Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why did the Prime Minister, when posting a video of his media conference to Facebook, delete any criticism of the Melbourne protests and only include the sections where he criticised vaccine mandates? Why did the Prime Minister claim he denounced the violent protests when, in fact, he was determined to give comfort to extremists?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I completely reject that assertion. At the first opportunity, when I appeared before the press, I denounced those things. I very clearly denounced that violence. I said it had no place in Australia. It does have no place in Australia, and that is something there should be bipartisan support for. The opposition said the same thing, but they choose to try and play some political games with violent protesters.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On direct relevance. The Prime Minister needs to explain why he deleted the sections that were critical of the protests.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. We don't have supplementary questions. The Prime Minister is in order.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've been very clear in denouncing those things, and the suggestion that I haven't is a complete falsehood. And I know that the Leader of the Opposition was desperately trying to make this point this morning. Rather than us being on a unity ticket denouncing violence, he seeks to play politics with violent protests in Victoria. I find that absolutely appalling. We have the very strong view that violence of that nature and the intimidatory threats that are made as part of any protest, on whatever topic it might be, are deplorable and should not be done in this country. I could not be clearer than that.

My government stands for the national plan that we took forward. We need to ensure that all Australians can look forward with confidence, and that's what we're focusing on. It's about the positives of the future, about where we're heading as a country, so we can ensure that, as a result of the outstanding work done by Australians right across the country, particularly in Victoria—they have had to put up with more in their daily lives than any other people in this country during the course of this pandemic. They have had to put up with more lockdowns, more deaths and more impact than any other part of this country—the longest lockdown of any city in the world. Victorians have put up with a lot and they have pushed through. And I commend them for the outstanding work they have done.

What is important is that we now harness that and ensure that they can look forward to the Boxing Day Test and coming together around the Christmas table. That is what has been made possible by them going forward and ensuring they've got vaccines at record levels. That's what our national plan provides for. The pathetic attempts by the Labor Party to try and drive a wedge between Australians and suggest that there is no bipartisan support for denouncing violence in this country—it's been our government that have funded the Australian Federal Police to crack down on violent extremism. It's our government that have actually supported the Federal Police. When the Labor Party were in power, they cut their funding. They didn't give them the powers they needed. Even now, over the course of this parliament, the Labor Party have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this— (Time expired)