WEBVTT - Credlin | 31 August 0:00:02.310 --> 0:00:07.070 Peter Credlin, live from News 24. 0:00:08.539 --> 0:00:11.480 Good evening, welcome to the program. Here's what's coming up 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.680 tonight on a very big episode of Cridland. An exclusive 0:00:14.700 --> 0:00:20.030 report tonight into three senior AFP counter-terrorism commanders who warned 0:00:20.050 --> 0:00:24.170 of grave terror risks before Bondi in a secret internal 0:00:24.270 --> 0:00:28.210 memo to AFP senior command. Now, it's been revealed tonight's 0:00:28.250 --> 0:00:31.110 News 24 after we got our hands on a copy 0:00:31.190 --> 0:00:34.659 of a submission to the Royal Commission. It reeks to me, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.440 confirmation today too, that no politicians... were called to give 0:00:38.500 --> 0:00:43.470 evidence before the Royal Commission, despite former Royal Commissions putting 0:00:43.530 --> 0:00:47.900 plenty of Prime Ministers and Ministers in the stand. 15 0:00:47.900 --> 0:00:51.900 dead Australians, our worst ever terror attack, and no one 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:57.920 senior has really given evidence to the Commission. My investigation tonight. Plus, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.480 that emphatic weekend win for One Nation out of the 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.360 WA CETA's secret harbour was held by Labor. Not anymore. 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.050 This is yet another demonstration of One Nation's rise. It's 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.029 no longer a protest vote. As the Prime Minister today 0:01:14.110 --> 0:01:17.950 started to get very nasty in relation to Pauline Hanson. 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.720 Two polls in one day as well, showcasing, yes, we're 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.480 worried about cost of living, but absolutely migration and debt 0:01:25.700 --> 0:01:30.750 as well too. One nation back on top. And Pauline Hanson, 0:01:30.810 --> 0:01:33.510 it's all about her today, isn't it? At your lawn today, 0:01:33.590 --> 0:01:38.850 regional Victoria committing to resurrect Latrobe Valley power stations and 0:01:38.930 --> 0:01:40.970 jobs for communities down there. 0:01:42.100 --> 0:01:44.140 I don't take any note of what he says. I 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.560 think he's a pathetic Prime Minister. He's not the leader 0:01:47.580 --> 0:01:48.300 of this nation. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:49.910 And they're all scared. 0:01:50.170 --> 0:01:54.390 They're scared because now we've won a safe Labor seat. 0:01:56.210 --> 0:01:58.590 Pauline Hanson with fire in her belly. We'll get to that. 0:01:59.130 --> 0:02:02.250 But first, you think the whole point of the Royal 0:02:02.290 --> 0:02:06.020 Commission looking into the worst terror attack in our history 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.360 would be about what went wrong. The security and intelligence 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.600 failure is that might have prevented the massacre of 15 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:18.490 innocent Australians on Bondi Beach last December. And not just 0:02:18.650 --> 0:02:21.030 officers on the front line that fateful day, but the 0:02:21.150 --> 0:02:24.710 whole system, the whole chain of command, state and federal, 0:02:25.150 --> 0:02:28.310 right the way to the top, with particular emphasis on 0:02:28.330 --> 0:02:32.130 the work of counter-terrorism police. So it wouldn't shock you 0:02:32.190 --> 0:02:35.510 tonight to learn that this may not have happened, that 0:02:35.550 --> 0:02:38.790 some experts who should have been called to give evidence 0:02:39.110 --> 0:02:43.980 were never called. The documents alleging critical capability gaps do 0:02:44.020 --> 0:02:48.150 not appear to have ever been examined. If the Royal 0:02:48.190 --> 0:02:52.330 Commission has not heard all the critical evidence, then either 0:02:52.370 --> 0:02:56.709 this is just woefully inadequate work by the Royal Commission 0:02:57.610 --> 0:03:01.310 or the unthinkable. That by not calling the right people, 0:03:01.730 --> 0:03:06.370 the Royal Commission leaves itself open to claims of a cover-up. Now, 0:03:06.410 --> 0:03:09.770 what I am about to expose tonight is that serious. 