Speaker 1: Why on Sky News This is Sharry.
Speaker 2: Good Evening tonight, the first criminal charge for the phrase
Speaker 2: that Zionists are terrorists? Well, what will this mean for
Speaker 2: other anti Israel activists like Clementine Ford who claimed Zionists
Speaker 2: are depraved monsters? My report in a moment also on
Speaker 2: the show, the Tale of Two Leaders, with Dutton's response
Speaker 2: to cyclone Alfred showing up. The Prime Minister Steve Price
Speaker 2: and Cameron Milner will be here to discuss plus under
Speaker 2: the Albanezy government, Australians are paying more income tax than
Speaker 2: ever before and government spending at a record high due
Speaker 2: to Sloan would join me and police claim anti Semitism
Speaker 2: wasn't behind the caravan packed with explosives. We'll let police
Speaker 2: know who's behind the attack. Then why haven't they made
Speaker 2: any arrests? That's coming up tonight. Police begin to lay
Speaker 2: charges over those who attack Zionists, which we know is
Speaker 2: code for Jews. One of the leaders of the pro
Speaker 2: Palestinian rallies in Melbourne, controversial figure Hashtaya, has been charged
Speaker 2: by police. He was first arrested last year over alleged
Speaker 2: incitement of hatred against Jewish people, but he wasn't charged
Speaker 2: and then on Friday, Victorian police charged him with offensive
Speaker 2: remarks at Palestinian rallies under the Victorian Summary Offenses Act.
Speaker 2: He's facing four counts of using insulting words in public.
Speaker 2: The Age reported that Taya, who's become a prominent leader
Speaker 2: of the protests movement after the Hamas attacks in Israel
Speaker 2: and October seven, repeatedly said all Zionists are terrorists. The
Speaker 2: punishment is up to two months in prison for a
Speaker 2: first offense and six months for three or more offenses.
Speaker 2: Now this is big news. It's the first charge for
Speaker 2: the phrase all Zionists are terrorists. And here was Hashtaya
Speaker 2: spreading this dangerous message at a rally where the crowd
Speaker 2: ate it up and repeated the hateful chant.
Speaker 3: And I say it loudly, and I say it proudly.
Speaker 2: It's fascinating because we haven't seen charges like this before.
Speaker 2: It's a very welcome move by Victorian police, and it
Speaker 2: raises the question if there should be an offense enabling
Speaker 2: others to be charged for similar conduct on social media.
Speaker 2: Take Clementine Ford for example. Here's what she said in
Speaker 2: an Instagram post just last week, and I'm quoting Zionism
Speaker 2: is terrorism and Nazism. All Zionists are Nazi and terrorist supporters.
Speaker 2: Their denial of this makes them dishonest. Supporting Israel is
Speaker 2: incompatible with humanity and human rights, and because Zionism is
Speaker 2: a supremacy movement, Zionists also flatter themselves that they're the
Speaker 2: most moral people on earth. They're not. They're depraved, empathy
Speaker 2: free monsters, and history will remember them with the disgust
Speaker 2: they deserve. Well, does Clementine Ford realize how depraved this
Speaker 2: is to accuse people who support a Jewish homeland be
Speaker 2: included a homeland set up after the Holocaust as Nazis,
Speaker 2: to suggest that supporting Israel set up as a supposedly
Speaker 2: safe haven for Jews after the inhumane atrocities inflicted upon
Speaker 2: them as incompatible with humanity. To describe Zionists and that's
Speaker 2: exactly what the people slaughtered by her muscle October seven were.
Speaker 2: To describe Zionists as terrorists, and Clementine Ford describes us
Speaker 2: as having no empathy. The moral contortions required to make
Speaker 2: such statements are sickening. But that comment by Clementine Ford
Speaker 2: wasn't a one off. She's previously said that Zionists can't
Speaker 2: be victims of anything.
Speaker 4: There is no realm in which Israel is the victim
Speaker 4: of anything, And there is no realm in which Israelis,
Speaker 4: or people who defend Israel, or Zionists anywhere, are the
Speaker 4: victims of anything but their own greed.
Speaker 2: It was Israelis who were kidnapped and slaughtered on October seven,
Speaker 2: including babies and children. So is she saying they weren't
Speaker 2: really the victims, then, really, this is disgraceful, It's despicable.
Speaker 2: Clementine Forward has also said, and I quote, Zionists will
Speaker 2: be blocked. I don't let Nazis on my platform, and
Speaker 2: I'm one of those that she's blocked, presumably because I'm
Speaker 2: a Jew who supports Israel. Then there's also Randa abdel Fatar,
Speaker 2: who's set on social media that Zionists have no right
Speaker 2: to cultural safety. It is the duty of those who
Speaker 2: oppose racism, misogyny, homophobia and all forms of oppressive harm
Speaker 2: to ensure that every space Zionists enter is culturally unsafe
Speaker 2: for them. And the Australian has reported that both Clementine
Speaker 2: Ford and Randa ab el Fatar were among those who
Speaker 2: sent their social media followers a link to the personal
Speaker 2: details of Jewish creatives from a WhatsApp group doxing. Well,
Speaker 2: it's now widely accepted that attacks on Zionists are equivalent
Speaker 2: to attacks on Jews. Alex Rifchin said, to declare that
Speaker 2: all Zionists are terrorists is not only an attack on
Speaker 2: the notion of Jewish equality, it's an attack on virtually
Speaker 2: every Jew that supports it. Zion In Victoria's Zeddi Lawrence said,
Speaker 2: given the overwhelming majority of Jews in Victoria, Australia, and
Speaker 2: indeed the world, would identify as Zionists, but smirching the
Speaker 2: latter is akin to painting a target on the former
Speaker 2: and even Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, who is clearly
Speaker 2: no friend of us at Sky said, and I quote
Speaker 2: the label Zionist is used not in any way accurately.
Speaker 2: When use that word, they actually mean Jew. They're not
Speaker 2: really saying Zionist. They're saying Jew because they know that
Speaker 2: they cannot say Jew, so they say Zionist or words
Speaker 2: such as Zeo or Zio. So if we accept what
Speaker 2: Dreyfus says that jew and Zionists are interchangeable, then look
Speaker 2: at that. Clementine Ford post again Zionism is terrorism and Nazism.
