New Zealand shooting comments spark diplomatic row as Scott Morrison calls in Turkish ambassador

By political reporter Brett Worthington- ABC

20 Mar 2019

(Translation appears in Arabic section)

Canberra - M E Times Int'l: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slammed Turkey's President and threatened further action for "deeply offensive" comments besmirching Anzacs and threatening violence to Australians and New Zealanders following the Christchurch massacre.

Australia will review its travel advice for Turkey following President Tayyip Erdogan's threats Australians visiting Gallipoli would return in coffins like their grandparents if they came to the country with anti-Muslim sentiment.

Mr Morrison summoned the Turkish ambassador Korhan Karakoç to Parliament House this morning and left the meeting warning he would take further action.

"I do not accept the excuses that have been offered for those comments," Mr Morrison told reporters after his meeting with the ambassador.

Mr Erdogan criticised the Anzacs for their role in the Gallipoli campaign and threatened to return anyone who came to his country with anti-Islam sentiment back in coffins.

Mr Morrison said he had spoken with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and would continue to liaise with the New Zealand Government in response to the comments.

He said he wanted the comments withdrawn and the state broadcaster to revoke its "misrepresentation" of Australian policy.

Mr Morrison said failure to do that would prompt further action.

"I will wait to see what the response is from the Turkish Government before taking further action but I can tell you that all options are on the table," he said.

The Government has not released a timeframe for how long it would take to review Australia's travel advisory for visitors to Turkey.

Mr Erdogan claimed the mosque attacks in New Zealand were part of a wider attack on Turkey and evidence of global anti-Muslim sentiment.

Before speaking with the ambassador, Mr Morrison told the ABC he was "very offended" with Mr Erdogan's remarks.

"I don't find these comments very helpful," he said.

"I don't find them very accurate or truthful as well, because the actions of the Australian and New Zealand government[s] have been consistent with our values of welcoming and supporting people from all around the world."

Australian Brenton Tarrant is facing murder charges in New Zealand after a lone gunman opened fire at two mosques during prayers on Friday.

The massacre killed 50 people and left dozens of people injured.

Mr Erdogan, who has been touring the country ahead of local elections later this month, again showed excerpts of a video taken by the attacker during the mosque shootings and denounced what he called rising hatred and prejudice against Islam.

He criticised New Zealand and Australia for sending troops to Turkey in the World War I Gallipoli campaign, claiming their motive was anti-Islam-oriented.

"Your grandparents came here … and they returned in caskets," he said.

"Have no doubt we will send you back like your grandfathers."

Mr Erdogan said Turkey was wrong to have abolished the death penalty 15 years ago, and added that New Zealand should make legal arrangements so the Christchurch gunman could face capital punishment.

"Australia has denounced, New Zealand has denounced, absolutely and completely, the act of extremist right-wing terrorism, white supremacist terrorism that we saw in New Zealand," Mr Morrison said before meeting with the ambassador.

"We could not have been more forward leaning in offering our great condolence and support to the Muslim community both in New Zealand and in Australia.

"I find the responsibility, in these situations, of all leaders is to take the temperature down on these issues, and I don't intend to seek to escalate that in the response I'm giving today."

ISIS calls for revenge over NZ: report

NYT: Islamic State has called for retaliation over the terror attack on two mosques by a white Australian that killed 50 in the New Zealand town of Christchurch, The New York Times reports.

The spokesman for the jihadist group, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, has broken a six-month silence to say last week's massacre "should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion".

The release of a 44-minute recording came as US-backed Syrian forces said they were nearing victory over ISIS in its final bit of territory at Baghouz in eastern Syria.

Self-described white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged over the attacks which resulted in the deaths of 50 and the injury of another 50 people, all of whom were attending Friday prayers.

"The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion," Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said in the recording.

Daley apologises for Asian migrant comments

Sydney: NSW Labor leader Michael Daley has apologised after video emerged showing him saying that Asian migrants are 'taking the jobs' of young Sydneysiders. The comments were made during an informal 'Politics in the Pub' event in the Blue Mountains last year, with Mr Daley claiming that young people in Sydney were leaving the city and being 'replaced' with Asian people with PhDs. The statements have been condemned by both the Liberal government and the Greens. The Labor Party released a statement on Tuesday, claiming Mr Daley was making a comment about 'cost of living and housing affordability pressures' in Sydney. Mr Daley also released a statement, apologising for his language and conceded he could have expressed himself better.

PM Morrison announces more fund for Safer Communities

Sydney: The Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers a speech at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

He said: "The acts of terrorism last Friday have caused me to pause, to reflect, and to take the opportunity today to have a different conversation.

The Jewish people know what it’s like to be the victim of hate-speech, to be politically objectified.

And like family, the Kiwis are the people most like us in the world.

Many years ago, our Queen, Her Majesty, said this about the Kiwi character.

New Zealand is characterised by “a sense of fairness and justice; a willingness to be outward-looking; and a natural compassion for others”. So true.

