Speaker 1: Live on Sky News. This is Sharry Good Evening.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump withdrawals funding from UNRA after meeting with Benjamin Natanyahu.
Speaker 2: Would Peter Dutton do the same. His new Foreign Affairs
Speaker 2: Shadow minister joins me tonight. Transport Minister Joehlen resigns overtaking
Speaker 2: taxpayer funded chauffeurs to wineries. There's now pressure on Housing
Speaker 2: Minister Rose Jackson. I'll speak about this scandal with Bronwyn
Speaker 2: Bishop and Holly Hughes.
Speaker 1: Also it's tonight.
Speaker 2: A former AFP senior commissioner questions why the government isn't
Speaker 2: cracking down on Islamic terror and only neo Nazis. He'll
Speaker 2: join me on the show live. Plus we'll look at
Speaker 2: how the core claim in Antoinette Latoufe's case perpetuates a
Speaker 2: dangerous anti Semitic trope about Jews controlling the media. This
Speaker 2: is Aitabachos's private emails about two are read in court.
Speaker 2: Aaron Patrick will be on the show, but first tonight.
Speaker 2: Peter Dutton is channeling Ronald Reagan's famous challenge to Jimmy
Speaker 2: Carter in nineteen eighty. The times have changed, but the
Speaker 2: issues remain the same. Ronald Reagan in the presidential debate
Speaker 2: forty five years ago, asked voters these very simple questions, Are.
Speaker 3: You better off than you were four years ago? Is
Speaker 3: it easier for you to go and buy things in
Speaker 3: the stores than it was four years ago?
Speaker 2: Those questions help deliver Reagan a landslide victory because the
Speaker 2: most critical issue to any voter at any time is
Speaker 2: providing for their family and their families prosperity and security.
Speaker 2: That never changes and it's what this upcoming federal election
Speaker 2: boils down to as well or Peter Dutton today called
Speaker 2: on the Prime Minister to apologize to Australians for breaking
Speaker 2: his premise that they'd be better off under his government.
Speaker 4: My questions to the Prime Minister. Under this week Alberanzi
Speaker 4: Labor government, interest rates have increased twelve times, energy bills
Speaker 4: have risen by one thousand dollars, living standards have collapsed,
Speaker 4: twenty seven thousand businesses have gone and solvent, and we're
Speaker 4: in a record breaking household recession. Will the Prime Minister
Speaker 4: now apologize for promising Australians they would be better off
Speaker 4: and admit that they can't afford another three years of
Speaker 4: this week Albanzi Labor government.
Speaker 2: Of course, there was no apology. There never will be.
Speaker 2: Now there's no question that in focus group research, cost
Speaker 2: of living is the top issue all day, every day,
Speaker 2: and on this topic, Alberzi has breached the trust of
Speaker 2: Australian voters last election. As you know, he made solving
Speaker 2: the cost of living crisis his camp pain mantra.
Speaker 5: Costive living increases, costive living, costive living pressures, living living,
Speaker 5: cost of living, the cost of living, cost of living,
Speaker 5: cost of everything, living, cost of living issues. Bear in
Speaker 5: mind the cost of living pressures.
Speaker 2: Albanese's squarely blamed Scott Morrison for the cost of living crisis,
Speaker 2: despite the fact at that point in time there'd only
Speaker 2: been a single rate rise. Yet now that he's Prime
Speaker 2: Minister and there's been a dozen rate rises during his
Speaker 2: time in office, he takes no responsibility.
Speaker 1: Now, this is illogical.
Speaker 2: It was Morrison's fault back then, but it's not Albanese's
Speaker 2: fault now. Before the last election, Albaneze promised a new
Speaker 2: era of transparency and he pledged to own up to
Speaker 2: his mistakes and.
Speaker 6: If I get something wrong, I'll line up to it.
Speaker 2: Yet have we seen him own up to anything just
Speaker 2: one thing, of course, not it's always someone else's fault,
Speaker 2: especially the cost of living crisis, which is because of
Speaker 2: overseas factors the Middle East War, Ukraine and now Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: No one mentioned homegrown inflation, and Albanezi wouldn't answer either
Speaker 2: of these. Following questions today in Parliament.
Speaker 7: Prime Minister, by what percentage has the cost of food
Speaker 7: increased since the election of the Abeneze Labor government.
Speaker 8: Can the Prime Minister provide a single example of an
Speaker 8: Australian family that has received a two hundred and seventy
Speaker 8: five dollars cut to their power bill as was promised
Speaker 8: before the last election nearly one hundred times.
Speaker 2: The Prime Minister just hopes these questions will all go
Speaker 2: away if he keeps.
Speaker 1: Insisting that everything is looking great.
Speaker 2: Optimism, as I told you last night, is his new phrase.
Speaker 5: We do need hope and we need optimism, and as
Speaker 5: we begin the parliamentary year, that's precisely what I have.
Speaker 5: Optimism for the year ahead and optimism that we can
Speaker 5: create a better future for Australia.
Speaker 2: But voters aren't feeling so optimistic. Families are feeling the pain,
Speaker 2: which is cumulative. The Albenzi government is well aware the
Speaker 2: cost of living crisis is the single most critical issue.
Speaker 1: To mainstream Australians.
Speaker 2: It's why Albinizi is desperate for a rate cut, and
Speaker 2: if he gets one at the next RBA board meeting,
Speaker 2: it may prompt him to call the election. The RBA
Speaker 2: meets on the eighteenth of February and the first of April,
Speaker 2: and then again in late May. Economist Judith Sloan wrote
Speaker 2: last week that despite Albanesi and Charmers saying they respect
Speaker 2: the independence of the RBA, a lot of nudging has
Speaker 2: been going on for some time. She writes, when Chalmers
Speaker 2: declared last year that high interest rates were smashing the economy,
Speaker 2: he was in effect telling the bank what to do,
Speaker 2: and here was Charmers making that very point.
Speaker 9: The combination of global economic uncertainty and higher interest rates
Speaker 9: is smashing household budgets and slowing our economy considerably.
