Speaker 1: Live Sharry.
Speaker 2: Good evening.
Speaker 3: Well, first tonight we start with that extraordinary video of
Speaker 3: nine chairmen and former Treasurer Peter Costello knocking a journalist
Speaker 3: to the ground. The Australians reporter Leah Mendes, a first
Speaker 3: class journalist, approached mister Costello at Camera Airport this afternoon
Speaker 3: with questions about how nine was dealing with the ongoing
Speaker 3: crisis following the departure a former newsboss Darren Wick.
Speaker 2: Here is that confrontation.
Speaker 4: Have a look, mister Cassello, my name is Lea Mendez
Speaker 4: from The Australian. Do you support mister sneedsby as CEO
Speaker 4: and his handling of the Darren Wick saga? Were you
Speaker 4: aware of the allegations against mister Wick before he left Nine?
Speaker 5: Thank you?
Speaker 4: Were you aware of those allegations? Mister Costilla? Why wonn't
Speaker 4: you support mister sneezebe publicly?
Speaker 6: Good?
Speaker 4: Well, you've got to answer the questions. Mister Still, you've
Speaker 4: just assaulted You've just assaulted me.
Speaker 5: It was very mud. That was quite a violent behavior, mister.
Speaker 5: Do you have the full support of your board?
Speaker 4: Journalists who work for nine approach people in this manner
Speaker 4: every day and you attacked me dercent.
Speaker 2: This is simply shocking.
Speaker 3: The chairman of a major ASX listed company knocking a
Speaker 3: reporter to the ground and I can reveal his camera
Speaker 3: broken in the process. These were perfectly legitimate questions to
Speaker 3: ask mister Costello on how he, as chairman and the
Speaker 3: nine board have handled the numerous allegations of the mistreatment
Speaker 3: of women during the time Wick was directed of News.
Speaker 3: Nine has brought in an external company to investigate its
Speaker 3: workplace culture, including allegations of harassment, of bullying, of poor
Speaker 3: treatment of staff, of a blokey culture. And yet here
Speaker 3: is the chairman of that company demonstrating physical and threatening
Speaker 3: behavior when asked politely about those very same problems.
Speaker 2: It's a terrible look.
Speaker 3: Yet, in a case of not accepting any responsibility for
Speaker 3: his actions tonight, Costello claimed it was all an accident
Speaker 3: and Mendy's had simply tripped over backward.
Speaker 7: When I came through camera airport, there was a reporter
Speaker 7: walking backwards with his phone filming. As I walked past him,
Speaker 7: he walked back into an advertising placard and he fell over.
Speaker 7: I did not strike him. If he's upset about that,
Speaker 7: I'm sorry, but I did not strike him.
Speaker 1: Have you spoken to Liamendez. No, I have not known
Speaker 1: you look very angry when you were approaching him. Were
Speaker 1: you angry?
Speaker 7: No, I wasn't angry. Just like you blokes here, if
Speaker 7: you're backing back and there's a placard behind here, you
Speaker 7: can walk into it. I've seen it happen a million times.
Speaker 7: I've seen it here Parliament House a million times. People
Speaker 7: reporters back into the bollards and fall over. And that's
Speaker 7: what happened.
Speaker 1: He's a kicking you of assault. That's not the case.
Speaker 7: It's no assault, so I said, before he was backing backwards,
Speaker 7: he hit an advertising placard. I did not lay a
Speaker 7: finger or a fist or anything else off it.
Speaker 8: The people who saw this have seen this footage and
Speaker 8: have seen it and thought that actually looks like an
Speaker 8: aggressive action on your part.
Speaker 1: You, I don't think so, I don't think.
Speaker 7: Can I just stop at the eye. I think they
Speaker 7: would think if they watched the whole.
Speaker 5: Of it and remember it.
Speaker 7: So they did a transcript it was a pretty aggressive journalist.
Speaker 1: That's what I think they would bear. Do you do
Speaker 1: you think, mister Kener was a.
Speaker 7: Public place which I was entitled to through and as
Speaker 7: I said, to you. I mean he hit the advertising
Speaker 7: melody fell over. I'm sorry about that. I wish that
Speaker 7: hadn't have happened. But you know this is I've seen
Speaker 7: it happened a million times.
Speaker 1: There's already speculation that this could put your chairmanship at risk.
Speaker 1: What is your response to.
Speaker 9: Rubbish the generalist sake, you assaulted me and you've laughed
Speaker 9: and walked away.
Speaker 3: Well, Peter Costello is in camera for the launch of
Speaker 3: Channel nine's new super Bureau. But that version of events
Speaker 3: there is quite extraordinary. Costello even accusing Mendis of being
Speaker 3: an aggressive journalist. Well, actually he was very polite, even
Speaker 3: after he was not to the ground. He was firm,
Speaker 3: but polite And unfortunately for Peter Costello, there's video capturing
Speaker 3: the incident from two different angles. You can have a
Speaker 3: look at the video and judge for yourself. Here gain
Speaker 3: is the moment in slow motion that Costello barged into
Speaker 3: Leam Mendes, who was just doing his job.
Speaker 4: Well, you've got to answer the questions mister straight thank you.
Speaker 10: You've just assaulted me, can't don't You've just sulted me.
Speaker 3: In my opinion, it's pretty clear that Costello comes at
Speaker 3: leam Mendy's with a shoulder barge and knocks him to
Speaker 3: the ground. And if there was any doubt about that confrontation,
Speaker 3: take a listen to some of the witnesses who saw
Speaker 3: the whole thing unfold.
Speaker 1: He saw that.
Speaker 4: I'm just feeling because I'm trying to So you saw
Speaker 4: you saw that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he like hitting about here.
Speaker 7: I don't know what's your fall over there.
Speaker 5: Let's just say that I'm gonna spoke.
Speaker 4: On the Okay, Yeah, I just thought we've been shacking up.
Speaker 5: What was that about? So obviously said something that I'm
Speaker 5: just asking questions about the Mike Sneezeby thing.
Speaker 4: So I'm on from the Australian and yeah, I thought
Speaker 4: like he's trying to he was trying to say that
Speaker 4: I walked into there.
Speaker 5: Yeah so I saw that. Yeah, we saw it.
Speaker 3: How impressive is that for leam Mendes. He's just been
Speaker 3: knocked to the ground, he says he's been assaulted, and
Speaker 3: he goes to find witnesses who have seen it all unfold.
Speaker 3: Very impressive, but again, this is extraordinary stuff and under pressure.