0:03:10.590 --> 0:03:14.049 I have with me a submission to the Royal Commission 0:03:14.530 --> 0:03:20.130 from a former AFP officer with specialist counter-terrorism experience who 0:03:20.190 --> 0:03:23.350 says they did not have the resources they needed to 0:03:23.450 --> 0:03:29.320 keep Australians safe. Worse than that, this counter-terrorism expert claims 0:03:29.660 --> 0:03:34.080 that 18 months before the Bondi massacre, AFP bosses were 0:03:34.139 --> 0:03:39.260 warned in an explosive brief that critical staffing shortages were 0:03:39.530 --> 0:03:44.450 were putting lives at risk. This senior officer, a man 0:03:44.470 --> 0:03:47.570 who knew all about the way our security and intelligence 0:03:47.750 --> 0:03:52.460 agencies had handled or not handled Islamist extremism in the 0:03:52.500 --> 0:03:56.160 wake of the October 7 atrocity, has offered repeatedly to 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:59.860 give evidence to the Royal Commission. Over many months, he's 0:03:59.900 --> 0:04:03.480 made contact with the Commission directly. So keen has he 0:04:03.580 --> 0:04:08.050 been to give evidence about what he knew prior to Bondi. 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.940 A month ago, he even lodged a written submission. And 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:18.050 yet last week, the commission was closed without ever hearing 0:04:18.430 --> 0:04:18.950 from him. 0:04:20.089 --> 0:04:23.770 I am satisfied that I am currently in a position 0:04:24.370 --> 0:04:28.610 to give a full and fair account of the term 0:04:28.650 --> 0:04:33.910 of reference which asks whether, in relation to the Bondi-Harnaker attack, 0:04:34.790 --> 0:04:40.690 our intelligence and our law enforcement agencies operated or performed 0:04:41.150 --> 0:04:42.910 to maximum effectiveness. 0:04:45.570 --> 0:04:48.750 You will be shocked when I reveal now who has 0:04:48.870 --> 0:04:52.610 not been called publicly by the Royal Commission to give 0:04:52.670 --> 0:04:57.500 evidence and why, now that I've carefully read this submission 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:04.120 from a former counter-terrorism expert, this whistleblower, why the whole 0:05:04.300 --> 0:05:07.580 Royal Commission process has been handled the way it has. 0:05:08.390 --> 0:05:12.940 Remember this man, until recently, an Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism commander, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.560 after calling Royal Commission staff over many, many months, hoping 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.180 to assist, was eventually invited to make a written submission. 0:05:21.980 --> 0:05:25.800 And yet, despite the explosive information in this submission, he 0:05:26.420 --> 0:05:30.859 was never called and put under oath. What's contained in 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:36.099 his submission, as I said, is explosive. Perhaps most importantly, 0:05:36.700 --> 0:05:39.960 it finally gives us some insight into the contents of 0:05:39.980 --> 0:05:45.020 an absolutely crucial brief from counter-terrorism police to the top 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:50.089 AFP command written in May 2024 that warned of critical 0:05:50.150 --> 0:05:54.510 shortages in counter-terrorism capability and the risks that this then 0:05:54.630 --> 0:05:59.489 posed to the Australian community. This AFP brief, this internal memo, 0:05:59.940 --> 0:06:05.049 has been the subject of huge political and legal wrangling post-Bondi. Indeed, 0:06:05.070 --> 0:06:07.589 it was the day after the Bondi attack on 15 0:06:07.589 --> 0:06:10.390 December last year that the existence of this memo was 0:06:10.490 --> 0:06:14.359 first made public in a report in the Australian newspaper. 0:06:14.900 --> 0:06:19.540 The following day, 16 December, Liberal Senator Jonathan Duniam sought 0:06:19.580 --> 0:06:24.160 to access the memo via an FOI. Two months later, 0:06:24.620 --> 0:06:28.350 in Senate estimates in February this year, Duniam pursued the 0:06:28.430 --> 0:06:32.870 AFP over the contents of this memo. And it led 0:06:32.930 --> 0:06:36.430 to a frustrating and drawn-out back and forth. 0:06:37.589 --> 0:06:39.750 Was there a report of this nature commissioned? 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:47.020 Senator, a couple of things I can correct the record 0:06:47.100 --> 0:06:50.400 on there. That brief did not formally make its way 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:54.710 to me. There were some inaccuracies within that brief at 0:06:54.750 --> 0:06:56.590 the commander level, which. 0:06:56.510 --> 0:06:57.869 Meant it didn't get beyond. 0:06:58.540 --> 0:07:03.240 assistant commissioner level and indeed there was conversations internally with 0:07:03.339 --> 0:07:06.300 the chief financial officer to work through some of the 0:07:06.339 --> 0:07:09.520 discrepancies and misunderstandings that were in that brief but the 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:11.360 coup may like to add to that. 0:07:13.470 --> 0:07:16.090 Well back and forth it went but Duniam kept at 0:07:16.190 --> 0:07:20.530 it pursuing the AFP again in the May Senate hearings. 