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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot.

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Speaker 1: It's Thursday, January twenty three. Pennywong met with her US counterpart,

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Speaker 1: the newly installed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Tuesday.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, it's been a great day. It's been a day

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Speaker 2: of productive meetings, a fantastic opportunity for Australia's Foreign Minister

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Speaker 2: to be here on the first full day of the

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Speaker 2: Trump administration. And you know, we begin the work we

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Speaker 2: will do together to deliver for the Australian people and

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Speaker 2: for the American people alike.

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Speaker 1: It follows the Foreign Minister's attendance at the inauguration of

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Speaker 1: President Donald Trump. You can read all the latest developments

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Speaker 1: from the new Trump administration right now at the Australian

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Speaker 1: dot com dot au. The boss of the Australian Federal

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Speaker 1: Police says foreign actors could be paying local criminals to

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Speaker 1: perpetrate anti Semitic attacks, but inquiries by The Australian show

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Speaker 1: the cops could be barking up the wrong tree. That's

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Speaker 1: today's episode Late Night in Newtown. The streets of the

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Speaker 1: bustling inner city suburb are in characteristically quiet as two

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Speaker 1: men in hoods move towards a synagogue on Georgina Street.

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Speaker 1: On a brick fence surrounding the darkened place of worship,

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Speaker 1: they draw a Nazi symbol with thick black spray paint,

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Speaker 1: then another and another. What follows is a clear fluid

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Speaker 1: slopped onto the synagogue's gleaming white walls. The men's attempts

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Speaker 1: to ignite the building ultimately fail, but the hateful vandalism remains.

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Speaker 1: On Wednesday, there were consequences. The man has been charged

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Speaker 1: after an alleged attempt to set a synagogue on fire

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Speaker 1: in Newtown earlier last month.

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Speaker 3: A second man is still yet to.

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Speaker 2: Be arrested, but we expect to make an arrest shortly

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Speaker 2: and he will also be before the court.

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Speaker 1: Adam Ule appeared in court where he was charged with

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Speaker 1: multiple offenses, including destroying property using fire and stolen goods.

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Speaker 1: He's the ninth person to be charged by a dedicated

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Speaker 1: strike force as antisemitic attacks ratchet up across Australia's major cities,

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Speaker 1: and police say the perpetrators may be motivated and funded

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Speaker 1: by foreign actors.

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Speaker 3: We believe criminals for hire maybe behind some incidents, so

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Speaker 3: part of our inquiries include who is paying those criminals,

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Speaker 3: where those people are, whether they are in Australia or offshore,

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Speaker 3: and what their motivation is.

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Speaker 1: On Monday, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Rhees Kershaw said the

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Speaker 1: local criminals who launched anti Semitic attacks could be on

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Speaker 1: the payrolls of people far from our shores.

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Speaker 3: It is important we share this information with the public

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Speaker 3: so they understand how seriously the AFP is taking this

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Speaker 3: investigation and to explain why there will be lengthy investigations.

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Speaker 1: The AFP boss briefed a National Cabinet meeting convened by

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Alberanizi on Tuesday.

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Speaker 4: Well, the substance of a statement that mister Kershaw put

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Speaker 4: out yesterday was that anti Semitism is on the rise.

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Speaker 1: Greg Brown is the Australian's Canberra Bureau chief.

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Speaker 4: And he said it was something authorities were taking very

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Speaker 4: seriously and there one hundred and sixty six cases have

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Speaker 4: been referred to them. They're fifteen serious investigations. The one

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Speaker 4: thing the AFP are dealing with at the moment is

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Speaker 4: that it's difficult to get to the bottom of who

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Speaker 4: might be commissioning a particular crime because they're all using

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Speaker 4: highly sophisticated networks, encryptive devices, things that can make it

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Speaker 4: very difficult to ascertain the identity of someone within this

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Speaker 4: as obviously concerned that people have been radicalized, including young people,