Speaker 3: Peter Costello, the chair of Nine, the former Federal Treasurer
Speaker 3: knocking to the ground the journalist who was just doing
Speaker 3: his job. Leam Mendes has covered the war in Ukraine.
Speaker 3: He's won the News Corp Young Journalist of the Year award,
Speaker 3: and he's broken important stories in the Northern Territory. He
Speaker 3: was also the researcher on my book investigating the Origins
Speaker 3: of COVID nineteen. He's a talented, respected and courageous young journalist.
Speaker 2: And you can.
Speaker 3: See how he gets back up after being knocked to
Speaker 3: the ground and continues to ask Costello pressing questions both
Speaker 3: about why he pushed him over and about the nine
Speaker 3: share price.
Speaker 4: Have a look, well, you've got to answer the questions,
Speaker 4: mister Castillo.
Speaker 10: Don't you've just assaulted You've just assaulted me. You've just
Speaker 10: pushed me. It's all on camera, mister Cassello. Why won't
Speaker 10: you support mister Sneves be probably mister Cassella, you can't.
Speaker 5: You can't do that.
Speaker 4: That's all captured on camera.
Speaker 5: Is your share prior to concern? He's very wide. That
Speaker 5: was quite a violent behavior, mister Cassella. Turn part of
Speaker 5: your board.
Speaker 4: Journalists who work for nine approach people in this manner
Speaker 4: every day, and you attacked me decent.
Speaker 2: And that's right.
Speaker 3: As Leah Mendes points out, journalists at the company Costello
Speaker 3: chairs do approach public figures for comment every day of
Speaker 3: the week, and none of those journalists would expect to be.
Speaker 2: Assaulted while doing their job. Now.
Speaker 3: I've also spoken to Liam today and there's no doubt
Speaker 3: in his mind that he was.
Speaker 2: Deliberately knocked over. He is shaken.
Speaker 3: In fact, for a journalist who's covered a war zone,
Speaker 3: this is the most shaken.
Speaker 2: I've ever heard him.
Speaker 3: Given the witness testimony that you heard and the strength
Speaker 3: of the video captured from two angles, I doubt that
Speaker 3: Costello's statement tonight will be the end of this matter.
Speaker 3: The Australians media writer Sophie Ellsworth now joins me to
Speaker 3: discuss this. Sophie, thank you very much for your time. Now,
Speaker 3: Leah Mendes was very shaken after this incident. You would
Speaker 3: have spoken to him today, Sophie, because you wrote the story.
Speaker 3: It clearly has rattled him being pushed to the ground
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 11: Yes, Chari, I have spoken to Liam this afternoon, and
Speaker 11: I don't want to speak on his behalf, but I
Speaker 11: think the viewers.
Speaker 2: At home can make their own minds up.
Speaker 11: Sharf of what they saw unfold at Canberra Airport. And
Speaker 11: I've spoken to numerous witnesses who saw what unfolded at
Speaker 11: the airport this afternoon when Liam Mendez, an excellent reporter,
Speaker 11: was simply going about his job. He's an excellent journalist
Speaker 11: who was asking mister Costello the questions many of us
Speaker 11: have been trying to ask him for weeks but receiving
Speaker 11: no response. And mister Costello has been in political and
Speaker 11: media circles for decades. He knows how to handle media.
Speaker 11: But this looks like a situation where he just did
Speaker 11: not handle this well at all, Sharry. And the footage
Speaker 11: speaks for itself. And as you and I know, airports
Speaker 11: are full of surveillance.
Speaker 2: So as you said, this is not the end of this, Shari. Look.
Speaker 3: He has been under pressure the Chair of nine in
Speaker 3: any case, over his handling of the departure of Darren
Speaker 3: Wick after allegations of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment. Do
Speaker 3: you expect that the events this afternoon will put even
Speaker 3: more pressure on Peter Costello's role as Chair of nine.
Speaker 11: We'll, Sharry, whatever you make of this footage this afternoon,
Speaker 11: it is not a good look for a chairman of
Speaker 11: any company, let alone an ASX listed media company to
Speaker 11: behave in this manner.
Speaker 2: And as we've seen, it's all captured on footage.
Speaker 11: There's vision audio there. This appear it is.
Speaker 2: To be someone under.
Speaker 11: A lot of pressure who has not conducted themselves in
Speaker 11: the best fashion.
Speaker 2: Charry.
Speaker 11: Now, just before I came on air, I received a
Speaker 11: statement from nine about this alleged incident and a spokesman
Speaker 11: said to me, after arriving at Canberra Airport, the chairman
Speaker 11: was confronted by a journalist from The Australian and in
Speaker 11: the course of filming the chairman, while walking backwards, the
Speaker 11: journalists collided with an advertising placard and fell. At no
Speaker 11: point did the chairman strike the journalists. Now, this is
Speaker 11: from a nine spokesman, Sharry. That footage to me looks
Speaker 11: like there is some conduct between the two of them,
Speaker 11: some contact, and we have had this backed up by
Speaker 11: numerous witnesses. So this is incredibly serious. This could be
Speaker 11: alleged assault. This is far from over and a shocking
Speaker 11: look for nine.
Speaker 3: Look, I thought it was interesting to see that the
Speaker 3: nine papers covering it. The City Morning Herald has covered this.
Speaker 3: It's on their homepage. As well. So you know this
Speaker 3: is being taken seriously by the media industry right across
Speaker 3: the board and at some points Peter Costello had been
Speaker 3: trying to portray the investigation into sexual harassment allegations as
Speaker 3: coming from News cop But the City Morning Herald has
Speaker 3: been reporting on this as well.
Speaker 2: They've had numerous stories on it too.
Speaker 11: They have Shari The Australian and Sky News has led
Speaker 11: the way on this story. But it was something that
Speaker 11: Nine could not ignore. It's too biggest story. It's too
Speaker 11: biggest scandal that's gripping the network. This is a media
Speaker 11: company in serious trouble Shary. Their share price has plunged,
Speaker 11: particularly in recent years. It's been at its lowest point
Speaker 11: around the dollar forty mark, you know, well down on
Speaker 11: the highs that it reached over three dollars. You've got
Speaker 11: a CEO in trouble, you've got a board that appears fractured,
Speaker 11: and now you have a chairman with an alleged incident
Speaker 11: now playing out on news bulletins all across the media
Speaker 11: and Australia.
Speaker 2: Sharry.
Speaker 11: This is not good and also for the employees of nine.