Speaker 2: Now that might have been a subtle hint, but some
Speaker 2: current and former labor politicians and also union leaders have
Speaker 2: been far more direct. As rates rose over the past
Speaker 2: couple of years.
Speaker 10: We're outside the Reserve Bank of Australia today, and that's
Speaker 10: because working people are urging them to cut interest rates.
Speaker 11: Now we have headline inflation right in the middle of
Speaker 11: the RBA's target band, which gives them maximum room to
Speaker 11: move in terms of bringing interest rates down. Of course,
Speaker 11: that decision is up to the independent Reserve Bank.
Speaker 6: The Reserve Bank is putting economic dogma over rational economic
Speaker 6: decision making hemmering households, hemmery mums and dads with higher rates,
Speaker 6: causing a collapse in spending and driving the economy backwards.
Speaker 2: Now, the rates decision by the RBA in February and
Speaker 2: April will put its.
Speaker 1: Independence to the test.
Speaker 2: It's thinking reflected through the board minutes will be under
Speaker 2: the spotlight. There's no question Michelle Bullock is under considerable
Speaker 2: pressure to bring down rates before the election. She's Labour's
Speaker 2: appointee after all, and there's a lot writing on this
Speaker 2: rates decision. As far as the Prime Minister is concerned, well,
Speaker 2: he thinks it could mean the difference between him winning
Speaker 2: or not. But even if the rates come down and
Speaker 2: Albanezi promises life will be more affordable, well, who would
Speaker 2: believe him this time? He's like the boy who cried Wolf.
Speaker 2: He's lost the trust of voters. Yet Albinizi keeps insisting
Speaker 2: privately and publicly that he's on track to win government,
Speaker 2: despite the polls clearly trending in Dutton's direction. The Australians
Speaker 2: Jeff Chambers wrote that the Prime Minister is immersed in
Speaker 2: self belief.
Speaker 1: Well, I'd call it self delusion.
Speaker 2: Like with the Voice, he thought Australians loved him and
Speaker 2: loved his vision, but they rejected him, and they rejected
Speaker 2: the Voice.
Speaker 1: This election is a repeat.
Speaker 2: Albanesi is insisting that voters really like him, they think
Speaker 2: he's a nice guy, even as they desert him and
Speaker 2: his weak leadership. In truth, Albanzi has no reason to
Speaker 2: be confident. When he won the election last time, it
Speaker 2: was with one of Labour's worst primary votes in Australian history,
Speaker 2: despite the chaos of the coalition era, and Labour's appeal
Speaker 2: has only catapulted since then, and Albanzi's his own personal.
Speaker 1: Appeal is at its lowest level.
Speaker 2: His net favorability is as low as Scott Morrison's was
Speaker 2: prior to the twenty twenty two election. As the polls show,
Speaker 2: and as we all know anecdotally, the momentum is now
Speaker 2: in Dutton's favor and he is feeling Peter Dutton cautiously
Speaker 2: optimistic while acknowledging the hard road ahead.
Speaker 4: I am ready for the election. I believe it'll be tough,
Speaker 4: It'll be always hard for it, but I do believe
Speaker 4: that we can win and that will be a decision
Speaker 4: for the Austrange people.
Speaker 2: The election not yet cold, but Dutton is already treating
Speaker 2: this like it's the election campaign, fronting the media every day. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: we know alban Ezi has one eye on retirement, his
Speaker 2: wedding to Jody and the cliff top mansion he bought
Speaker 2: with her in Copacabana. Alban Easy was never personally desperate
Speaker 2: to become prime minister. He didn't believe it was his
Speaker 2: one and only destiny in the same way that other
Speaker 2: leaders have always believed it was theirs. Alberizi has one
Speaker 2: foot out the door already, and it's why if he
Speaker 2: does lose the election, it's unlikely he'd fall into a
Speaker 2: bitter depression like prime ministers past, because the.
Speaker 1: Job meant the world to them.
Speaker 2: For Albanize, this was an unexpected ascension to the top
Speaker 2: job for a radical left wing political activist, and our
Speaker 2: country is the worse for it.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has met with Israeli Prime minister Benjamin nettan
Speaker 2: Yahoo and Elon Musk as well joined in for a chat.
Speaker 12: The fact that this would be President Trump's first meeting
Speaker 12: with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. I
Speaker 12: think it's a testimonial to the strength of the Israeli
Speaker 12: American alliance. It's also a testimonial to the strength of
Speaker 12: our personal friendship.
Speaker 2: It absolutely is their own personal friendship. It's had rocky times,
Speaker 2: but it's been back on track for a long time now,
Speaker 2: and the strength of the Israel American alliance under Donald Trump,
Speaker 2: that alliance has been returned. America will be a solid
Speaker 2: friend of Israel. This meeting the first foreign leader to
Speaker 2: meet with Donald Trump, Benjainette Nyau. This is a signal
Speaker 2: of how the US sees Israel. It's a signal of
Speaker 2: how important that partnership is. And in the next twenty
Speaker 2: four hours, Trump is expected to sign an executive order
Speaker 2: withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council
Speaker 2: and prohibiting future funding for ANRA.
Speaker 1: That is leadership.
Speaker 2: There are other ways to ensure funding and aid gets
Speaker 2: to Gaza.
Speaker 1: So this isn't about.
Speaker 2: Cutting off eight It's about UNRA as the vehicle for
Speaker 2: it and UNRES links to terrorism are well established. The
Speaker 2: latest proof is that British Israeli hostage Emily Demari was
Speaker 2: held captive in UNRA facilities. She was deprived medical care
Speaker 2: despite two gunshot wounds. She's spoken of how her muss
Speaker 2: is running those UNRA facilities in Gaza and the response
Speaker 2: from UNRA, oh, there'll be an investigation. Yet another one.
Speaker 2: Yet Penny one continues to send tens of millions of
Speaker 2: your taxpayer dollars to UNRA in a move that is
Speaker 2: now indefensible. It's further proof that she is Australia's worst
Speaker 2: ever foreign minister. And joining me now to discuss this
Speaker 2: Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister David Coleman. David, thank you very
Speaker 2: much for your time.
Speaker 1: Now you are now.
