Kim Landers reported this story on Friday, October 9, 2015 12:11:55

KIM LANDERS: The Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police is warning that religious intolerance is threatening the nation's tradition of multiculturalism.



I spoke to Graham Ashton earlier, and began by asking how many police are being deployed to protect mosques and keep the peace in Victoria this weekend.



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well, we're not describing it in actual number terms for operational reasons, Kim, but we can be sure that we have got quite a lot of police deployed this weekend across the state, particularly here in Melbourne and up at Bendigo. There are quite a lot of resources at work over the weekend.



KIM LANDERS: Are you significantly having to deploy a lot of, you know, divert a lot of resources?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Absolutely. These are resources that would be out policing the community in its general policing patrol context and doing other specialist work. They're all being diverted onto this weekend, absolutely.



KIM LANDERS: You've written a newspaper editorial today and you warn protestors not to overstep the mark. When would police step in; what would provoke a response from your officers?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well, the response from our officers is all about preserving the peace so we understand that people have a lawful right to contest their ideas and to protest, and that's what having a broad church in the community is all about, but we need to make sure that the peace is not breached and, if the peace is breached, violence occurs then we can expect to have a response where arrests are made.



KIM LANDERS: Are you bracing for trouble?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Not bracing for trouble, but we have to plan for all eventualities. We know that with these events we do a lot of planning but you can have a range of outcomes and you have to be ready for any outcome.



KIM LANDERS: Are you worried about those outcomes from the protests particularly after last Friday's shooting outside the New South Wales police headquarters in Parramatta?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well, in some respects you never know what to expect from these activities. We're not receiving any intelligence that tells us there's going to be any more violence at this than we've had in any previous ones, but you have to be planning for any scenario.



KIM LANDERS: You've written in your newspaper editorial today that Victoria has a proud history of multiculturalism and you believe that that history is now under threat. What do you mean by that?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well Kim, Victoria has a hallmark in that it's a multicultural community and its one of the aspects of Victoria that I think most Victorians are very proud of, the fact that we have a rich tradition of multiculturalism and its part of the fabric of our society, and it has been since the state really got underway in the 1800s.



It's something that is part of the fabric of our society here in Victoria, and I think whilst it's been tested in the past, and I've said that in the opinion piece that's in the papers today, it has been tested in the past, but it's currently being tested again. And the reason I say that is because, with the advent of social media being relied upon in overseas conflicts, it's creating an environment where intolerance and particularly intolerance to diversity, religious diversity, particularly, is fermenting through the community, and I think our multiculturalism is being tested and our social harmony is being tested.



KIM LANDERS: So can you give us an example of where you or your officers think that that fabric of multiculturalism is fraying?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well, our officers are out on patrol every day. We work in all communities across the state and our officers hear more and more about instances where people are, for example, abused in the street for wearing clothes that reflect their religious beliefs.



The freedom to move around the community confidently and to go about their everyday business is impinged by intolerant views which manifest itself in a whole range of ways.



KIM LANDERS: This weekend there was a Bendigo Heritage Uncorked event, a wine and food festival planned for the city. It had to be abandoned because police couldn't guarantee the safety of the community, because there were also going to be these anti-Islamic, anti-mosque rallies in that town.



Do you find that that's an extraordinary situation, that a festival has to be cancelled because police can't guarantee safety?



GRAHAM ASHTON: It's not cancelled because police can't guarantee of safety; it's cancelled because the local community up there in consultation with police felt that people attending that, attending that festival may not have been able to do so in a way that would ideally wanted to do. It wasn't cancelled because police wanted it cancelled. It was a decision by the local …



KIM LANDERS: But doesn't that reflect on the ability of police to keep the peace?



GRAHAM ASHTON: It's a reflection of and it's a sad reflection of the fact that people need to create a protest activity to the degree where it's causing economic harm to the people of Bendigo.



KIM LANDERS: Overnight, a controversial Dutch MP, Geert Wilders has been granted a visa to visit Australia. He's coming to Australia to launch a new anti-Islamic party. Do you believe a decision like that to grant such a person a visa to come to Australia would continue to inflame the tensions that we've been speaking about, about Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Australia?



GRAHAM ASHTON: Well, I think the matter of whether that gentleman comes to Australia or not is obviously something that the federal authorities look at and make those decisions. From a Victorian perspective or a Victorian police perspective, we just have to make sure that what we're doing here in Victoria is consistent with a harmonious community and community harmony so we're not looking in any way to want to disrupt that.



KIM LANDERS: Chief Commissioner, thank you very much for your time today.



GRAHAM ASHTON: Pleasure Kim.



KIM LANDERS: The Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Graham Ashton, speaking to me earlier from Melbourne.