Interview with Sarah Abo, Today Show, Channel 9

Subjects: ISIS foreign fighters wives and children, brides, housing, supply, 1.2m target Well, more now on the second cohort of so‑called ISIS brides to touchdown in Australia. The 6 women and their children landing last night in Sydney and Melbourne to discuss. We are joined this morning by Housing Minister Clare O’Neil live in Canberra.

Good morning to you, Minister. So, do you think Australians are safer with them here? Clare O’Neil: Look Sarah, I think the Prime Minister has been really upfront about this.

We actually don’t want these people to return to Australia. These women made horrific decisions to go overseas and join a death cult whose principal aim was to destroy our way of live – Are we safer with them here, Minister? And so we are working with national security agencies on this.

This is a difficult issue and a long running issue for the country. We are lucky to have some of the best national security agencies in the world supporting us here in Australia and they will be monitoring this situation extremely closely. Are we safer with them here?

Well, Sarah, again I just say to you, we’ve got the best national security agencies in the world. It’s a yes or no question, Minister. We’ve got the best national security agencies in the world and we’re going to be making sure that these are monitored.

Do you have faith in the process? Well, I certainly have faith in our national security agency, Sarah. We’ve got fantastic people who are working around the clock and doing everything they can to keep Australians safe.

We’re very lucky with our intelligence agencies, with our federal police and our state police who work in close partnership and we do trust them to support the country to be safe. And now this is a situation that we didn’t want to emerge. The Prime Minister’s been quite clear.

We don’t want these people to return to Australia. Minister, we’ve heard that line from the government numerous times. It was a simple question I asked you and you know, yes or no answers are very hard to come by.

Is the Syrian government or the American government dictating what we do here in Australia? Well, absolutely not, Sarah, but again – So, why are they here then? You don’t want them here.

This is a difficult situation that governments have had to deal with over many years. This is not the first time that this has happened. Under the former government, dozens of foreign fighters actually returned to Australia and resettled in the community.

It’s not the outcome that we want. But I think you’ve watched the Australian Parliament try to legislate this problem away and that has been unsuccessful. We have to trust our national security agencies.

We have some of the best national security agencies in the world supporting us and keeping us safe. And they are watching this situation very closely. Ok, so then what does that tell you if none of the women who landed last night were arrested, they weren’t even questioned.

There’s even talk that they won’t face deradicalisation programs? Well, I’ll let the Home Affairs Minister speak to the specifics of how these women will be treated. But I can say that the police are very involved in this, very involved in watching this particular cohort of women when they were overseas and now that they’ve returned to Australia and they will be well managed by our national security forces.

This is not the first time that they’ve had to do this. This is a recurring problem for the country and we’ve got ASIO, the Australian Federal Police and State police agencies working in close partnership to keep the community safe. Is the government funding their accommodation?

The hotel stays here? Not that I know of, Sarah, but again, these are questions for the Home Affairs Minister. I look after housing.

All right, well, let’s move on to housing then. And we’re learning this morning that new home completions have plunged to a 12 year low. How can the public, I suppose, have any faith in you to build what you say you will build?

Well, Sarah, the data you have there’s actually a little bit out of date and there’s been some really good news since those numbers came out. So, they reflect a situation of last year. We have had new numbers that show us that new home starts, that is so sod turns and starting to see homes come out of the ground, has increased by 26 per cent over the last year.

And that joins some other good news we’ve had recently in housing. We’ve got now 250,000 Australians into their own home through our 5 per cent deposit program. But the big picture point you make is a good one.

We’ve got a really big problem with housing in our country. That’s why we’ve got this incredibly bold and ambitious plan to try to help Australians get ahead and do it in their own home. And that was supported by the big changes in the federal Budget a couple of weeks ago.

Right, well, just on those numbers that you mentioned there, just to clarify, so we’re currently falling short by about 16,000 homes every 3 months, is that not the case? Well, no, we’re not where we want to be, Sarah, but I’m just making the point that we’ve seen some big improvements since the numbers that you mentioned there. There is no question that we are not building enough homes in Australia.

And that has been a recurring problem for our country for 40 years. And I can be really direct with your viewers at home and say for decades, Australian Governments have not stood up and done much about this problem until our government was elected in 2022. Now we are seeing some really important progress on home building in this country, but there’s still a hell of a lot more work to do.

And that’s why every budget and every election, we’re there with the next set of housing policies and reforms to try to make this system fair. You know, Sarah, I often get asked what keeps me up at night. The biggest thing I’m worried about is plummeting home ownership rates for the young people of this country and that is why we are so focused on that problem. 250,000 Australians in their own home because of – our government.

And now a budget which for the first time will level the playing field for first home buyers. Housing Minister, Clare O’Neil, thanks for your time this morning. Thanks, Sarah.