Speaker 2: Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, as I just said, this is
Speaker 2: your first nighttime interview on Sky News. As I just
Speaker 2: spoke about there. Donald Trump says he will cut off
Speaker 2: funding to UNRA. What's your view on this? If there
Speaker 2: is a Dutton government, would you do the same.
Speaker 9: Yes, we would, Shahi, UNRA should not be funded. Those
Speaker 9: links to October seven were established by the fact that
Speaker 9: nine un employees were terminated for suspicion being involved in
Speaker 9: those hideous evil attacks, It should not be funded. The
Speaker 9: federal government sent sixty million dollars to UNRA, including six
Speaker 9: million dollars since October seven. Now, of course, we all
Speaker 9: want humanitarian aid to get to people who desperately need
Speaker 9: it in Gaza. We all want that, but that cannot
Speaker 9: be through UNRA. It is utterly unacceptable and we would
Speaker 9: not continue you that if we were elected.
Speaker 2: David, what do you think it says about Penny Wong
Speaker 2: and the Albanesi government that they still haven't stopped funding
Speaker 2: UNRA even after hearing that the hostage Emily de Maari
Speaker 2: was held captive in UNRA facilities.
Speaker 9: Well Shari that funding should not be going to UNRA.
Speaker 9: The United States doesn't provide a funding to UNRA because
Speaker 9: of the extremely grave concerns about its conduct. And if
Speaker 9: Penny Wong or Anthony Albanizi have intelligence or information that
Speaker 9: says that UMRA is an appropriate organization to which to
Speaker 9: provide these funds, they should release it. If they have
Speaker 9: better information than the United States about UNRA, they should
Speaker 9: release it, but they haven't done that. We do, want,
Speaker 9: of course, aid to get to the people of Gaza,
Speaker 9: but certainly not through UNRA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there are other methods that we've se spoken
Speaker 2: about it at length on the show of doing that. Now
Speaker 2: you've suggested reforming are the United Nations bodies as well?
Speaker 2: Which body is in particular and what needs to be done.
Speaker 9: Also, I think if you go back to first principles
Speaker 9: with the UN, if you look at the first words
Speaker 9: in chapter one of its charter talk about the role
Speaker 9: of the UN is to create peace and security for
Speaker 9: the world. Now, plainly that's not occurring. We're seeing shocking
Speaker 9: violence in the Middle East, We're seeing shocking violence in
Speaker 9: Ukraine and so many other places around the world. So
Speaker 9: it is self evident and logical to say that the
Speaker 9: UN needs to be scrutinized. The UN does need to
Speaker 9: be reformed. Its primary goal of establishing peace and security
Speaker 9: is a very noble goal that I think we could
Speaker 9: all agree with, and that's where its primary focus should be.
Speaker 9: So if if we are elected, seeking to ensure that
Speaker 9: the UN does the best job but absolutely can on
Speaker 9: its core responsibility will be a big focus for us.
Speaker 1: So important.
Speaker 2: Look, there's also reports from the United States that Donald
Speaker 2: Trump is set to transfer one billion dollars worth of
Speaker 2: military arms to Israel.
Speaker 1: Look, this sort of attitude.
Speaker 2: That we're seeing from Trump, as I just said, his
Speaker 2: meeting with Nadi Yaho, the first foreign leader, this couldn't
Speaker 2: be more different from the hostility we've seen from the
Speaker 2: Albanesi government.
Speaker 9: What do you think, Look, I think the conduct of
Speaker 9: the Albanesi government towards Israel has been appalling. To abandon
Speaker 9: a twenty year plus bipartisan position in relation to a
Speaker 9: two state solution and basically to say that Australia is
Speaker 9: now supportive of unilateral recognition was outrageous, completely inappropriate. Labor
Speaker 9: and Coalition governments have supported that position for more than
Speaker 9: twenty years. Republicans Democrats alike have supported In the United States,
Speaker 9: President Biden didn't change his position, but Labor did. And
Speaker 9: the worst thing, Shari, the worst thing is this wasn't
Speaker 9: done for some high principle or for some a principle
Speaker 9: of improving the situation in the Middle East. This was
Speaker 9: done by the Labor Party because of votes in a
Speaker 9: few Green's Labor seats. And to abandon such fundamental principles
Speaker 9: for such tawdry, sordid political motives tells you everything you
Speaker 9: need to know about the Albanese government.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it speaks a lot to its lost morality. David Common,
Speaker 2: really appreciate your time on this sitting week.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Now on New South Wales, Transport Minister Joe Halen has
Speaker 2: resigned and after a string of damaging revelations about her
Speaker 2: use of taxpayer funded vehicles. This included summoning a chauffeur
Speaker 2: to her holiday house to then take her and her
Speaker 2: friends to a boozy three hour lunch in the Hunter Valley.
Speaker 2: It was a four hundred and forty six kilometer round trip. Now,
Speaker 2: Joe Halen refused to resign after journalist Linda Silmalis in
Speaker 2: The Sunday Telegraph first broke this story on the weekend
Speaker 2: and Joe Halen arrogantly claimed it was all within the rules.
Speaker 2: She also insisted to the Premiere that this was just
Speaker 2: a one off incident, but it wasn't. Today there was
Speaker 2: news and it was broken as well by the Daily
Speaker 2: Telegraph and Ben Fordham of another trip to a winery
Speaker 2: last year with her husband, and when it turned out
Speaker 2: that she breached the trust of the Premiere, she had
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 10: From the very minute I was appointed a minister I
Speaker 10: have worked my ass off. I've made some mistake. Yes,
Speaker 10: people aren't perfect. I did not break the rules, but
Speaker 10: I acknowledge that that's not the only test here. I've
Speaker 10: let the public down and I'm very sorry for that.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 2: Joe Halen used to work for Anthony Alberanzi and there
Speaker 2: was a view that his power as Prime Minister offered
Speaker 2: her some protection as she faced difficulties over the past.
Speaker 1: Year in the role.