Speaker 2: Zionists also flatter themselves that they're the most moral people
Speaker 2: on earth. They're not. They're depraved, empathy free monsters, and
Speaker 2: history will remember them with the disgust they deserve. Well,
Speaker 2: clearly this is encouraging hatred against Jews who support Israel.
Speaker 2: I think we have to be very clear and direct
Speaker 2: about this. By making these stayments in public, she's perpetuating
Speaker 2: hatred against Jews here in Australia. She's perpetuating antagonism towards Jews.
Speaker 2: She's dehumanizing Jews who support Israel by saying we can't
Speaker 2: be victims of anything. We're depraved and where empathy free
Speaker 2: monsters who deserve discussed. In my opinion, she seems to
Speaker 2: hold such hatred towards Jews who support Israel that she
Speaker 2: should not be given a platform at mainstream festivals. How
Speaker 2: can these events embrace Clementine Ford? Just as she ostracizes
Speaker 2: Zionists from her social media, so she should be denied
Speaker 2: these important public platforms to spew her hateful views. And worryingly,
Speaker 2: she has a very large following two hundred and forty
Speaker 2: thousand on Facebook and two hundred and thirty eight thousand
Speaker 2: on Instagram. If her followers are led by her, they
Speaker 2: too will hate Jews who support Israel, which, as I've said,
Speaker 2: is the majority of Jews. This is e roading social cohesion.
Speaker 2: Clementine Ford is objectionable, objectionable and ugly in every sense
Speaker 2: of the word. If Hashtaya has been charged for his
Speaker 2: offensive comments about Zionists in public, then there should be
Speaker 2: an offense for those using the Internet to say exactly
Speaker 2: the same thing, because we shouldn't have to put up
Speaker 2: with this prejudice and hatred any longer.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: What we've seen over the weekend is a tale of
Speaker 2: two leaders, one who spend every day in the flood
Speaker 2: zone and the other who flew to Canberra to escape
Speaker 2: the storm. Opposition Peter Darton stood with his community and
Speaker 2: all Australians who were caught in the wild weather. He
Speaker 2: bunkered down at his home where he's now trapped by
Speaker 2: rising floodwaters.
Speaker 6: Hopefully it received quickly that at the moment feel trapped
Speaker 6: at home, including ourselves. Fortunately our house is fine, but
Speaker 6: the water's up over our front gate, so that's the
Speaker 6: reality at the moment, and the emergency service workers accounts
Speaker 6: of workers are doing an amazing job.
Speaker 2: Yet Albansi couldn't get away fast enough. Instead of standing
Speaker 2: with Australians, he flew out of Queensland and was in
Speaker 2: Canberra by early Friday morning. And that's where he likes
Speaker 2: it best, in the luxury of the lodge and the
Speaker 2: protection of the camera bubble. After flip flopping on the
Speaker 2: election date, Albanzi reluctantly agreed it wouldn't be a good
Speaker 2: idea to call the election on a weekend of flooding
Speaker 2: in Queensland.
Speaker 7: I said repeatedly this week, my focus is on the
Speaker 7: lives of Australians, the risk that Alfred represents to people
Speaker 7: in southeast Queensland and in northern New South Wales, not
Speaker 7: on votes.
Speaker 2: Such a contrast Albansy and Dutton, one who sticks with
Speaker 2: Australians as they weather the storm, the other who escapes.
Speaker 2: And it wasn't just Dutton, other politicians knew instinctively what
Speaker 2: was required of them at this time of crisis. New
Speaker 2: Southwes Premier Chris min spent the weekend in the flood zones,
Speaker 2: visiting Tweed and Lisbon, and spoke to Paul Murray last
Speaker 2: night I.
Speaker 8: Think it's been a privilege to be here amongst emergency
Speaker 8: service workers as well as the local community. They're really tough,
Speaker 8: incredibly resilient people and they've been through Helen back over
Speaker 8: the last few years.
Speaker 2: And Treasurer Jim Chalmers also dug in helping with soundbagging
Speaker 2: and local recovery efforts I checked out.
Speaker 9: I don't mind it.
Speaker 2: In fact, Albanesi is so tone deaf that it took
Speaker 2: charmers telling him that it wouldn't be a good idea
Speaker 2: to call the election when Queenslanders and those in northern
Speaker 2: New South Wales were suffering. As Clanelle reported.
Speaker 3: The Treasurer, I understand, was one of the voices telling
Speaker 3: the PM that given the cyclone, they should hold a
Speaker 3: May election and they should have a budget. The PM
Speaker 3: then confirmed a May election on the ABC on Friday.
Speaker 2: Night, and so they'll now likely be a budget before
Speaker 2: the election, which will be held on May third, the
Speaker 2: tenth of the seventeenth. Now Albanzi didn't want to hand
Speaker 2: down a budget, he wasn't planning on having a budget,
Speaker 2: and now they'll have to scramble to cobble one together
Speaker 2: in time. All of Albanese's dithering. The election timing has
Speaker 2: meant that the economics team have been left in the lurch.
Speaker 2: And the reason the Albanese government was reluctant to have
Speaker 2: a budget, it's because their pre election narrative relies on
Speaker 2: the surflaces they've delivered and that will end now. There
Speaker 2: won't be a surflace in this budget. It won't be
Speaker 2: a pretty set of economic projections. It will show the
Speaker 2: extent of their policy costings and political spending at a
Speaker 2: time when the inflation battle is not yet over. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to speak with Judah Sloan about that a
Speaker 2: bit later in the show. But Newspault today is still
Speaker 2: pointing to either a minority government for Liberal or Labor,
Speaker 2: and simonvents In reports that neither side is in a
Speaker 2: position currently on these numbers to form a majority government.
Speaker 2: Well with this polling, the later election date is advantageous
Speaker 2: to Peter Dutton. The longer election gives him more time
Speaker 2: to campaign and it gives new Liberal candidates more time
Speaker 2: to do knock voters. This will help in seats like
Speaker 2: cou Yong, where emili A Hamer hopes to knock off
Speaker 2: Minique Ryan, and in Wentworth where Roe Knox is trying
Speaker 2: to raise her profile to defeat a legraspender. But irrespective
Speaker 2: of today's news poll, Australians can all see that Albanezi
Speaker 2: is weak and ineffective. He's not leadership material. In fact,
Speaker 2: he's one of the most indecisive and insipit prime ministers
Speaker 2: our country has ever had. He can't even make up
Speaker 2: his mind about when to go to the polls now.
