CHRIS O'KEEFE, HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Chris. Greetings from Port Lincoln.
O'KEEFE: Any update on how Australians are in Israel at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we are keeping a watching brief, 24 hours a day, on the circumstances we're facing. I was briefed by our agencies this morning and we will receive an update every single day and as need be. We have at this point in time, just continuing to engage as well with the Israeli authorities, about what is happening on the ground. There are, of course, a number of Australian citizens in the region. We remain concerned about them, and making sure that they are safe. And there's a number for people to contact that I will give to your station to broadcast, for family who are in a circumstance whereby they're just worried. What we saw on the weekend was unprecedented. More than a thousand Hamas fighters entering into southern Israel and engaging in indiscriminate killing. And, of course, as your last interview was talking about, the detainment of citizens, including women and kids, being taken into Gaza to be held hostage, is something that is just completely unacceptable.
O'KEEFE: There's a protest slated for Sydney's CBD tonight, Prime Minister. It makes me feel very uncomfortable. I know we're a country where free speech is important, freedom of protest is important, but really, 48 hours after the atrocities we've seen in Israel, are we really holding a protest march on the Sydney Opera House?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. No, I think people need to really take a step back. I've been, as you might be aware Chris, for a long period of time and remain a supporter of a two-state solution in the Middle East, and hoping for peaceful resolution of conflict there. But what has occurred here is completely indefensible. You can't target civilians like occurred over the weekend, where you had hundreds of people, or thousands indeed, were attending a music festival. It was a music festival with young people, engaged with each other in a peaceful way. The idea that you would have people launching, essentially indiscriminate shooting at random, just trying to cause as much harm and bloodshed as possible, is just an atrocity that deserves condemnation of all.
O'KEEFE: Do you believe then, that when you see people like the New South Wales Greens and other people supporting this march tonight, do you think that they should just take a big, deep breath and say, hey, you know what? We're calling this thing off?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I would have thought so. I mean, out of just respect for the loss of life. You can have your views about the Middle East as a complex issue, certainly over a long period of time. There's no doubt that there's been and continues to be Palestinian suffering. But the actions of Hamas in this are completely indefensible and are also not in the interest, certainly not only of the people of Israel, it's not in the interest of the people of Palestine, as well.
O'KEEFE: So, you, as the Prime Minister of Australia, believe that this march should not go ahead tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: I absolutely believe it should not. I support people's right to demonstrate their views, we're a democratic nation. But I just, would counsel, what is to be served, apart from really just creating a climate that is not conducive to peace and to the objectives, the objective of wanting to see Palestinians and Israelis living a peaceful and secure life? This does not advance it, at all.
O'KEEFE: If asked, will we send aid or military equipment to Israel?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we have not been asked, and to be frank, the Israeli Defence Force, I don't think will be asking for Australia's military support in this. What we have been, well we haven't been asked, I didn't have to be asked to express political support at this time. I just did it out of gut instinct. And surely, anyone who looks at the footage that has been shown, would have the same attitude. Supporters of human rights, the supporters of citizens being able to go about their daily lives in a normal way, without being subject to what was indiscriminate killing. And this isn't a conflict here. What we saw in the weekend wasn't two military forces engaging. This was armed people, killing innocent civilians.
O'KEEFE: You've condemned the Hamas invasion. You reckon that this march should be called off, rightly so. I don't know what you can do about it, other than just say publicly that you condemn it and say that this march should not continue tonight. I noticed Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister, said that both sides need to show restraint. In retrospect, was that the wrong language? Because if a thousand Australians were slaughtered by a terror group, I wouldn't think that you'd be showing any restraint.
PRIME MINISTER: No, what Penny has said, and she, was to talk about civilians. And of course, every effort should always be made to protect and not to harm civilians. But Israel, of course, does have a right to defend itself and in these circumstances it will. And the capturing of people and having them taken into Gaza, is just an extraordinary act, which, of course, will see a response.
O'KEEFE: Do you believe that any Australian aid, the $32.2 million that was sent to the Occupied Palestinian Territories 23-24 financial year, do you think any of that has found its way over the past or will find its way to Hamas?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
O'KEEFE: Are we sure of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, we are very careful and what we have with, the Palestinian people have, of course, continued to do it tough. And we need, that's why, I'm a supporter of Israel, I'm also a supporter of Palestinians, as well. It's a circumstance here, where we know the equivalent of, for people who haven't been to the area, the equivalent of Bethlehem to Jerusalem is a similar distance, it's like going from Marrickville to Parramatta. You know these places, it is difficult, as we've seen, to have security where you have such short distances from each other. Australia provides aid through the UN Agency, for essentials like food and health care. And I visited the region. I've been to both Israel and to, I've been to Gaza, it was before the rise of Hamas, I've got to say. But, you know, these are complex issues. But I just say to those people thinking that somehow a cause is advanced by demonstrating at this time, I just think, I do call for people to think again, because it is, I think, an abhorrent action that we've seen on the weekend, and it should be condemned unequivocally.
O'KEEFE: Prime Minister, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Chris.