ALLY LANGDON, HOST: Thanks for joining us this morning, some serious questions over the airport
security blunder which allowed two German travellers to fly into Melbourne from Sydney
without going into hotel quarantine. A Sydney police officer on only his second shift has been
blamed for the mistake, which has seen more than 170 people go into isolation. There is
plenty to discuss this morning. And I'm joined by Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy
and Chris Smith from 2GB and 4CC. Nice to see you. Malarndirri, I mean, this is embarrassing
for New South Wales police, and we totally get that mistakes are made. But the issue here is
the consequences could have been catastrophic.
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Absolutely, Ally. And this is why that
sense of vigilance is even more so important as we kind of come to what's been an exhausting year
and we come to the end of it, we've actually got to be on even greater alert because this is when
those sorts of things can happen and become something that we don't want it to be.
LANGDON: Yeah. What were your thoughts on this yesterday, Chris? Because, I mean, the mum and
her son, they were only picked up by an eagle eyed security attendant at Melbourne Airport
who realised that they'd avoided hotel quarantine. We had the health minister,
Greg Hunt, saying that we have this fail safe border control.
But to be honest, I mean, this was pure luck, wasn't it, that this was picked up?
CHRIS SMITH, 2CC AND 2GB: It was. We don't have a fail safe border control. Humans are involved. And
when humans are involved, mistakes are going to be made. When you consider they dealt with 100,000
returned travellers over the space of about seven months, it's not a bad record. And I'm sure the
police officer had his bum kicked. Like at the end of the day, these things will happen. We've
got great contact tracing and hopefully good contact tracing in Melbourne. We could have
handled it if we had to. I think at the end of the day, they've done a pretty good job.
LANGDON: And look good on this police officer straightaway fessed up and said
this. It was only his second day. He's learnt from this. And and the
police have learnt from this and they've put more checks and balances in place.
Now, I want to talk to you about the huge reaction to the historic rendition of the
national anthem by teenager Olivia Fox at the weekend's Wallabies game. Just take a listen. And
I thought it was just beautiful, the Newtown high school student singing in the Indigenous
Eora language with all the players learning the words, it was pretty special in my mind,
but it has been criticised by some former Indigenous sports stars who say changing the
language still doesn't change the meaning of the anthem. Malarndirri, what did you take from this?
MCCARTHY: I thought it was absolutely beautiful, Ally. I think anything that does try to
bring our country together has to be a good thing. And hearing First Nations languages even more,
whether it's in the anthem or even spoken in other areas or even used in terms of the
names of suburbs and streets, brings about a better, I think, a better playing field for
that respect and understanding. Now, of course, there's questions around the words of the anthem,
and that's certainly a conversation that we've had on your program before. I mean,
I've always said that I love the version of Judith Durham and Kutcha [Edwards], you know,
and I just think that that's a great anthem. But this was a great moment.
And I say well done to the Wallabies, you know, well done for doing what you did.
LANGDON: Didn't you think it was amazing that they all learnt the words I thought was so powerful.
MCCARTHY: Absolutely. And, you know, and all the commentary in terms of Australians and anyone
else who wanted to say whatever they thought, it was really a beautiful moment in sport.
And I do commend them for doing that. I hear what others are saying around the meaning of the words
in the anthem. But you know what? We are getting so much better at having this conversation.
And I think we're going to get to a point where we're going to discuss that as well.
LANGDON: Yep. Chris, your thoughts?
SMITH: Well, the way the Wallabies played, they obviously spent too
much time in singing lessons and not enough time on the training paddock. But anyway,
let's put that aside. I thought it was wonderful. I think we've got to get rid of the word 'young'.
We're not young. Our habitation is not young. The land is not young. It's incredibly old. Get
rid of the word. We've already removed a word from the anthem previously. We can do it again.
That's a good conversation to have. As for Anthony Mundine, will we ever placate Anthony Mundine? No.
LANGDON: Yeah, that's a fair call. And you've been telling us what you think on Facebook.
Nathan from Caloundra in Queensland said, "It was beautifully done and nice to see almost everyone
singing in both languages". From David Grieve in South Sydney, "It doesn't matter what language
the anthem is sung in, it's some of the words that need changing". And Lynda Marshall says,
"In a lot of countries, the national anthem is sung in more than one language, an excellent way
of including everyone." keep your comments coming. What did you think of those comments, Malarndirri?
MCCARTHY: Yeah, Ally, look, I was just going to say as well, and I think it's important that
all Australians recognise that First Nations people will have different views
and it's important to respect the different views of that too. And I think,
you know, we talk about wanting to have a Voice to the parliament of First Nations people. And that's
why so that there can be an open dialogue of the differences as well amongst First Nations people.
LANGDON: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to we've got the with the singer herself,
Olivia Fox, is going to be joining us on the show a little later. I look forward to that.
Now, some changes coming to our workplace laws. Casual workers who stay with the same
employer for a year must be offered permanent employment. But there is a catch. Employers
have the right to turn down the request if it requires a significant change to hours
or is deemed unreasonable for their business. Malarndirri,
is there a danger here that employers will simply opt out of this? I know the unions aren't happy?
MCCARTHY: Look, Ally, I've been certainly looking at the articles on it. We obviously haven't seen
the legislation here and I certainly haven't in our caucus, in the parliament. But one of the
things that I'm concerned about is that we've we have an issue with trust with the government in
terms of workers and whether this is really going to hit the mark on protecting the rights of the
current workers as well as those going forward is the area that I'll certainly be looking at.
I don't feel comfortable with what I've seen so far, and I've certainly heard
what the unions are saying. So clearly, we've got a fair way to go yet on this.
LANGDON: Sounds like your busy final week in Canberra too.
MCCARTHY: Absolutely.
LANGDON: And just very quickly, Victoria, New South Wales has been called
Freedom Monday when a raft of COVID restrictions come crashing down. Chris,
you can finally hit the dance floor with 49 of your closest friends.
SMITH: Oh, back to Nutbush city limits. I can't wait, you know, it’s going to be fantastic.
MCCARTHY: Why don't you start now, Chris?
SMITH: No, I can do that, [gestures hands in a roll] that's all I can do with the roll.
MCCARTHY: Give us a rendition, now.
SMITH: This is really good. And it's a great commendation on the people of Australia who
did so well. But can I just say the masks - I think Victoria has buggered up badly,
but what they've done with masks has been a fantastic master stroke. And
look at that person who was last infected in Sydney. That person went on twelve trains,
six light rail trips. And none of the people at this stage, after four days of testing,
have been infected. The mask was the thing that she was wearing. It was a masterstroke.
LANGDON: All right. Well, Malarndirri, you enjoy your new freedoms. Hallelujah, we say.