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Speaker 4: through online content, but he did raise this idea that

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Speaker 4: they were looking into. Was what he said, whether overseas

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Speaker 4: actors or individuals have paid local criminals in Australia to

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Speaker 4: carry out some of these crimes in our suburbs. He

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Speaker 4: left it open about whether it could be a criminal

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Speaker 4: from overseas, could have been a state actor like someone

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Speaker 4: who had connections to the Iran government fruit Apple, could

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Speaker 4: it be someone with connections to Hesbalah or Hamasi left

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Speaker 4: this completely open and this obviously led to a political firestorm,

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Speaker 4: with the Coalition demanding more answers.

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Speaker 5: Well, it's a gravely serious claim for the Australian Federal

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Speaker 5: Police to make and I think this is Ralian people

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Speaker 5: are entitled to more information from the Prime Minister today

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Speaker 5: about what he knows about this when he was briefed

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Speaker 5: about it, and what action the government is taking about us.

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Anthony Alberizi, under pressure to defend the government

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Speaker 1: from accusations it's been slow to act on Australia's growing

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Speaker 1: anti Semitism problem, said Kershaw's comments were made in hopes

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Speaker 1: of increasing transparency around the AFP's investigation. The thing is

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Speaker 1: it could all be for nought.

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Speaker 4: There's actually no intelligence to suggest that any of these

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Speaker 4: attacks had been funded by overseas criminals.

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Speaker 6: None.

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Speaker 4: There is a suggestion that people have been paid, but

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Speaker 4: the more likely outcome, according to intelligence officials, is that

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Speaker 4: this has actually been funded by local criminal gangs. Now,

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Speaker 4: the reason why the foreign actors has been investigated because

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Speaker 4: this has been part of the landscape for the last

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Speaker 4: few years. Where Kershaw was saying seventy percent of payments

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Speaker 4: that go to criminals come from overseas, so they're logically

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Speaker 4: looking overseas as well.

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Speaker 1: If indeed the intention of making this announcement about potential

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Speaker 1: foreign actors was about transparency, why put it out there

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Speaker 1: without absolutely rock solid backing and intelligence.

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Speaker 4: It's hard to justify it was about transparency when there's

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Speaker 4: no more information available. So it's interesting that this has

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Speaker 4: been raised when the intelligence at the moment doesn't actually

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Speaker 4: support it. It's more part of their investigation because it

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Speaker 4: is a part of the crime landscape, and it has

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Speaker 4: been for the past few years. Normally the police and

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Speaker 4: the intelligence agencies are sort of above politics, but the

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Speaker 4: fact that Kershaw is now front and center of a

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Speaker 4: pretty tough political debate, I don't think is where he

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Speaker 4: would have wanted to be.

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Speaker 1: Coming up what Australia's Jewish leaders want from the government

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Speaker 1: and from law enforcement. While I've got you, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to let you know about a very special live event

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Speaker 1: we're hosting in February. The Australian's National Chief Correspondent and

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Speaker 1: creator of our Bronwin investigative podcast series, Hedley Thomas, will

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Speaker 1: sit down with National Crime Correspondent David Murray and editorial

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Speaker 1: director Claire Harvey on February twenty seven in Sydney to

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Speaker 1: discuss all things true crime podcasting. This exciting event is

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Speaker 1: open to everyone, but tickets are limited. Just search Bronwyn

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Speaker 1: Live Event to get yours and we'll be back with

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Speaker 1: more of the front after this. Leaders of Australia's Jewish

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Speaker 1: communities had high hopes when a national Cabinet to tackle

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Speaker 1: anti Semitism was convened on Tuesday. They've called for the

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Speaker 1: introduction of tougher sentencing for anti Semitic attackers, stronger hate

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Speaker 1: speech reform, no mask laws at protests, and mandatory antisemitism education.

