Zoe McKenzie MP
Shadow Cabinet Secretary
Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Early Learning
Federal Member for Flinders
TRANSCRIPT
ABC AFTERNOON BRIEFING WITH PATRICIA KARVELAS AND JEROME LAXALE
Thursday, 5 February 2026
Topics: WA terror attack; Isaac Herzog visit; Sussan Ley Nightly article
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I want to bring in my political panel for today. Jerome Laxale is the Labor MP for Bennelong. Zoe McKenzie is the Liberal MP for Flinders. Welcome to both of you.
ZOE MCKENZIE: Thanks.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Let’s just start on that, which is pretty, you know, obviously chilling, particularly for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Zoe, we saw bipartisan condemnation, as there should be, of this. But how concerned are you about the rise of general extremism, politically motivated violence, and alleged white supremacism in this case?
ZOE MCKENZIE: Yeah, absolutely. About eight days ago now, I was actually in Europe talking at a global political tech summit that was in part about social media reform but equally about addressing extremism, white supremacy movements online and what activity is being pursued elsewhere in the world. It’s something that all Western democracies are looking at and must think about. What happened in January was horrific. We could have had two of Australia’s only horrific terrorist attacks within a month of each other, or a bit longer, but still, it’s appropriate that we’ve had both sides of government speaking today and condemning what happened.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Yeah, that’s a good point you make. The timeframe we had, one obviously tragically did happen in Bondi, the other one was just unsuccessful, but it could have been a mass event, and police have confirmed that. But we are seeing this extremism rise. How do we tackle it?
JEROME LAXALE: Well, we’ve had a legislative response, but I think it’s something that all of us as a society need to address. I mean, only weeks after the Bondi attack, in my own electorate, white supremacist material was letterboxed in a suburb of Putney. You know, it was brought to my attention, you know, under the White Australia group name, and, you know, it’s pretty horrific to see that in your own community, particularly such a diverse community like Bennelong. This was a targeted leaflet drop with white supremacist ideology. A big part of our legislative response, and credit to Zoe for supporting hate speech reforms in a bipartisan matter, goes to dealing with hate speech, dealing with hate groups that organise, and making hate groups illegal on the advice of the ASIO Director-General. I think that’s an appropriate response for now, but we’ve got to work on it.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Now, the big story next week will be Isaac Herzog’s arrival, and that has been very contentious. Yesterday, Jerome, we had your colleague Ed Husic come on. He said that he’s not comfortable with him coming. Are you uncomfortable with him coming?
JEROME LAXALE: Look, I understand why there’s a lot of emotions around this visit. It’s been a pretty tumultuous three years, particularly for that region, but also it’s been an incredibly tumultuous three years for the Jewish Australian community. The context of President Herzog’s visit is to visit those grieving families of that horrific antisemitic attack in Bondi not that long ago. The Jewish Australian community requested invitation of the President and the Governor-General, and advice from the Prime Minister went ahead with that. I think in that context, it’s appropriate. I understand there will be protests. We have a legal right to protest here, but I’d encourage people who do protest to understand the context of this invitation. President Herzog will visit grieving families. I’m sure he’ll visit the site at Bondi. This was a direct attack on Jewish Australians, and as the Jewish President, I think it’s appropriate he…
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Could it have been a different person, a senior Jewish leader that was invited?
ZOE MCKENZIE: We have to remember, the President of Israel is largely a ceremonial role. In fact, he has been a politician in the past, but not of the current parties ruling Israel. So in the same way that if our Governor-General, who does regularly go across the seas to represent Australia, does not carry with her the politics of the day of the country, it should be the same invitation and courtesy provided to the President of Israel as we would expect our Governor-General to receive overseas. So I think it’s appropriate that he’s coming. It sounds like it’s an appropriate engagement, especially with the Jewish communities across multiple important Australian cities. Israel is an ally of Australia. He is welcome here, and I hope it goes smoothly and carefully.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Look, I just want to talk about a statement the Prime Minister made, starting with you, Zoe, where he condemned an article that was written in the Nightly, from my memory, which had a very, you know, can I call it offensive? I think I can, Zoe, title in relation to Sussan Ley, saying that that was the disrespect to women. It was interesting to see the Prime Minister make that, you know, statement in the Parliament. Do you think Sussan Ley is being treated in a, you know, sexist manner, clearly in this article, but more broadly?
ZOE MCKENZIE: To be fair, I didn’t read the article in the Nightly. It’s not one I regularly read, sorry, Nightly readers. So I’m not really across it. I did see the title, which just seemed a bit, you know, naff, frankly. But in terms of whether she’s being subjected to different treatment, no, I think Sussan’s really tough. She’s really tough. She’s got good authority in our Shadow Cabinet, the way she speaks, the way she takes opinions, the way she resumes opinions, and the way she leads the room. I don’t ever think that she gets a raw deal, because she’s a woman.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: OK. What did you think of those blokes meeting last week to sort out the future?
ZOE MCKENZIE: I thought it was unwise timing, and I’m glad that the conversations amongst colleagues is a broader group this week, let’s put it that way, shall we?
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Diplomatically said.
JEROME LAXALE: You did well there. Well done. Well done, Zoe.
ZOE MCKENZIE: Thank you.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: A broader group. Thanks, Zoe. High five. Yes.
JEROME LAXALE: Godspeed.
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Broader, with the other half of the population. Good to know. Thank you to both of you.
ZOE MCKENZIE: Well not quite half.
ENDS.
