WEBVTT - Sharri | 1 April 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:03.360 Live on Sky News. 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:07.840 This is Sharry Good Evening. 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:12.760 Tonight, Labor Insiders reveal and overly confident alban Easy is 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.239 drawing up a list of those he believes turned against. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.000 Him when it looked like he wouldn't win. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:22.680 That exclusive in a moment, and I'll reveal the gobsmacking 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:27.040 message I received from one of the Prime Minister's top advisors. 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:28.880 You won't believe what they've. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:33.559 Sent This as Peter Dutton reassure's panicked coalition voters. Ray 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.720 Hadley will be on the show live to fire up, 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.839 and on the show, the ABC's Media Watch defends nine 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.680 journalist Nick McKenzie's self confessed breach of ethics as a 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:47.320 lapse in judgment and. 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.240 That he was just overly trusting. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.760 More on that in a moment, Plus, a submarine expert 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.520 will explain what Chinese intelligence is really up to with 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:57.480 its spy ships. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.560 That's later in the show Tonight. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.720 Albanezi seems confident on the campaign trail, but behind the 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:10.320 scenes there's internal disunity consuming the party. Labor Inside has 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.440 revealed that Albanisi, convinced he's going to win, is drawing 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.319 up a list of those who turned against him when 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.760 his chips were down. The vibe around Albinizi is that 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.240 he's flying now. He's set to win comfortably, even pick 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:25.200 up some seats. 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:26.040 That's what he's. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.480 Telling people, and he's looking at who's stuck with him. 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.319 During the difficult months when he was flailing politically and 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.840 it looked like he was in trouble, alban Ezi and 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:41.440 those closest to him are carefully examining who peeled off, 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:42.360 who was with. 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:43.919 Him and who wasn't. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:48.200 One labour source told me there's definitely a list being 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:52.000 drawn up about who's stuck with him. The treasurer is 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.760 not on that list. You recall how right after the 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:01.760 twenty twenty two election, alban Ezi unceremoni nearly dumped popular 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:07.360 political rival Tanya Plibasek from her beloved education portfolio and 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:11.520 stuck her in a lower profile portfolio designed to hurt 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:16.600 her support where she'd come up against the environmentalists. This 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.000 is the fate that awaits those perceived to have abandoned 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:25.680 alban Easy in recent months. Labor operative Cameron Milner said 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.280 Albanisi has been known for being deeply paranoid and vengeful 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:35.200 like this his whole political life Labor and Peace were 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:39.160 expecting the election to go poorly, a minority government at best, 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.920 and they were starting to prepare for that outcome, and 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.920 even ministers were privately speaking about the prospect of a 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.160 first term loss and a dut and win. Now we 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:54.920 reported that Tony Burke was already making moves for a 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:59.639 future potential leadership run. It's a theme others knew about. 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:04.080 Anne was canvassed in the media. The Prime Minister was 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.600 less than pleased with this. Now Labor and P Josh 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.720 Burns is another who's not in Albanize's good books, all 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:17.200 for the crime of inviting Tanya Plibisek to launch his 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.480 campaign office. He wrote here on Instagram a special shout 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.400 out to my friend and powerhouse Tanya Plibisek for kicking 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:25.920 us off. 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.079 And plibask meanwhile. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.560 Has posted a selfie to Instagram with the Treasurer just 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.240 last week where she wrote really proud of this guy. 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.840 So just coming out of the budget, super proud of 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.040 what Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivered tonight. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.280 And in truth, the Prime Minister considers both Jim Chalmers 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:53.360 and Tanya Plibisek future leadership rivals and a threat to him, 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.800 perhaps because they're both quite obviously smarter than him. There 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.720 was also a profile pace on Plibsek in March where 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.640 a source was quoted as saying that, compared to Tanya, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.960 Albo comes across as an ineffectual buffoon. 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:11.920 He's weak, he's. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.600 Arrogant, he can't handle criticism, and he's not connecting with 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.440 the electorate to the point where Peter Dutton, of all people, could. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:24.280 Win the election. Albo's been a disaster. So there you go, 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:25.640 in ineffectual buffoon. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.159 That was from a labor source, no suggestion the source 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.240 was connected to Plivask Now. Plivsk in this same profile 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.000 piece where she was interviewed, praised Jim Chalmers's job on 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.880 the economy. And meanwhile Chalmers has fielded more than his 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.719 fair share of leadership speculation. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.680 How are you feeling about the election, because if the 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.920 government was to lose your favorite to become a position leader. 