Topics: Israel, The Voice Referendum & Pollie Pedal

E&OE

PETA CREDLIN: Alright, let's cross now to Western Australia, to the town of Nanup, a farming and timber milling community a couple of hundred kilometres south of Perth. Joining me now, former Prime Minister, my former boss too, Tony Abbott, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie. Gentlemen, thank you for getting off your bikes firstly and for joining me tonight. We'll get to the reason why you've been riding for charity a little bit later, but Tony Abbott, if I can start with you. I need your reaction please to what we've seen play out in Israel over the weekend, but more particularly the fallout on the streets of Sydney and things now happening in Melbourne too, where anti-Jew protesters have caused such mayhem.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, as for the events in Israel, Peter, it was a vicious attack on democracy, a vicious attack on civilians that should be universally condemned. As for what we saw in Sydney, frankly, it was absolutely un-Australian, and people who come to live in this country really must leave ancient hatreds behind. The final point I want to make is that the police have got to be far tougher on this kind of thing. Any protest that is likely to involve massive race hate, as this one did, should be dispersed. I mean the police were more than capable of breaking up anti-lockdown protests, if necessary with rubber bullets and tear gas. Why weren't they prepared to disperse this protest with the same kind of vigour? Our streets must be owned by the police and by our citizens, not by violent, hate-filled protesters.

PETA CREDLIN: Andrew, as someone who's worn a uniform to fight against terrorism overseas, what do you make of comments from Greens politicians, sporting stars and I think weak responses from some Labor frontbenchers too, that basically have this moral equivalency between Hamas and Ukrainian freedom fighters?

ANDREW HASTIE: I think it's terrible, Peta. I think this isn't a time for silence. It's not a time for equivocation. It's very clear what happened in Israel over the weekend was murder. The slaughter of the elderly, the slaughter of women and children, the rape of women. Any person in their right mind should be able to condemn that. I condemn it. I stand with Israel and I think what we've seen on the Labor Front bench particularly is troubling that they've been so mealy-mouthed about something that's so clear. It's an act of evil and should be condemned as such.

PETA CREDLIN: Angus, the Prime Minister has criticised the Coalition, says you're playing politics with this issue. He, of course, has been around the country on the voice. He's not had any events or been in contact with the Jewish community. He has this afternoon, though, visited a synagogue. John Howard has said that the government is pussyfooting around here. Peter Dutton said if there's anyone in that crowd on Monday night that isn't an Australian citizen, cancel their visa and send them home. Why do you think the government has been slow in its response?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, that's a very good question, Peta, because this was an evil and malicious terrorist attack. And the truth is that, as far as we know, the government hasn't even had a national security committee meeting to deal with it. Now, whenever we see a significant event, particularly a terrorist attack like this, that has implications for Australia, and this clearly does, even just looking at the protests in recent days, you would expect a government to have a meeting of the National Security Committee and to work through how to make sure we get the right response to this. We are not seeing that from this government and I think there are some very, very serious questions that Anthony Albanese needs to answer.

PETA CREDLIN: If I can go to you, Andrew Hastie, now on The Voice, some pollsters tell me one of the things that really showed up in their research was when those WA laws came into play and people could see the ramifications of basically separatism in relation to landowners and farmers, and that turned the tide for many people. What's the feeling now in WA three days out from the vote?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, Peter, the Aboriginal and cultural heritage laws which were brought in by WA Labor were a blatant attack on property rights and that activated the population here. People were very tuned in to what The Voice might do long before the public arguments were really engaged. I said WA Labor basically ran a scare campaign for the no campaign in The Voice by introducing those laws. What we're seeing here in WA is deep scepticism of this project, a personal project by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. There is a lot of concern that it's divisive, but to link it back to the cultural and heritage laws, are they concerned that this voice would have a veto say or right over a lot of areas of our life that we share together? That's why people are trending towards the no vote.

PETA CREDLIN: Angus, pollsters Redbridge say that one of the reasons why the yes vote has plummeted and also why the undecideds are not falling in yes's way is that the government's being in part punished here because they seem to have dropped the ball on all the other issues that people care about. The voice seems to be an obsession of the Prime Minister while they're struggling to pay their bills while they're concerned about the economy more broadly.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Yeah, that's exactly right, Peta. And the Prime Minister is distracted. Yes, of course, Indigenous disadvantage, any disadvantage is something we want to alleviate. But the truth is, this Prime Minister is obsessed. And right now, we're seeing serious cost-of-living pressures on families across Australia. Indeed, we see just today, the IMF telling us that we have the highest level of mortgage stress across the developed world here in Australia. This Prime Minister can only talk about his Canberra-based voice. So he's distracted. His priorities are not the priorities of hardworking Australians, Peta. And I think that's really showing.

PETA CREDLIN: We'll get to pollie pedal in a moment, but Tony just your last word on the voice as Australians get ready to vote if they haven't voted already. Three and a half million already have.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, Peter, I just think that this voice is wrong in principle. It would be bad in practice. And the more the public are thinking about it and they're thinking through the ramifications of giving some people a special say over how we govern based on ancestry, the less they like it. And the more it seems to be completely at odds with what we've always wanted to do in this country, which is basically to say, if you're having a go, and you want to join Team Australia, you're a first class citizen regardless of how long you or your ancestors have been here.

PETA CREDLIN: Andrew Hastie, last word from you just quickly on pollie pedal ride. Now Angus Taylor's taken on the mantle of being the pollie pedal boss from Tony Abbott, but they're raising money for a charity that you care about as a former soldier. Tell us more, well two questions actually, tell us about why the charity is so important to you, but also how's the old bloke in the middle, can he still keep up?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, we're supporting Wandering Warriors this year, which is a charity set up to help veterans transition into civilian life by giving them educational opportunities. We've had a number of veterans go to University of Queensland, do their MBA program, and we want to build this charity up and expand their programs. And we've got two Rhodes Scholars here. They know the value of education. So it's great to have them on the ride supporting this. Does he still have it? Yes, he does. This guy's a diesel. He can go. Angus is a Kelpie. He'll gallop all day, but this bloke, Tony, he's got staying power.

TONY ABBOTT: You're being very kind, Andrew.

PETA CREDLIN: There you go. He'll be happy about that. Gentlemen, I'll leave it there. Thank you very much for your time. Tony Abbott, Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor.

ENDS.