Speaker 2: Now this doesn't reflect well on alban Easy Housing. Minister
Speaker 2: Rose Jackson hasn't resigned either, and she also caught the
Speaker 2: Schaffir driven car on the Australia Day Long weekend. In fact,
Speaker 2: the whole trip was for her fortieth birthday. To discuss
Speaker 2: let's bring in our panel Farmer, Speaker of the House
Speaker 2: Bronwin Bishop and Liberal Senator Holly Hughes.
Speaker 1: Welcome to you both, Bron.
Speaker 2: When the fact that she thought she didn't have to
Speaker 2: resign when this firse broke, and you know, just the
Speaker 2: arrogance of saying, loh, this is all within the rules,
Speaker 2: despite the public outrage, it's incredible.
Speaker 13: Well, I think the fact of the matter is that
Speaker 13: this was her personal enjoyment. Boothy luncheon in the Hunter Vlley,
Speaker 13: something which should have been paid for. Personally, I found
Speaker 13: myself in the position where I used a helicopter to
Speaker 13: go to work. I was a guest speaker at a fundraiser.
Speaker 13: The precedent for that was set by Wayne swan keip
Speaker 13: On earlier, who in two thousand and nine spent eight
Speaker 13: thousand dollars taking a charted flight to a Labor Party fundraiser.
Speaker 13: But of course different rules for socialists, different rules for
Speaker 13: everybody else. But when it comes to this instance, it's
Speaker 13: different from all of that. It's difference because this is
Speaker 13: for going to a party and just having a good time,
Speaker 13: and that is totally different. And I think that means
Speaker 13: and his interview on two GBN, in which I did
Speaker 13: listen to, was really scratching to try and find a
Speaker 13: way around it. But of course she hadn't come clean
Speaker 13: with him.
Speaker 2: No exactly. And then there were more revelations. Holly chris
Speaker 2: Mens is from the right faction of the Labor Party,
Speaker 2: Joe Helen's from the left, yet she supported him in
Speaker 2: the leadership contest, and perhaps there was that sort of
Speaker 2: politics playing into it. You know, this is a brilliant
Speaker 2: story my friend don A Cordwell edits a Sunday Telegraph.
Speaker 2: She put it on the front page on Sunday. Linda
Speaker 2: Somalis broke it. But you know, if it wasn't for
Speaker 2: that journalism, these labor politicians are getting away with this
Speaker 2: sort of misuse of taxpayer funds.
Speaker 14: It's certainly a government of doers. I say, not as
Speaker 14: I do, and we know that's how labor governments act.
Speaker 14: They love to get that stout in the trough. And
Speaker 14: as you said, miss Halen or I think she's better
Speaker 14: known as Van Halen now worked for our easy and
Speaker 14: probably learned the benefit of a freebie while she was there.
Speaker 14: And you know, to be fair to her as the
Speaker 14: Transport minister, the trains weren't running, so you know, maybe
Speaker 14: this was her only option.
Speaker 2: Well, she probably just didn't want to drive so she
Speaker 2: could drink at the wineries, it was probably, and didn't
Speaker 2: want to pay her for her own car. Now there's
Speaker 2: more bad news in the polls for Albanesi. There's this
Speaker 2: essential poll in the Guardian which showed that sixty three
Speaker 2: percent of voters think the Prime Minister is out of
Speaker 2: touch with everyday Australians actually surprised it's not higher than
Speaker 2: sixty three percent, and despite Albanese's effort to attack Peter Dutton,
Speaker 2: the opposition leader led the PM on the question of
Speaker 2: decisiveness fifty six percent compared with forty three percent. And
Speaker 2: then the poll also showed that sixty four percent of
Speaker 2: people agreed that Albanezi changes his opinion depending on who
Speaker 2: he thinks is listening.
Speaker 1: Rowan, that's not a surprise, is it.
Speaker 13: No, it's not. I keep saying with him for twenty
Speaker 13: years in that chamber and nobody ever said he was
Speaker 13: a leader, and we just see proof of it every day.
Speaker 13: But I thought an interesting part of that survey was
Speaker 13: also that a combination of forty percent of people who
Speaker 13: thought that anti Semitism was a major issue and forty
Speaker 13: three percent thought of minor issue, means eighty eight percent
Speaker 13: of people think it is an issue exactly only thirty
Speaker 13: percent of people didn't, And I think that says a
Speaker 13: lot about why it is a major issue in this campaign.
Speaker 13: It is not something that is not relevant to the debate.
Speaker 13: And that decisiveness, which Peter Dutton is showing very much,
Speaker 13: has shown up because of the attitude he's taken on
Speaker 13: this issue exactly.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a question of national security ultimately, which
Speaker 2: does affect all Australians.
Speaker 1: Holly, what's your perception.
Speaker 2: Of you know, it's the start of the last parliamentary
Speaker 2: fortnite before the election. What's your perception of the mood
Speaker 2: among the government and the Labor senators that you I'll see.
Speaker 14: Look, I think what's really interesting, you know with that poll,
Speaker 14: is that Australians are looking for someone of conviction. They're
Speaker 14: looking for a politician who actually stands for something and
Speaker 14: they know what they stand for. They might not always agree,
Speaker 14: but they know where they stand with you, and with
Speaker 14: alban Ezi, you know, when you stand for nothing, you'll
Speaker 14: set you know, fall for everything.
Speaker 1: So and I think he.
Speaker 14: Demonstrates that regularly. I really do think in the Senate
Speaker 14: we have the same motion today that went to the
Speaker 14: House with regards to anti Semitism. You could see on
Speaker 14: Labor faces how much they didn't want that motion. They
Speaker 14: really don't want to be talking about it. It's something
Speaker 14: that they know they have absolutely abjectally failed in to
Speaker 14: show any leadership and it's led to this escalation of
Speaker 14: events that we've seen. And you can just see they don't.
Speaker 14: They don't want to talk about that. They're not quite
Speaker 14: as cocky as they were towards the end of last
Speaker 14: year's So I'm not quite sure you know what they're
Speaker 14: saying in their center party room, but certainly in our
Speaker 14: chamber they're not sort of demonstrating the same cockiness they
Speaker 14: weren't towards the.