The Australian Muslim community has offered counsellors and is providing support to the New Zealand Muslim community – along with, I’m sure support from Muslims from countries around the world.

In Christian churches and Jewish synagogues there have been prayers for our Muslim brothers and sisters, bound by our Abrahamic faiths.

As part of our efforts keeping Australian safe, we have  a Safer Communities fund that has provided since 2016 $70 million in local community safety grants for schools, pre-schools, community organisations and local councils.

Today, I am announcing an acceleration and extension of that program, to provide $55 million in community safety grants - and for priority to be given to religious schools, places of religious worship and religious assembly.

The grants from $50,000 to $1.5 million will provide for safety enhancements such as CCTV cameras, lighting, fencing, bollards, alarms, security systems and public address systems.

Religious freedom is not just an inalienable right as free citizens. It is important to the very cohesion of our society. It is for many Australians impossible to separate their faith from their culture.

Australian leaders show support for Islamic community

Australia: Australian leaders have all turned out in solidarity for those affected by the terror attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attended an interfaith mass at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, where leaders of different faiths around Australia stood side-by-side with Muslim leaders.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten spent time with the local Islamic communities in Melbourne, spreading a message of hope and love at the Islamic Council of Victoria. Both leaders are demanding tougher action from social media platforms after the Christchurch gunman live-streamed the attack on Facebook.

Hanson to abstain from Anning censure vote

Brisbane: Queensland senator Pauline Hanson will abstain from voting to censure her former One Nation party colleague Fraser Anning because it won't "prove a damn thing".

In a fiery face-off on morning television with fellow crossbencher Derryn Hinch, party leader Senator Hanson downplayed her past connection to Senator Anning, who now sits as an independent.

"For you to say that is absolutely disgusting," she told Seven's Sunrise when asked if she had picked Senator Anning to run for One Nation because of his white supremacist views.

"No, I didn't pick him because of that."

Senator Anning entered parliament in late 2017 as a replacement for One Nation's Malcolm Roberts, who was disqualified from sitting in the upper house because due to his dual citizenship.

NZ mosque gunman visited Israel in 2016

New Zealand: Israeli officials have said the main suspect in New Zealand's mosque attacks made a brief visit to Israel in late 2016.

Brenton Tarrant, an Australian national, entered Israel in October 2016 on a three-month tourist visa and stayed for nine days, an official with Israel's Population and Immigration Authority told Reuters.

Tarrant is the suspected gunman in Friday's attacks in the city of Christchurch in which 50 people were killed in New Zealand's worst peacetime mass shooting.

The official said there were no further details available on what Tarrant, 28, did during his stay in Israel.

The Australian embassy and New Zealand consulate in Israel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Also in late 2016, Tarrant visited Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, where he stopped by historic battle sites, before travelling in Western Europe in 2017.

He returned to the Balkans in November 2018 to tour historic sites of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Also he visited Turkey.

Peter Dutton explains why accused shooter wasn’t on a watch list

Canberra: Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton today said Tarrant had spent just 45 days in Australia over the past three years, and has been travelling internationally extensively for the past nine years.

 “There is only so much content that can be covered, assessed and analysed by ASIO and other partner agencies,” said Mr Dutton.

The minister was defending the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police against suggestions they had failed to identify the danger Tarrant posed.

And he rejected claims the security authorities were only focused on Islamic terrorists, ignoring right-wing extremists.

 “They will look at the threat of any individual regardless of their religion, their race, their creed. They are focused on threat,” Mr Dutton told ABC radio.

“And if somebody is posing a threat then they are on ASIO or the Australian Federal Police radar.”

He said: “I can assure you there is a significant amount of work under way. ASIO is not blind to the threat (from right wing extremists) and it was raised with me from the very first day.”

Mr Dutton said work by security agencies had “absolutely, directly saved lives”.

“Our focus is people who seek to do us harm, wherever they are on the spectrum,” said Mr Dutton.

Mr Dutton also urged voters to dump independent senator Fraser Anning who’s been branded a disgrace for blaming the Christchurch mosque massacre on Muslim immigration.

The Morrison government and the opposition have rejected calls from the Greens to change laws to allow politicians to be expelled from federal parliament.

Mr Dutton said voters would be able to react to Mr Anning’s “appalling” comments at the May election.

“People can express their view freely and respectfully at the ballot box and I think that is the strongest possible message that can be sent,” the minister said.

Fed Labor commits $200m to Canberra tram

Canberra: Federal Labor will commit $200 million towards Canberra's light rail network if the party wins the next election.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is promising to include the funding in his first budget, along with a suite of other public transport projects across the country to tackle traffic congestion and create jobs.

"Canberra is our nation's proud capital and we will make sure this beautiful city shines and has the right infrastructure to attract new tourism and economic opportunities," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The funding would go towards the second stage of the light rail project, extending the line over Lake Burley Griffin through the Parliamentary Triangle and on to Woden in Canberra's south.

The second stage requires federal legislation because it will pass through land controlled by the Commonwealth.

"This commitment ensures the ACT government can continue planning the project knowing it will attract federal support," Mr Shorten said.