‘Am I racist?’: Bridget McKenzie clashes with Zali Steggall over Palestinian visas

well Peter Dutton has denied that he's a racist following a claim made by the independent MP zali stegle yesterday in a highly charged week in camra after the opposition leader told this program on Wednesday that Garin should be stopped from coming here for now joining us live is our panel on a Friday National Senator Bridget McKenzie the independent MP Z stel she joins us as well Z so I will start with you following those comments yesterday racism is such a loaded term I know that Andrew asked you about this yesterday on sky but do you still believe this morning that Peter Dutton is a racist well I think it's important to remember what the definition of racism is and that is relating to policies uh and rules that result in an unfair treatment of a minority group uh that um on the basis of Rex now uh the policy that is being proposed applies uh unilaterally to all Palestinians uh coming from Gaza seeking Refuge from a war zone this policy has never has not been suggested by uh Mr D or the Coalition in relation to any uh other War zones or uh other groups it's a markedly different response to for example the aid we have proposed Pro uh we have provided in relation to other conflicts in particular people fleeing Ukraine uh people fleeing uh from Kabul at the fall of Afghanistan and so yes uh it is my view uh that this is a racist policy what is racist though about wanting to take a pause and this is not an indefinite thing Peter Dutton just said for now so what's racist about wanting a pause on taking refugees from an area that is controlled by a listed Terror organization well with respect he is walking back those that situation because his initial position was that uh we should not receive anyone or offer visas to anyone from any Palestinians from Gaza now is walking that back to say it's a pause but with respect this is a war zone uh we know ultimately the the borders are shut and so it's incredibly difficult for relatives of Australians and people that genuinely deserve our safe passage and Safe Haven in Australia uh to flee from a war conflict um to come here and so uh the difficulty Mr Dutton has is he has inferred and implied that all compose a security risk and that is incredibly discriminatory and my my objection is putting a human face to this these are families these are parents wanting to keep their children safe and I was trying to give the story in fact of uh my experience with a uh Palestinian family that I met the father in 2020 he had come to Australia under the Morrison government I should say with a Visa approved by them uh to learn how to run a Nippers program in Gaza okay and uh of course they have been able to now make their way to Australia and the Visa program so the suggestion of the Coalition is that he and his family and his beautiful children should be feared as terrorists I absolutely reject that suggestion okay uh we we have accepted refugees for decades and Peter Dutton has been part of that program in the past Bridget um over to you you got a response to all of that yeah of course I do uh we're not a racist country uh the vast majority of Australians including Muslim Australians do not want the labor party importing terrorists and Hamas sympathizers it's as simple as that uh we are incredibly compassionate country we are second in the world in humanitarian um places per capita and we provide a safe and secure place for so many people fleeing violence and conflict around the world and always have and so fali to seed a violence and hatred by her comments and stir up um th that type of Discord at this particular time shows that that she's completely ignoring the director General from aio's admonishment to us as Leaders to actually take the temperature down and by calling the opposition leader uh racist you know Z secured herself uh headlines Etc but she's completely out of Step with the vast majority of Australians including Muslim Australians who don't want to import terrorist sympathizers into this country we are a safe and so cohesive Society precisely because we have rigorous um processes in place that the government now the government though Pete sorry Z had like hergo uh the government is refusing to guarantee that these people applying for visas are going through the same rigorous processes that we put uh people that we bought through um Syrian Etc and verbing the director general of AIO shows that the pm has misled Parliament and the Australian people just on your first point there Bridget are we importing terrorists if they've gone through the proper checks and balances by AO well we are minimizing um the opportunity for that to happen by putting through uh people through face to face interviews as we did um biometric so when they present their papers we can actually ascertain that their identity is as they say it is at the moment in Gaza we do not have an embassy we do not have officials and the government is not using our third party uh Third Country processing as we did in other conflicts and when we've done this the reality is they only go to AO uh Visa applicants if there's a trigger in the process and the government is refusing to guarantee that every applicant has been through an AO process it's only those that are triggered uh that is the missing piece of information from the government yeah okay so Z back to you on on on branding duton a rasist I mean again it's such a loaded and highly inflammatory term are you in fact fueling tension by using such a loaded an inflamat term well you just have to listen to what Bridget was just saying to say that there is a suggest are am I suggest it really is something in the Coalition party room the inability to let someone speak without interrupting or trying to bully or speak over them it happens in the chamber it's quite incredible um so the the even just the words that bridon just used around the idea that we would be importing terrorists that in that paints an incredible aspersion on people seeking sa of course security chips occur so with respect bridg I back to that question sorry sorry so just back to that question Z I just I just wanted to ask you are you inflaming tensions by using Lo terms it's not inflammatory to call out behavior that is devisive Peter D is dangerous is dangerous with this no this is this is the term of the dictionary to describe the conduct that is behaved it it is quite outrageous to suggest that it is okay to behave in a racist manner or to support a racist policy but not okay to call it out I'm sorry it is not divisive to call out uh a policy that is seeking to divide this is dangerous I've gone over time leave it there but yeah just closing thought Bridget yeah I I've just you know Z's gone all loyis uh technical on her on on us but I I don't think that the people in Gaza are actually a race under the technical definition uh the UN also asks that refugees be settled in regions so I it is a reality that by not putting people through the appropriate checks and balances we run the risk of importing terrorist sympathizers and I think what Z has just demonstrated in this tie raade on this program is how close the teals are to the greens um because they absolutely have the same policies the same approach and they're prepared to risk Australian safety uh Above All Else Bridget Z we have to leave it there I've gone way over time but I appreciate you coming on and talking about the issue