Legal figures warn proceedings could be prejudiced as the prime minister refers to ‘monstrous fanaticism’ in video

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Tony Abbott has read to parliament inflammatory extracts of alleged evidence against two people facing terrorism charges and insisted the government had the will to defeat the “Islamist death cult”.



The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, also highlighted how the two people arrested in the counter-terrorism raids in Sydney on Tuesday had arrived in Australia during Labor’s time in power, prompting the opposition spokesman for immigration, Richard Marles, to condemn the Coalition for “low-rent grubbiness”.

Despite prominent lawyers calling for restraint in public commentary on the case because of the potential for court proceedings to be prejudiced, Abbott disclosed key details of a briefing from police and security agency chiefs.

Abbott had the consent of the Australian federal police (AFP) to read the extracts, a spokesman said.



“The prime minister quoted the translation with the prior consent of commissioner of the AFP Andrew Colvin,” a spokesman for Abbott said.

On Thursday the prime minister told parliament details of the briefing, in response to a prepared question from a government MP.

“As part of that briefing, I was shown a pre-attack video that had been prepared by the men arrested,” he said.

“Kneeling before the death cult flag with a knife in his hand and a machete before him, one of those arrested said this: ‘I swear to almighty Allah, we will carry out the first operation for the soldiers of the caliphate in Australia.’

“He went on to say: ‘I swear to almighty Allah, blond people, there is no room for blame between you and us. We only owe you stabbing the kidneys and striking the necks.’

“Well, Madam Speaker, I don’t think it would be possible to witness uglier fanaticism than this, more monstrous fanaticism and extremism than this, and I regret to say it is now present in our country.”

The prime minister’s words came a day after police announced the arrest of two men and the seizure of a machete, a hunting knife and a homemade Islamic State flag in the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield.

The New South Wales deputy police commissioner Catherine Burn said police would allege the men, named as Omar Al Kutobi and Mohammad Kiad, were planning to carry out the attack on Tuesday. They were charged with undertaking acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act.

Burn released none of the details of the alleged threat subsequently revealed by Abbott. Police said only that the men’s behaviour was “consistent with IS messaging”. They said they were unsure of the exact nature of any intended attack, or what the target might have been.

On Thursday the president of the New South Wales bar association, Jane Needham SC, urged restraint in publicly commenting on the case, warning that the men may not receive a fair trial.

“The association has concerns about the degree of public comment in the media concerning the two terrorism suspects appearing today in bail proceedings. Such comments have the potential to undermine the proper administration of justice,” Needham said.

“Our courts should be allowed to deal with matters before them without public statements being made that could prejudice subsequent proceedings and we would urge caution in this regard.”

The Greens senator Penny Wright said: “Criminal proceedings are not a political event and the Australian Greens would be concerned to see any circumstances where a fair trial was not possible because of information revealed by the government or its agencies.”

But Abbott told parliament Australia had been “saved from an imminent terrorist attack inspired by the Islamist death cult which is now stalking so much of the Middle East” and the government would “never allow evil people to exploit our freedom”.

“This is a metastasising threat because under current conditions, under the influence of the Islamist death cult, all you need to be a terrorist is a knife, a flag, a camera phone and a victim,” he said.

“We must defeat this threat and I am confident that this government has the will to do so. We have the will to defeat these evil people. We have the will to protect our way of life.”

During question time, Dutton also commented on the case, saying one of the men arrived in Australia in 2009 and the other in 2012.

“On the advice provided to me, one of those arrived on improperly documented air travel and fraudulent documents and that matter is being investigated as a matter of urgency,” Dutton said. “But it is important for all of us to understand the pressure that our security agencies were under at the time.”

Dutton talked about the increase in boat arrivals that occurred after Labor defeated John Howard’s Coalition government in 2007, saying intelligence agencies “were pushed to the limit and indeed beyond”.

Marles raised a point of order “on the grounds of low-rent grubbiness”, in an intervention that prompted the Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, to require Marles to leave the chamber.

The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, then asked Abbott to explain how the convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf was allowed to leave Australia in December 2013 despite being on an airport watch list.

Abbott replied that “this terrorist was able to leave Australia because regrettably we weren’t able to change instantly all the bad systems that Labor had in place”.

The prime minister argued Labor had a “deep sense of shame” on border protection issues but “you can trust the safety of this country with this government”.

Abbott said counter-terrorism legislation passed last year with bipartisan support “was helpful in securing” the Sydney arrests and called for parliament to pass mandatory data retention laws early this year.

“There is more legislation on data retention shortly to come before the parliament and it must be passed if our community is to be as safe as it should be in these difficult times,” he said.

The bipartisan security committee examining the legislation is yet to publish its report, but has previously heard of concerns that the full cost and final technical details were still unclear.