Speaker 2: A profile piece on Tanya Plibasek over the weekend even
Speaker 2: includes this extraordinary comment from a Labor insider who said,
Speaker 2: compared to Tanya, Albo comes across as an ineffectual buffoon.
Speaker 2: He's weak, he's arrogant, he can't handle critic and he's
Speaker 2: not connecting with the electorate to the point where Peter Dutton,
Speaker 2: of all people, could win the election. Albo's been a disaster,
Speaker 2: a disaster indeed, and that's from a Labor insider. And
Speaker 2: Pleversek in this piece praised Jim Chalmer's job in the economy.
Speaker 2: When she was asked about Labour's electoral prospects, she said,
Speaker 2: I think Labor has a very good story to tell.
Speaker 2: We've turned the economy around. We've got high jobs numbers,
Speaker 2: we've got growing wages, we've got falling inflation, we've got
Speaker 2: falling interest rates, we've cut taxes, we're helping with the
Speaker 2: cost of living, she enthuses. So this is praise for
Speaker 2: Jim chalmers work, not alban Eazi's. And I've always thought
Speaker 2: there could be a future Plibask Charmer's ticket. It just
Speaker 2: depends on who the leader is and who the deputy is.
Speaker 2: And by the way, that profile piece was headlined Tanya Plubisek,
Speaker 2: why isn't she prime minute stuff? So this shows the
Speaker 2: level of dissatisfaction inside the Labor government towards Albanzi. No
Speaker 2: one in labor thinks Albanese is doing a great job.
Speaker 2: And if Labor losers, they'll blame him and him alone,
Speaker 2: And if they win or Tony Burke will be there
Speaker 2: before long with the metaphoric pitchfok trying to tear down
Speaker 2: Albanese's leadership. All right, let's get reaction to this with
Speaker 2: tonight's Pano Australia, The Australian's chief political correspondent Jeff Chambers
Speaker 2: and Sky News host Steve Price. Welcome to you both, Steve.
Speaker 2: What do you think about that? I mean, it really
Speaker 2: was in my mind, a picture of two leaders over
Speaker 2: the weekend.
Speaker 9: Well, I don't think anyone's surprised about the attitude of
Speaker 9: the Australian public toward Anthony Albanesium And I think you
Speaker 9: put it to absolutely correctly. I mean, he doesn't know
Speaker 9: how to be a leader now. When he took over
Speaker 9: the Labor Party and when he eventually got to become
Speaker 9: Prime Minister, I think a lot of people hope that
Speaker 9: he would be the type of leader that we wanted.
Speaker 9: But he's turned out to be. And history has a
Speaker 9: remarkable and I'm interested in Jeffy on this, it has
Speaker 9: a remarkable way of repeating itself. I was looking up
Speaker 9: the results in the twenty thirteen federal election today to
Speaker 9: write a column about exactly what you're talking about. Shari
Speaker 9: and Tony Abbott won eighteen seats and Kevin Rudd was
Speaker 9: seen as the comeback kid. But he was not liked.
Speaker 9: He was not warmly embraced by the majority of Australians.
Speaker 9: He might have been in two thousand and seven, but
Speaker 9: by twenty thirteen we'd all had enough for Kevin Rudd.
Speaker 9: We wanted him out of the joint, we wanted him
Speaker 9: gone and watching people, you know, charmers filling up sandbags.
Speaker 9: Reminded me of the time that Kevin Rudd tried to
Speaker 9: do it. And so we've got here. I think history
Speaker 9: repeating itself. Ken Peter Dutton win eighteen seats. It's yet
Speaker 9: to be seen, but it's eerily like it was back then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really interesting. I mean, Jeff the newspole in
Speaker 2: your paper today, if this applied nationally, it's only a
Speaker 2: three percent three percent swing against Labor, which is around
Speaker 2: seven lost seats. But we know the polls were wildly
Speaker 2: wrong in the US election with Trump and Kamala Harris,
Speaker 2: so you know, we could be looking at a hung parliament.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I think all the polls are
Speaker 2: showing that vote to see Albanesi as weak. I don't
Speaker 2: know how in this climate they vote someone they see
Speaker 2: as weak. Back in Jeff Chambers, what do you.
Speaker 1: Think, Hi, Sharry. So we're going to see a lot
Speaker 1: of movements up and down, and the News poll actually
Speaker 1: matches what I'm hearing from the major parties in terms
Speaker 1: of their internal tracking polling. So there's been some recovery
Speaker 1: for Anthony Albernezi, but it's from a very low bar,
Speaker 1: so he's still deeply unpopular. They're still on track to
Speaker 1: form a minority government and the challenge now out for them,
Speaker 1: and there's a few unknowns because they were so set
Speaker 1: in stone. From Albanese's perspective on April twelve is how
Speaker 1: do they execute this budget and how do they perform
Speaker 1: in the campaign. And on the flip side of that,
Speaker 1: for Peter Darton is just to be presenting a vision
Speaker 1: that is a vision that will sell to the voter
Speaker 1: that they are ready to govern and that they do
Speaker 1: have the experience and obviously their catchphrase will be are
Speaker 1: you better off now than you were in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and that things need to be put back on track.
Speaker 1: So I think you know, you read the polls week
Speaker 1: to week, whether it's economic indicators or things happening globally,
Speaker 1: and you're going to see some movement up and down.
Speaker 1: But either way, it's still a pretty poor position for
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanezi.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, all right, let's have a look at and
Speaker 2: by the way, I'm going to come back to Newspoll
Speaker 2: later on my show and I've got Cameron Milne and
Speaker 2: Andrew Carswell, so we will stick with the politics in
Speaker 2: this hour. But now let's have a look at what
Speaker 2: Donald Trump said about Malcolm Turbull on social media today.
Speaker 2: Here's the remark. He said, Malcolm Turbule, the former Prime
Speaker 2: Minister of Australia, who was always leading that wonderful country
Speaker 2: from behind, never understood what was going on in China,
Speaker 2: nor did he have the capacity to do so. I
Speaker 2: always thought he was a weak and ineffective leader, and
Speaker 2: obviously Australians agreed with me. Now it's possible that Trump
Speaker 2: was responding to an interview that Malcolm Turbull did with Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: He had this to say about Trump's tariffs.