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.479 Look, I spent all of my time thinking about the 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.880 budget and the economic plan and what we would do 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.280 as a government and as a country if we win 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.840 the election. I spend absolutely no time thinking about what 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.120 I would do if we lost the election. I'd much 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:07.200 rather be the Treasurer of Australia than the leader of 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.279 the Opposition. I enjoy the work I do for Anthony. 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.120 In our team, we work very very closely together. 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.680 Now, charmers can't be accused of disloyalty. This is all 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.919 about the Prime ministers insecurities and who he perceives to 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.239 be his rivals. Now I put questions to the Prime 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.320 Minister's head of Communications today, Fiona Sugden. I asked about 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.560 Albanezi in his inner circle, drawing up lists of who 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.680 worked against him when it looked like his political fortunes 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:45.560 were suffering. A response a laughing face emoji. Now this 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.360 story has come from labor insiders. 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.320 It's of course well sourced. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.320 Yet this is the childish response from the Prime Minister's 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:59.520 office on day five of a five week campaign. It's extraordinary, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.039 you can genuinely say a Prime Minister's media office has 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.480 never responded to questions. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:06.479 With an emoji before. 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.800 It shows perhaps how arrogant Albert Easy is. And it 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.520 comes a day after we learned he would adopt a 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:22.839 single outcome from our Sky News antisemitism summit. It's incredibly disrespectful. 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.760 But irrespective of this juvenile response, the reality is that 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:31.599 Albinizi is carefully looking at who stood by him in 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:32.520 the period. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.640 When it looked like momentum was against him. 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.640 He's noting who was preening their own leadership credentials or 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:43.159 cozying up to an alternative leader. This isn't about loyalty though, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:48.960 It's about disunity. Now it shows how for Albinizi, politics 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.920 isn't about the governing of the nation. It's about personal 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:58.120 factions and vendettas he accused Peter Dutton both yesterday and 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.640 today of measuring the curtains in the lodge or in 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.640 Kiribilly House. But Albanez he is already looking at who 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:10.800 to promote and demote from the ministry based on perceived loyalty, 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.720 based on who launched their campaign or who told journalists 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:20.280 they had leadership ambitions. This is toxic disunity from labor 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.240 right at the start of an election campaign. And if 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.040 the Prime Minister isn't careful, his hubris an appetite for 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:35.720 revenge will come back to bite him now. The ABC 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.280 last night on its Media Watch program went pretty lightly 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.680 on journalist Nick McKenzie over the sensational audio in which 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.200 he admitted to breaching his own ethics during their war 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.800 crimes case against Ben Roberts Smith. Now, the worst that 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.400 Media Watch host Linton Besser said about Mackenzie was that 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.240 he had a lapse in judgment and perhaps he was 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:58.440 over trusting. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.840 It was a private conversation which Mackenzie could not have 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.520 known was being recorded, but these words would prove a 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.880 major lapse of judgment from such an experienced player. Mackenzie's 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.680 misguided and over trusting assurances to a witness. 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.480 Yep, a lapse in judgment and over trusting assurances. 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.200 Well, how did the ABC. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:27.000 Not take Mackenzie to task for failing to publicly explain 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:31.840 what he meant when he said he breached his ethics? No, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:32.640 I shouldn't tell you. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.079 I've just breached my ethics doing that Like this is 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.080 where like this is the leadership position. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:41.920 Now if he knew that, impeat to you that. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:43.520 Yep. 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:48.120 Media Watch directed questions during his program to me to 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.800 Nine's witness, who nine claims is a victim of domestic violence. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.000 So we contacted Person seventeen to ask for access to 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.880 the full tape. She declined to respond to our queries. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:06.000 To the West Australian newspaper and to Nine itself. I 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.840 think it's telling that Media Watch thinks everyone else has 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.800 questions to answer except the very person at the center 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.520 of the story, the journalist who admits in a secret 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:20.079 recording to breaching his own ethics. Now Bessa has told 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.560 us today he did put questions to Mackenzie and that 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:28.000 Nine responded. But in Nine's response they simply accused other 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:33.440 media of a smear campaign. It's a laughable response to 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.520 the very revelation of serious recordings that have now sparked 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.600 a fresh Federal court hearing. But it's not really good enough, 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.920 is it for Australia's most celebrated journalists to refuse to 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.400 publicly answer questions about what he means when he said 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.880 he breached his ethics in a way that would have 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:52.600 displeased his lawyers. 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.800 Of course, he used more colorful language. 