Speaker 11: They must look up to their management and their board
Speaker 11: who should set and lead the example within the company
Speaker 11: and this is not a way any chairman or managerial
Speaker 11: role in a company should conduct themselves in public. But
Speaker 11: this will continue to play out Shari.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely well, Sophie Elswath, thank you very much for
Speaker 3: your time, and of course you're reporting now. We're going
Speaker 3: to come back to that topic throughout the night with
Speaker 3: my panel. But now let's go to another big story
Speaker 3: today and I have exclusive comments now fromer Prime Minister
Speaker 3: John Howard, and he's criticized Anthony Albinezi for claiming that
Speaker 3: his government is successful on the grounds he hasn't reshard
Speaker 3: his ministry. The legendary prime Minister's intervention in this public
Speaker 3: debate comes after Alberizi dismissed suggestions he should sack his
Speaker 3: incompetent immigration minister. As pressure mounts on alber Esi to
Speaker 3: act over the scoundal prone Andrew Giles, the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: has boasted that unlike John Howard, his government has been stable.
Speaker 12: I think the stability of the team has been a
Speaker 12: real strength. I can't recall any new government having this
Speaker 12: same ministry in place two years after they were appointed.
Speaker 12: There's been no trips to Yara Lumla, and that's quite
Speaker 12: remarkable compared with John Howard had lost six or seven ministers.
Speaker 12: I think by this stage there'd been changes in the
Speaker 12: Hawk ministry, changes in the Rudd ministry. Tony Abbott himself
Speaker 12: didn't make it to two years as Prime Minister, and
Speaker 12: I had a chalence with an empty chair at one stage,
Speaker 12: and a lot of changes and shifts occurred. So I
Speaker 12: think that stability has been a positive.
Speaker 3: And that was Anthony Alberanzi speaking in a podcast interview
Speaker 3: on the twenty fifth of Mate to Mark Kenny, and
Speaker 3: as you heard, he was boasting that he hadn't sacked
Speaker 3: any ministers during his first two years in office, while
Speaker 3: John Howard had lost seven within a year. Well, I
Speaker 3: spoke to John Howard today and he strongly defended his
Speaker 3: record against Anthony Albanesi's. The former Prime Minister told me,
Speaker 3: and I quote, I make the broader point that the
Speaker 3: worth and therefore the stability of the government is determined
Speaker 3: by more things than the frequency and extent of ministerial reshuffles.
Speaker 3: Mister Howard pointed to the nation changing reforms he said
Speaker 3: he'd introduced as Prime Minister in his first term. He said,
Speaker 3: in the first two years, I had introduced major industrial
Speaker 3: relations changes, including reform of the waterfront. I had world
Speaker 3: leading historic gun reforms and Peter Costello and I made
Speaker 3: major reductions in spending. One of the true marks of
Speaker 3: the stability of my government was that the same people
Speaker 3: occupied the Prime Ministership, Treasury and Foreign Ministry for the
Speaker 3: whole eleven and a half years. The only time that's
Speaker 3: happened since federation. That was John Howard speaking to me
Speaker 3: earlier today now promising higher standards of ministerial accountability. John
Speaker 3: Howard acted when there were even minor infractions of the
Speaker 3: ministerial Code of Conduct, he.
Speaker 2: Accepted that ministers had to go.
Speaker 3: By contrast, Albanezi has refused to act on Andrew Giles
Speaker 3: despite mounting scandals that have seen violent criminals set free
Speaker 3: only to re offend, putting community safety at peril. The
Speaker 3: situation is now farcical yet our but Easy claims there's
Speaker 3: nothing to see here. He's leading a great government. Have
Speaker 3: a look at him today.
Speaker 11: There's a lot of speculation around as a possible federal industry.
Speaker 12: Is that you're playing the first government in a long
Speaker 12: while that's been stable, that's been orderly that has done
Speaker 12: what we said we would do.
Speaker 1: We said we'd look.
Speaker 12: After people and we've done it. My government has been stable.
Speaker 12: That compares with the shambles that we replaced.
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister is using the pretense of stability to
Speaker 3: disguise extreme incompetence. He thinks he can delude voters into
Speaker 3: thinking his government is successful because he hasn't sacked anyone
Speaker 3: for policy failures. Well, for a limited time, it is
Speaker 3: a legitimate political strategy to dig in and refuse to
Speaker 3: terminate a minister. Doesn't want to give the impression of instability.
Speaker 3: But the limited time where this was a serious and
Speaker 3: incredible political strategy ended several Giles induced scandals ago. That
Speaker 3: Albanezi could claim superiority over John Howard is laughable. Albinizi
Speaker 3: as Prime Minister is out of his depth and is
Speaker 3: running a poor government, weak and not across the detail.
Speaker 3: He allows left wing ministers to embark on radical reform
Speaker 3: that's not in Australia's best interest. It's nothing to boast
Speaker 3: about that he hasn't lost a minister. What this shows
Speaker 3: is that Howard had high standards for his ministry. He
Speaker 3: sacked even his allies whereas had the same misdemeanors happened today,
Speaker 3: Alberizi would look the other way and wait for the
Speaker 3: scandal to burn out. It's not a point of pride
Speaker 3: to accept not just mediocrity, but incompetence.
Speaker 2: That's the point.
Speaker 3: Albinizi has lowered the bar to such an extent that
Speaker 3: grandmothers are blue and bruised in the face from being
Speaker 3: bashed by detainees thanks to Andrew Giles's failure.
Speaker 2: Yet that's not enough to sack him.
Speaker 3: Albinizi has lowered the bar to such an extent that
Speaker 3: he won't investigate allegations of bullying when they arose with
Speaker 3: the mean Girls. These were serious allegations by labor women
Speaker 3: and labor MPs, and Albinizi has lowered the bar to
Speaker 3: such an extent that when Katie Gallagher is caught out
Speaker 3: misleading the Senate about what she knew about the Higgins
Speaker 3: matter prior to broadcast, well, he just looks the other way.
Speaker 3: The fact Albineze won't sack a minister in his first
Speaker 3: term speaks volumes about.
Speaker 2: His character and his leadership.
Speaker 3: It speaks to the lack of disrespect he has for voters.
Speaker 3: How he's happy to prioritize what's politically advantageous to him,
Speaker 3: even if it's at the expense of community safety. All right,
Speaker 3: let's bring in tonight's panel, Liberal Senator James McGrath and
Speaker 3: Sky News commentator Jason Morrison.
Speaker 2: Welcome to you both.
