Peta Credlin:
For more on this I’m joined from Canberra by the Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer, Michael Sukkar.
Minister Sukkar:
Hi, Peta. Good to be with you.
Peta Credlin:
Great to have you on the show, thank you for your time. Michael, you’re the Minister in charge of the Census. Why are these people seeking to politicise what I have always seen as a fact finding exercise of truth from Australians?
Minister Sukkar:
Well, Peta they’re motivations seem very clear. They seem to people who have a great deal of animosity to all faiths and to people of all faiths which is really disappointing. All Australians should be answering the Census honestly. They should not be succumbing to the pressure of groups such as these and I’m very sure that most Australians won’t but it’s wholly inappropriate for any group to be trying to alter the outcome of the Census by running these sorts of campaigns. This is really important data. We need people to answer it honestly and above all else, these are private answers and should not be interfered with by any group, particularly the groups you’ve mentioned.
Peta Credlin:
Why are they so scared of Christianity and Judaism and other faiths?
Minister Sukkar:
Look, Peta, I don’t really know. I think what we’ve seen, sadly, over many years is a great deal of animosity – hatred indeed – from some groups towards anybody of faith. It’s an almost irrational hatred of people of faith and it’s not just Christians, it’s Hindus, it’s Buddhists, it’s Muslims, it’s the full kaleidoscope of faiths. It’s an intolerant hatred of people of faith and of faith itself. That’s the only thing that I could understand would motivate somebody to waste their time in a campaign to try and influence how people answer their own Census. It’s their own Census. Every Australians gets the ability to answer their own Census. That’s the way it should be. I think it’s quite bizarre that people would be motivated to try and influence how other people respond to their Census but I suspect that it’s an underlying intolerance and indeed a hatred for people of faith.
Peta Credlin:
Well it’s a way to grow the state too. I mean it diminished our values, it puts the family unit under threat if you diminish faith – and all the faiths here, not just Christianity but you went through a whole list of them. That’s the main game for the hard left. Surely that’s front of mind?
Minister Sukkar:
It may be, Peta. I suppose the reason I’m on your program tonight is to emphasise to all Australians, as the Minister responsible for the Census – and we’ve had 1.2 million surveys already returned – that it is your Census to complete and pressure from relatively strange, unusual groups trying to tell you how to answer your Census should be ignored. These are personal things that should be answered by each household individually. Again, I’m pretty certain the vast majority of Australians know that and will answer it honestly themselves but I thought it was important to – as we got closer to the Census which is obviously Tuesday, 10th August – reiterate to Australians that if you see these sorts of unusual groups trying to pressure you or cajole you into answering the Census in anyway other than what is truthful, you should absolutely ignore it.
Peta Credlin:
Thank you, Minister. Minister Michael Sukkar, Assistant Treasurer, coming to us now from Canberra. Thank you for your time.
Minister Sukkar:
Thanks Peta.