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Speaker 1: The National Cabinet did say it would launch a national

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Speaker 1: database to track these kinds of crimes across jurisdictions, and

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Speaker 1: that the States and territories attorneys general would collaborate on

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Speaker 1: best practice for prosecutions. But after enduring thirteen anti Semitic

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Speaker 1: incidents in almost as many days, what Australian Jews got

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Speaker 1: was a vague indication that this could all be per

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Speaker 1: per betrayed by actors far from our shores. Greg Anthony

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Speaker 1: Albanezi has dodged calls for weeks to convene a national

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Speaker 1: Cabinet to tackle antisemitism, and now that it's happened, he's

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Speaker 1: largely failed to deliver on the decisive action demanded by

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Speaker 1: Jewish leaders. He's also been criticized by an Israeli MP

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Speaker 1: who says Labour has fueled the antisemitism crisis unfolding in Australia.

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Speaker 6: The attitude of the current Australian government to words Israel

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Speaker 6: is inflaming a lot of these emotions and a giving,

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Speaker 6: I guess some acceptance when.

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Speaker 1: You do not fight it.

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Speaker 6: Words are not enough. That Jewish community needs actions. I mean,

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Speaker 6: what are they waiting for for someone to die, for

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Speaker 6: someone to be murdered?

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Speaker 1: Has he missed the moment here, especially in a week

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Speaker 1: when a these fire ideal was finally enacted in the

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Speaker 1: Middle East.

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Speaker 4: The outcome of National Cabinet has been overshadowed by this

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Speaker 4: AFP announcement that they're investigating whether a foreign actor was involved.

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Speaker 4: So that's all sort of gone by the wayside a

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Speaker 4: little bit. You know, there was very little that came

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Speaker 4: out of that National Cabinets typical with this issue, he

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Speaker 4: was flat footed on it. So I think certainly there'll

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Speaker 4: be expectations more comes out of these National Cabinet meetings

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Speaker 4: when it comes to dealing with anti Semitism. And as

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Speaker 4: far as the criticism from Israel's deputy Foreign Minister, I

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Speaker 4: think it's certainly an escalation of the critiques that the

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Speaker 4: Israeli government has made on Australia to suggest that Anthony

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Speaker 4: Albanese's policies, his votes on New n motions that were

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Speaker 4: against Israel's position, suggesting that this is sort of inflamed

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Speaker 4: tensions and that he's not really doing enough to crack

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Speaker 4: him down on it. So these are pretty damaging for Albanese.

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Speaker 4: He particularly given he said only a few days ago

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Speaker 4: that his view as the relationship with the Ally of

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Speaker 4: Israel has always been good under his government.

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Speaker 1: This isn't necessarily a political issue, but is this politically

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Speaker 1: damaging for Anthony Albanesi and for Labor more broadly.

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Speaker 4: While the issue of Israel and Palestine and anti Semitism,

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Speaker 4: I think for most voters is not a front line issue,

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Speaker 4: I think the fact that we're waking up increasingly and

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Speaker 4: that the view is oh wow, it's another attack, another

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Speaker 4: violent attack, this I think does become the law and

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Speaker 4: order issue for people, and that is the front line issue,

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Speaker 4: particularly for people in areas where crime is increasing, such

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Speaker 4: as Queensland, and Peter Dutton is very much talking up

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Speaker 4: his law and order credentials. And I think just trying

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Speaker 4: to link the Labor brand to issues with crime from

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Speaker 4: data fundamentally state government issues, but just trying to link

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Speaker 4: all this to the government brand, I think it overall

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Speaker 4: can drive this perception that Labor's not the party to

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Speaker 4: keep the community safe. So in that sense, I think

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Speaker 4: that does become a political issue for him.

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Speaker 1: Greg Brown is The Australian's Canbra bureau chief. You can

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Speaker 1: read that story, as well as all the nation's best news, sport,

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Speaker 1: politics and business right now at the Australian dot com

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Speaker 1: dot au