Speaker 2: End of last year. And I'm going to speak about
Speaker 2: those anti seventies emotions with cam Red in a bit
Speaker 2: later in the show. By the way, now let's turn
Speaker 2: to this video of Sam Kerr that came out overnight,
Speaker 2: because it is really quite extraordinary that you you don't
Speaker 2: usually see video like this.
Speaker 15: Here it is did you stay on the phone long
Speaker 15: enough to even speak someone?
Speaker 1: That's the thing. Okay, but they wouldn't do that.
Speaker 15: Though they wouldn't do that, you should have spoken.
Speaker 1: To the.
Speaker 16: Honestly, we have stupid.
Speaker 6: And white Okay, so stupid.
Speaker 16: I'm over this.
Speaker 1: This is the world problem.
Speaker 2: Wait on the call, Wait on the call.
Speaker 15: Wait all right, I'll go over at the moment. Then
Speaker 15: at three seventeen, you're under rest of criminal damage because
Speaker 15: there's an allegation that you smashed that taxi window. You're
Speaker 15: also under rest for racial aggravated public order for those
Speaker 15: comments that you've said.
Speaker 2: So she was already under arrest when she made those
Speaker 2: comments brun when stupid and white. And yet there are
Speaker 2: people who are suggesting today that this isn't racism.
Speaker 13: Only on the airBC. Everybody else who's quite sensible knows
Speaker 13: that that was a racist thing to say. And to
Speaker 13: suggest that you cannot insult somebody bit in a racist
Speaker 13: way because they're Caucasian or white is just a nonsense.
Speaker 13: And personally, I was just so embarrassed. And so this,
Speaker 13: this woman who'd been lauded, being made famous, made a
Speaker 13: great hero for young girls here.
Speaker 1: In this world model exactly, and here she.
Speaker 13: Is using this foul language and behaved in a very
Speaker 13: abusive way. And just thinkcause it's okay, I'm afraid it isn't.
Speaker 13: And she's apparently by not being included in the team,
Speaker 13: which they're insisting is because of her knee injury two
Speaker 13: years ago. I suspect it might be otherwise.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: It shows though I think it's fascinating wholly. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously there was damage to the taxi window on various
Speaker 2: other things, but we've seen on the streets of London
Speaker 2: such horrific anti samitism. Police don't take any action on that,
Speaker 2: but you know they are in this instance. What do
Speaker 2: you think about that inconsistency?
Speaker 14: Well, I mean, I think we've seen on the streets
Speaker 14: of Sydney all sorts of behavior that in any other
Speaker 14: circumstance police would have acted, particularly to pro Palestinian rallies,
Speaker 14: the use of terrorist organization flags, some of the hate
Speaker 14: speech that we've heard, and there's been no action whatsoever.
Speaker 14: But that video of Sam Kerr, if that's not the
Speaker 14: end of her career with certainly the Matilda's I don't
Speaker 14: think she'll be doing any more Wheetbix commercials anytime. So
Speaker 14: it's just embarrassing as an Australian, it's embarrassing as a woman,
Speaker 14: and it's embarrassing to think, as Bromwin said, she was
Speaker 14: held up as a model for young girls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, not a good look at all. Right, Brudwyn, Bishop,
Speaker 2: Holly Hughes. So great to have you both on tonight.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Sure, all right, We've still got
Speaker 2: a lot more to come on the show tonight. Labor
Speaker 2: attacks Dutton's policy of tax deductible business launches, plus why
Speaker 2: the core claim in Antoinette Latouf's case perpetuates a dangerous
Speaker 2: anti Semitic trope about Jews controlling the media. This is
Speaker 2: Aita Butcho's as private emails about Latouf are read in court.
Speaker 2: I'm going to discuss all of that with Aaron Patrick
Speaker 2: after this quick break. Welcome back, We're pro Palestinian activist
Speaker 2: Antoinette Leatouf has now finished giving evidence in the Federal
Speaker 2: Court in her unfair dismissal case against the ABC, and
Speaker 2: today it was a busy day at court, with the
Speaker 2: court hearing explosive statements from Ititebacho's I'm going to talk
Speaker 2: about them in a moment. The court also heard about
Speaker 2: Latouf's self medicating with drinking. Now, this case stems from
Speaker 2: her being let go as a fill in ABC host
Speaker 2: after she shared a post on social media claiming Israel
Speaker 2: was using starvation as a tool of war, simply untrue.
Speaker 2: The fact is Antoinette Leatouf is a well known pro
Speaker 2: Palestinian activist who is hostile towards Israel. The ABC should
Speaker 2: never have appointed such an activist as a fill in host.
Speaker 2: They should appoint objective journalists, not activists. So the ABC
Speaker 2: has brought all of this on themselves. Now, remember Latouf
Speaker 2: was one of those who were writing all the stories
Speaker 2: so called investigation important journalism, claiming that gas the Jews
Speaker 2: was never uttered at the opera House, as if it
Speaker 2: matters because the other phrases were so offensive, like f
Speaker 2: the Jews and where's the Jews?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: Her case right now is taking place against the backdrop
Speaker 2: of horrific anti semitism in Australia. Her case is listed
Speaker 2: for seven days of hearing in the Federal Court. That's
Speaker 2: two days longer than her original contract with the ABC
Speaker 2: was even meant for. She was only hired for five days.
Speaker 2: And the cost of all of this isn't a laughing matter.
Speaker 2: Taxpayers are being charged hundreds of thousands of dollars with
Speaker 2: ABC hiring Ian Neil sc Now there's going to be
Speaker 2: no costs either, will that the ABC will be able
Speaker 2: to recover because this is no cost jurisdiction. The Nightly
Speaker 2: is Aaron Patrick Jones me now and been following this
Speaker 2: case in cod Aaron, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1: Now you write in The Nightly.
Speaker 2: That Latouf's barrister argued she was fired because of the
Speaker 2: demands of a group of people that ABC identified as
Speaker 2: a pro Israel lobby and you write that the implication
Speaker 2: is that a cabal of Jews late in this case
Speaker 2: by a group called Lawyers for Israel, can control the media. Now,
Speaker 2: this theory, as you say, has a long and ugly history.