0:07:21.470 --> 0:07:23.870 On this we were told at the last estimates that 0:07:23.910 --> 0:07:26.710 this document effectively. 0:07:26.170 --> 0:07:26.910 Had no value. 0:07:27.150 --> 0:07:32.800 It was based on errors, wrong assumptions around budgeting, and 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.120 it didn't make it to the AFP governance levels. So 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.640 it evaporated effectively, I think was the term I used 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.700 last time. How is that relevant to the content of 0:07:43.750 --> 0:07:47.370 a document which, according to the evidence last time, is 0:07:47.430 --> 0:07:49.950 somehow now relevant to the IRC? 0:07:50.290 --> 0:07:54.220 And again, very difficult on what... what instructions I've received 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:57.280 around what we can and can't talk about. But I 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:03.840 can say that resourcing is an issue. This document relates 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.060 to resourcing. And so I really want to be helpful 0:08:07.100 --> 0:08:10.500 here because there is an explanation here that we can provide. 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:17.160 given it's before the Royal Commission, likely. I'm not in 0:08:17.180 --> 0:08:19.580 a position to go into any detail on that document. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:21.360 Could I invite you to take it on notice? 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.520 I'm happy to do that and we'll get legal advice 0:08:23.580 --> 0:08:24.660 on what we can reply. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.620 Well, was it before the Royal Commission? Is it before 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:32.599 the Royal Commission? Now, eventually in July, Daniem got a 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:37.750 response to that FOI request from December last year. Access 0:08:37.850 --> 0:08:41.610 to this memo was rejected. Well, now we know why, 0:08:42.130 --> 0:08:44.270 because now that I've got the submission to the Royal 0:08:44.290 --> 0:08:48.010 Commission by one of the AFP officers who wrote that memo, 0:08:48.030 --> 0:08:52.040 we finally find out just how explosive it really is. 0:08:52.580 --> 0:08:55.360 So here's what I can reveal to you tonight. The 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.180 three senior AFP officers commanders wrote a memo to the 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:03.400 AFP leadership that warned more than a year before Bondi 0:09:03.420 --> 0:09:08.890 that there were critical issues with counterterrorism capability. These officers 0:09:08.950 --> 0:09:14.090 demanded that the AFP senior executives urgently address their concerns 0:09:14.429 --> 0:09:19.590 because they said sustained pressure on the counter-terrorism function posed 0:09:19.610 --> 0:09:23.380 a direct risk to the ability of counter-terrorism command and 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:28.720 the AFP more broadly to meet Australia's national security requirements. Now, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.920 I'm told that memo, that bombshell memo, was never acted upon. 0:09:33.780 --> 0:09:36.540 We know it certainly went to an assistant commissioner and 0:09:36.890 --> 0:09:40.070 You saw Stephen Nutt there at Estimates admitting that much. 0:09:40.650 --> 0:09:43.900 And it most likely went on to the then Deputy Commissioner, 0:09:44.500 --> 0:09:48.340 as discovered by Senator Duddy in Estimates. But now we 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:52.339 know what it said, because this is now in this 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.730 submission to the Royal Commission. The memo detailed how the 0:09:56.830 --> 0:10:02.290 AFP's counter-terrorism capability had materialised. degraded. And for the first time, 0:10:02.350 --> 0:10:06.440 I can now publicly share with you the specific details. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.300 That there had been a 25% shortfall in overall staffing. 