Q: Back on the alleged terror plot against you – does the experience raise concerns about the growing radicalisation of youth online? Can more be done to protect politicians?

Dutton:

I’ve been, again, I think consistent in my comments about trying to keep, particularly, young adults and children safe online. It doesn’t matter – I remember being told years ago when we were looking at the ISIS threat here in Australia, which obviously is still extant now – it’s still current as a threat now – that it would take a very short period of time for young people online to become radicalised if they’re watching videos constantly. And so, yeah, it’s tough for families, because your kids are spending so much time online.

I want to make sure that we can keep our kids safe online, and that’s why wive pushed through the parliament legislation to provide an extra layer of security for kids under the age of 16. But as a society, as a community, we should be doing everything we can to take down hate comments and all of that which might inspire or incite violence. I’m sure that every reasonable Australian thinks exactly that.

Q: Mr Dutton, just looking at the campaign more broadly, we’ve barely seen you sort of undertake streetwalks and have those sort of unscripted moments with voters. Is that due to sort of an increased security concerns that are on yourself and other politicians? And do you have a concern that that limits your ability to interact with voters in a more authentic environment?

Dutton:

No, I think I dealt with that before. I haven’t had any advice to that effect. We’ll visit many parts of the country. It’s a wonderful opportunity to be in this job. To be able to meet Australians – and it’s not just in this campaign, but to stand up to the threats that might come our way as a country. A lot of Australians really expressed that concern about whether the Prime Minister’s just out of his depth and too weak to deal with the threats that face our country now and in a very uncertain decade ahead. So I think this is an opportunity to speak to the Australian people, to see as many people as humanly possible, and we’ll continue that over the course of the campaign.

Ok, but the question was about how he is NOT doing that. So if it is not about security concerns, then the campaign strategists don’t think it’s a good idea. And why could that be? Anyone? Anyone?