ANTHONY ALBANESE MP
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA
TONY BURKE MP
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS
MINISTER FOR CYBER SECURITY
MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS
MARK DREYFUS KC MP
ATTORNEY-GENERAL
REECE KERSHAW
AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER
MIKE BURGESS AM
AUSTRALIAN INTELLIGENCE SECURITY ORGANISATION DIRECTOR-GENERAL
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
MONDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2024
SUBJECT: Special Operation Avalite for Antisemitism.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. I'm joined by the Attorney-General, the Minister for Home Affairs, but also the AFP Commissioner and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess. Today, we have had a meeting of the National Security Committee along with other meetings that we normally have on a Monday. As confirmed by authorities an hour and a half ago, the Melbourne attack will be investigated as a terrorist incident. Our world-class agencies will provide all the support necessary to find the perpetrators and ensure they face the full force of the law.
Today, I can also announce that we have established AFP Special Operation Avalite for Antisemitism. This is in response to the attack last Friday morning that is now the third arson attack after the attack on Josh Burns’ electorate office and the Sydney Woollahra car incident. This will be a Commonwealth-led taskforce that will work with state and territory police forces and I'll ask the Commissioner to make some comments and then the Director-General of ASIO will make some comments as well. And then we're happy to take some questions.
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Prime Minister. Firstly, I want to acknowledge the referral of the Adass Israel Synagogue fire attack to the Victorian Joint Counter-terrorism Team which unlocks the powers and capabilities of the AFP, ASIO and Victoria Police. The AFP's remit is to protect Australians and Australia's way of life. And for many months, the AFP has been discussing how we can better support our state and territory partners to investigate hate crimes or threats against vulnerable communities. Unfortunately, in Australia today, those of Jewish ethnicity or religion are being targeted because of who they are. The fire of Labor MP Josh Burns’ office, the cars set alight in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, the attack on the Melbourne synagogue. This is a crime. This needs to stop. And today the AFP will expand its remit with the support of the Commonwealth Government. Special Operation Avalite will be an agile and experienced squad of counter-terrorism investigators who will focus on threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and Parliamentarians. In essence, they will be a flying squad to deploy nationally to incidents. The Commonwealth Offences Special Operation Avalite will investigate – will include: urging violence against members or groups. Advocating terrorism. Advocating genocide. Using a carriage service to make a threat and using a carriage service to menace or harass. I want to assure the Jewish community that the AFP will continue to provide capability and resources to state and territory police. However, from today the AFP will take a greater role. The AFP will not tolerate crimes that undermine Australia's security or our way of life. Thank you.
MIKE BURGESS, ASIO DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Thank you. Thanks, Reece. Thank you, Prime Minister. As a member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team, ASIO will be assisting police with their investigations and assisting the Australian Federal Police with their Special Operation. We're also conducting our own inquiries and investigation to check, to ensure that there is no ongoing threat or individuals with similar capabilities to the attack we've just seen in Melbourne. At this stage, we have no intelligence to suggest that is the case. The national terrorism threat level remains at probable. When I raised the threat level earlier this year, I noted there was a greater than 50 per cent chance of a terrorist attack in the next 12 months.
Sadly, this appalling incident appears to embody the ugly dynamics that ASIO has been warning about. Politically motivated violence is now one of ASIO’s and this country's principal security concerns. Politically motivated violence encompasses terrorism, but is broader than that and covers any violent act or violent threat intended to achieve a political objective. Australia's security environment is volatile and unpredictable. Anti-authority beliefs continue to grow. Grievances are spreading. Provocative, inflammatory language are being normalised.
And let me close by repeating what I said after the 7 October Hamas terrorist attack: inflamed language leads to inflamed tension and can lead to violence. So, we all need to watch our words. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, firstly, in relation to this matter, but if I may, there’s a second part of my question. Just first, in relation to this, what will actually change for Jewish people in terms of the on the ground security apparatus around schools, around synagogues? How will they be protected? Are there also incidents of actions taken against mosques which do need to also be a part of this conversation? Or is antisemitism a bigger threat than the Islamophobia?