0:10:11.780 --> 0:10:15.319 Of particular relevance to Bondi, a massive 38% shortfall in 0:10:15.340 --> 0:10:23.580 New South Wales. that there were unsustainable leadership vacancies, that 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.710 there was seemingly an alarming decision of the National Security Committee, 0:10:27.790 --> 0:10:31.309 so a decision taken by the Prime Minister and senior 0:10:31.350 --> 0:10:36.730 ministers to stop the AFP from requesting any additional resources 0:10:37.210 --> 0:10:42.720 due to budget constraints. Remember, this was back in May 2024, 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.980 almost 18 months before Bondi, so plenty of time to 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:52.900 remedy the defects. Then Bondi happened, and the AFP has 0:10:52.950 --> 0:10:56.610 been trying to bury this memo ever since. As I 0:10:56.650 --> 0:11:00.870 said earlier, the Coalition's Home Affairs Spokesman, Senator Jonathan Duniam, 0:11:01.230 --> 0:11:04.550 has doggedly pursued this memo. He'll join me later tonight 0:11:05.010 --> 0:11:09.589 to discuss these findings. But here's the key question which 0:11:09.630 --> 0:11:14.430 the Royal Commission has not publicly addressed. Why was no 0:11:14.670 --> 0:11:18.099 action taken by the AFP in response to this clear 0:11:18.170 --> 0:11:23.020 warning about gaps in their ability to combat terrorists? Even 0:11:23.059 --> 0:11:26.180 more importantly, why is the Royal Commission not called the 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:32.780 senior AFP counter-terrorism commander who volunteered repeatedly to appear before 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:37.290 the Commission before he then wrote this detailed submission? Now 0:11:37.309 --> 0:11:40.870 that we know that the Commission had detailed evidence about 0:11:40.929 --> 0:11:46.809 police and intelligence failures, shutting down public hearings last week, well, 0:11:46.850 --> 0:11:51.850 that looks premature, doesn't it? But it gets worse. Put 0:11:51.990 --> 0:11:58.690 this whistleblower, this former counterterrorism expert to one side for 0:11:58.730 --> 0:12:04.939 a moment. It's extraordinary bordering on bizarre evidence that the 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.929 Royal Commission closed down last week without taking public evidence 0:12:09.390 --> 0:12:13.050 from any senior politicians about what role they had in 0:12:13.730 --> 0:12:18.679 and around our nation's worst ever terror event. Now, how 0:12:18.940 --> 0:12:22.920 is that? The robo-debt Royal Commission, well, it heard evidence 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.929 from two former prime ministers, three other ministers. The Royal 0:12:26.950 --> 0:12:29.680 Commission into Union Corruption, it heard from a former prime 0:12:29.700 --> 0:12:33.240 minister and a leader of the opposition. Even the Pink 0:12:33.340 --> 0:12:36.540 Bats Royal Commission heard evidence from a former prime minister 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:41.990 and two ex-ministers. And 15 dead Australians as a result 0:12:42.030 --> 0:12:45.750 of an alleged Islamist inspired terror attack. And not one 0:12:45.850 --> 0:12:48.729 politician is put on the stand to be asked about 0:12:48.809 --> 0:12:52.860 whether they did enough to prevent it. We have a 0:12:52.890 --> 0:12:57.090 system of responsible government in this country. that ultimately the 0:12:57.130 --> 0:13:00.730 buck stops with our elected leaders. And yet no one 0:13:00.750 --> 0:13:04.750 of them, not one, has faced questioning over resourcing for 0:13:04.830 --> 0:13:09.180 our intelligence and police agencies. Not asked about budget cuts, 0:13:09.820 --> 0:13:13.760 allegations that government decisions shifted the focus away from Islamic 0:13:13.820 --> 0:13:20.290 extremism to far-right extremism. Not one. These are all things 0:13:20.350 --> 0:13:23.209 that should be tested by the Royal Commission, but not 0:13:23.490 --> 0:13:27.050 one of those people in charge has been called to 0:13:27.090 --> 0:13:31.310 give public evidence. But here's what shocked me most of all. 0:13:32.030 --> 0:13:35.060 The Royal Commission closed hearings last week, and do you 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:39.840 know what? It never called AFP Commissioner Chrissie Barrett to 0:13:39.860 --> 0:13:44.179 give evidence. The boss of the Australian Federal Police was 0:13:44.300 --> 0:13:49.240 never called to publicly give evidence. Only one senior AFP 0:13:49.260 --> 0:13:52.640 officer was called to give evidence publicly. That was Assistant 0:13:52.660 --> 0:13:55.719 Commissioner Stephen Nutt. And he was in and out of 0:13:55.740 --> 0:14:01.270 the witness stand in 38 minutes. 38 minutes flat, that's it, 0:14:01.990 --> 0:14:05.390 to interrogate the actions of federal police about a day 0:14:05.450 --> 0:14:08.790 where 15 Australians were slaughtered on a beach in Sydney. 