Senator Michaelia Cash
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
2GB Radio Sydney
15 January 2026
Topics: Antisemitism, flawed Bill, no scrutiny
E&OE
Trent Nikolic
From the opposition I have the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Michaelia Cash. She joins us on the line. Hello, Michaelia.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you, and hello to your listeners.
Trent Nikolic
Michaelia, you’ve always called it as you see it. Do you agree with me that the Prime Minister seems to want to rush this through without anything that would appear to be the level of scrutiny that something this serious should be put under?
Senator Cash
You are bang on Trent. And in fact, the Prime Minister has presented the Australian people with a Bill that risks silencing decent Australians, and that’s the people listening into your show across Australia, while, get this protecting extremists. That is quite frankly extraordinary. Labor’s Bill actually creates a loophole, this so called religious text exemption, and if you fall within that, you can claim protection. I mean, that is extraordinary. The public expects the Parliament of Australia to stop hate. What Labor has done is actually hand extremists, the people who preach hate, a legal shield. That is an absolute disgrace.
Trent Nikolic
I said earlier in the show, when I spoke about this, Michaelia, that, you know, the Labor government’s got problems when the Greens have dropped out of the race. It would appear to me that with the amount of resistance to this bill, it’s very unlikely to go through.
Senator Cash
If Mr. Albanese has not seen the literal uproar from across Australia in relation to this Bill, then, quite frankly, he is stark, raving mad. And I think what a lot of people have actually missed, especially when it comes to free speech, it’s not just about what you actually say, the spoken word. Anyone listening to this needs to know Mr. Albanese has actually extended this out to social media. So be very, very careful. You will now be put into a situation whereby you will be questioning, can I or can’t I say this because of the laws that have been presented to the parliament? That is an absolute disgrace.
Trent Nikolic
Michaelia, I’m being asked constantly on the open line here on this program, why it is the Prime Minister’s doing what he’s doing, the way that he’s doing it. And like the rush to change the gun laws after what happened in Bondi, this would appear to maybe be another, not a diversionary tactic this time, but pointing in the wrong direction. Pointing in the wrong direction. Can you shed any light on what it is the Prime Minister is doing while seemingly being unable to actually tackle the problem head on.
Senator Cash
Well, that’s the biggest issue the Prime Minister has. And what has been exposed is that following October 7, 2023 and in particular, what we saw on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, those utterly disgusting protests the Prime Minister and his government have made excuses for two years, and then sadly, what we were confronted with in December was the murder of 15 beautiful people, and the Prime Minister is now trying to pretend nothing actually happened over the last two years. He wants the Australian Parliament to sit and forget next Tuesday. Well, I have a very, very clear message for this Prime Minister. We will not set and forget. We have been very clear Trent. We want laws that work. We want laws that actually tackle antisemitism. We want laws that actually tackle Islamic extremism. Your listeners might be interested to know there are more than 500 pages in this Bill and get this, radical Islam is not mentioned once. If the Prime Minister cannot name the problem he cannot tackle it.
Trent Nikolic
That’s exactly what your leader said, Sussan Ley, in that grab that I played there. And again, I’ve got listeners asking that same question. Does the Prime Minister even understand the problem that we Australians are asking him to fix?
Senator Cash
Absolutely not. And his government’s inaction, his government’s making of excuses in the two years leading up to what occurred, the tragic events in December of 2025 absolutely show you they have no commitment to tackling antisemitism in this country. They have no commitment to tackling first hand radical extremism. Let me tell you why. In the Bill, it actually creates a loophole. It’s called the so called religious defence text. Let’s be very, very clear here, the hate preachers, the very people we are meant to be stopping, Labor has left the door wide open for them with this religious text defence. Again, the public expects us as parliamentarians, to stop hate, not hand extremists a legal shield that Mr. Albanese has done. So basically, under Mr. Albanese laws, if you’re a radical hate preacher trying to spread hate, you wrap it up in religious language. You call it teaching. And guess what? Mr. Albanese has given you a defence. That’s not cracking down on hate, it’s giving a cover, and that is an absolute disgrace.
Trent Nikolic
Michaelia, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate your time and your insight.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you.
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