Speaker 10: And if this triggers a global wave of protectionism around
Speaker 10: the world, and you know, that's clearly going to be
Speaker 10: bad for business everywhere.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 10: Trump seems to have a view that America can prosper
Speaker 10: at the expense of everybody else. But that's not going
Speaker 10: to work. It appears that the more dependent you are
Speaker 10: on the United States, the closer you are to the
Speaker 10: United States, the more he feels he can extract value
Speaker 10: from you. You know, stand over you extortship. I mean,
Speaker 10: look at the business with Greenland, well.
Speaker 2: Steve, it looks like Malcolm Turbull might have made it
Speaker 2: even less likely that Trump gives Australia a tariff exemption.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Look, Donald Trump summed up Malcolm Turnbull perfectly. It's exactly
Speaker 9: what I thought about him for years, and the Australian
Speaker 9: public voted him out for that same reason. I mean,
Speaker 9: Malcolm always thinks he's the smartest bloke in the room.
Speaker 9: Just ask Jeff Field, Jenny. Malcolm always thought he was
Speaker 9: the smartest bloke going around. Trump's come out, Well, you know,
Speaker 9: he's a week week leader, a week leader, alright, he
Speaker 9: was a week leader in the Australian public. I just
Speaker 9: mentioned Tony Abbott winning eighteen seats. Malcolm managed to lose
Speaker 9: seventeen of those when he went to the election after
Speaker 9: knocking Abo off. So look, we don't need this bickering.
Speaker 9: I mean, Turnbull has hit out again tonight. He's done
Speaker 9: an interview somewhere and he's doubled down on it, which
Speaker 9: Malcolm would you know, predictably would do and it would
Speaker 9: have just I reckon. Chari brewis the termal ego slightly
Speaker 9: to have the most powerful man in the world talking
Speaker 9: about him in such disparaging ways, or.
Speaker 2: Maybe he'd love the fact that he's noticed him. But
Speaker 2: you know, Jeff I had a report last week on
Speaker 2: the show that Albanezy hasn't even been able to get
Speaker 2: Donald Trump on the phone. The tariffs are now due
Speaker 2: to take effect in two days time. Turnbull certainly hasn't
Speaker 2: helped the case.
Speaker 1: No, And Malcolm Turnbull famously loves the limelight. There's some
Speaker 1: former pms that chase it and others who don't, and
Speaker 1: Malcolm Turnbull obviously enjoys this type of intervention. But as
Speaker 1: we've been talking about, Thursday Australian time is when the
Speaker 1: steel and aluminium tariffs are due to hit. We've seen
Speaker 1: Penny Wong first, then Richard Miles and then Jim Chalmers
Speaker 1: all head to the States. It's not looking likely and
Speaker 1: the government is saying that internally they're actually concerned about
Speaker 1: other tariffs that might be coming down the line. So
Speaker 1: you know, a few days out, you know, Malcolm Turnble
Speaker 1: pops up, gets gets the linelight. I think he would
Speaker 1: like that response. But on China just quickly a bit unfounded,
Speaker 1: because you know, Malcolm turn would to give him a
Speaker 1: little bit of credit. He was an early mover on China.
Speaker 1: He banned Huawei. He put in those those tough foreign
Speaker 1: interference laws that Beijing railed against, and the US and
Speaker 1: Five Eyes actually followed us on that. So just to
Speaker 1: add a bit of balance there for Malcolm Turnbull, Oh.
Speaker 2: That's nice of you, Jeff, I do I.
Speaker 9: Do record worry about balance, Gift, don't worry about that.
Speaker 2: I was in camera at the time and James Patterson,
Speaker 2: Andrew ha C Peter Dutton were behind a lot of
Speaker 2: those moves. All right, let's talk now about this update
Speaker 2: from the AFP and New South Wales Police this afternoon
Speaker 2: relating to the caravan that was found with explosives. Now,
Speaker 2: the AFP say the plot was fabricated. It was likely
Speaker 2: to be a con job designed for police to find it.
Speaker 2: Have a look.
Speaker 11: Today, I can reveal that the caravan was never going
Speaker 11: to cause a mass casualty event, but instead was concocted
Speaker 11: by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.
Speaker 2: Now news others police today, So in the same day
Speaker 2: as that press conference, they say that they've made fourteen arrests,
Speaker 2: arrested fourteen people and laid forty nine charges. But yet
Speaker 2: they say that none of them were related to the
Speaker 2: caravan or those behind it. Here's what Alex Riftin had
Speaker 2: to say.
Speaker 12: We now have the involvement of organized crime packing caravans
Speaker 12: with explosives, referring to Jewish targets and antisemitic content for
Speaker 12: some bewildering reason which isn't really been made clear to
Speaker 12: the public. So I think this will give little comfort
Speaker 12: to the community, and if anything, it adds a dose
Speaker 12: of terror and uncertainty to what's already very volatile situation.
Speaker 2: Steve Price, I have to say I thought this press
Speaker 2: conference was very strange. It muddy the waters between those
Speaker 2: arrests made this morning and the caravan, and they also revealed,
Speaker 2: as Alex just referred to, that there's organized crime involved.
Speaker 2: So if they know who's behind it, they say they
Speaker 2: those people aren't behind it, aren't Ati Semitic, So why
Speaker 2: haven't they made these arrests yet. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: unanswered questions here.
Speaker 9: This whole saga from day one has been I think
Speaker 9: dogged by the fact that no one's really wanted to
Speaker 9: talk about the detail. And when you saw that news
Speaker 9: break today and the police press conference was well, the
Speaker 9: caravan was never going to be used in a mass
Speaker 9: bomb attack. The moment the investigation from day one went quiet.
Speaker 9: I think everybody thought it was very odd and very strange,
Speaker 9: and I think the public now deserves some sort of explanation.
Speaker 9: I mean, I know there's now fourteen people facing charges
Speaker 9: and we've got to be careful about what we say,
Speaker 9: but it just biggest belief about how this is all unfolded.