0:14:09.790 --> 0:14:13.809 Do you know that Netball Australia's appearance at the Royal Commission, 0:14:14.309 --> 0:14:19.240 Netball Australia, was about as long as the only senior 0:14:19.410 --> 0:14:23.980 AFP officer we heard from? How does the CEO of 0:14:24.020 --> 0:14:27.760 Netball Australia get called to give evidence, but not Chrissie Barrett, 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.580 the head of the Australian Federal Police? Now, I've been 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:37.350 around Canberra a long time. This reeks to me. Unless 0:14:37.370 --> 0:14:41.110 this May 2024 memo is fully investigated, the Royal Commission 0:14:41.150 --> 0:14:44.850 leaves itself wide open to claims it's nothing more than 0:14:44.890 --> 0:14:48.320 a sham inquiry. The inquiry you have when you don't 0:14:48.410 --> 0:14:51.260 want to have an inquiry because the Prime Minister was 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.500 dragged kicking and screaming to do something that should have 0:14:54.540 --> 0:14:59.200 been an immediate response to what happened last December at Bondi. 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:02.900 No less an authority than former AFP boss, the highly 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.600 respected Mick Kelty, Well, he's gone public and called for 0:15:06.620 --> 0:15:11.900 the release of this memo. To salvage any credibility, the 0:15:11.940 --> 0:15:16.400 Bondi Royal Commission must be reopened to fully explore all 0:15:16.460 --> 0:15:21.120 the possible failings that this submission from a former senior 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:26.020 AFP officer has now revealed. The funding and the staffing 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:31.530 cover-ups that claimed political instructions to focus on white supremacists 0:15:32.130 --> 0:15:36.000 rather than Islamists. It's all good and well to hear 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.080 from the victims of the massacre who certainly needed to 0:15:39.140 --> 0:15:42.240 tell their stories. But the whole point of this Royal 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.460 Commission was to try and ensure that this never happens again. 0:15:47.380 --> 0:15:49.520 But if it doesn't want to get to the truth, 0:15:50.420 --> 0:15:53.260 then we won't hear it. And if we don't get 0:15:53.370 --> 0:15:57.270 the truth, then the mistakes of Bondi are very likely 0:15:57.370 --> 0:16:00.910 to be repeated. And that would not only dishonour the dead, 0:16:01.490 --> 0:16:04.760 but it will also condemn those of us living to 0:16:04.780 --> 0:16:13.150 an Australia where terror only increases. All right, we'll get 0:16:13.170 --> 0:16:15.720 the headlines in a moment out of camera, but this afternoon, 0:16:15.740 --> 0:16:18.660 the AFP provided me with a response to a series 0:16:18.700 --> 0:16:21.640 of questions I put to them today saying that, and 0:16:21.700 --> 0:16:24.900 I quote, the Royal Commission has received submissions and heard 0:16:24.970 --> 0:16:28.000 evidence from numerous parties. It would not be appropriate for 0:16:28.010 --> 0:16:32.480 the AFP to comment publicly on these submissions or evidence 0:16:32.900 --> 0:16:35.600 as the Royal Commission is ongoing and is yet to 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.080 deliver its final report. The spokesman went on to say 0:16:39.140 --> 0:16:41.880 this should not be taken as agreement with any statement 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.350 or assertion made in the referenced submission. The AFP did 0:16:46.410 --> 0:16:50.100 confirm to me, however, that AFP Commissioner Chrissie Barrett did 0:16:50.170 --> 0:16:53.520 not give evidence to the Royal Commission. The Royal Commission 0:16:53.540 --> 0:16:56.440 itself also responded late this afternoon as to why the 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.960 author of this report has not been called, saying witnesses 0:17:00.300 --> 0:17:03.800 are selected based on various considerations, a key one being 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:09.760 the relevance of their evidence to the issues being explored 0:17:10.140 --> 0:17:13.679 at a particular hearing. They would not comment on this 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.380 individual submission. All right, let's get the headlines now from Canberra. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:19.240 Our reporter, Ruben Spargo. 0:17:20.220 --> 0:17:20.660 Good evening. 0:17:20.869 --> 0:17:23.969 One Nation is vowing to target Labor seats after its 0:17:24.070 --> 0:17:28.390 stunning by-election win in Western Australia. The minor party secured 0:17:28.430 --> 0:17:31.690 an 18% swing in the once safe Labor seat of 0:17:31.770 --> 0:17:36.050 Secret Harbour. Pauline Hanson now has her sights set on Victoria. 