haven't been asked to appear at the Royal Commission, but do you feel any responsibility to take part in this fact-finding process to avoid a similar incident in the future?
PRIME MINISTER: I engage in the political process on a daily basis. I've just done a media conference, and I'm talking to you now. We continue to engage. One of the things that should not occur is an attempt to seek partisan political advantage from what is a national issue and requires a national response. And it requires a response that isn't subject to partisanship. But December 14 required the country to come together, to put our arms around the Jewish community, to give them support at the time that it was needed, and to not seek political advantage on these issues. I'll continue to work with members of the community and with the Australian public in general as well to promote social cohesion, to stamp out antisemitism and to make sure that every Australian should have the right to feel safe here in this great country of ours.
HENDERSON: Prime Minister, the women and children in the Syrian camp who were associated with IS or Islamic State are trying to get back to Australia. Did your government make a specific request to the Kurdish authorities or the Syrian Government to demand that group of women and children be returned to Al-Roj camp when they tried to leave?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we are not involved, and we're not providing any support, and that's been documented. We're not repatriating these people. These people chose – the women involved chose to go to the Middle East to support ISIS. And ISIS objectives are completely contradictory to Australian values and to Australia's national interest, and indeed the interests of humanity. This is –
HENDERSON: Did your government request –
PRIME MINISTER: This is an evil ideology –
HENDERSON: But did your government make a specific –
PRIME MINISTER: My government is not engaged. My government is not engaged. We are not participants with the Syrian Government. These are people who are Australian citizens. Their reports are there. They are reports not through the Australian Government, because we are not in contact with these people. I feel sorry for and sympathy for the children, but they are victims of the actions –
HENDERSON: Do you think the children should come back independent of the parents, which your government says don't deserve to return to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: They are victims of their parents actions.
HENDERSON: Do you think they should have the opportunity to come back separately to their parents?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not a homogeneous group. Some of them are people who were born in the camps. Can I say that we are not involved in repatriation of these people. And that's the Australian Government's position. It hasn't changed –
HENDERSON: Do you want them to stay there forever?
PRIME MINISTER: It hasn't changed, our position. They made decisions to leave Australia to fight against Australia's national interest for an ideological group that want to – don't respect Australian law or Australian values.
HENDERSON: So, just to be clear – if individual families did want to see their children come back to Australia, to extended family –
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not answering hypothetical questions. I'm telling you what the government's position is.
HENDERSON: Well, I think some of the families have floated that concept, which is why I put it to you –
PRIME MINISTER: They might have floated it with yourself, but they haven't floated it with us, because we are not in contact with them. That is the point here. Our position is very clear. They made their decision. There are consequences for them of the decisions that they have made. Unfortunately, there are also consequences for these children who are victims of their parents and those adults who made that decision,
HENDERSON: Prime Minister, if I may just borrow one more moment of your time just on the economy – there's a lot of research that says social dislocation is closely linked with economic hard times. How concerned are you about things getting worse in terms of social cohesion in Australia, as this extremely tough time coming out of the Middle East continues to hit home economically here?
PRIME MINISTER: My government will continue to focus on social cohesion. That is why, as well, one of the factors behind our support for cost-of-living measures, that's one of the reasons why we've intervened across the board. Specifically in response to the Middle East conflict, we've cut the fuel excise, but the other measures as well – whether it be giving people greater access to free GP services, Urgent Care Clinics, cheaper medicines, the cut to student debt, the cut to the income taxes for every single Australian that will kick in in July, the cheaper home batteries. All of these measures are aimed at taking pressure off families, because we know that the events in the Middle East, a war on the other side of the world is having an impact right around the world, including here in Australia. And we want an Australia where no one is left behind and no one is held back.
HENDERSON: Prime Minister, we really appreciate your time. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Anna.