Speaker 2: You write in your article that you know this brings
Speaker 2: up it reminds us of the old conspiracy theories of
Speaker 2: Jews controlling the media.
Speaker 1: It's so distressing to hear this.
Speaker 17: I think, Charie, that we've got to call this out
Speaker 17: when we see it. And I was really struck watching
Speaker 17: the opening address by her lawyers making this case that
Speaker 17: essentially Lawyers for Israel, who were just a bunch of
Speaker 17: Jewish lawyers, that somehow that they could control an organization
Speaker 17: as independent, s fiercely independent as the ABC under someone's
Speaker 17: experienced and toughness chairman Ida Buttro's And it just brought
Speaker 17: to my mind, as you said, just these historical tropes
Speaker 17: that come up again and again, and I was really surprised.
Speaker 17: I was shocked. I was sort of shocked to see
Speaker 17: it coming up in the federal court as the key argument.
Speaker 2: And you write about the origin of these tropes as well.
Speaker 17: No, the anti Semitism, as you know, goes back hundreds
Speaker 17: and hundreds of years, but the media angle of it
Speaker 17: really got sort of currency back in very early nineteen
Speaker 17: hundreds with books which became the basis of Nazi ideology.
Speaker 17: And so the idea that Jews control the media and
Speaker 17: control finance has this long and glorious history. And you know,
Speaker 17: I've worked in the media a long a long time
Speaker 17: for a lot of different organizations, and the whole idea
Speaker 17: that one religious group could control something as sort of
Speaker 17: chaotic as the media just doesn't stand up to real
Speaker 17: world experience. And two, I think really suggests in this case,
Speaker 17: and quite seriously suggest in a court of law, that
Speaker 17: the Jews made the ABC, which is notorious for being sorry,
Speaker 17: which is well known for being of the progressive side
Speaker 17: of politics, that the Jews could force the ABC to
Speaker 17: fire anyone strikes me as sort of echoing this this
Speaker 17: long and bad history of this anti Semitic trope.
Speaker 2: If that was the case, John Lyed, John Lyons would
Speaker 2: have been fired from the ABC a long time ago,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: The toof was never impartial on this topic. She is
Speaker 2: a pro Palestinian activist. You know, she always has been,
Speaker 2: and she signed a petition wanting media outlets to give
Speaker 2: a more you know what she CAUs balanced view on
Speaker 2: the war. You know, the petition was so biased that
Speaker 2: prominent journalists, even those who are antie Israel, ignored it.
Speaker 17: Look, Antonette latoof wants to be pro Palestinian. I don't
Speaker 17: have a problem with that. That's her right, of course,
Speaker 17: and there's plenty of journalists serious or Peter Laylor, this
Speaker 17: great cricketing journalist, lost his lost his commentary job over this.
Speaker 17: But the problem problem is is that if you become
Speaker 17: a journalist, you take it. You know, you agree to
Speaker 17: try and accept that there are two sides to an argument.
Speaker 17: And in this case, in a particular, the petition that
Speaker 17: you spoke about, which was came out of the Journalist Union,
Speaker 17: didn't seek balance. It didn't seek to real acknowledge that
Speaker 17: their arguments on both sides and that there can be
Speaker 17: just wars of retaliation.
Speaker 13: No, it.
Speaker 17: Wanted the media to take a side which was the
Speaker 17: non Israeli side.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, now the claim, Well, I'll get to the
Speaker 2: Idebacher's emails. One of the emails that emerged in the
Speaker 2: CO proceedings was quite funny.
Speaker 1: She emailed the.
Speaker 2: Managing director, David Anderson, saying, I have a whole clutch
Speaker 2: of complaints. Can't she come down with flu or COVID
Speaker 2: or an upset stomach?
Speaker 1: We owe nothing.
Speaker 17: What was going on here was this was an organization
Speaker 17: struggling to get through a really uncomfortable situation, which is
Speaker 17: senior leadership has found out they've got someone ideologically biased
Speaker 17: on radio, and so they're trying to essentially deal with
Speaker 17: this in a way that saves them embarrassment, but also
Speaker 17: could have said Antonette latoufe embarrassment and perhaps hurt. Okay,
Speaker 17: and so that to me was actually a really sensible
Speaker 17: way to deal with it. If she had gotten the
Speaker 17: cold and disappeared, she would have her reputation would have
Speaker 17: been preserved too, and Ida Bartros wouldn't have to appear
Speaker 17: in court this week to explain why she said that,
Speaker 17: which is going to be pretty awkward for her.
Speaker 16: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, the best thing is that ABC should never have
Speaker 2: hired Antoinette in the first place, because it is in
Speaker 2: their charter that they need to be impartial and unbiased,
Speaker 2: and you don't put an activist as a journalist in
Speaker 2: if that's in your Charter. Aaron Patrick, thank you so
Speaker 2: great to have you on the show again in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five.
Speaker 17: Good to see again, Terry.
Speaker 1: Now still to come.
Speaker 2: Why doesn't the Albaneze government want to talk about the
Speaker 2: threat from radical Islam? A former senior AFP superintendent will
Speaker 2: join me live. Plus the debate over tax deductible business lunches.
Speaker 2: That's next after this quick break. Welcome back. We're in
Speaker 2: the final parliamentary fortnite before the election and cost of
Speaker 2: living is the biggest issue, but Albanzi is trying to
Speaker 2: claim everything's all rosy.
Speaker 7: Prime Minister, by what percentage has the cost of food
Speaker 7: increased since the election of the Albanese Labor government.
Speaker 5: What we know is that inflation is now at two
Speaker 5: point four percent, not one, but two budget surpases back
Speaker 5: to back surposes. If they had their way, they wouldn't
Speaker 5: be cheaper medicines. If they had their way, it wouldn't
Speaker 5: be cheaper childcare.
Speaker 17: The Prime Minister was asked the question about his promise
Speaker 17: to make Austrains better off.
Speaker 12: That cannot strain to opposition policy or the previous government.
Speaker 2: All Right, Sky News political reporter cam Redden joines me. Now,
Speaker 2: cam as I've said before, this is the mount everest
Speaker 2: of broken promises and cost of living, and voters know it,
Speaker 2: and Albanesi also knows it. How is this now going
Speaker 2: to play out? How is he going to handle this
Speaker 2: in the campaign?
