SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
SUNDAY, 18 JANUARY 2026

SUBJECTS: Combatting Antisemitism; Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, Dennis Richardson review, Greenland, Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, Board of Peace.

KATY GALLAGHER: On the 14th of December last year, we saw the worst terror attack on our nation's soil. It was an antisemitic terrorist attack, and since then the Government has been working day and night throughout the break to make sure that we are responding in a comprehensive way. Part of that response has been the development of legislation in order to combat antisemitism, to crack down on hate and extremism, and to reduce the number of guns that exist across this country.

Now, that legislation was released last week in an exposure draft form, and we have been working across the Parliament over that time to seek agreement on those laws. Now, the PM announced yesterday that he was prepared to remove a section of that exposure draft bill in an attempt to make sure that we could get that legislation through the Parliament.

So this week, when the Parliament comes together, on Monday it will be a day of condolence, a day where the Parliament stands together to remember those who lost their lives, but also to stand together and send support to the families that are grieving and the communities that are grieving post that terrorist attack. It will be an important day. And a day of condolence and a day of healing, on Tuesday that is the day that we need to see action come. We need to see the legislation pass the Parliament that responds to that terrorist attack, that antisemitic terrorist attack.

So that legislation will include combating antisemitism, cracking down on hate groups, banning those extremist groups that we have seen who peddle antisemitism, and also deal with a national gun buy-back and some updates to gun regulation in this country. It is an important day, and it is important that the Parliament meets this moment, the moment that the country needs, which is a moment where the Parliament comes together, as the country has come together in the last month, to make sure that we get these bills done.

And I say to the Opposition, I say to Sussan Ley, this is a day where she needs to unite her party and put Australians first. That is what we need from the Opposition. Now, the Opposition called for the Parliament to be recalled. The Parliament is being recalled this week. The Opposition called for laws to be drafted that combat antisemitism, that crack down on hate. We have done that. The Opposition had some concerns around linking guns with other elements of the bill. The Prime Minister has responded to that.

The Prime Minister has been clear from immediately following the Bondi terrorist attack that he wanted to work across the Parliament. He was not interested in politics. He was interested in responding in a comprehensive way to the terrorist attack, to keep Australians safe and to make sure that we were doing everything we could to stop this from ever happening again. Now, part of that is the legislation. We have been working across the Parliament. We will continue to do that. If there are genuine amendments, ideas that the Opposition want to put forward, then we are prepared to listen to those. The PM has been clear about this from the get-go.

But we need to get something from the Opposition. We have not had anything to date, and we need to make sure that the Parliament does deal with this legislation in a way that ensures Australians are safer, that has the Opposition putting Australia first, that the Opposition Leader seeks to unite her party and make sure that she prioritises Australians over some of the dynamics in her party room. And we will continue to work over the next 48 hours to make sure we get the outcome that Australia is after. Because in all my dealings over the past month since Bondi, Australians want to see unity. They want to see agreement. They want to see the Parliament working together, and that is the approach we will take into the sitting week.

JOURNALIST: Minister, you mentioned that you have not heard anything from the Coalition so far. Have you had any contact whatsoever with them since yesterday? And same for the Greens.

GALLAGHER: So I am in pretty regular contact with my counterparts across the Parliament, as you would expect as a Manager of Senate Business. So I have had contact with managers from both of those parties and, again, saying the same thing here that I have in the discussions I have had with them: we stand ready to work with you to make sure we can pass these pieces of legislation. Understand that they will go through their own party processes, but we are doing everything we can. In relation to the Greens, and the PM spoke to this yesterday, they did engage with us last week pretty heavily and they made the decision at the end of the day that they would support guns but would support other elements of it. We have not had that kind of concrete feedback from the Opposition.

JOURNALIST: Minister, if the Government cannot secure support on the hate speech provisions, or confirm that support from the Coalition before Tuesday, will it still move to introduce the legislation then?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think the PM was pretty clear. He does not want division on the floor of Parliament on this. This is a moment of national importance, and he was clear about that yesterday. We want agreement on the way forward. We want the Parliament to work together. We have secured that on guns, and so we will be proceeding with that. We are working with the Opposition on other elements of the bill.

JOURNALIST: Just to clarify: you say “other elements of the bill”. Yesterday the PM said he was just carving out Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 that deal with guns. So there will be two pieces of legislation introduced into the Senate on Tuesday morning, minus the 18C-style vilification provision. Is that correct?

GALLAGHER: Yes, that is right. So we would remove the racial vilification elements that are in the exposure draft. And look that is why it is an exposure draft. It was sent out as an exposure draft: give us your feedback. We have listened over the last week. We understand that element does not have agreement, and so it has been removed. We understand that the Opposition wanted guns separated, and we have secured support for guns. That will proceed. And now we are working, and we will continue to work with everyone across the Parliament about those other schedules. Essentially, two bills will be prepared, and we are negotiating over those.

JOURNALIST: Just on the hate speech bills. Are you removing the religious text defence from that one, and if so, why?

