E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
THURSDAY, 22 JANUARY 2026

TOPICS: National day of mourning; Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bills; Coalition Chaos; Greenland.

BRIDGET BRENNAN: For more now, let's go to the Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, who joins us now from Canberra. Good morning to you, Minister.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Good morning, Bridget.

BRENNAN: What do you make of what's happening in the Coalition at the moment?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, my focus today, Bridget, and I think the focus of most Australians is the Day of Mourning, a day of unity and remembrance. I'll be attending the Opera House service tonight. I know a lot of Australians will be watching that. They'll be lighting a candle, they'll be doing an act of kindness, a mitzvah, the head of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Ulman, has asked us to do as Australians. That has been my focus. The focus of the Parliament this week has been on laws to keep Australians safe and to bring us together. I think it's very disappointing that the Coalition have chosen today to engage in this sort of nonsense and diversion. Today is a Day of Mourning, and our Parliament should be focused on laws to keep us safe and bring us together. Our Parliamentarians should be focused on what's good for the nation, and instead they're focused on themselves.

BRENNAN: What have you heard from people, especially across Sydney, in the wake of that horrific attack? How has it affected everyday Sydneysiders, not least, of course, the Jewish community? How are people feeling? And is today a chance for people to feel some solidarity with the victims and to feel like they can do something to remember those killed?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think it's been a devastating time for Sydney. I was at a Chanukah celebration in Newtown. You know, on that night, we just had this most beautiful Chanukah celebration. The neighbours around Hollis Park had had their own Christmas party. The neighbours from Hollis Park Christmas party were coming to the Chanukah celebration. It was a very typical, beautiful, warm Sydney summer evening. And then the messages started coming through about a shooting at Bondi. It was really unbelievable. It wasn't until I was in the car on the way home that the reality of what was happening started to come through on the radio. I think Sydneysiders are still reeling from what happened. The worst ever terror attack on Australian soil. And many, many Australians are looking for ways that they can show support and show solidarity with the victims of the attack. Many, I think many people will be watching this service of remembrance and unity tonight. They'll be lighting a candle and putting it in the window to show that solidarity and that our thoughts are with the victims. You just interviewed that amazing lifesaver who ran towards danger. There are so many Australians who've sought to help by donating blood, by donating money, by reaching out to Jewish friends and neighbours to show solidarity and support. This is a moment for national unity, when we should be coming together to look after each other, to show kindness. I think most Australians want to do that.

BRENNAN: How will you judge the success or otherwise of the hate speech laws? I mean, the Nationals have made the point that they wanted further inquiry into the laws and any unintended consequences. It was a view shared, perhaps for different reasons, but from other minority groups and from human rights groups as well. Could there have been more time to iron out any discrepancies in the laws?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, these laws are an immediate response to the attack in Bondi, the worst ever terrorist attack on Australian soil. And, of course, we want to do more as a government. We've been very clear about that. We introduced stronger hate speech laws in the last Parliament. We'd like to go further. We wanted to go further with these laws, but we couldn't get the support of other Parliamentary parties to do that. Should we have waited longer? Well, we had the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, wanting us to recall Parliament before Christmas. Instead, we've taken some weeks to come up with laws. We've released an exposure draft of those laws. We've consulted widely on those laws. I think it is a bit rich for the Opposition to say, on the one hand, we should recall Parliament immediately, and on the other hand, we've recalled Parliament too soon, that we want laws straight away, but not yet. They've been all over the place on this. It's not a time for this sort of division and dysfunction. We want a methodical, thoughtful, consultative approach to these new laws. We've done that as a government. We wished we could have gone further to provide further assurance and further safety. Unfortunately, the Senate that we've got didn't support that.

BRENNAN: Just on another issue, Tanya Plibersek, I want to ask you about Greenland and what's playing out in Europe. Many of our key allies are deeply concerned about the US proposals to acquire Greenland. The US President overnight seems to have had a slight shift in language. However, how concerned is Australia about what's playing out in Europe and in the United States?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We've consistently said that the future of Greenland is a matter for Greenland and for Denmark. We'll, of course, continue to work with our allies to provide the sort of secure and predictable environment we want globally. I thought Mark Carney's speech yesterday at the Davos Forum in Switzerland was a real call to middle powers like Australia to work together to provide that sort of assurance of predictability into the future.

BRENNAN: Tanya Plibersek, thanks for your time on the show this morning.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.

ENDS