Speaker 9: And they seem to suggest the police in that same
Speaker 9: media conference that these organized crime figures are behind all
Speaker 9: of the firebombings and the anti Semitic graffiti, and I
Speaker 9: just find that extremely difficult to believe. To be honest,
Speaker 9: it was.
Speaker 2: Very strange, very strange. And if those fourteen people arrested,
Speaker 2: if that wasn't about you know, if that wasn't related
Speaker 2: to the caravan, well what was it for. I can't
Speaker 2: work out why we weren't told that information. Let's stick
Speaker 2: with this story. I'll say goodbye to you both, Jeff Chambers,
Speaker 2: Steve Price, thank you both very much for your time,
Speaker 2: and let's stick with this story and bring in the
Speaker 2: reporter who has been covering it for us at Sky News.
Speaker 2: Julia Bradley joins me. Now, Julia, thank you for your time. Look,
Speaker 2: we've just been talking about how police have said organized
Speaker 2: crime is behind this, but yet they haven't made arrest
Speaker 2: in relation to those responsible the caravan plot, and this
Speaker 2: was something the police were asked about at the press
Speaker 2: conference today.
Speaker 11: They were Shahi. So we did hear the AFP this
Speaker 11: afternoon say that no fresh arrests have been made in
Speaker 11: relation to this Operation Kissinger, which, as you say, is
Speaker 11: that investigation looking specifically at this caravan bomb plot in
Speaker 11: dural in Sydney's northwest back in January. No fresh arrests
Speaker 11: made in relation to this, but the AFP Deputy Commissioner
Speaker 11: wanting to reveal more what she believes, what the force
Speaker 11: believes or alleges are the motivations behind this. So as
Speaker 11: you've been talking about in that panel, just there believing
Speaker 11: that it's an individual or individuals essentially masterminding this plot
Speaker 11: where they've got links to organized crime and they're directing
Speaker 11: local criminals on the ground to buy caravan, fill it
Speaker 11: with explosives and that anti Semitic note listing Jewish sites.
Speaker 11: But the suggestion today, the allegation today is that this
Speaker 11: has been done for personal gain, whether this person or
Speaker 11: people want to change their criminal status or perhaps shorten
Speaker 11: their prison sentence, for example, in exchange for information that
Speaker 11: they'd handover in relation to this. So that allegation being
Speaker 11: put to the public today and the press today, but
Speaker 11: we don't have fresh arrests in relation to this investigation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to say, I think it was one
Speaker 2: of the worst press conferences I've seen because instead of
Speaker 2: giving the reassurance that they claim they wanted to give,
Speaker 2: they just left more questions unanswered. You know, they were asked,
Speaker 2: are the perpetrators here or overseas? They may be offshore,
Speaker 2: they may be here and you know here was the
Speaker 2: New Southerweld's Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson this afternoon, saying
Speaker 2: that no arrests had been made relating to the caravan
Speaker 2: have a look.
Speaker 13: Striffle's Pearl has charged twenty nine individuals for a title
Speaker 13: of one hundred and twenty seven charges. Additionally, Operation Kissinger
Speaker 13: engaged in overt activity in conjunction with officers from the
Speaker 13: Australian Federal Police in the form of two search warrants
Speaker 13: and three fiarm Prohibition Order searches. Well. Since activity has
Speaker 13: not resulted in any arrests, it has provided valuable evidence
Speaker 13: to progress the investigation which is ongoing.
Speaker 2: So again, Julia, we just don't know what those fought
Speaker 2: in arrests Understrike Boss Perl so relating most likely to antisemitism.
Speaker 2: We don't know exactly what they were for.
Speaker 4: No, we don't.
Speaker 11: So we don't know what incidents these individuals were allegedly
Speaker 11: involved in. That is the cohort who were arrested today
Speaker 11: as part of these raids. We know that eleven search
Speaker 11: warrants were executed, fourteen people arrested, and it's believed that
Speaker 11: there will then be forty nine charges to flow from that.
Speaker 11: But we don't know what exactly which exactly should I
Speaker 11: say incidents they are alleged to have taken our party in.
Speaker 11: All we know is that this is under Strikeforce Pearl,
Speaker 11: so looking at those more serious anti Semitic incidents that
Speaker 11: have taken place here in Sydney. Now, same as that
Speaker 11: suggestion regarding that caravan bomb plot, was the suggestion here
Speaker 11: as well that this was organized crime links motivated by
Speaker 11: personal reasons. Already though this really being seized upon by
Speaker 11: our federal politicians. Immigration Minister Tony Burke speaking about this
Speaker 11: this afternoon a tit for tat with Shadow Home Affairs
Speaker 11: Minister James Patterson over these revelations today as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, Julia Bradley, really appreciate your update on that.
Speaker 2: And again in relation to the organized crime, they didn't
Speaker 2: say which criminal gangs, how serious they are? I mean,
Speaker 2: are these dangerous figures terrorizing the Jewish community in the
Speaker 2: eastern suburbs. You know, more questions than answers, and it's
Speaker 2: highly worrying right still to come. Why candidates and dumping
Speaker 2: the labor red to distance themselves from alban easy, some
Speaker 2: even adopting blue on their campaign material. Plus record taxes
Speaker 2: and record government spending. Judicae Sloan will take us through
Speaker 2: how bad she thinks the budget will be. That's after
Speaker 2: this quick break, welcome back. Well, the Albenezi government was
Speaker 2: planning to trumpet two surpluses this election campaign, but that
Speaker 2: isn't going to work because the budget is likely to
Speaker 2: show a string of deficits and the extent of Labour's
Speaker 2: cash slash. For more on this, I'm joined by the
Speaker 2: Australians contributing Economics editor Judah Sloan. Judith, great to see
Speaker 2: you again. Look, how bad are you expecting the deficits?
Speaker 2: In this budget to be.
Speaker 14: Well, hello Chara, look, I think the deficit for this
Speaker 14: financial u is actually going to be slightly smaller than
Speaker 14: was predicted in the May budget and my EFO for
Speaker 14: that matter, because the income tax revenue is just absolutely
Speaker 14: spurting in because of bracket creep. So we've got, as
Speaker 14: you know, low unemployment, high employment, and therefore you're getting
Speaker 14: a lot of revenue from income tax and also commodity prices.