GALLAGHER: Well, that essentially is a consequence of removing racial vilification. It is a consequential amendment. There was not agreement on that section on racial vilification and the consequential legislative amendments that sat around that, so they will be removed.

JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister said yesterday that he was not confident, without the racial vilification clause, that it might be enough to stamp out antisemitism. What confidence can the Jewish community have in the new reform as it currently is?

GALLAGHER: We have been working with members of the Jewish community, as you would expect, in a whole range of ways, not only in providing support and assistance and all of those immediate responses, but also in how we can strengthen our laws, our legislative framework, to ensure that they are feeling safer post this terrorist attack. Now, stamping out antisemitism is an ongoing effort and will require multi focused and multiple elements that come together to work on that. We do not have agreement on race vilification, but there are other really important elements in this bill. So, listing of prohibited organizations, clamping down on and tightening and increasing the penalties on hate speech, and those that perpetuate hate speech, which the Jewish community say, and they tell me all the time, that they have been subjected to. So the elements of the bill that exist without the racial vilification still have very strong purpose around combating antisemitism. And that is why many of these groups, including neo-Nazis, who have foreshadowed they are going to disband once they saw this exposure draft bill. That shows you how serious these laws are. Of course, those elements are just as important. We are going to have to continue to work in every way we can on combating antisemitism, but these laws remain critical to doing that, and the Opposition have said that themselves. They have asked for these laws to be brought to the Parliament. They have asked for these organisations to be banned. So what we need from them is the actual action to get these laws passed and those outcomes delivered for the Jewish community.

JOURNALIST: In the simplest terms, digestible to the everyday Australian, can you say the elements that are left in the hate speech bill, and whether any of those elements have support yet?

GALLAGHER: In answer to your second part, we are working to seek support for those with the Opposition. What the bill would do: it would increase penalties on hate speech; it would increase penalties around grooming minors, who we are increasingly seeing in the courts in relation to hate speech and extremism; and it would ban prohibited organisations, many of those organizations that the Opposition have been calling to be banned. So the neo-Nazi, the MSN network that we have been seeing more prominently in the last 12 months, it would seek to ban them. Now that is what we are asking the Opposition to support. I think there is strong support across the community for these laws. They want to see the country come together. They also want to see fewer guns. Part of the issue at Bondi was that the terrorists were heavily armed. We have 4 million guns in Australia, more than we had at the time of the Port Arthur massacre, and it is time that we reduce the number of guns. So it is a very important part of this as well, in an attempt to keep Australians safe.

JOURNALIST: Two questions. First, the Greens have mentioned a concern about how toughening up could impact the protest movement, pro-Palestinian movements and so on. What would you say to people protesting or activists who may have concerns around thresholds for hate speech or banned organisations?

GALLAGHER: We do not share the concerns with the Greens on that one, and we have made that clear to them in the last week.

JOURNALIST: And on the Dennis Richardson review, there is a bit of a push across the political spectrum from Jewish groups and security agencies for Dennis Richardson to have essentially similar powers to Royal Commission, if not those powers, it would allow him to compel witnesses, but also he could make hearings public that might be in the public interest, given the security failings or alleged security failings are such a big part of what people not want to know about Bondi, will you consider giving Dennis Richardson those kinds of powers?

GALLAGHER: Dennis Richardson has the full support of the Government to conduct his inquiry. He has been told that by the Prime Minister. He has all agencies engaging with him. It is a matter for him about how he conducts his inquiry. Of course there will need to be agreement on how his inquiry works with the Royal Commission, but we do not see any issues around that at all. His work is underway, and he has the full support of the Government to conduct his inquiry in the way that he feels he needs to. My understanding is he feels that the current arrangements are adequate for that.

JOURNALIST: Will Australia join with the leaders of France, Great Britain and the European Union in warning the US against an invasion of Greenland?

GALLAGHER: It is outside my portfolio area, but we have been clear that the issue of Greenland is a matter for Greenland and Denmark. In terms of some of the speculation or reports I have seen this morning around tariffs and things like that, our position on that has been clear: we do not support tariffs. We support free trade. But when it comes to the sovereignty of Greenland, it is a matter for Denmark and Greenland.

JOURNALIST: Would it require some sort of shift in our foreign and defence policy if the US takes action against Greenland? It would be quite a departure from post Second World War conduct

GALLAGHER: I am not going to get into hypotheticals. I don't think that's useful for a member of the government to be speculating about what ifs and what might happen. We are clear on our position on tariffs. We do not support them. We support free trade. And when it comes to Greenland, that is a matter for the people of Greenland and Denmark.

JOURNALIST: Minister your view on Jerome Powell, as well as criminal investigations against the Fed chair in the US. Jim Chalmers had something to say on Friday. What is your view?

