WEBVTT - Why Albanese backed Trump’s Iran attack 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:09.640 From Schwartz Media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.720 When Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iranian nucleosides, the world 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.599 watched for a response, but in Australia there was silence. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.320 It took a day before the Prime Minister or Foreign 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.880 Minister addressed the media. When they did, they backed the 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.120 US cautiously while calling for khm for Anthony Alberanezi wants 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.400 a vocal opponent of the Iraq war. His position shows 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.520 how far labor has shifted on foreign policy and how 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.559 little pushed back there is within his own party. But 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.400 while Labor falls in line, the coalition are thrashing their 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:44.280 way to a new identity. Today calumnists for the Monthly 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:49.279 and Inside Story Karen Middleton on war politics and the 0:00:49.320 --> 0:01:01.960 calculations driving both major parties. It's Friday, June twenty seven. Karen, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.280 thanks for joining us. On Sunday, Donald Trump announced that 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:09.280 the US had bombed three nuclear sites in Iran. This 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.360 was a significant moment, a dramatic escalation in the war 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.080 in the Middle East, and yet we didn't actually hear 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:19.000 directly from our government about this until the following day. 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.640 What was that the world has long agreed that Iran 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:28.280 cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:30.480 support action to prevent that. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.399 That is what this is. Well, it's hard to know 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.760 exactly because the government isn't really willing to say, but 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.360 what we have gleaned from what the government said on 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.520 Monday was that it seems that they weren't alerted to 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.400 this and that that may have been part of the 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.320 reason that they didn't want to come out to definitively 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.240 on the Sunday until they fully understood what was going on. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:56.480 Just a follow up, so. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.960 It was your government's leaved prior to the at table. 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.760 This is unilateral action taken by the United States. 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.280 PM Human Breath, This. 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.240 Was unilateral action taken by the United States. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:13.520 They issued a written statement that was just attributed to 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.480 a government spokesperson. So that was interesting in itself on 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.160 the Sunday because they didn't even attribute it to a 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.760 spokesperson for the Prime Minister or the Defense Minister, and 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.480 that had noted that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.840 had been a threat to international peace and security, noted 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.040 the US President's statement that now is the time for peace, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.200 called the security situation in the region highly volatile and 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.640 called for de escalation, dialogue and diplomacy. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:48.280 Had Iran complied with the very reasonable requests that were made, 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:54.760 including by the IAEA, then circumstances would have been different. 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.000 It was seen very much as not being a specific 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.919 endorsement of the app and I think the only answer 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.560 I can give to that question is that they really 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.520 weren't kept in the loop and they wanted to make 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.680 sure they had all the information before they spoke out 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:09.200 on Monday. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.800 There have been many in the security community who have 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:15.240 alleged that Trump breaks the international law in ordering these 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.360 strokes on Iran, and yet the governments decided to intensively 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.800 support those strokes. If you put this in the context 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.160 of Albany's's political history he stands on the Iraq War, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.160 for example, how do you think at all squares well? 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.920 He certainly was a strong opponent of Australia's engagement in 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:35.840 the war in Iraq. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.360 In two thousand and three. 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.120 He gave a speech in the Parliament on the twentieth 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.880 of March two thousand and three opposing that engagement. 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:47.400 He called it an unjust war. 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.839 He said we shouldn't be revisiting crusades, because that's how 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.640 this war was being perceived in the international community, was 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.600 worried about Australia's reputation, and he noted that it had 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.400 the conflict of the invasion, had no UN backing. So 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.400 it was a pretty strong speech at the time, and 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.880 he particularly singled out the fact that there was a 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:13.680 preemptive strike. He said, Iraq doesn't represent a threat to Australia. 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.559 We are with this decision supporting a preemptive strike, which 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:22.120 changes forever the way that international politics works, and he 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:24.360 referred to it as an outrage that Australia should not 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.760 be part of. So there was no mincing words back then. 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.400 Now people change their views over time. He's now the 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.640 Prime Minister, which puts him in a completely different position 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:39.000 and this is a different conflict, some would argue, but 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.200 there are parallels being drawn to that situation in Iraq 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.880 in terms of the intelligence, whether in fact there was 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.839 an imminent threat to Israel and whether it was justified 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.040 onto international law on that basis. 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.120 Are there people inside the Federal Labor Party who would 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.200 be pushing back against Albani's he's approaching this moment. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.800 Well, yes, there are certainly people on the parties left, 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.640 certainly outside the Parliamentary Party. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:03.320 That are pushing back. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.279 We've heard the lights of Doub Cameron, who's a former 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.880 left wing Labor senator. He has been critical of the 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.479 government's willingness to endorse the US stripe. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:14.599 And we've also heard from Ed Hughestt. 