Speaker 3: We're going to come back to the big story of
Speaker 3: Peter Costello in a moment, but let's start with what
Speaker 3: I was just speaking about.
Speaker 2: Then.
Speaker 3: James, the Prime Minister, says his government is stable and
Speaker 3: that he has looked after people. There's increasing speculation that
Speaker 3: he will have a reshuffle. There were reports by Sam
Speaker 3: Maiden just today that what could spark that reshuffle is
Speaker 3: Bill Shorten taking on an ambassadorship, perhaps in Paris. Well,
Speaker 3: I've spoken to very good sources close to Shorton who
Speaker 3: say that he's not interested in an ambassadorship. He has
Speaker 3: no intention of going anywhere. So you know, at this point,
Speaker 3: perhaps it could be Linda Burney retiring. But at this
Speaker 3: point it doesn't look like Albanize's going to admit that
Speaker 3: he needs a reshuffle based on the incompetence of Anne Giles.
Speaker 8: The issue here is not just incompetence of Andrew Giles,
Speaker 8: it's the weakness of alban Easy. It's the weakness of
Speaker 8: a prime minister who is letting Australia slide into economic
Speaker 8: mediocrity and allowing Australians to not feel safe because of
Speaker 8: an immigration minister, quite frankly, who we would not trust
Speaker 8: to operate a toaster or a kettle. He should have
Speaker 8: been sacked weeks ago. Australia is not safe because of
Speaker 8: that man, and the buck stops with the prime minister.
Speaker 8: He is a weak prime minister, Jason, what.
Speaker 2: Do you think I mean?
Speaker 3: Clearly Albinizi is presenting this as some sort of stability
Speaker 3: in his government, the fact that he refuses to move
Speaker 3: on an incompetent minister.
Speaker 2: He compares himself to John Howard. Well, what do you
Speaker 2: make of that comparison.
Speaker 13: I'm still getting over the toaster and the kettle analogy.
Speaker 13: You know, it's interesting what a barometer for success. I'm
Speaker 13: doing well as a prime minister and my government's pretty
Speaker 13: good because I haven't sacked a couple of imbeciles. That's
Speaker 13: the barometer for success according to the Prime Minister today,
Speaker 13: it's not watching with people I think you know to
Speaker 13: suggest that you know people don't want diplomatic posts is
Speaker 13: also laughable. I'm not met a politician that doesn't want
Speaker 13: a diplomatic post.
Speaker 5: Perhaps a senator.
Speaker 13: You might want to tell me if you wouldn't mind one, two,
Speaker 13: if it was tucked your way. It's a joke. It
Speaker 13: is a joke of a thief. All right, there, you're
Speaker 13: off the hook. But the joke of this is to
Speaker 13: say that the only thing that is the indicator of
Speaker 13: how well or not a government is going is by
Speaker 13: how many ministers.
Speaker 5: You've had to clean out.
Speaker 13: History will reflect that the most successful government in terms
Speaker 13: of being re elected, probably since the kind of deep
Speaker 13: dark sixties, was the Howard government.
Speaker 5: And yeah, a lot.
Speaker 13: Of ministers got chopped, a lot got turned and burned.
Speaker 13: That happens. That doesn't mean a government's no good. It
Speaker 13: means the like in charge has got good judgment and
Speaker 13: can get rid.
Speaker 5: Of the drop kicks. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, John Howard responded to those allegations of those criticisms
Speaker 3: from Anthony ABERNIZI today, as you just heard. Now, let's
Speaker 3: go to this big story, major breaking news this afternoon
Speaker 3: that the former treasurer at Peter Costello, the chair of nine,
Speaker 3: knocked journalist Liam Mendes to the ground. James McGraw, You know,
Speaker 3: what do you think of that? You would have seen
Speaker 3: the vision by now? Do you think that conduct is
Speaker 3: befitting the chair of an ASX listed company.
Speaker 8: Look, look, Peter was perhaps the greatest treasurer that this
Speaker 8: country has seen, and I think he would be the
Speaker 8: first to admit when he if he does look at
Speaker 8: that footage, that that footage shows, he's probably let himself
Speaker 8: down and he's let the company down because he's someone
Speaker 8: who's experienced the highs and lows of politics. He's done
Speaker 8: some serious, important things for this country. But it wasn't
Speaker 8: a good look for Peter and hopefully he will address
Speaker 8: it more in the coming days.
Speaker 2: Do you think he should step down? James McGrath.
Speaker 8: No, I don't think he should step down. He's clearly
Speaker 8: under under a lot of pressure that he is chairman
Speaker 8: of a media company with programs like a Current Affair,
Speaker 8: as Liam pointed out when he was chasing after mister Costello,
Speaker 8: which on a regular basis will do such things. And
Speaker 8: I didn't think Liam's questions were that difficult, all that hard.
Speaker 8: He was doing his job and good on him. In
Speaker 8: a free country. I want the free media to hold
Speaker 8: people like me to account, but also to hold people
Speaker 8: like Peter Cassello to account, who is chairman of a
Speaker 8: very important.
Speaker 3: Company, and actually Peter Costello's own son is a journalist
Speaker 3: at a current affair and also frequently chases people down
Speaker 3: the street as well.
Speaker 2: Jason, what do you think.
Speaker 3: I don't see how can behave in that way, especially
Speaker 3: at the time when they've got external investigators in place
Speaker 3: to investigate allegations of threatening and bullying and blokey behavior
Speaker 3: at the network.
Speaker 13: Yeah, the Senator is right, he's under a lot of
Speaker 13: pressure and that would have just added to it. But
Speaker 13: let's say what Peter Costello has said tonight in response
Speaker 13: to what happened with Liam is right that the fellow
Speaker 13: fell down because he was walking backwards. Okay, if he
Speaker 13: fell down and he was walking backwards, then you're a
Speaker 13: pretty average bloke for not giving him a hand up,
Speaker 13: even if you don't like what's being asked. I've seen
Speaker 13: plenty of politicians be badgered absolutely to the point of
Speaker 13: sweat by journalists who've fallen over, and they've at least
Speaker 13: had the decency to do that. He should have done that.
Speaker 5: He did nothing.
Speaker 13: He said nothing, should he go oh look, I mean,
Speaker 13: I think a bigger issue for him, And this will
Speaker 13: be an interesting test for the MEA, which I often
Speaker 13: find quite.
Speaker 5: An impotent union. At Fairfax nine.