And very briefly and separately, just in relation to the Northern Syrian camps, is there an effort underway to reconsider those children who are in the camps at the moment? Is the security situation changing? Are there efforts to try and get them out? Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: More than one question there. One of the answers to your question is that yesterday I announced an additional $32.5 million of support for the program that has been providing security for the Jewish community, for synagogues, schools, other activities that's been run out through the Jewish community. I spoke with Peter Wertheim, put in a request on the weekend which indicated that the first round of $25 million there was only about five per cent of that was unallocated and that there was further demand. So, we agreed and went through – there was a ERC meeting indeed, today, as well, and we went through that process and confirmed that that funding would be available over the next 18 months. So, that's specifically aimed at that area of the community.
With regard to Syria and the concerns there, we have received a briefing on Syria. Obviously, these are difficult times and it's a moving situation there in Syria. So, at this stage, there's no change to the assessment that has been made there, though.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, right now, as you're making this announcement, Peter Dutton is meeting with members of the Adass Synagogue community in Melbourne. Will you meet with them? And why haven't you been to this point?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, because I had commitments in Perth. I spoke to the President on Friday morning. Be very clear, this happened very early Friday morning. By the time I had taken off from Sydney, I'd had a full briefing from the AFP Commissioner. I'd spoken to the President of the community, I'd spoken to the Special Envoy for Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, and I was fully engaged. I rang into an interview on Raff Epstein's program in Melbourne. I'd spoken to Josh Burns and I'd spoken to a number of other members of the Jewish community. I will visit there. We've had these meetings today. You can only be in the room here in Canberra getting national security briefings, if you stick to the National Security Committee. I had the appointments in Perth. Obviously, I was there for three days. That was long arranged. But I've been in regular contact with the community in terms of receiving AFP briefings on a daily basis. And this morning I spoke with the Victorian Premier as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given the visit to Perth, was it a misjudgement to be playing tennis on the Saturday morning when the community –
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wasn't playing tennis on the Saturday morning
JOURNALIST: At the Cottesloe Tennis Club?
PRIME MINISTER: I wasn't playing tennis on the Saturday morning.
JOURNALIST: So, that was wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: That is wrong. I had six appointments on Saturday. After they had concluded, late in the afternoon, I did some exercise. That's what people do. On Saturday morning, I was in a synagogue. I've seen some comments in the media about why there wasn't media coverage there. That was because it was Shabbat and as people can confirm, photos and electronic information wasn't available then. Indeed, I attended the Bat Mitzvah of a young boy there and I was very much welcomed there.
JOURNALIST: Maybe a question for Mr. Dreyfus. The Jewish community in Melbourne especially, has been complaining for a long time about feeling under threat and feeling unsafe. It's not uncommon to hear people say they feel safer in Israel than they do in Melbourne. As much as they will welcome today's announcement, I'm sure a lot of them will be asking, why wasn't this done earlier? What would you say to them?
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We've experienced in Australia in the last year the highest level of antisemitism that I've experienced in my lifetime. That's a common reaction from members of the Australian Jewish community. It's been growing over the course of the year. But our Government has been resolute in standing with the community, and we will continue to be resolute in standing with the community to do everything that needs to be done to make sure that every member of the Australian community, including Jews in Australia, feel safe.
PRIME MINISTER: Could I just say, when it comes to antisemitism measures that we have introduced - landmark ban on the Nazi salute and hate symbols came into effect in January of this year. We've appointed Jillian Segal as Australia's first Special Envoy to combat antisemitism. We criminalised doxxing in legislation that was passed through the Parliament on the last sitting day - that was opposed by the Liberal and National parties. We have legislated to appoint Australia's first ever National Student Ombudsman. In the weeks following the 7th of October attack, we committed $25 million for the first round of the safety and security at Jewish sites. That followed the fact I was on Insiders on the Sunday morning at 9am calling out the attack and making clear our unequivocal opposition and the right of Israel to defend itself. On the Monday, we called for the rally that was held at Sydney Opera House to not go ahead prior to that rally being held. And we have legislation now before the Parliament to criminalise hate speech. So we have consistently taken action. We'll continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Jacinta Allan and Roger Cook have both said they'd like a National Cabinet. Would you call one?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I spoke with Jacinta Allan this morning and I've spoken with Roger Cook. I had two meetings with Roger Cook over the weekend, on Friday and then again on Sunday. What we want to do is to act. If people want to have a phone hookup, I'm very welcome for that to occur.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what does the term Avalite mean and why was it chosen?
PRIME MINISTER: We had this discussion.
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: It's a randomised database that our operational arm, our NOSSC, which is our National Operations Centre, choose.