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.680 He is well known as a prominent Muslim in the 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.320 federal government and he has spoken out with concerns, particularly 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.880 about Israel's strike against Iran and whether that was appropriate 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.200 and justifiable, and then the subsequent role of. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:31.040 The United States. 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.560 So there are voices both inside the government and inside 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.000 the Labor Party more broadly that are starting to. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:37.839 Caution against this. 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.760 But it's also important to remember that Anthony Albinezi, after 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:49.480 that election victory in May, has got huge authority in 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.320 the Labor Party now, so he is very much calling 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.560 the shots in terms of policy positions. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.080 After the break Susan Lee's energy crisis. 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.240 Today will be my first address as federal leader of 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.640 the Liberal Party to the National Press Club, and it 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:21.040 will not be my last. 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.800 Karen. This week, the opposition leader Susan Lee gave her 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.520 first address to the Press Club as leader of the coalition. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:30.560 What sort of tone did she strike? 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:31.160 Well? 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.320 She made it very clear that she's a different leader 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.960 to Peter Dutton, and that was the underlying message of 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:36.599 the whole speech. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:37.960 Really, I'm not Peter Dutton. 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.600 This is a new Liberal leadership and I have different priorities. 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:48.200 She for example, started with an acknowledgment of traditional owners 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.280 when she spoke at the National Press Club, effectively making 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.760 a statement that she doesn't agree with the position that 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:54.719 was taken before. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.640 As leader of the federal Liberal Party, I will always 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:03.560 be honest, upfront with the Australian people. So let's be 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.599 honest and upfront about last month's election. We didn't just lose, 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:15.040 we got smashed, totally smashed. 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.800 She was very honest about what happened to the Liberal 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:19.880 Party at the election. 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.000 She talked about respect for the community. 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.920 Reflecting it and representing it in a more modern way. 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.200 What we as the Liberal Party presented to the Australian 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.640 people was comprehensively rejected. 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:37.280 And she particularly singled out women and the collision's failure 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.040 to appeal to female voters. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.120 And she has advocated for a greater number. 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:47.400 Of female Liberal candidates, particularly in winnable seats, even if 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.840 that involves quotas. But she made the point that it's 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.280 the state divisions in the Liberal Party, because of the 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.400 way it is structured, that have the power to do that. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.560 The Liberal Party operates as a federated model, meaning that 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:04.520 each state division determines its own pre selection rules. If 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.320 some state divisions choose to implement quotas. 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:08.239 That's fine. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.960 If others don't, that's also fine. But what is not 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:14.720 fine is not having enough women. 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.400 So she's putting the onus on the state divisions to 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:22.440 make a choice about that. She also spoke about women 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.840 and children in the context of family violence and violence 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:26.440 against women. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.520 More broadly and interestingly, she. 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.800 Raised the issue of coercive control, and she suggested she 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:33.880 had some experience of that herself. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.720 I understand the pain that comes with coercion and control 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.560 because I have felt that pain too. I understand what 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.000 it's like when you blame yourself for the actions of others, 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.360 because I have blamed myself too. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:52.600 But when she was actually asked about that during the 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.240 question period at the press club, she didn't want to 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.160 say any more about it, and she was introducing herself 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:01.679 to the public as leader and her own personal history, 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.160 her background, which is a very interesting background, and I 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.079 think we'll hear a lot more about that, because people 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.440 don't really know her very well. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.200 And her speech came ahead of the Liberal Party Room, 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.040 Shadow Ministry and Shadow Cabinet meeting to discuss the party's 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.800 reviews that have been established to try and grapple with 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.640 the election loss. What do we know about the scope 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:22.800 of these reviews and how the party is expecting to 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.920 use them to shape their future direction. 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:27.320 Well, we've got two reviews now. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.400 She had previously announced what is a standard procedure really 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.920 after an election, which was a sort of rapid review 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:38.600 of what happened, and that will be conducted by former 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:45.640 Senator Nick Minshein and New South Wales Liberal minister and 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.800 in fact journalist prue Gaward. So they will produce a 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.040 report for the party in reasonably quick time, which she 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.480 says will be made public about what happened and what 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:57.640 needs to change. 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.160 And then there'll be a second review which she's it's 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:01.119 going to look. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.960 More deeply at some of the challenges facing the Liberal 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.080 Party along the lines. I think of the kind of 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.160 thing she was raising about the need to appeal to 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:13.199 modern Australia, so its capabilities with technology, it's understanding of 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.040 the needs and wants of sections of the community that 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.439 perhaps if it's become disconnected from So that's a deeper 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.959 and wider review and will that will take longer and 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.400 we'll be interested to hear what that finds and what 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.839 that means for the future direction of the Liberal Party. 