The Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent Paul Karp has been put in his place by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for deciding to ask about gambling advertisements during a major press conference on the national terrorism threat level.
Mr Albanese was flanked by ASIO Director General Mike Burgess and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Monday to announce the terrorism threat level was increasing from “possible” to “probable” for the first time since 2014.
Instead of asking about the issue at hand, Karp decided to derail the press conference to question the Prime Minister about the government’s approach to gambling advertisements.
“Why are caps, not a total ban, becoming the government’s preferred solution to…” Karp began.
Mr Albanese immediately shut down the line of questioning and said: “Can we stick to this,” referring to the topic of Australia’s national security.
“It’s a press conference so that’s what I’ve chosen to ask about,” Karp said.
Mr Albanese then hit back: “No, no, that’s fine, I’ll come back to you Paul, have a bit of respect.”
The Prime Minister then gave the floor to another journalist who asked if there was any particular group in Australia more at risk of terrorism than others, providing Jewish Australians as an example.
Mr Burgess said the threat of terrorism was “across the board”.
“So the youth are vulnerable to be radicalised. In terms of where this is going, it’s across the board,” Mr Burgess said.
“There’s plenty of anti-Semitism but there’s plenty of Islamophobia at the same time. It’s almost equal treatment, not quite, but almost equal treatment.”
Mr Albanese was asked about the vulnerability of youth being radicalised on social media and what parents should “look out for”.
The Prime Minister touched on the growing and “ongoing issue” of concerned parents about the “road some young people” may be going own and indicated the importance of government collaboration with “community organisations”.
“We do have a National Intervention Program that helps individuals disengage from violent extremism and in addition to that, we work collaboratively with community organisations,” Mr Albanese said.
“I pay tribute as well to the work that the security agencies do in outreach, not sitting in an office across the lake there, but getting out and talking with the leaders of communities.”
Karp was then given a chance to ask his question, with the PM stating: “OK. Paul, you’re on.”
“On gambling ads, why are caps and not a total ban the Government’s preferred solution? And do you think that media companies deserve to be compensated for an associated loss?” Karp asked.
Before wrapping up the engagement, Mr Albanese responded: “Don’t believe everything in the paper.”
“We’ll announce what our preferred solution is when we announce it. So I don’t comment on speculation.”