JOSH BURNS
MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

PRESS CONFERENCE

WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE 2024

SUBJECT: Vandalism of office

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: So at 3:20 this morning, six people turned up to my office, they came with kerosene, they smashed in windows with a hammer, they spray painted on the outside of my office, they spray painted the inside of my office, they lit two fires, one on the left hand side of my office and one outside the door to the residential apartments upstairs. It was a very reckless and dangerous vandalism of my office. It was clearly politically motivated by having the graffiti on the outside of the office. This was really ugly behavior. And it was dangerous. You've put residents and lives and livelihoods at risk. And the police are investigating, they're investigating fully. And we'll let them do their work. I want to remind people of what the office actually is and what is there to do. My staff are there to look after our community to provide access to government and government services, whether it be the NDIS, whether it be immigration, visa issues, Centrelink, whatever it is my team are here to help. And at the moment, obviously they're at home, they can't be in the office, it's not safe. In the office, it's still a crime scene. And it's, it's a reflection of eight months really, of my team turning up to work and being abused and being screamed at. And I've got really good people working for me, they are hard working, decent, fine people who have no role in a conflict on the other side of the world. And their place of work has just been smashed in by really dangerous idiots. And it's a reflection of the sort of conduct of political debate right now. We're in Australia, this is St Kilda, we're in multicultural Melbourne, where such a beautiful part of our society to have people from all different melting pots coming together. And political debate in Australia has always been one where we come together, we can disagree, we can often tease each other about it. We do so respectfully. And this isn't respectful right now. This is a dangerous escalation of people trying to bring a conflict on the other side of the world to our streets, and it needs to end needs to stop, because it's dangerous. And thankfully, no one was hurt last night. But next time, you know, I'm worried for my colleagues. I'm worried for my staff. I'm worried for people involved in political life in Australia. So it's been a pretty distressing morning. This sort of vandalism, this sort of political aggression has no place in Australia. It's enough. 

JOURNALIST: Josh, this is one of a number of similar attacks on electorate offices, as far as I'm aware Victoria Police has yet to make one arrest or lay one charge. Do you believe it's now time that they devote more resources to these crimes and potentially set up a special task force?

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: Well, I've been engaging with the police this morning. They are putting resources into this. There is coordination across the Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police. It obviously has an extra layer because I'm a Federal Member of Parliament, and this is obviously a politically motivated attack. So I'm confident the police doing their work. They've been taking me through what they're doing this morning. This is a crime scene at the moment and they can make further statements about how they plan to conduct the investigation. But from my end, it's it's obviously an unacceptable event. I'm nervous about it escalating even further, I'm nervous about someone getting hurt, or worse, and and the police are taken seriously and I'm very appreciative. 

JOURNALIST: You've publicly made the statement that you want a ceasefire and an end to this war, how does what happened this morning affect your position. 

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: I'm desperate for this war to end. This is deeply personal for me, for my family. For generations we've we've seen our family on the other side of the world being caught up in conflict, and if I could do anything to stop this conflict from happening any longer, I would do it. But we can't do that in Australia. We just don't have that sort of leverage. What happened outside my office caused distress to my staff, my team, my community. It didn't bring about peace in the Middle East. I wish. If it did, I would have vandalized my own office you know, of course, but it didn't. It just vandalized an office here in Australia and caused distress, and no amount of aggression and violence here in Australia is going to change what's happening in the Middle East. I'm desperate for there to be a ceasefire, I'm desperate for there to be an agreement where hostages are returned home, and where Palestinians can return to rebuilding their lives and getting on living a life of dignity and respect and freedom, but it's happening on the other side of the world. And we're here in Australia. And all we're seeing at the moment is an escalation of violence here in Australia. And it's going to end up in disaster. 

JOURNALIST: I’ve spoken to some community members who are Jewish here, saying that since this started, they’ve been spat out, they’ve been verbally abused. How does that make you feel as the Member for Macnamara.

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: The Jewish community has had a really hard time over the last seven or eight months, I've experienced a little bit of it myself. But the Australia that I grew up in was an Australia of multiculturalism, where the Jewish community could express themselves, could proudly walk down the street, not thinking about where they were, but just participating in Australian life. Now you've got Jewish community members who think about how they present themselves in public, do they wear a Yamaka? Do they wear items that are visibly showing that they're Jewish? Do they go to university? That's a really terrible thing for people, for Australians, to be experiencing. And I'm sure the Jewish community is not the only community, any community that feels that sense of should I be able to show who I am and what part of my identity can be displayed. If you're questioning that, then that's a real problem. That's not what Australia is. That's not the Australia that I love. So I know that my community is hurting right now. And today wouldn't have helped. But we can't forget what Australia and Australia is a proudly multicultural country. And we have to keep fighting for that.

JOURNALIST: We've heard that Anthony Albanese hasn't been able to attend his electoral office in Sydney or here because of the rest of the protesters. What's your reaction?

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: Well, it's it's outrageous that the Prime Minister and more importantly, his staff who are there to service the people of Grayndler, to give them access to the same services that my team do in Macnamara of Centrelink, NDIS, visa, immigration services. How does preventing those services being accessed by the people of Grayndler help anything in the Middle East? It doesn't. And I know the Prime Minister's I spoke to him this morning, he reached out this morning, and I'm very grateful for that. And he expressed his full solidarity and support. And he knows exactly what my staff are going through today. Any other questions?

JOURNALIST: Do you know when you’ll be back in the office?

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: So the police are doing their investigations at the moment, they'll take as long as they take and then Parliamentary Services will have to do a cleanup. It's pretty bad inside there. There's red paint on the front of my office. There's a lot of glass that needs to be repaired. There's quite extensive damage. So obviously also, there's those fires outside the front of the office. So there was a lot of police activity this morning. So I'm hoping in the next few days to clean up can begin.

JOURNALIST: What do you want to say to these people who did this to your office? 

JOSH BURNS, MEMBER FOR MACNAMARA: What's it proved other than it was a dangerous and silly act that has caused distress. You haven't brought about peace. All you've done is set fire outside a residential building where you’ve put people's lives at risk. I mean how is that a peaceful act ? I can't see it. All I want to do is represent my community, to work hard for this amazing community that I live in working. That's all my staff want to do, and to prevent that from happening was just a callous and dangerous act, and won't bring about peace. That's it. Thanks, everyone.