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.960 Now can you imagine if a NewsCorp journalist, God Forbid, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.680 had been caught such a tape. Media Watch would have 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.520 had a field day, as would The Guardian, Criichie and Nine. 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.360 Yet the ABC last night even defended Mackenzie over the 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.840 part of the audio recording where he divulged details of 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.239 a sensitive an ongoing police investigation. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:24.240 But Mackenzie was embellishing because he himself had already published 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:29.120 to the world details of two live AFP investigations into 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.400 Ben Robert Smith in the two years prior. And while 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.520 it's true there'd been no reporting that AFP agents had 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:39.160 moved into the building, a detail Sharry Markson pointed out 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.800 in her statement to Media Watch, Robert Smith had already 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.800 been tipped off about the AFP's surveillance and was using 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:51.160 bernafines to avoid it, which Markson failed to tell her viewers. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.920 Now, just a reminder, here's what Mackenzie did say on 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:57.320 that secret recording. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:10:59.960 No one knows about the police investigation. 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:00.840 It's extensive. 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:01.679 If I'm going place. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.640 Investigation, phone tabs, task force, a whole new task. 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:07.559 Force has been still love in Brisbane, an entire new 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:08.199 task force. 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:12.599 There's police living in his apartment block under assumed identities 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.880 as we speak, like the guides. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.040 Okay, But according to Media Watch, Mackenzie was just embellishing 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.520 and somehow this was turned into a criticism of me. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.320 Now to be clear, as better acknowledged, Mackenzie divulged details 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:34.160 of undercover officers living with false or assumed identities in 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:38.240 Ben Roberts Smith's own apartment block, and yes, this could 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.600 have jeopardized the police operation. Media Watch also claimed last 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.880 night that obtaining the legal strategy in relation to Person 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.680 seventeen wouldn't have made a jot of difference to the 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:51.640 outcome of the war crimes case. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.040 And it's hard to see how those first person accounts 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.360 are in any way change by Mackenzie's misguided and over 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.200 trusting assurances to a witness he knew to be unreliable 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.280 and who made not a jot of difference to the 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:08.280 final outcome. 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.320 Now in the judgment, the judge said that he did 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:18.440 not accept Robert Smith's evidence regarding Person seventeen, although he 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:22.320 did not find her evidence sufficiently reliable to accept that 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:26.320 her serious allegations were true. What we don't know is 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.840 whether his rejection of Robert Smith's evidence on that issue 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.240 might have influenced the judge's view of Ben Robert Smith's 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.000 credibility when it came to the war crimes witnesses. You 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.079 can never know how much this influence would have extended. 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.800 There's also the question of whether other legal strategy was 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.520 obtained by nine and provided by Emma Roberts or her 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.360 friend as Ben Robert Smith's father, the former Justice of 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.280 the Supreme Court, Len Roberts, said there are questions about 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:00.320 what legal strategies of Ben's was Mackenzie referring to, and 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.560 how did knowledge of them affect the conduct of the 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:07.400 case before Justice Pisanco worryingly that might be impossible to know. 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.760 The issue is whether or not it resulted in an 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:14.760 unfair trial, and he said there were questions too about 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.800 what privileged information or material Ben's ex wife, Emma and 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.920 her friend Danielle Scott told Mackenzie or gave to him. Further, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.040 if Mackenzie was prepared to speak to P seventeen as 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:29.359 he did on the recording, did he have similar conversations 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.640 with other witnesses, If so, who and what did he 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:38.080 say to them? Now During a legal challenge, as you know, 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.000 Ben Robert Smith's lawyers argued that his email account had 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.960 been accessed at least one hundred and one times, including 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:49.319 by his ex wife's friend Danielle Scott, and Emma later 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.760 admitted that she had allowed her close friend Danielle to 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.640 access her ex husband's email accounts, but she said only 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:01.320 in relation to their marriage breakdown. So there's now been 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.560 an admission that ben Robert Smith's emails were accessed in 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:09.800 relation to Person seventeen and in relation to the marriage breakdown. 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.800 If McKenzie admits to obtaining the legal strategy in relation 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:19.240 to Person seventeen, it raises questions about whether other legal 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:24.640 strategy or emails were also provided. Now nine is now 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:29.120 trying to separate the domestic violence allegations relating to Person 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.560 seventeen from the war crimes Once, but it was nine 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.480 that wanted to use unproven domestic violence allegations to further 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:44.680 trash Robert Smith's reputation. They joined the two accusations war 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.600 crimes and domestic violence, but they're now trying to separate 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.600 them and say that they're unconnected to the case. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.040 Now I have learned that. 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:59.680 Nick mackenzie has been backgrounding journalists against Person seventeen, his own, 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.680 who he claimed was a victim of domestic violence. He's 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:10.200 been telling journalists that she's psychotic, she was his witnessed. 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:10.920 Now. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.800 I asked nine about this today and in response, Nine 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.840 sent me the same statement that they've been sending versions 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.000 of to all media for over a week now. They 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.640 refuse to answer specific questions or address the new issues 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.680 that have been raised in recent days now, I personally 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.400 think there's a long way to go in this story. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.000 From nine's end, What did nine know about McKenzie's admissions 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.960 that he obtained Robert Smith's legal strategy? Did he obtain 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.640 the legal strategy in relation to other areas? Aside from 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.840 person seventeen, hows nine investigated this at all? 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:46.080 How could they. 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.200 Come out to defend McKenzie so quickly if they hadn't 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.200 done a proper investigation into his self confessed breach of ethics? 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.280 And if they have, what did the investigation find? 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.400 When was this investigation and was the nine board made 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:01.040 aware of it? 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:01.840 And when? 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.600 These are all questions I have been and will continue 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.840 to pursue now. Just to be clear, I don't have 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.400 a side here. I've got no issue with either Ben, Robert. 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:13.880 Smith or Nick McKenzie. 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.479 I'm a journalist and I'm reporting on a highly concerning 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:23.960 tape where a reporter admits to breaching his ethics in 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.920 pursuit of a war hero who he claimed committed war crimes. 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:31.520 And I also think that if you're going to doggedly 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:36.280 pursue a Victoria Cross recipient and accuse him of war crimes. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.640 You have to play fair, and Mackenzie, in his own 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.120 words on the tape, claims to have access Robert Smith's 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.920 confidential legal strategy from his ex wife and her friend, 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.480 and that wouldn't seem to be playing fair. We need 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.600 to know if anything else was accessed and how far 0:16:55.040 --> 0:17:02.000 this went. So let's return to the election campaign now, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.960 and joining me is Liberal Senator Holly Hughes and Skyney's 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:06.560 contributor Steve Price. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.000 Welcome to you both. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:08.760 Well. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.640 Peter Darton was in Victoria today trying to wider down 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.600 concerns about slipping Pole numbers and he was also wants 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.800 to win over marginal seats in Melbourne. 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:19.920 Here he was with Andrew Clennel. 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:24.080 Today, Labor see you personally as a drag on the 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:25.360 Liberal vote in Victoria. 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:26.639 What do you say to that, Well, I've seen the 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.000 Prime Minister's numbers and I wouldn't be scribing too much 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.520 of I as a PM about his position. He's not 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.879 far off where to CID realities and Victoria at the moment. 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.760 And people know in relation to this project that if 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.960 you vote for Anthony Obernizi, you're voting against this Melbourne 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.040 rail link and the airport link. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:43.480 How many seeds are you going to win here? 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:44.320 I hope to win. 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.520 I think we can win a number of seats and 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.440 I think we can form government, as I've said consistently, 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.679 and we will demonstrate to Victorians and Austrains that there 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:54.080 is a much better way for our country. 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.360 All right, Well, Steve Price, we just heard Darton say 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.720 there that he's hoping to win a number of seats Victoria. 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.000 This is really the hope for the coalition side. What's 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.280 your reaction to the mood. 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:06.639 On the ground. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.320 Labour's completely toxic the brand in Victoria. You and I've 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.679 talked about this before, Shari, I mean the dissenter Allen government. 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:20.760 They're polling numbers are atrocious. She's not been able to 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.040 con the public like Daniel Anders was able to do. 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:26.960 The suburban rail loop, which now we know is not 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.359 going to be funded by a coalition government if it 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.919 gets elected, is a mess. There's a big hole in 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.000 the ground. It's costing billions and billions of dollars. No 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.720 one wants to go from Cheltenham to box Hill, and 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.480 Cinda Allen's determined to hold herself to it. So what's 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.800 happened here? Is Peter Dutton, I think very cleverly has 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.639 said okay, we'll put money into other projects, but not 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.040 this one. But Victorians have got a great history of 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.760 money being ripped up and wasted on things that never happened. 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.400 I mean you go all the way back to when 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.840 Daniel Andrews became premier here. He ripped up and wasted 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:03.600 a billion dollars of taxpayers money by not building a freeway. 