Speaker 13: It's a very unionized newspaper environment, and I'd be really
Speaker 13: interested to know how the House committee there feels about
Speaker 13: the chairman of a company that has appeared to have
Speaker 13: been involved in an incident with a journalist and has
Speaker 13: shown some sort of recklessness or carelessness. The public doesn't
Speaker 13: like the media.
Speaker 8: This is the interesting thing.
Speaker 13: I think a lot of people watching tonight I'll probably
Speaker 13: think he has been badget unnecessarily. If you think that,
Speaker 13: just remember for a second. This is a public company, right.
Speaker 13: This is a public company that has had some real
Speaker 13: serious accusations made against it, and its chairman is nowhere.
Speaker 13: He's not commenting, he's not saying an The company's kind
Speaker 13: of gone to ground apart from internal dealings, and it
Speaker 13: owes answers to its shareholders. And it's a media organization,
Speaker 13: it owes answers for its behavior.
Speaker 5: I think it's pretty.
Speaker 13: Poor formed that he didn't even engage with a reporter,
Speaker 13: let alone not offering him a hand to get up
Speaker 13: off the ground if indeed what he says is right.
Speaker 13: But the best thing about it for him is in
Speaker 13: the act where the worst police force in Australia have
Speaker 13: to reside.
Speaker 5: Good luck, I reckon.
Speaker 13: I reckon that they'll struggle to put tunes two together
Speaker 13: on this one and find anything.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see.
Speaker 3: We haven't heard whether or not there is a police investigation.
Speaker 3: But as Sophie Elsworth pointed out, you know, there's at
Speaker 3: least two cameras that Liam Mendes had running. He had
Speaker 3: a camera which is now broken, got broken in the
Speaker 3: process of him being knocked to the ground.
Speaker 2: He also had a go pro.
Speaker 3: But there'll be a lot of other vision CCTV vision
Speaker 3: at Camera Airport as well where that happened. And now,
Speaker 3: just before we go, Question Time opened with commemorations for
Speaker 3: the eightieth anniversary of the Invasion of Normandy Today, otherwise
Speaker 3: known as D Day, the major Sea Bond invasion happened,
Speaker 3: as we know because of Hitler's hatred of Jews. I
Speaker 3: think that this is very pertinent seeing as we are
Speaker 3: living through another alarming surge of anti Semitism. James McGrath,
Speaker 3: you know, as we commemorate our fallen soldiers. It is
Speaker 3: worth remembering what they were fighting for.
Speaker 8: How quickly we forget, how quickly we forget that eighty
Speaker 8: years ago the Allied forces were landing in Normandy to
Speaker 8: get rid of fascism and Nazis, and Nazis because the
Speaker 8: Nazis were exterminating Jewish people, Gypsies, gays, Democrats, people from
Speaker 8: a Slavic background at an industrial scale. They were trying
Speaker 8: to fight for freedom, freedom that too many people today
Speaker 8: here in Australia take for granted. And yet here in Australia,
Speaker 8: I don't like the word anti semitism because it disguises
Speaker 8: what it is about. Anti Semitism is about hating Jews.
Speaker 8: It's about not liking Jews, and anti Semitism provides a
Speaker 8: cover for that. It is a national shame that Jewish
Speaker 8: people in Australia are afraid to walk the streets of
Speaker 8: our university, to wook the streets of the suburbs that
Speaker 8: live in, or their kids to go to school because
Speaker 8: of anti Jewish behavior. And political parties like the Greens
Speaker 8: need to be called out for their anti Jewish behavior
Speaker 8: and their anti Jewish stands, because too many people have
Speaker 8: lost blood defending our freedoms to be lost today because
Speaker 8: of a bunch of fascists in the Greens political party.
Speaker 13: Brilliant, that's brilliant.
Speaker 3: James McGrath, Jason Morrison, thank you both very much for
Speaker 3: joining me. Now we're going to get more reaction tonight
Speaker 3: to the breaking news on Peter Costello. Also coming up
Speaker 3: Labour's anti semitism unity ticket that lasted less than twenty
Speaker 3: four hours. Liberal MP Julian Lisa will join me next
Speaker 3: about how Labor shut down his bill that would have
Speaker 3: investigated anti semitism on university campuses. Stay tuned, welcome back. Well,
Speaker 3: some breaking news. First, I have confirmed from an impeccable
Speaker 3: sauce that Bill Shorton is not seeking the ambassadorship for France.
Speaker 2: So even if that is on offer.
Speaker 3: From Anthony Albanesi, and I understand that Shorton has been
Speaker 3: offered multiple ambassadorships, I have confirmed from an impeccable source
Speaker 3: Bill Shoton is not seeking the ambassadorship for France. Now,
Speaker 3: in unsurprising news, Labour's so called support for Israel has
Speaker 3: lasted less than twenty four hours. Yesterday we saw what
Speaker 3: looked like a unity ticket between Albanezi and Peter Dutton
Speaker 3: when they lash the behavior of the Greens over anti Semitism,
Speaker 3: But less than twenty four hours later, Labour used its
Speaker 3: numbers to completely shut down a parliamentary debate on an
Speaker 3: important bill to establish a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on
Speaker 3: university campuses. It was a bill brought on by liberal
Speaker 3: Julian Lisa, who suspended standing on in Parliament today.
Speaker 14: Have a look given the failure of the Commission President
Speaker 14: to call out antisemitism and condemn him us given the
Speaker 14: race discrimination commissioner could not condemn from the River to
Speaker 14: the Sea, given the systemic racism in its staff and contractors.
Speaker 1: Does the attorney.
Speaker 14: Believe the Commission is really the appropriate body to undertake
Speaker 14: an inquiry into antisemitism on campus or does he agree
Speaker 14: with the opposition the non Green Cross benches and almost
Speaker 14: every Jewish organization in the country that only a judicial
Speaker 14: inquiry into antisemitism on campus can deal with this matter properly.
Speaker 3: Who wouldn't support that well, Labor as it turns out,
Speaker 3: and Julian Lisa, fresh off the plane from Canberra, joins
Speaker 3: me in studio.
Speaker 2: Now, Julian, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 3: What was your bill proposing and how disappointed are you
Speaker 3: that Labour, which claims now to want to find antisemitism,
Speaker 3: didn't get behind an inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses.
