I wanted to turn now to the Palestine
protests on campuses you copped a bit of
flack for saying the terms from The
River To The Sea and inata meant
different things to different people
Josh fenberg said after this that the
education Minister needed an education
and you needed a visit to the Holocaust
Museum and you're later pulled away from
those comments what's your reaction of
the backlash you received over that
including from Josh fenberg I count Josh
as a friend and um you know I I take um
everything that Josh says on this point
very very seriously I should have been
clearer in those comments I've made that
point clear any words that Stoke fear or
intimidation are intolerable in our
universities I think I've called out the
fact that anti-Semitism whether it's in
our universities or anywhere else in the
country um is intolerable you see the
poison of that leaking out into our
community at the moment there's always
going to be a place for peaceful protest
you know we're not Russia uh but there's
no place for hate or for intimidation
or for anti-Semitism whether it's at our
Unis or anywhere else I think in the
lifetime of our grandparents we've seen
the evil that that can wreak and the
fact is I think Josh made this point
Jewish students have made this point to
me as well it's not just that they feel
unwelcome at University at the moment
but they're being made to feel unwelcome
and that's not
on Peter Dutton has called on the Sydney
University Vice Chancellor Mark Scott to
resign over the protests on his campuses
what do you make of that call uh well
well what what what I would say is I
want all University Vice chancellors to
treat as their most important issue the
safety of their students and their staff
that's got to be their focus I made that
clear in a letter I think on October the
11th and I've made that point
continuously ever since to be fair
University Vice chancellors are making
sure that their codes of conduct are
being implemented and we've seen
evidence over the last few weeks of
where students are facing discipline
reaction in some cases some students
being suspended or expelled you know
what's not on is some of the things we
saw in the last few weeks where students
are basically doing a Sittin where other
students can't get into class I want
more kids to go to university I want
them to be want police and universities
to intervene more there I I want
universities working with police and I
think that's what they've been doing do
you feel a bit compromised dealing with
this issue on campuses given the high
Muslim population in your electorate no
no I don't you know it's not people in
my electorate that are encamped at
University
I guess the truth is people in in my
electorate are hurting um just like many
Jewish Australians are hurting with the
rise of anti-Semitism and what's what
happened on October 7 there's a lot of
people in my electorate that are hurting
for for similar reasons um you know
those dead bodies that we see on
television for many Jewish Australians
and for many Palestinian and Muslim
Australians uh they have names and their
mom or their dad their relatives their
family friends and and that's why they
feel that personally in a way that you
and I I guess would find hard to to
really truly understand I wanted to ask
now about the nuclear issue the
Renewables issue what do you make of
Peter Dutton saying he'll dump the
target you had uh put in the Paris
agreement in 2022 upon coming to office
what are the possible ramifications from
that I think Peter dutton's made a big
mistake I think any Australian who
thinks climate change is real would
think now that Peter Dutton is a real
risk uh a risk to investment a risk to
jobs but just a risk that Australia will
do nothing to tackle climate change you
know even Tony Abbott didn't pull out of
a global agreement on climate change and
he thinks it's crap you know this this
makes Tony Abbott look like Al Gore no
wonder that you had a couple of liberal
MPS in the last few weeks hot to Tru to
bring Josh fenberg
back what I I don't know if too many
were that hot to Trop but what why is
the government
Andrew there a couple uh why is the
government so convinced it's in the
right on nuclear why no open mind to
nuclear at some point in the future as
Tenya Constable just said 2040 because
it costs a bomb because it costs a bomb
it costs a fortune wherever it's been
rolled out or attempted to be rolled out
around the world costs have blown out so
it costs a bomb it takes too long and to
be Frank it's about as popular as a
mother-in-law on a honeymoon most
Australians who look at this don't want
a bar of it
okay Jason CLA education Minister thanks
so much for your time good on you thanks
mate