Speaker 18: I want to give you one statistic, Shary, and it
Speaker 18: comes from the Bureau of Statistics. In addition to all
Speaker 18: the inflation data we get every month and every quarter,
Speaker 18: the Bureau of Stats now records the cost of living
Speaker 18: index is what they call it, and essentially what this does,
Speaker 18: and it records things like insurance and things like mortgage
Speaker 18: repayments and the interest that's paid on that as it's
Speaker 18: gone up, so it actually includes a few more real
Speaker 18: things for working people, and it says is a pretty
Speaker 18: accurate reflection of the cost of living. It's gone up
Speaker 18: since the election seventeen point one percent, so since the
Speaker 18: election to today, that's how much the collective cost of
Speaker 18: living has gone up for workers, people that go out,
Speaker 18: do their job, pay their bills. That's the difference. Now
Speaker 18: we're in this strange political limbo land, if you like,
Speaker 18: where two things are kind of true at once. The
Speaker 18: government can say, look, you look at the headline rate
Speaker 18: of inflation, it has come down, that's true, But the
Speaker 18: Coalition is pointing to the pain that's already in the system, saying,
Speaker 18: look at how much prices have already gone up, and
Speaker 18: from a political sense, they want voters to punish the
Speaker 18: government for that. So really, where we're at now, Shari
Speaker 18: is people have a choice to make. They can decide, well, okay,
Speaker 18: we are better off now numerically in terms of things
Speaker 18: could have been potentially worse. And that's the government's argument.
Speaker 18: Look at the recessions around the world. We didn't go
Speaker 18: into that. But the coalition wants to really seize on this, saying, hey,
Speaker 18: you're doing it tough. Look at how tough you've been
Speaker 18: doing it for the last couple of years, and now's
Speaker 18: your chance to make the government pay. So that is
Speaker 18: really the political combat when it comes to cost of living,
Speaker 18: which is by far and away the number one issue
Speaker 18: when it comes to swinging.
Speaker 2: Votes, absolutely, and it's coming up in both the research
Speaker 2: for the Labor Party and the Liberal Party.
Speaker 1: And look, politicians need.
Speaker 2: Research because they don't get out there enough and talk
Speaker 2: to real people. They think everything's fine. Albo keep saying,
Speaker 2: you know, everyone's optimistic. No one's optimistic. Now here was
Speaker 2: Peter Dutton in Parliament today attacking the Prime Minister over
Speaker 2: cost of living.
Speaker 4: Well, the Prime Minister now apologize for promising Australians they
Speaker 4: would be better off and admit that they can't afford
Speaker 4: another three years of this week albanezy Labor government.
Speaker 5: So ways down unemployment low here, that is what has
Speaker 5: been achieved through the hard work of Australians.
Speaker 2: So cam Labour's attack line. You know, they turned a
Speaker 2: lot of these questions into attacking Peter Dutton's policy to
Speaker 2: allow small businesses to claim business lunches back as tax deductions.
Speaker 2: They attacked Dutton over and over about this. Now what
Speaker 2: was Dutton's response to this? And do you think there
Speaker 2: is pressure on the Coalition over this policy.
Speaker 18: I think there's pressure for them to show their homework
Speaker 18: when it comes to the costing Shari. This is where
Speaker 18: there's a dispute.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 18: We even reported today were revealed on Sky that Angus Taylor,
Speaker 18: the Shadow Treasurer, has written a fairly pointed note to
Speaker 18: the Secretary of the Treasury Department, Stephen Kennedy. The Shadow
Speaker 18: treasure was ropable that they have gone and costed this policy.
Speaker 18: Now the government will say that it has put forward
Speaker 18: a hypothetical policy to go on cost it and see
Speaker 18: how much it would cost the budget, and Treasury has
Speaker 18: come back with a figure as high as ten billion
Speaker 18: dollars a year. The Opposition says no, it's more like
Speaker 18: one hundred and twenty five million dollars. They're citing the
Speaker 18: Parliamentary Budget Office. So you've got two departments essentially coming
Speaker 18: up with different figures, and the Treasurer is really daring
Speaker 18: Angus Taylor and the Coalition to put their costings out there,
Speaker 18: which it hasn't yet done. I think, to be honest,
Speaker 18: this is all political bunfighting. Shari, I don't think that
Speaker 18: is a real needle mover. Where it will be interesting, though,
Speaker 18: is once we do get to the campaign in what
Speaker 18: the coalition could add in addition to this. This would
Speaker 18: be one measure in theory to get small businesses and
Speaker 18: their workers, maybe help with staff retention, go out and
Speaker 18: put some money into cafes and restaurants, so you can
Speaker 18: see the logic behind that. Will there be more, I
Speaker 18: think is the big question because the one attack line
Speaker 18: the government really has on this is it's the boss
Speaker 18: taking themselves out to lunch that's their argument. What else
Speaker 18: the coalition will flesh out when it comes towards policy
Speaker 18: and other potential tax changes.
Speaker 1: I think that will be key, and.
Speaker 18: Maybe putting out some bigger carrots if you like to dangle,
Speaker 18: rather than just this one at this stage.
Speaker 1: Look putting the policy aside.
Speaker 2: I think what it shows is that Angus Taylor is
Speaker 2: emerging as one of the weakest links or the weakest
Speaker 2: performers on the coalition side. You know, cost of living
Speaker 2: is the biggest issue, and you don't see him often
Speaker 2: doing media interviews. He is not out and about and
Speaker 2: Jim Chalmers you can see that he's vulnerable and so
Speaker 2: they're choosing to attack Angus Taylor. We've got about a
Speaker 2: minute left, Cam, but I want to ask you about
Speaker 2: the anti semitism motions we saw today. Dutton clearly much
Speaker 2: stronger than the Prime Minister on.
Speaker 18: This and where this is becoming a political problem too, Sharry,
Speaker 18: is there is a policy difference between the two major parties.