GALLAGHER: If I recall correctly, the Treasurer from his press conference said he supports the independence of central banks, and that is why he thought the comments made by Michelle Bullock were appropriate in the sense that the Reserve Bank here is independent. As to matters of court and of a legal nature in the United States, I am not going to comment on that.

JOURNALIST: Is it appropriate for the RBA Governor to comment on that if you are not?

GALLAGHER: As I understand it, the Governor has signed a letter along with other central bank governors around the importance of the independence of central banks, and the Treasurer responded to that on Friday.

JOURNALIST: President Trump has sent letters to world leaders inviting them to be founding members of his new Board of Peace. Has the Prime Minister received one of those letters and more generally, what is Australia's position on this board that is taking shape as a potential rival to the United Nations and global affairs?

GALLAGHER: I am sorry, I cannot answer that. I am not briefed on those matters. I'm not aware, so I'm not in a position to answer. Our position internationally has been that we support multilateral forums. We support efforts of diplomacy to drive peace across the world. We understand we are living in a world of heightened competition. We want diplomacy. We want to see peace. We want to see dialogue, and we want to see discussions that encourage peace across the world wherever you live. That has not changed. Of course, we continue to engage with countries on that, with that approach.

JOURNALIST: Parliament scheduled to sit in February. Clearly the hate speech laws aren't going to prevent another terror attack between now and then. Why the urgency? Why the rush in trying to get them through on Tuesday rather than taking some more time to look at the criticisms that the draft legislation has faced and take a couple of weeks to go through those?

GALLAGHER: This has been a matter talked about since Bondi, so we have had a month of national discussion. We were clear in the days following Bondi that these were legislation that we wanted drafted. We spent the break doing that. It is an urgent response. We do need to respond strongly to the worst terror attack we have had on Australian soil. It happened on the on the 14th of December. Fifteen Australians gunned down, many more injured, communities shattered. They expect their Parliament to respond and respond with some sense of urgency. Now we have drafted those bills. We have done what many other governments haven't done when they have sought to respond with legislation of this nature, and I can remember from my time in opposition, where legislation was introduced the morning and we were expected to have it passed in the evening. We have taken and provided that legislation in exposure draft sense. We have listened. The PM has listened over the last week and he’s made some changes in response to that. Now it is time for action. Monday is on condolence. Tuesday is on getting some legislation passed and sending a very strong message to people who engage in hate and extremism in this country that the Parliament will respond: there will be greater penalties, there will be a crackdown on some of these groups, there will be powers for the Minister for Home Affairs to cancel visas. These are really important responses to what we saw happen in Bondi. There is no reason to delay them. We have taken out the bit that people were concerned about. We now we need to press forward on the areas where the Opposition have been calling for this, calling for parliament to be recalled, calling for legislation of this nature. Now is the time to do it. That's Tuesday. We want to get this job done.

JOURNALIST: If the Government is not able to reach a consensus on the hate provision by Tuesday, will it seek to re-introduce it in February?

GALLAGHER: We will always make sure that we are working on keeping Australians safe. The point here with these bills is that they can get done on Tuesday. There is no reason, it’s not like these issues haven’t been well ventilated, not even just since Bondi, they've been well ventilated over the past few years. There is absolutely no reason why, with the changes the PM has made, because he wants these laws passed. He wants the parliament to work together. He wants a moment of national unity, that that can't happen on Tuesday.

JOURNALIST: Logistics question sorry. Previously, the bill was going to be introduced on Monday, I believe, and then it was going to be transmitted overnight, debated in the Senate. We're now talking about introduction on Tuesday morning. Is it the expectation that both bills be introduced into the House on Tuesday morning? Passed relatively quickly through the House with minimal debate, transmitted to the Senate and then passed through the Senate by COB. Could we see you sitting well into the night in the Senate here, potentially into Wednesday morning??

GALLAGHER: So as the PM said yesterday, the bill would be introduced into the House on Tuesday morning. We are working in the meantime, with the opposition on those pieces of legislation as well. The Senate is intending to sit at two o'clock so that we would have question time and then move to debate on the bills once the house is finished. There is no COB in the Senate, as many of you who have watched the Senate can testify to. The issue of the Senate is we need votes to do everything. We need votes to sit as a Senate. We need votes to agree the program as a Senate. We need to win votes to deal with any matter that comes up on the notice paper. So that's a matter for negotiation, but our intention is to definitely sit in the afternoon. It will take as long as it takes, we will get guns done, and with the support of the opposition, and I hope we are able to gain the support of the opposition if, if the if Sussan Ley is able to unite her party and put Australians first, we would also proceed with passage of those bills, and it will take as long as it takes in the Senate.

JOURNALIST: Just one more. When will the committee be releasing its report? Are you going to wait to table that to Parliament before it is public?

GALLAGHER: I am not a member of that committee. My understanding is they are having meetings today. It may be tonight or tomorrow morning. I know they have been working around the clock as well, and we appreciate that. That is a genuine effort across the Parliament. And if the PJCIS can work across party lines, I am sure the Parliament can as well. Thanks everybody.