JOURNALIST: Just following up on Anna's question. Is antisemitism a bigger problem than Islamophobia? Or a bigger threat?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, antisemitism is a major threat and antisemitism has been on the rise. And we have seen incidents such as this that have been targeted specifically at the Jewish community.
JOURNALIST: Just to clarify, specifically on the remit of the taskforce to follow up Anna's earlier question, just so we have it totally right. Is it solely antisemitism ? Because I note there have been other MPs offices who have been targeted in relation to the conflict in the Middle East. Is this solely on antisemitism or is it more broadly on the conflict in the Middle East?
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: Solely on antisemitism. But we talk to all MPs because we have seen record threats made against Federal MPs. And so, we have a separate taskforce that deals with those threats against MPs.
JOURNALIST: One for Mr Burgess. There's been a lot of criticism of the PM that his inaction on antisemitism led to this attack in Melbourne on Friday. Is there anything in your view that the Government could have done to avoid what happened on Friday?
DIRECTOR-GENERAL BURGESS: I think it's a hard call to put something on government to stop people doing the wrong thing in our society. And as the Commissioner said, we've seen three arson attacks now. This is warranted of an AFP special operation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just a question to you. Over the weekend Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, said that this attack was the result of what he described as your Government's extreme anti-Israeli position. Do you have a response to that? And just, sorry, secondly to Mike Burgess as well. Do you have any evidence at this stage that there are potentially other attacks of this nature that have been planned?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I responded to that yesterday, but I'm happy to respond again. With regard to the position that we took in the United Nations, we took along with 157 nations. Four of the Five Eyes countries had the same position. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, along with nations that we have a long term partnership with. France, Germany, Japan, Korea - most of the nations in our region. In fact the countries which oppose that resolution are single figured. And indeed the Australian Government under John Howard supported that exact same resolution on a number of occasions. So there is, what Australia has had for a long period of time is a bipartisan position for a two-state solution in the Middle East. That has enjoyed bipartisan position. That is still my Government's position, is that you need a long term solution of two states in the Middle East where Israelis and Palestinians have a right to live in peace and security and stability.
JOURNALIST: On the $32.5 million. The Coalition says today that that is currently only allowed to be used for unarmed guards at synagogues and Jewish schools. The Coalition would allow for it to be used for armed guards. Is there a response from the Government on whether that federal money should be able to be used for armed guards?
PRIME MINISTER: The Government's response is that we've worked in partnership with the Jewish community on this. We've extended the program to $32.5 million of additional funding. I'll make this point, that this is a time where the country should be looking for national unity, not looking for areas of distinction and difference over every issue. I would have thought that every Australian would be horrified by what occurred last Friday and would be equally prepared to condemn it and oppose it. It’s un-Australian, and I've said that. It's designed to create fear in the community and it should be opposed. So if Mark wants to add.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: This is a time for national unity. This is a time for all Australians to stand together against antisemitism . It's not a time for some political leaders and some political parties to be looking for difference.
JOURNALIST: Just for Mr Burgess, if I could get you to give an answer to that previous question. You mentioned about a year ago your expectation, I think, the greater than 50 per cent likelihood of a terrorist act over the next 12 months. Can you give us your analysis of a similar likelihood of similar terrorism attacks based on antisemitism?
DIRECTOR-GENERAL BURGESS: Sure. National terrorism Threat Level remains a probable, which means there continues to be a greater than 50 per cent chance of an active terror or planning of an active terror in the next 12 months. As we've just seen and in relation to the current incident, we have no intelligence to suggest there are people with the same intent and capability linked to the event in Melbourne. But I can also tell you members of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team in every state and territory AFP, ASIO and state and territory law enforcement are busy looking to identify terrorist threats to Australians.
JOURNALIST: Two questions for the Prime Minister and Mr Burgess, if I may. Mr Burgess, you obviously, just talking about the intelligence ahead of the firebombing on Friday. Was there any evidence, I guess, in the lead up to the attack that there was a risk at that synagogue? And Prime Minister, when will you actually, just following up on Cam's question, when will you visit the synagogue? Today? tomorrow? This week?
DIRECTOR-GENERAL BURGESS: We don't talk about matters, but I can assure you if we had intelligence someone was going to conduct a terrorist attack, we would have stopped it with the police.
PRIME MINISTER: This week is the answer. And we're organising a convenient time for both and we're liaising with the synagogue there. Thanks very much.
ENDS