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.560 So perhaps the biggest sticking point though for the coalition 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.439 as it tries to dust itself off, is the question 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.800 of energy policy. We know nuclear policy hurt the Liberal 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.480 Party at the last election in yet it was also 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.080 a major issue in the recent dissolution of the coalition 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.240 between the Nationals and the Liberals. So were they up 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.120 to when it comes to resolving their approach to energy. 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:54.880 Well, this is the really big challenge in a policy 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.880 sense for the Liberal Party and the whole coalition. Obviously, 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.440 through the election period they were advocating for nuclear energy 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.120 and that policy had been devised really as a mechanism 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:11.360 to get the Nationals to agree to a target of 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.560 net zero emissions by twenty fifty. The Nationals were very 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.880 reluctant to agree to that because of what they feared 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.440 was the impact on the fossil fuel industry. They agreed, 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.520 but they got their nuclear policy sort of in place, 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.840 and that allowed the coalition to argue that it was 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.079 going to extend the use of fossil fuels, but by 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.400 twenty fifty or twenty forty nine they could have nuclear 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.440 power in place and then emissions would immediately go to zero. 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.880 Of course, that wasn't acknowledging that the net zero target 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.120 is about the process. It's about phasing out fossil fuels 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:47.000 starting now. 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.440 So that is still a live debate. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.760 We know that there are some prominent people in the 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.440 Nationals in particular, and a number in the Liberal Party 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.439 who don't support. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.880 Net zero and want to jettison that policy. 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.559 Susan Lee has set up a working group, which she 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.439 spoke about at the Press Club. Interestingly, it's looking at 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.240 what she described as energy and emissions reduction, So she 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.800 is putting there on the table that emission's reduction has 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:15.240 to be part of the policy discussion. 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:17.920 They will report to herself. 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.080 And to the National's leader, David little Proud, So that's 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.440 the immediate mechanism she will use to start this difficult 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.559 conversation in the party about where its policy should go 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.920 and how to manage the challenge of climate change. 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.480 A lazy question. The finished off with Karen, where do 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:35.520 you think coalition will land on that issue? 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.080 That is an excellent question. 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:43.360 I think it depends really how much authority Susan Lee retains. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:49.200 We know she won the leadership very narrowly against Angus Taylor, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.640 who's a more conservative Liberal from New South Wales. She's 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.320 lost a couple of her own votes in the party room. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.400 With the changeover of the Senate that occurs on July one, 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.040 she's got not much of a majority. Now. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:03.800 Nobody is saying they want to revisit the. 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.199 Leadership vote, but that is going to be in her 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.679 mind as she deals with this thorny. 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:10.480 Issue right up front. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:14.520 She clearly wants to embrace an energy policy that involves 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.720 emissions reduction, but she needs to make sure she has 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.120 the whole breadth of the party and indeed the Coalition 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:22.440 behind her. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.000 It wasn't something that was easy to resolve in. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.840 The last parliament and I don't reckon it's going to 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:29.840 be easy for her this time. 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:31.360 So I wish her the very best of love. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:36.480 Karen, always great to speak with you. Thank you for 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:36.920 your time. 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:37.800 Thanks Daniel. 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.160 Also in the news today, the mother of murdered Nunga 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:58.320 yamage boy Cassius Turvey has told the Western Australian Supreme 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:01.079 Court that the killing has torn at the fabric or society. 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.079 Two men aged twenty four and twenty nine have been 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.680 convicted of Cassius Turvey's murder, with a third found guilty 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.400 of manslaughter after arming themselves with metal poles and heading 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.120 out to go quote hunting for kids. During the two 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.240 day sentencing, Michelle Turvey also said the community now lives 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.240 in fear and uncertainty and that if anyone thinks their 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.800 actions were not racially motivated, many Austrains would be left 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:29.280 scratching their heads. And senior Liberal Front bencher Angus Taylor 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.520 has declared he isn't in favor of gender quotas, saying 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:36.680 he doesn't think they're necessary. It follows Opposition leader Susan Lee, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.040 who on Wednesday described herself as quote a xalat when 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.920 it comes to recruiting women to the party, but agnostic 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.080 when it came to quotas. Women make up less than 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.720 thirty percent of the Liberal Party compared to fifty six 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.120 percent of the Labor Party, who introduced a gender quota 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:57.440 three decades ago. Seven AM's Daily show from Schwartz Media 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.360 in the Saturday paper. Is made by Attigus Base, Shane Anderson, 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:06.880 Chris Danngate, Eric Jensen, Ruby Jones, Sarah mcvee, Travis Evans, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.720 zoltanfet Joe and Me, Daniel James. Our theme music is 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.240 by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio. I's 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.080 been seven AM for this week. Thanks for listening and 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:19.120 have a great weekend.