HUGH WHITFIELD, HOST: Moving on, the Prime Minister has been forced into a serious back down over the Government's response to the Bondi terrorist attack. The PM will bring two separate bills to Parliament this week for gun laws and hate speech after support for the original mega package collapsed.
NATARSHA BELLING, HOST: A new offence for promoting hatred sparked warnings that free speech would be under threat. And for more, we're joined this morning by Minister Mark Butler from Adelaide. Minister, thank you so much for your time this morning. We know right now is a time, a pivotal moment in our history for unity. Exactly what amount of negotiation did the Prime Minister or your Government do with both the Coalition and the Greens on this proposed legislation?
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Good morning, everyone. This is a really important sitting for the Parliament. Tomorrow will be a day of condolence and healing, but Tuesday has got to be a day of action to make Australians safer. And that's why we released the bill at the beginning of last week that reflected the decision of all governments to crack down on hate and to tighten gun ownership. But we said right then, through the Prime Minister, we were open to hearing amendments, we were keen to hear from other parties about their views to ensure, as far as possible, that the sittings this coming week would be a moment of national unity and resolute action. Now, we've heard that the Liberal Party won't support tighter gun control, so we've separated that out. We've heard that other parties aren't willing to support tighter laws around racial vilification, in spite of that being a key recommendation of the Envoy for Antisemitism, so we've removed that. And really the challenge now for the Parliament, particularly for Sussan Ley is the focused area of action has to be the subject of national unity, cracking down on hate preachers and hate groups, giving the Minister for Home Affairs tighter powers, stronger powers to kick out visa holders if they're here spreading hate, and the tighter gun control laws that we think we can get separate support for from the Greens. We can't see more politics. We can't see more division, because the only people who profit from that this week will be the hate preachers, the antisemites and the neo-Nazis.
WHITFIELD: Minister, the Prime Minister seems really keen to talk a lot about Sussan Ley and we know that she would have to support it in some way in the Senate if you don't get the support from the Greens. But why did the PM go down this path in the first place, lumping gun laws with hate speech laws because they don't sit side by side in legislation anywhere else, really? And we know the PM wants to talk about they had hate in their heart and guns in their hands, but they really are two separate issues. Why have we gone so far down this path in the first place?
BUTLER: We presented a bill that was a proper response to the Bondi terrorist attack five weeks ago, the worst terror attack in Australian history. The National Cabinet the following day, so all of the premiers and chief ministers as well as the PM took the view that we needed stronger gun control laws as well as hate laws. We brought an omnibus bill, if you like, but we said we wanted to hear from other parties about suggestions of getting those changes through the Parliament. We heard that they wanted gun control laws separated out, so we've done that. We've heard that there's not support for racial vilification laws, so we've removed that. The challenge now, really, not the past debates, the challenge now is we've got to see action from the Federal Parliament. We've got to grasp this opportunity for national unity in the face of the worst terror attack in our history and crack down on the hate preachers once and for all, crack down on these hate groups that are doing protests and fermenting the sort of hate that we saw drive that awful terror attack. Enough of the politics, enough of the debate about whether the bill should be big or should be separate. We've got a focused challenge for the Parliament this Tuesday and it's time Sussan Ley got on board and came together and saw really a moment of national unity which I think will serve the country enormously well.
BELLING: Minister, this isn't about politics, this is about unity and also leadership. This is the second embarrassing back down for the Prime Minister during a really, really difficult time for our country. How has the Prime Minister got this so wrong? Because that's the bottom line. There won't be a crackdown and stronger hate laws right now because it won't get up this week.
BUTLER: I don't accept that. This is really an opportunity for the Parliament to crack down on these hate preachers and hate groups. We said when we released this draft bill very early, a week before the Parliament came together, which is not usual, we set up a parliamentary inquiry that we'll be reporting sometime today or tonight, and we were clear we wanted to hear suggestions from other parties, particularly the opposition, given they are so critical to getting this through the Parliament, but they're also the alternative government. I think the Australian people want to see some unity, some unity of purpose around these things. It's not a back down, it's listening to suggestions from other parties about the best possible way to get these laws through the Parliament this week.
BELLING: We really appreciate your time this morning, Minister Mark Butler, joining us live from Adelaide. Thank you.
BUTLER: Thank you.