Speaker 14: That's softened a little bit, but they've held out. So
Speaker 14: in many ways, Jim Chalmers is the luckiest treasurer that.
Speaker 2: Ever there was. But he's allowed, he's allowed.
Speaker 14: The revenue to burn a hole in his pocket, and
Speaker 14: he's spent up enormously, like over one hundred billion dollars
Speaker 14: extra in the space of three years. Unbelievable. We're now
Speaker 14: heading to federal government spending of eight hundred billion dollars.
Speaker 14: I remember when it used to be four hundred billion dollars,
Speaker 14: so it's absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker 2: Well, I was actually going to ask you about both
Speaker 2: of those points next, So let's show everyone the graphs.
Speaker 2: Let's show round the actual figures here. So this is
Speaker 2: the personal income tax. So just three years ago there
Speaker 2: was two hundred and fifty five billion dollars collected by
Speaker 2: the federal government personal income tax. So we are all
Speaker 2: paying thirty eight percent more in personal income tax now
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty two billion. And then again the
Speaker 2: spending figures that you were just speaking about, thirty percent
Speaker 2: rise in federal government spending on average. So due to Sloan,
Speaker 2: when you look at how Australia compares with other countries
Speaker 2: around the world, we have among the highest personal income
Speaker 2: tax rates globally. Is this I mean, you know many
Speaker 2: people are playing paying close to fifty percent of their
Speaker 2: salary in tax. Do you think this is something that
Speaker 2: ultimately there should be reform on.
Speaker 14: Well, absolutely, but you're not going to get any reform,
Speaker 14: certainly not in the next month.
Speaker 2: For example.
Speaker 14: This is a this is a government that is completely
Speaker 14: committed to tax and spend. There is no notion of
Speaker 14: what you'd call physical responsibility or seeking to repair the budget.
Speaker 14: What will happen is that the gross and net government
Speaker 14: debt will increase. The gross debt's now sort of edging
Speaker 14: towards the trillion dollar mark. Now it's interesting that a
Speaker 14: lot of countries are very bad at this too, but
Speaker 14: let's think about this Australia as a small, open economy,
Speaker 14: so we can actually afford less in terms of being
Speaker 14: bad at budget management than some of the bigger countries,
Speaker 14: particularly the US, which has its own currency and numeror currency.
Speaker 14: So I think, you know, it was two thousand and
Speaker 14: nineteen we were sort of still worried about debt and deficit.
Speaker 14: Then we kind of forgot about it during COVID and maybe.
Speaker 2: There was a degree of.
Speaker 14: There was a reason for that, but now we seem
Speaker 14: to have never sort of regained the important thing, the
Speaker 14: import and principles of managing a budget and having some
Speaker 14: guidelines to guide that.
Speaker 2: And you remember when Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey tried
Speaker 2: to tell us all that there was a budget emergency,
Speaker 2: and you know, the situations so much worse now, just
Speaker 2: in terms of the budget preparation. The federal government wasn't
Speaker 2: expecting to have to hand down a budget budget. You know,
Speaker 2: the economic meetings had been counseled. How much of a
Speaker 2: scramble will this be for officials?
Speaker 9: Now?
Speaker 14: Look, I think there are always two parts of the
Speaker 14: preparation that kind of you know, the routine part that
Speaker 14: will have gone ahead. They will have had to kind
Speaker 14: of work on the basis if we're not sure whether
Speaker 14: or not this is going ahead.
Speaker 2: So that's all right.
Speaker 14: It's this sort of last minute decision making and the
Speaker 14: last minute figures in terms of the four cars what
Speaker 14: they I mean, one of the political conundrums is this
Speaker 14: that if they make lot of announcements about new measures
Speaker 14: in the budget, so that's say twenty fifth March, and
Speaker 14: then the election is beginning of May, you know, it's
Speaker 14: a lot of time for no new announcements, right, So
Speaker 14: it's actually I think quite a political problem, which is
Speaker 14: why they always wanted April twelve and why they didn't
Speaker 14: want this budget.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't forget Shari.
Speaker 14: It also gives the opposition a bit of a time
Speaker 14: to shine too, because there's a budget and reply speech.
Speaker 2: Yeap, indeed, all right, Judor Sloan, always appreciate your analysis.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Now, coming up, Donald Trump says he's finding
Speaker 2: it easier to deal with Russia than Ukraine. What does
Speaker 2: this mean for Zelenski plus Murray? What's disgraceful attack on Dutton? Well,
Speaker 2: Albneasy didn't even bother to stand with Australians under siege
Speaker 2: from Alfred that's with Kama Milner and Adrea Carswell after
Speaker 2: this quick break, joining me now as always on a
Speaker 2: Monday our Political panel, former Press Secretary to Scott Morrison,
Speaker 2: Andrew Carswell and former chief of staff to Bill Shorton
Speaker 2: and former Queensland State Director Cara Milina. Great to see
Speaker 2: you both. Look, let's have a look at this attack
Speaker 2: by Murray Watt. He slammed Dutton for leaving Queensland even
Speaker 2: though Albert Easy was in can Bro the whole weekend.
Speaker 2: Here he was.
Speaker 15: You saw that he jetted off to a fundraiser at
Speaker 15: Sydney Harbourside this week when his own community was actually
Speaker 15: trying to get prepared for this event. So he was
Speaker 15: filling Liberal Party money bags while his own community was
Speaker 15: filling sandbags, which I think says a lot about him.
Speaker 2: Andrew. That fundraising event was four days before Alfred hit
Speaker 2: and alber Easy was not even anywhere near the psycloid.
Speaker 2: This is hypocrisy.
Speaker 5: Well, Charie Murray, what's clearly been chosen to be the
Speaker 5: grub in chief for Labor for this election campaign. He's
Speaker 5: very good at that job. He throws the insults left,
Speaker 5: right and center, whether that be against the opposition or
Speaker 5: whether that be other interest groups. It does come across
Speaker 5: as a bit grubby and slimy, but can I say
Speaker 5: it's sometimes it is effective and in this case it
Speaker 5: probably did land a blow for what an event that
Speaker 5: maybe Dunton shouldn't have been at. But there's no doubt
Speaker 5: that this will not be Anthony Avnezi's role and responsibility
Speaker 5: during an election campaign. He'll keep his hands very clean.