Speaker 14: I'm deeply disappointed, Shari, and I'm particularly disappointed for the
Speaker 14: Jewish staff and Jewish students on our university camp When
Speaker 14: Anthony Albanezi came in on a Unity ticket yesterday with
Speaker 14: Peter Dutton. Now, Peter has been very strong in terms
Speaker 14: of moral clarity, in terms of calling out anti semitism,
Speaker 14: particularly on our university campuses. The Prime Minister said all
Speaker 14: the right things yesterday. But today when we actually bought
Speaker 14: on the bill for the purpose of establishing a judicial
Speaker 14: inquiry into anti semitism on campus, Labor shutdown debates.
Speaker 1: So I was incredibly disappointed.
Speaker 14: They didn't vote against the bill, they just shut down
Speaker 14: the debate, which was a great chain. We should have
Speaker 14: a debate about this because the government's alternative to an
Speaker 14: independent judicial inquiry is to have the terrible Human Rights
Speaker 14: Commission that I think has systemic bias against Jews run
Speaker 14: an inquiry into antisemitism on campus.
Speaker 3: Well, you gave a brilliant speech this week, You've done
Speaker 3: terrific work. The entire week, Jillian Lisa, but you gave
Speaker 3: a brilliant speech outlining the Human Rights Commission and how
Speaker 3: it has had internal problems with anti semitism, and so
Speaker 3: it shouldn't be responsible therefore for conducting inquiry into that
Speaker 3: very issue. Can you tell us about some of its
Speaker 3: internal problems.
Speaker 14: So when it goes to antisemitism, the Human Rights Commission
Speaker 14: is rotten to the core. From the President of the
Speaker 14: Human Rights Commission who had sided estimates, failed to condemn
Speaker 14: anti semitism, and failed to condemn Hamas to the new
Speaker 14: Race Discrimination Commissioner, the person who would be running this
Speaker 14: particular inquiry, who, when asked whether he thought there was
Speaker 14: a problem with the words from the River to the Sea,
Speaker 14: words that the Prime Minister and the Senate have condemned,
Speaker 14: said very much like those US university vice chancells on
Speaker 14: It all depends on the context what we've had with
Speaker 14: the staff and the contractors of the Human Rights Commissions.
Speaker 14: Even worse, we've had contractors who are engaged in the
Speaker 14: doxing of Jewish artists and creatives who were supposed to
Speaker 14: deliver anti racism campaigns. We've had other staff at the
Speaker 14: Commission talk about effing Zios. We've had other staff that
Speaker 14: have written the Commission president a letter saying that every
Speaker 14: time they talk about the conflict, every time they talk
Speaker 14: about the terrorist attack, they should blame the violence on
Speaker 14: Israel's occupation. We've had a litany of at least a
Speaker 14: dozen different staff who have basically demonstrated anti Semitic comments.
Speaker 14: And this is the body that the government wants to
Speaker 14: give this inquiry into antisemitism on campus. Imagine if this
Speaker 14: was Indian students that we were talking about, and Indian
Speaker 14: university staff and a body had such strong anti Indian views.
Speaker 14: Can you imagine the government giving such a body the
Speaker 14: right to make these sort of inquiries. I can't. And
Speaker 14: yet this government shows again and again a blind spot
Speaker 14: when it comes to Jewish people. It's time the Attorney
Speaker 14: General cleaned up that Human Rights Commission. It's his responsibility,
Speaker 14: and I can't believe he's continued.
Speaker 5: To fail to do so.
Speaker 3: It does seem like racism against Jews isn't called out
Speaker 3: as strongly as racism against any other group would be.
Speaker 2: The university issue is extreme because we are seeing.
Speaker 3: Young you know, barely out of their child years, you know,
Speaker 3: people in their teenage having to come face to face
Speaker 3: with aggression and hatred every single day.
Speaker 2: What needs to be done to clean this up.
Speaker 14: Sure, it's not just the Jewish students, it's the standards
Speaker 14: that are being set on university campuses which will affect
Speaker 14: the Australia of tomorrow. It will basically say to non
Speaker 14: Jewish students, all this anti Semitism is okay, you know,
Speaker 14: don't worry about it. Jews don't count.
Speaker 5: That is a terrible.
Speaker 14: Message that we are sending to the next generation of
Speaker 14: young leaders. University should be a place where people go
Speaker 14: to better themselves, to take advantage of opportunities. But we're
Speaker 14: doing all the wrong things here. So we do need
Speaker 14: this judicial inquiry because only a judicial inquiry can put
Speaker 14: some of these vice chancellors on the witness stand, can
Speaker 14: have them cross examined by silks, has the independence to
Speaker 14: search and seize documents and to provide protections for witnesses
Speaker 14: who would fear reprisals in other fua of inquiries where
Speaker 14: we need those witnesses to come forward and tell their stories,
Speaker 14: and the stories of Jewish staff and students are shocking.
Speaker 14: Jewish students being spat at and taunted with swastikas a
Speaker 14: Jewish staff member who had their office urinated upon. And
Speaker 14: you've got a culture on these university campuses where you've
Speaker 14: got rape deniers of the seventh of October at Sydney University,
Speaker 14: and you've got vice chancellors that in these encampments run
Speaker 14: the universities are a complete mess and the government's elections shame.
Speaker 3: There is an issue with the chancellors or vice chancellors
Speaker 3: asking labor lobbying labor not to have this inquiry.
Speaker 2: Do you suspect that's going on behind the scenes.
Speaker 14: I suspect there's a bit of pushback in relation to
Speaker 14: this because the vice chancellors and the chancellors don't want
Speaker 14: to get on the stand. You can be sure of
Speaker 14: that they like a nice, hush hush inquiry from the
Speaker 14: Human Rights Commission that will take two years where they
Speaker 14: know the Commission's not going to take these issues seriously
Speaker 14: and they can just carry on as they are. We
Speaker 14: know these judicial inquiries change the culture and institutions. We've
Speaker 14: seen it in banking and financial services. We've seen it
Speaker 14: in relation to religious institutions and the way they deal
Speaker 14: with child sexual abuse. This is the sort of inquiry
Speaker 14: we need now to deal with anti Semitism campus the
Speaker 14: future of the countries at stay here, absolutely.
Speaker 3: Well, Julian, Lisa, thank you for putting this on the table,
Speaker 3: Thank you for fighting it and for your strong speeches this.
Speaker 14: Week, and I'll keep fighting Shari, good on you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Julian.
Speaker 3: Now still to come, we'll have more reaction to that
Speaker 3: extraordinary footage emerging this afternoon of nine chare Peter Costello
Speaker 3: in an ugly confrontation with a reporter from The Australian
Speaker 3: and another major broadcasting network hit with harassment claims.