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.840 He then spent eight hundred million dollars giving the Commonwealth 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.000 Games to Glasgow in Scotland. So there's nothing about labor 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.320 that people in this state enjoy, and I think in 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.720 the outer suburbs, particularly with the petrol exercise policy, which 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.560 I'll being interested in what Holly says about how that's biting. 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.160 That is going to be the big thing. People filling 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.320 their cars up three days a week to sit on 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.680 the Monash Freeway for an hour and a half every 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.720 day in and out burning up petrol. They know that 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.200 the tank of petrol that they are going to get 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.879 a discount from Peter Dunton is well worth it and 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.200 I think he will win a swager seats in Melbourne. 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.160 Now, Holly, I was speaking earlier in the show about 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:48.440 labor disunity. How's the coalition feeling, how a Liberal MP's 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.159 feeling given the polling does show there has been a 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:52.879 recovery for labor. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.080 Yeah, look, I mean I think everyone was aware that 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.200 we would always see a tightening up of the polls 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.320 as soon as the election was called. I think for 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.919 a lot of people, and us included in the bubble, 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:05.399 we've all been looking at this for months and months 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.800 and months now in anticipation of the election being called. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.280 There's a lot of Australians out there doing it really 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.960 tough on cost of living. You know, there were some 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.280 box pops the day after the budget and people like, 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:17.120 what's the budget? 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:19.280 What are you talking about? They didn't even know what 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:20.280 it was on. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.200 It's so so, I think, and they have the same 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.000 vote as you and I, But so I think the 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:26.760 mood is good. 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:28.160 The mood is positive. 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.240 We know that we have a huge battle ahead of us. 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.639 Twenty two seats is an enormous ask. There hasn't been 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.440 a first term government kicked out since nineteen thirty one. 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:39.960 This is a very big ask and we certainly are 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.159 the underdogs. But we know that Australians just can't of 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:45.480 Ford three more years of this government in the way 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.800 they've already destroyed our country and what they will continue 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:49.960 to do the wrecking ball through. 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.360 Now we've been talking about the terrifying prospect of if 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.680 there is a minority government cobbled together with the Greens. Well, 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.600 Adam about the leader of the Greens, would play a 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.159 big role in that. He's now come out and we 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.280 mentioned this briefly on the show last night. He's insinuated 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.600 that Israel is somehow to blame for her mass, the 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:15.240 terror groups, executions of the brave Palestinians who protested against 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.040 the terror group. I mean, Steve, this is just beyond 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.120 the pale. This is appalling and we need to see 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.960 this strongly condemned by senior government ministers. 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.080 Yes, the Prime Minister should come out and condemn it. 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:33.480 Everybody should come out and condemn it. Adam Bant, really 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:39.440 he is such a destructive politician. I mean, he holds 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:41.320 this seat in Melbourne and he's held it for a 0:21:41.359 --> 0:21:44.600 number of elections. Now that's a very very Green seat 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:46.639 and so he's going to get re elected. But to 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:49.080 come out and say something like that, I mean part 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.080 of the problem though is and I think Hollywood agree 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:56.000 with this that if you talk to young people, the 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.679 Greens brand is still somehow seen as some sort of 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.040 friendly environmental party, whereas we know that they are a 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.720 dangerous bunch of activists. I do think because I talked 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:09.280 to them. I talked to a nineteen year old kid 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.280 tonight who said, oh, well, the Greens are going to 0:22:11.280 --> 0:22:14.920 save the planet. They still believe that. They don't see 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.520 that the Greens have been involved in all this activism 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:21.240 about Palestine and bants going on. They're blaming Israel for 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:25.680 what happened on October seven. The young people still look 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.040 at Greens and go, Okay, they're going to help with 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:32.280 windmills and solar panels and we're all going to live 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.600 happily ever after. Trust me, that's what they think. 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:39.000 There haven't been an environmental party for a very very 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:39.680 long time. 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:43.000 And you know, we know with there's zelotry over climate change. 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:45.880 You know, if there's a koala habitat in the way 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:50.080 of a transmission line or a solar farm, well goodbye koalas. 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:54.920 So they're very much got their sort of triangle of priorities, 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:58.320 and climate change is at the top. Forget about everything else, 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.000 and you know, the environment has more further and further 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:01.840 down that list. 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:03.040