Speaker 5: He'll leave the dirt and the smear to people like
Speaker 5: Murray White.
Speaker 2: Yeah indeed, Cameron, I mean you're in Queensland. This is
Speaker 2: Brisbane's wettest twenty four hour period since nineteen seventy four.
Speaker 2: There's been over two hundred and seventy five millimeters recorded
Speaker 2: and it's only the tenth of the month, but it's
Speaker 2: already Brisbane's highest March rainfall in history. So you know,
Speaker 2: the cyclone impact was downgraded, but still a lot of
Speaker 2: flooding and it's been tough, it.
Speaker 16: Has, and a lot of people lost power and a
Speaker 16: lot of people had a lot of storm damage around
Speaker 16: their houses. Local parks flooded, local roads were cut off.
Speaker 16: So unlike Wayne Swan who last Friday said there wasn't
Speaker 16: even a cyclone in Brisbane. I'm sorry Brisbane got hit
Speaker 16: pretty hard southeas Queensland is still being hit hard with flooding,
Speaker 16: so it's a major event. But I don't agree with
Speaker 16: Andrew Carswell before.
Speaker 2: I mean, this was an own.
Speaker 16: Goal turning up to billionaire's house in the middle of
Speaker 16: cyclone preparation, where Premier Christop Fooley was saying every single night,
Speaker 16: be prepared, to be prepared. A massive unforced error by
Speaker 16: Peter Dutton and his campaign director Andrew Hurst. Why on
Speaker 16: earth you go to a fundraiser when he should have
Speaker 16: been at the Strathpoint SS filling sandbags. It was a
Speaker 16: no brainer and to go just shows that maybe Dutton
Speaker 16: isn't quite as on his game as he should be.
Speaker 2: Well, it was Tuesday last week, wasn't it Tuesday?
Speaker 16: But we were already being asked by We're already being
Speaker 16: asked by Premier Christal Fouley from Sunday previously to prepare
Speaker 16: this cyclone seventeen days to come down the coastline, and.
Speaker 2: Easy wasn't even in the date when the cyclone hit.
Speaker 2: Peter Divan is currently trapped in his home. I mean,
Speaker 2: how can Mary.
Speaker 16: Really bad?
Speaker 12: Look?
Speaker 2: Sure, but how can Maray White in all good conscious
Speaker 2: attack someone who is currently trapped in his house by
Speaker 2: floodwaters when the prime minister escaped before anything got too difficult,
Speaker 2: it's extraordinary.
Speaker 16: I agree, Murray. What is an attack dog is basically
Speaker 16: being sort of licked and slobbed on. Basically it's not
Speaker 16: very effective. But no, that's fine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right. Let's have a look at the w
Speaker 2: A results. So it was very strong for Labor. Now, Andrew,
Speaker 2: what impact do you think that election result will have federally?
Speaker 5: I think, first and foremost people trying to draw an
Speaker 5: equivalence between this result in this state and draw an
Speaker 5: equivalence with Anthony Abnetian how he will go in the
Speaker 5: federal election are probably getting ahead of themselves. I think
Speaker 5: this is a premier who is very very popular leading
Speaker 5: a government that is very very popular. Anthony Abaneze is
Speaker 5: not popular in the state and nor is his government,
Speaker 5: so seeking that equivalence is probably getting ahead of themselves.
Speaker 5: That there are some good signs for Labor as a
Speaker 5: brand in WA, and there's some negatives for the liberal brand.
Speaker 5: But there are some also some shining lights out of
Speaker 5: that result for the Liberals, particularly in seats that correspond
Speaker 5: with those federal seats where there's eight to ten to
Speaker 5: twelve percent swings in seats that would be the equivalent
Speaker 5: of Pierce for Winkle and others in that zone that
Speaker 5: the Liberal Party would be hoping now that they can
Speaker 5: get a decent result in. But it's the same people
Speaker 5: in Labor that Troian equivalents that don't want to draw
Speaker 5: an equivalence in Victoria. They go, there's no trouble for
Speaker 5: Albanese in Victoria, but that's just a state issue.
Speaker 2: Well would raw, Yeah, no, exactly, good point. And it
Speaker 2: seems that even some labor candidates on some Labor and
Speaker 2: ps are trying to steer clear of the traditional Labor
Speaker 2: red branding. Instead they're using blue, purple, pink, and green,
Speaker 2: basically any other color and in some cases even liberal
Speaker 2: colors in their campaign material. This is a report in
Speaker 2: the City Morning Herald. Cameron also, some of the male
Speaker 2: out material doesn't feature the Prime Minister, some even featuring Penny.
Speaker 2: While god knows why, that surely is a bit of
Speaker 2: a mistake. But Cameron, this is not a good sign
Speaker 2: when you've got labor candidates not wanting to use red,
Speaker 2: not wanting to feature the PM. I mean, it just
Speaker 2: shows how unpopular he is.
Speaker 16: Well, it does, and I think it shows that Labor's
Speaker 16: desperate to do anything else that look what they're looking like,
Speaker 16: which is the Albanese Labor Party. I mean, the ALP
Speaker 16: is the Albanese Labor Party at the federal election. And
Speaker 16: that's a problem because albow is just so weak, so
Speaker 16: weak as prime minister and so weak as a leader.
Speaker 16: They're no wonders candidates want to use any other color
Speaker 16: than the Albanies red.
Speaker 2: Yes. And it seems Labor insiders are starting to even
Speaker 2: publicly turn on Albanezi Andrew cars While I spoke about
Speaker 2: this earlier in the show, but there was a profile
Speaker 2: piece on Tanya Plibasek on the weekend and in it
Speaker 2: a Labor insider said that compared to Tanya, Albert comes
Speaker 2: across as an ineffectual buffoon. So this is interesting when
Speaker 2: you have these sort of pieces run so close to
Speaker 2: an election.
Speaker 5: I'm not sure what's wrong with that criticism, Shari, but look,
Speaker 5: it just shows that it is a continual battle between
Speaker 5: these two leaders within the Labor Party, and it goes
Speaker 5: back a long time between back to when Tania Pilibisec
Speaker 5: chose Bill Shorten over Abenezi in the in the race
Speaker 5: for it to become leader. So it goes back a
Speaker 5: long way. And Anthony Abenezi has done a lot in
Speaker 5: the last two years to get in the way of
Speaker 5: Tania Piliti sec and her responsibility as environment Minister. He
Speaker 5: basically crucified her her number one signature policy on environmental reform.