Speaker 2: How has the ABC responded all of that?
Speaker 3: Coming up, Welcome back with for more breaking coverage of
Speaker 3: the Peter Costello saga. I'm joined now by The Australians
Speaker 3: New South Wales political reporter Alexi Dimitriadi and The Australians
Speaker 3: Associate editor Jenna Clark. Alexi, Jenna, welcome to you both.
Speaker 2: For viewers who are just.
Speaker 3: Tuning in now, the chair of nine and the former
Speaker 3: Federal treasure Peter Costello has knocked to the ground a
Speaker 3: journalist Leah Mendes this afternoon at Canberra Airport.
Speaker 2: Let's have a look at how that.
Speaker 4: Unfolded mister Cassello, my name is Leam Mendez from the Australian.
Speaker 4: Do you support mister sneezeb as CEO and his handling
Speaker 4: of the Darren Wick saga? Were you aware of the
Speaker 4: allegations against mister Wick before he left nine?
Speaker 15: Thank you?
Speaker 4: Were you aware of those allegations? Mister Costillo? Why won't
Speaker 4: you support mister sneezebe publicly good? Well, you've got to
Speaker 4: answer the questions, mister Castillo.
Speaker 10: Don't you've just assaulted Don't you've just assaulted me?
Speaker 5: It's very bid. That was quite a violent behavior, mister.
Speaker 5: Do you have the full support of your board?
Speaker 4: Journalists who worked for nine approach people in this manner
Speaker 4: every day? Can you attacked me?
Speaker 5: Just son?
Speaker 2: Jenna.
Speaker 3: Look, I've spoken to Liam today. He is very shaken
Speaker 3: by this. Peter Costello denies he deliberately pushed Liam mendes over.
Speaker 3: Liam's in no doubt about what happened and he is supported.
Speaker 3: He does appear to be supported by the video footage.
Speaker 3: What do you think of Costello's claim that it was
Speaker 3: Liam who was the aggressive journalist.
Speaker 9: I think that's ridiculous coming from Peter Costello, who has
Speaker 9: been in the rough and tumble of politics for many
Speaker 9: years and now is basically at the helm of a
Speaker 9: media company. And I think his behavior, like we have
Speaker 9: seen from the number of his charges there from Darren
Speaker 9: Wick all the way up to the top, is absolutely
Speaker 9: revolting and he has some serious questions to answer.
Speaker 2: Indeed he does.
Speaker 3: Alexi, you are a colleague of Liam Bendy's at The Australian.
Speaker 3: You have reported on stories with him, you know him well.
Speaker 3: It is surprising, Like I said, he's covered the war
Speaker 3: in Ukraine. It is surprising for him to be so
Speaker 3: shaken like this. But you can see in the footage
Speaker 3: how he is not to the ground and it does
Speaker 3: look to be a shoulder badge.
Speaker 6: Yes, it's the footage that The Australian broke earlier. It's
Speaker 6: very resting footage of the incident. It shows him, appears
Speaker 6: to show mister Costello allegedly moving forward into Liam, and
Speaker 6: of course Liam ends up on the ground and it's
Speaker 6: you know, not just covered by the Australian our paper,
Speaker 6: but you can see it across Twitter. That footage is
Speaker 6: now going around and yeah, anyone that works or knows
Speaker 6: Liam absolutely fantastic journalist and as the video shows he's
Speaker 6: doing his job putting questions to mister Costello. As Liam says, nine,
Speaker 6: do your current affair do He's just doing his job
Speaker 6: and it's yeah, as the footage shows are very confronting
Speaker 6: incident there.
Speaker 3: And that's one of the most impress of things about
Speaker 3: the moment he gets knocked to the ground, he gets up,
Speaker 3: he keeps asking polite but firm questions of the former
Speaker 3: federal Treasurer Jenna. But then he goes back and finds
Speaker 3: witnesses who saw the whole thing unfold.
Speaker 9: What a journalist, Yeah, Liam, Liam is an exemplary journalist.
Speaker 9: And I think it just goes to show. You know,
Speaker 9: mister Costello, if you do not like to be harassed,
Speaker 9: as you say in this manner, pick up your phone mate.
Speaker 9: I know colleagues have been trying to call you for weeks.
Speaker 9: Make a comment already.
Speaker 3: Indeed, we have all been putting numerous questions, myself included
Speaker 3: to Peter Costello, questions he hasn't been particularly happy to answer. Now,
Speaker 3: the ABC has been rocked by a wave of harassment claims,
Speaker 3: with almost one hundred staff saying on a survey that
Speaker 3: they'd experienced sexual harassment while at work, and a further
Speaker 3: one hundred and eighty six reporting having been bullied. Managing
Speaker 3: Director David Anderson warned in an all staff email that
Speaker 3: there would be consequences for those staff who are found
Speaker 3: have behaved in an unacceptable manner, no matter what their
Speaker 3: role is at the ABC, ALEXI, what do you think
Speaker 3: of this is yet again another example of inappropriate behavior
Speaker 3: at a media company.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, and it's not just in the media but in
Speaker 6: every workspace. Everyone deserves to be saved, deserves to go
Speaker 6: around doing their jobs, you know, free from harassment, free
Speaker 6: from bullying, particularly from sexual sexual harassment, and is very
Speaker 6: concerned to see that, you know, in any company, and
Speaker 6: of course in the National Broadcaster, going through my colleague
Speaker 6: James Madden's piece and media editor of The Australian. It
Speaker 6: is at least, I think reassuring and good to see
Speaker 6: that the stern words from mister Andson and of course
Speaker 6: missus Stevens saying that there will be consequences and anyone
Speaker 6: in the organization at the ABC if you conduct yourself
Speaker 6: in this manner or justify actions like this, the ABC
Speaker 6: isn't the place to work for you. And I believe that. Yeah,
Speaker 6: missus d Evens is launching or well launch a portal
Speaker 6: for staff at the ABC to anonymously file incidences like that,
Speaker 6: which should you'd hope make it easier for people to
Speaker 6: come forward and also to action and investigate any incidences.
Speaker 6: So very concerned to see those figures, to hear that
Speaker 6: ABC Journal's staff have experienced stuff like that, and hopefully
Speaker 6: it can be improved.
Speaker 3: Over to US politics journal, The Wall Street Journal reports
Speaker 3: that Joe Biden may be suffering a dementia, withinsiders fearing
Speaker 3: that his mind is slipping. The article claims that eighty
Speaker 3: one year old performs poorly in meetings, mixes up key
Speaker 3: details of his own policies, and speaks so softly that aids.