Speaker 18: Because there's been a lot of talk over many weeks
Speaker 18: and months now and the condemnation of these attacks and incidents,
Speaker 18: of course, but there is a genuine policy difference. Now
Speaker 18: we've seen another layer of the coalition's plan for these
Speaker 18: mandatory sentences. That would include, under its proposal, sending some
Speaker 18: people who carry out particular anti semitic refed he acts
Speaker 18: sending them to jail for up to a year or
Speaker 18: at least a year in some cases a mandatory minimum.
Speaker 18: Now there would be details about what would have to
Speaker 18: meet that threshold, but that is part of the suite
Speaker 18: of law changes that the Coalition would seemingly bring in
Speaker 18: if it wins the next election. The government not going
Speaker 18: down the mandatory minimum's path, and Shari, I know we're
Speaker 18: so close to an election. So all of this has
Speaker 18: a political implication. It's been put to me by some
Speaker 18: in the Liberal Party that they think this language by
Speaker 18: Peter Dutton, this proposal for tough penalties brings seats like
Speaker 18: Wentworth for example, into play. That it might bring the
Speaker 18: Liberal parties some political gain in areas where these attacks
Speaker 18: have taken place. That's the brute reality of the politics
Speaker 18: of it. But the policy difference is where there's a
Speaker 18: bit of a rub here for voters. I think too.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's no question that a lot
Speaker 2: of voters will be supporting it, but I don't think
Speaker 2: That's why Dutton's doing and I think you can tell
Speaker 2: when he speaks he genuinely cares about this issue. Is
Speaker 2: not doing it for the politics.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: You can just see that I've spoken to him about
Speaker 2: this issue so many times and there's no question that
Speaker 2: it's genuine Camerand and thank you, really appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 2: Now coming up after the break of former AFP Detective
Speaker 2: superintendent joins me to explain why Albanize's waffle over not
Speaker 2: knowing about the caravan with explosives just makes no sense.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 2: Well, let's bring in now former AFP Detective Superintendent of
Speaker 2: counter Terrorism David Craig. Thank you David for your time. Look,
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister claims he can't answer questions about when
Speaker 2: he found out about the caravan of explosives. He says
Speaker 2: it would compromise an investigation, despite Premier Chrismins happily revealing
Speaker 2: he was briefed on January the twentieth.
Speaker 1: Is there any accuracy.
Speaker 2: To this claim that it would compromise operational matters?
Speaker 16: Thanks Sherry. Look, I can answer that question coming from
Speaker 16: having been involved with or in charge of Australia's largest
Speaker 16: Cana terrorism investigations, and I can tell you with some
Speaker 16: authority that there is no conceivable way that a date
Speaker 16: the Prime Minister was briefed would compromise any cataterrorism investigation.
Speaker 16: The content of that briefing may, but not the data
Speaker 16: of it.
Speaker 2: So he's just hiding behind this because clearly there's a
Speaker 2: problematic answer. Either he wasn't brief as some media reports
Speaker 2: have suggested.
Speaker 1: And if that is the case, do you think it.
Speaker 2: Could possibly because me because the agencies didn't trust him
Speaker 2: with that information.
Speaker 16: I would hope that's not the case, Shari. I certainly
Speaker 16: know that the Sensitive Investigations Overside Board of the AFP,
Speaker 16: which is chaired by Deputy Commissioner. I know a lot
Speaker 16: of the people that sit around that board, and they
Speaker 16: would not, in any circumstance have looked at a caravan
Speaker 16: laden with explosives outside Sydney with target addresses in it
Speaker 16: as not worthy of briefing up unless they've been told
Speaker 16: I'm not interested, or it only brief us on particular dates.
Speaker 16: This is a very significant matter. The AFP would have
Speaker 16: taken it extremely seriously and I don't know really why
Speaker 16: the Prime Minister would be saying he can't reveal when
Speaker 16: he was breathed.
Speaker 2: Exactly one hundred officers assigned to investigating it now. David
Speaker 2: Albanesi and Penniwang often speak about white supremacists and the
Speaker 2: threat of neo Nazi is a very real threat, but
Speaker 2: you don't often hear them speaking about the threat of
Speaker 2: radical Islam. Why do they ignore one form of anti Semitism?
Speaker 16: As an investigator, Shari is a detective, it's very hard
Speaker 16: for me to answer that with any logic at all. Absolutely,
Speaker 16: the hard right is been a threat to the Jewish community,
Speaker 16: and quite rightly, the government has taken some positive measures
Speaker 16: this week. That's brilliant. But what they need to do
Speaker 16: is do the same for the radical Islamic leadleaders that
Speaker 16: are promoting violence in our society. I would like to
Speaker 16: see the same proactive measures taken by this government that
Speaker 16: would promote the effective and proactive work of the police
Speaker 16: to bring those to justice that promote this evil hatred
Speaker 16: of the Jewish people.
Speaker 2: When you have the Prime Minister not taking a strong
Speaker 2: enough leadership position on anti Semitism, what message does that
Speaker 2: center law enforcement?
Speaker 1: Do you think?
Speaker 16: Look, I think that there's a visible dichotomy between what
Speaker 16: has happened with the new South Wales Police and the
Speaker 16: strong leadership of Premier Ins He has been forthright and
Speaker 16: saying that he wants to catch the bastards behind this.
Speaker 16: He's given a lot of impetus and a lot of
Speaker 16: higher power to the police for them to undertake their
Speaker 16: duties come to the federal side. And we're just seeing,
Speaker 16: as I said the other day, a spineless approach of
Speaker 16: it's okay, it's not such a big matter, and that
Speaker 16: sends a message to the police that well, maybe this
Speaker 16: government's not so interested in this, so we can concentrate
Speaker 16: on other matters. But I can tell you now that
Speaker 16: there is no bigger matter to deal with now than
Speaker 16: anti semitism in Australia, and it's escalation. It is escalating,
Speaker 16: and it will end up with a loss of life
Speaker 16: if we don't do something to arrest it.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. That's what we need to prevent. That's
Speaker 2: why we're fighting so hard against this. David Craig, really
Speaker 2: appreciate your time. Thank you everyone for your company tonight.
Speaker 2: I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And here's Paul Murray