Opposition leader Peter Dutton has joined Labor in condemning the Greens’ support for the pro-Palestinian protests that have swept Australia, claiming the party’s leader Adam Bandt is “unfit to be in office”.
Speaking to 2GB on Thursday, Mr Dutton said Australians needed to have a “conversation” about the Greens’ detrimental impact to social cohesion, and continue to raise awareness about the dangers of political extremism.
It came as Mr Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined together in parliament on Wednesday to admonish the Greens for “deliberately” spreading misinformation about the war in Gaza, and worsening domestic unrest already inflamed amid a spate of antisemitic attacks on the offices of federal and state politicians.
The offices of Mr Albanese in Marrickville and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in Fairfield West, as well as NSW Premier Chris Minns, have either been doused in red paint with the word “murderer” scrawled across them, or blocked by continuous protests.
Mr Albanese on Wednesday said the misinformation spread by Greens MPs was “unacceptable”, claiming some Greens Senators had been “knowingly” misrepresenting motions moved in parliament in relation to the war in Gaza.
Mr Bandt has hit back at the criticism – labelling it a “desperate attempt to detract and distract from Labor’s complicity and backing of the invasion”.
Mr Dutton meanwhile has backed in the Prime Minister and said the chamber held a bipartisan position when condemning acts of violence.
“People need to have a conversation with their kids and their grandkids, with their next door neighbours about how evil the current Greens Party is,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.
“They’re nothing about the environment, they’re all about radical causes and somehow Adam Bandt, who I think is unfit to be in public office, he has led a party now that is central to what we’re seeing on campuses and the distribution of hate and anti-Semitic messages online, the chanting of ‘river to the sea’ and ‘intifada’ etcetera.
“When people say this is a repeat of the 1930, I think every decent, honourable Australian should stand up to make sure that it’s not.”
On the anniversary of D-Day, Mr Dutton said the troops who lost their lives in World War II, and in conflicts before and since, did so to “allow us to lead the life we do today”.
The Opposition leader went on to say university campuses were a place for the “contest of ideas” where young people’s minds could “work through” complex issues.
“We’re happy to support free speech, it’s a fundamental part of democracy, he said.
“But that’s not what’s happening here.
“University campuses have been taken over and people like Mark Scott should resign in disgust and in disgrace, his actions are disgusting.”
Last month, Professor Scott – the University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor – defended the right of pro-Palestinian protesters to use the anti-Semitic phrase “from the river to the sea”, conceding the phrase was “difficult” but that universities must be “bastions of free speech”.
Professor Scott said the university would act where free speech crosses the line to “hate speech”, but added the phrase “from the river to the sea” did not meet that threshold.
The Sydney Vice-Chancellor also refused to clear the encampments, claiming it could trigger violent scenes similar to what has occurred across US campuses.
Mr Dutton said some of the university lecturers who were part of the protests or condoned them were the ones “preaching inclusion and diversity and pronouns and all the rest of it”.
“But when it comes to young Jewish women on campuses or people with disabilities who are of the Jewish faith, it’s okay to discriminate against them and chant anti-Semitic chants in their direction,” he said.
“It shows the hypocrisy of the left and the woke brigade and people that support them.
“I think the vast majority of people in our country get that and I think they’ll mark them down at every opportunity.”