Speaker 2: Struggle to hear him. What do you make of these revelations?
Speaker 9: It is interesting, Sharon, and I know that you know
Speaker 9: we have been covering this on Sky News and The
Speaker 9: Australian for many, many almost years now, about the decline of.
Speaker 2: The leader of the free world.
Speaker 9: But this coming from the Wall Street Journal is incredibly
Speaker 9: alarmed considering the sources that were cited in this piece,
Speaker 9: and also with the heft of the mast head behind
Speaker 9: this story, and it just has you begging the question?
Speaker 9: November twenty twenty four is not that far away, and
Speaker 9: I know we're going to potentially see Donald Trump being
Speaker 9: the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. But what on
Speaker 9: earth are the Democrats doing putting this man, if he
Speaker 9: is indeed suffering from this horrific disease, up for another
Speaker 9: round on the merry go round. He absolutely doesn't deserve this,
Speaker 9: so I think they really need to get their skates
Speaker 9: on and start implementing plans for the future. Now, before
Speaker 9: you go, Jenna, this is your last TV appearance before
Speaker 9: maternity leave, and I just have to wish you all
Speaker 9: the best for your new little baby. You're expecting a
Speaker 9: boy within a couple of weeks. I am thank you
Speaker 9: very much and thank you so much Sheriff for having
Speaker 9: me on your show.
Speaker 2: It's been an absolute pleasure of being with you and.
Speaker 3: Your viewers, so I can't wait for you to experience
Speaker 3: the absolute joy and love of motherhood. Nothing beats it.
Speaker 3: Jennah Clarke, good luck to you and your family. Alexi,
Speaker 3: thank you also for your time. Now after the break,
Speaker 3: we'll cross live to London for the latest on the
Speaker 3: UK's snap election. Stay tuned, welcome back. Well, the race
Speaker 3: is on to the UK election, with Prime Minister Rishi
Speaker 3: Sunak facing off against his main rival Kirstama in their
Speaker 3: first TV debate earlier this week.
Speaker 15: If I'm your prime minister, the planes will go to Rwanda.
Speaker 15: We will have a deterrent. So this simple question for
Speaker 15: Kirstenriz what will you do with people who come here illegally?
Speaker 15: Tell what will you do with them? Well, very simply,
Speaker 15: what would you do with them? That's what I'm going
Speaker 15: to do? Will have a deterrent. What are you going
Speaker 15: to do?
Speaker 13: We need to smash the gangs that are running this
Speaker 13: file trade, making a huge amount of money, putting some
Speaker 13: of the most vulnerable people in votes across the channel.
Speaker 3: Let's bring you now, Spiked Online editor Tom Slater, thank
Speaker 3: you for your time. Look, Nigel Farage threw his hat.
Speaker 2: In the ring.
Speaker 3: This is sown somewhat of a spanner in the works.
Speaker 3: Do you think his Reform Party is going to cause
Speaker 3: an upset in any way?
Speaker 1: It certainly seems that that could be the case.
Speaker 16: I mean, as you say, Nigel Faraj had previously said
Speaker 16: that he was going to more or less sit out
Speaker 16: this election. He actually took a lot of flak on
Speaker 16: social media for saying he was going to concentrate on
Speaker 16: helping his friend Donald Trump in the US, but he
Speaker 16: was under a lot of pressure to step up.
Speaker 1: He has stepped up.
Speaker 16: He's back as the actual leader of the Reform Party
Speaker 16: and he's standing in Clacton, which is a seat on
Speaker 16: the coast of Essex, very strongly Antieu previously, where UKIP,
Speaker 16: a predecessor to the Reform Party, had an elected MP.
Speaker 16: And as a consequence of that, he's really lit up
Speaker 16: the debate as well. And there was a pole out
Speaker 16: last night which actually found that the Reform Party are
Speaker 16: climbing and are now within two percentage points of the Conservatives.
Speaker 16: So it's something which I think really has shaken things
Speaker 16: up already. The question of whether or not this will
Speaker 16: translate into seats and so on is not always obvious
Speaker 16: given the first past the post system that we have,
Speaker 16: but it's certainly made the debate a lot more interesting
Speaker 16: given as you saw from that clip there, the leaders
Speaker 16: of the main parties are hardly any of life's great showman,
Speaker 16: shall we say.
Speaker 3: The polls overall do show and we are expecting this
Speaker 3: to be a strong Labor win.
Speaker 16: Absolutely. I mean in that poll from last night they're
Speaker 16: on about forty percent. Some of the kind of seat
Speaker 16: projections that have been made so far, you're looking at
Speaker 16: a staggering.
Speaker 1: Majority, you know, nor for four hundred seats. This is something.
Speaker 16: Which it would be absolutely incredible if they Labor Party
Speaker 16: didn't win, and win quite handling. I think it's worth
Speaker 16: pointing out that this is not necessarily because people are
Speaker 16: very infused about Keir Starmer. People generally are quite negative
Speaker 16: about him to the extent they have a view on.
Speaker 1: Him at all.
Speaker 16: But this election is very much the story of the
Speaker 16: electorate wants to punish the Conservatives, not just because of
Speaker 16: fourteen years in rule and all of the mistakes they've
Speaker 16: made over that period, but I think particularly the past
Speaker 16: few years where after Brexit it felt like they had
Speaker 16: the wind at their back, they had this new coalition
Speaker 16: including a lot of former label working class voters. I
Speaker 16: think those people in particular feel that they've been betrayed
Speaker 16: essentially at this point, and this election is about giving
Speaker 16: them that punishment.
Speaker 3: Beating as it were, and a lot of chaos, a
Speaker 3: period of instability, multiple leaders.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's been ridiculous Mehan.
Speaker 16: Everyone's been able to have a go at leading the
Speaker 16: Conservative Party, it feels like over the course.
Speaker 1: Of the past few years. And I think that was
Speaker 1: one of the big problems was.
Speaker 16: The fact that when the Conservatives were returned in twenty
Speaker 16: nineteen via Boris Johnson, there was a lot of voters
Speaker 16: wanted to take a chance of something different, and we've
Speaker 16: ended up with a Conservative Party with Rishi soon At
Speaker 16: that feels very much like what it did.
Speaker 3: Indeed, yea, all right, Tom Sayer, thank you very much
Speaker 3: for joining us with that analysis.
Speaker 2: I'll see you mandate eight o'clock. And right now he's
Speaker 2: Paul Mary