Speaker 5: He's getting in the way on sam and as well
Speaker 5: by supporting the salmon industry, which is the right decision
Speaker 5: to do. There's no love lost between these two and
Speaker 5: I'm sure it will continue on the other side of this.
Speaker 2: Election, Cameron, very quickly, because we've got to go what
Speaker 2: was your take on that?
Speaker 16: Oh, there's Tenure, there's Tony Burke, and there's Jim Chalmers.
Speaker 16: And in twelve months time, they won't be elbow.
Speaker 2: Irrespective of the election outcome, he'll be gone. Even if
Speaker 2: he wins.
Speaker 16: He can't survive the way he's surviving. He's only there
Speaker 16: because the election is only weeks away, not years away.
Speaker 2: All right, Cameron Milner Andrew Carswell, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: As always, Now, don't go anywhere. Trump doubles down and
Speaker 2: his criticism of Zelensky in a new Fox News interview
Speaker 2: Koshergada after this break, welcome back. Well, Donald Trump has
Speaker 2: once again criticized Zelenski.
Speaker 17: Here he is, we'll do it very well with the Russia,
Speaker 17: but right now they're bombing the hell out of Ukraine
Speaker 17: and Ukraine I'm finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal
Speaker 17: with Ukraine, and in terms of getting a final settlement,
Speaker 17: it may be easier dealing with Russia.
Speaker 2: All right, let's bring you now. Sky News contributor Koshagata Kosa.
Speaker 2: You know what's the game plan here, because it is
Speaker 2: quite concerning to constantly hear Trump criticize the Lenski more
Speaker 2: than Putin. When Putin is the aggressor. He aggress that
Speaker 2: he did invade Ukraine. Yes, great to be Duchari.
Speaker 18: I think you know, when we keep seeing these drips
Speaker 18: and drabs from Trump whenever he's being interviewed by the media,
Speaker 18: he's just going back to his worldview, which is policy
Speaker 18: and people. And as it relates to policy, he has
Speaker 18: said he wants the war to end. He wants peace,
Speaker 18: even if that means that it may not be fair
Speaker 18: in terms of how it ends with respect to the
Speaker 18: aggressor and the aggressed over here, and he has this
Speaker 18: viewpoint of realism, foreign policy realism, and if we have
Speaker 18: to make concessions and even let the bad actor here
Speaker 18: take something, if that means the word ends, that's sort
Speaker 18: of his view. The other piece of it is people,
Speaker 18: and that's I think what he was alluding to in
Speaker 18: that clip where he does talk about the personalities and
Speaker 18: maybe that's life, that their politics is a combination of
Speaker 18: the actual person at the helm of it. And he
Speaker 18: has not made it any secret that he does find
Speaker 18: Zelenski a little bit of a difficult character and on
Speaker 18: some sympathetic figure, whereas he has alluded to the fact
Speaker 18: that he finds Putin maybe brutal yes, maybe ruthless yes,
Speaker 18: but a rational actor that he can reason with. That's
Speaker 18: sort of what he keeps intimating with those comments. And
Speaker 18: I think he's going to continue to hold ground until
Speaker 18: he can get both parties to the table and affect
Speaker 18: some sort of peace agreement and negotiated settlement, whatever that
Speaker 18: may look like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we spoke about this in the show last week,
Speaker 2: that Trump does see Zelenski, rightly or wrongly, as too
Speaker 2: close to the Democrats, too close to the bidens and
Speaker 2: that is part of the problem. And I am Miranda
Speaker 2: Devine was on the show and she even mentioned that
Speaker 2: there was this one Ukrainian general who's now an ambassador
Speaker 2: in the UK that Trump or the Trump administration were
Speaker 2: eyeing to replace Zelenski. So we'll see where that goes.
Speaker 2: Now Canada has a new leader as well. Mark Karney
Speaker 2: dominated his party's ballot to replace Trudeau. He used his
Speaker 2: first speech to attack Trump Kosher, how do you see
Speaker 2: this leadership playing out and the relationship between Canada and
Speaker 2: the US.
Speaker 18: You know, it's really interesting because he is the first
Speaker 18: person to become PM in a long time, I think
Speaker 18: it forty years who's not a sitting MP. That's been
Speaker 18: a pretty divided issue in terms of people arguing whether
Speaker 18: that's less democratic or more democratic. But be that as
Speaker 18: in me, he now enjoys the pomp and circumstance and
Speaker 18: the wheat of the office that comes in. He's also
Speaker 18: a former central banker, governor of the Bank of Canada
Speaker 18: and Bank of England, so he's going to rely on
Speaker 18: those bona fides in terms of the trade war and
Speaker 18: how they're going to respond to the Trump administration's tariffs
Speaker 18: and so on. So he's going to do that, and
Speaker 18: I think he's going to be very much well liked
Speaker 18: by the left side of politics in terms of what
Speaker 18: they can actually do to respond to Trump. I'm not
Speaker 18: sure how many new tools in his arsenal he's going
Speaker 18: to have, but he's going to certainly rely on sort
Speaker 18: of more of a central planning aspect probably to subsidizing
Speaker 18: certain sectors of Canada and then deciding how much to
Speaker 18: push back and do counter tariffs on the US and
Speaker 18: all of that. And of course they've got an election
Speaker 18: coming up in October or sooner, so it's going to
Speaker 18: be very interesting for the other side from mister Pierre
Speaker 18: Polie to see how he's going to draw greater contrast
Speaker 18: in terms of those strategies and responses to Trump tariffs
Speaker 18: and how that's going to resonate with the Canadian people now.
Speaker 18: So it's certainly added an interesting twist to their elections.
Speaker 2: And Pierre Okay, he's given a lot of strong speeches
Speaker 2: that have you know, we've all noticed around the world,
Speaker 2: so we'll see how that goes. All right, Koshagada, appreciate
Speaker 2: your time tonight and thanks everyone for today. Make sure
Speaker 2: you watch tomorrow Night Big Show, Ray Hadley will be
Speaker 2: on many others. Stay tuned though now poor Marie's up next.