Turnbull's caution on terrorism threat puts him at odds with Abbott, Labor says
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Version 0 of 1. Coalition backbenchers have closed ranks around the prime minister, Tony Abbott, after senior cabinet minister Malcolm Turnbull warned against over-inflating the threat posed by terrorist groups. Turnbull spoke to the Sydney Institute on Tuesday night urging a measured, calm approach to matters of national security. The comments put the communications minister at odds with Abbott, who has repeatedly described Isis, or Daesh, as a “death cult” that is out to get Australians, and accused Labor of “rolling out the red carpet” for terrorists by opposing policy initiatives. “Denouncing those who question the effectiveness of new national security measures as friends of terrorists is as stupid as describing those who advocate them as proto-fascists,” Turnbull said. “Just as it’s important not to underestimate or be complacent about the national security threat from Daesh, it is equally important not to overestimate that threat.” Labor’s workplace relations spokesman, Brendan O’Connor, described it as a “very thinly veiled attack” on the prime minister. “[Turnbull] made a very pointed attack upon the conduct and the motives of the government with respect to national security,” O’Connor told reporters on Wednesday. “This now is a government deeply divided and dysfunctional on national security matters.” Coalition backbencher Dan Tehan, who chairs the joint committee on national security measures, dismissed claims of a division within the party. “What Malcolm was saying was, look, we’ve got the balance right, but going into the future that we direct and deal with this as we need to, to combat what is a real and live threat to Australia,” Tehan told ABC Radio. “On the whole, if you look at the way the Parliament has dealt with national security laws in the last year and a half, led by the prime minister ... the debate has been one where the national interest has been put first. And I think the prime minister should be credited for that.” Abbott had “led the debate superbly”, he said. “There comes a time when you’ve got to call a spade a spade, and I think the prime minister’s approach to this was absolutely spot on.” Victorian backbencher Scott Ryan said the media was exaggerating differences in the party. “There’s a bit of a media beat-up here,” he said. “I don’t see any inconsistency between what Malcolm and the prime minister have been saying, and Malcolm outlined that himself.” Turnbull’s speech noted that the government has been striking the right balance “between security and liberty”. New South Wales MP Alex Hawke told Guardian Australia he “fully supported the prime minister’s language”, because Isis was indiscriminate in its killing. “You have to be careful of the signal you send out [with language],” he said. “You’ve got to be careful not to understate the threat of Isis.” Hawke is one of 40 backbenchers who signed a letter urging the prime minister to take a tougher stance on anti-terrorism legislation. He argued that the language used by Abbott was cutting through to the public, who were in “lock-step” with the government on stripping dual nationals of their Australian citizenship if they were accused of terrorism offences. Hawke is pushing for the government to go even further, and look at ways of stripping sole nationals of their citizenship if they are eligible for citizenship of another country. Race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane on Tuesday urged calm in the debate, and said some of the language being used was detrimental to social cohesion. “It’s very important that political leadership consider the language it uses,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to see groups in our society feeling as though they’re being unfairly targeted or being made the subjects of undue suspicion.” |