0:17:36.430 --> 0:17:37.250 You have to put out. 0:17:37.190 --> 0:17:40.129 Your policies, you have to encourage people to give us 0:17:40.190 --> 0:17:42.730 a chance to represent them because what you've had in 0:17:42.770 --> 0:17:44.689 this state for a long time has not worked. 0:17:45.060 --> 0:17:48.420 One Nation has also reclaimed its mantle as Australia's most 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:52.200 popular political party, according to the latest news poll published 0:17:52.300 --> 0:17:55.560 in The Australian. Pauline Hanson is accusing the Prime Minister 0:17:55.680 --> 0:18:00.480 of fuelling political violence. Anthony Albanese labelled One Nation dangerous 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.540 and a threat to the country on Sunday. 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:03.580 The Prime Minister. 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:04.939 Come out and say those things, it. 0:18:04.900 --> 0:18:06.119 Was uncalled for. 0:18:06.500 --> 0:18:09.830 The One Nation leader says she is increasingly receiving death threats. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.880 Australians could soon have a right to ask big tech 0:18:12.940 --> 0:18:16.520 companies to delete their personal data rather than retain it. 0:18:16.900 --> 0:18:19.500 Social media and search platforms may also face a new 0:18:19.580 --> 0:18:23.719 fair and reasonable test, limiting them to collecting only information 0:18:23.740 --> 0:18:27.290 they genuinely need under a suite of proposed reforms. 0:18:27.550 --> 0:18:30.640 We would envisage that there would be high penalties here. 0:18:31.450 --> 0:18:36.149 This is a government that takes very seriously the incentivising 0:18:36.230 --> 0:18:37.890 nature of having high penalties. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.670 The government is aiming to introduce the legislation to Parliament 0:18:41.770 --> 0:18:43.470 by the end of 2026. 0:18:43.470 --> 0:18:47.850 I'll come back to the issue of the Bombshell Royal 0:18:47.869 --> 0:18:52.520 Commission submission, that memo, and the recommendations from a former 0:18:52.540 --> 0:18:55.900 senior AFP police commander in a moment. But to other 0:18:55.940 --> 0:18:58.020 political news over the weekend and what's been called this 0:18:58.260 --> 0:19:01.939 orange tsunami that's swept across the Nullarbor to the coastal 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.869 seat of Secret Harbour in Western Australia. It's continuing the 0:19:04.910 --> 0:19:07.669 trend of One Nation and the juggernaut that certainly has 0:19:07.690 --> 0:19:11.409 got people worried, certainly even in Labor now. One Nation 0:19:11.450 --> 0:19:15.560 candidate there, the local gym owner Luke Hurtigan, attracted 39% 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.180 of first preference votes and led 54-46 to PP when 0:19:20.220 --> 0:19:23.780 counting paused on Saturday night. Here to talk us through 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.520 the political ramifications of it all, News 24 contributor and host, 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.700 Chris Ullman, who joins me now from the beautiful place 0:19:30.740 --> 0:19:35.620 of Darwin. Well, former Labor Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, I mean, 0:19:35.660 --> 0:19:39.399 he's fought One Nation in his own old seat of Hunter. 0:19:39.900 --> 0:19:42.669 He summed it up pretty well today, Chris. Let's listen. 0:19:42.690 --> 0:19:46.990 I think we'll see a repeat of Secret Harbour in 0:19:47.210 --> 0:19:50.520 the coming Victorian election. I think we'll see... it again 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.139 in the New South Wales election in March of next year. 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.869 And unless they make some really big mistakes, that is 0:19:57.990 --> 0:20:00.990 One Nation, I believe One Nation will be alive and 0:20:01.010 --> 0:20:03.470 well at the time of the 2028 federal election. 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.300 OK, I'm not so sure he's right about Victoria, Chris. 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.990 I think they will win seats. But I think One 0:20:13.030 --> 0:20:16.190 Nation's real target up next is New South Wales. I mean, 0:20:16.230 --> 0:20:19.229 they announced a cracking leader for the party in New 0:20:19.250 --> 0:20:22.080 South Wales just the other day. And I do think 0:20:22.130 --> 0:20:24.780 Joel's right. One Nation's a real threat now to Labor seats. 0:20:25.140 --> 0:20:27.389 He saw it in Hunter. And now we're seeing it, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.680 of course, in Western Australia on the weekend. 0:20:31.619 --> 0:20:33.859 Yeah, Peter, of course, the candidate they announced, which is 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.120 Mark Newman, the former Trade Commissioner, was in the seat 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.580 of Cessnock, which is the New South Wales equivalent or 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:40.830 close to it of the seat of Hunter, which Joel 0:20:40.850 --> 0:20:43.970 Fitzgibbon represented. And if you look across the board at 0:20:44.070 --> 0:20:46.830 things that might fall in the federal election, the seats 0:20:46.869 --> 0:20:49.870 that might fall, well, I think Hunter and Paterson, New 0:20:49.890 --> 0:20:53.109 South Wales, based on these results, Blair and Ford in Queensland, 0:20:53.510 --> 0:20:57.570 Pearce and WA, Dunkley and McEwen in Victoria, Braddon and Bass. 0:20:58.090 --> 0:21:00.170 In Tasmania, I'd just say that they are the high 0:21:00.230 --> 0:21:01.929 risk ones. And I also don't think that this is 0:21:01.990 --> 0:21:05.730 necessarily limited to the demographic that we saw on the weekend. 0:21:05.790 --> 0:21:08.389 I think it's broader than that. So if One Nation 0:21:08.490 --> 0:21:11.379 can keep its act together, it could threaten a whole 0:21:12.020 --> 0:21:14.480 range of seats because this all goes down to essentially 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:18.180 the loss of trust in both major parties. What we've 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.320 seen since Kevin Rudd in 2007, where the major parties 0:21:21.340 --> 0:21:24.100 hit a high watermark, their primary vote came up to 85% 0:21:24.100 --> 0:21:29.010 of all votes cast. It's now down to 66%. We've 0:21:29.030 --> 0:21:31.629 seen people spray off in all directions, that is to 0:21:31.670 --> 0:21:33.750 the Teals and to the Greens and now, of course, 0:21:33.790 --> 0:21:34.369 to One Nation. 0:21:36.350 --> 0:21:37.930 Let's look at the news poll too because this bears 0:21:37.990 --> 0:21:40.869 it out. Core support for One Nation has risen to 30% 0:21:40.869 --> 0:21:46.459 of the vote. Labor 29, Coalition down at 19. Interestingly here, 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:49.619 this polling, news poll was in the market when there 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:54.720 was all that mixed messaging from One Nation over migration targets. Now, 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.500 I think I said this really clearly last week. If 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:00.140 you're going to have a fight over the issue of migration, 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.189 even if a detail coming from One Nation might be 0:22:03.210 --> 0:22:06.489 a bit garbled, they've got the equity now on migration. 0:22:06.550 --> 0:22:10.470 So if punters are exercised about that issue, they'll stay 0:22:10.530 --> 0:22:14.149 with One Nation. There's a trust value with One Nation 0:22:14.210 --> 0:22:16.820 on this. And this is where the two majors are 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.580 getting stuck in the weeds and they're missing this point. 0:22:21.940 --> 0:22:24.940 I think you'll find that whoever attacks One Nation will 0:22:24.980 --> 0:22:28.600 find it a very sticky target because what we're seeing 0:22:28.660 --> 0:22:31.720 is rejection of the major parties. So that's the core 0:22:31.780 --> 0:22:34.140 of it. The feeling among people that things have gone 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:36.959 wrong and the people who run business as usual are 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.659 responsible for the things that have gone wrong. The pressure 0:22:39.700 --> 0:22:42.659 that they feel in their own pockets because of the 0:22:42.700 --> 0:22:46.000 cost of living and the pressure that they feel from migration. 0:22:46.020 --> 0:22:48.880 There's a whole range of grievances that go into this, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.210 but it's more than just grievance now. It's a determined 0:22:52.330 --> 0:22:56.730 attempt to change business as usual in Australia. So Pauline 0:22:57.050 --> 0:22:59.350 Hanson might present a big target, but I think she's 0:22:59.369 --> 0:23:00.510 going to be pretty hard to hit. 0:23:02.430 --> 0:23:05.129 Well, there's a Redbridge poll out as well. One Nation 0:23:05.170 --> 0:23:07.580 slipped behind Labor in this one, but they've been changing 0:23:07.619 --> 0:23:10.859 the lead here five or six times over as many months. 0:23:11.420 --> 0:23:15.220 There were a series of attacks yesterday and over the 0:23:15.260 --> 0:23:19.530 weekend from Labor, the PM and the Treasurer, Very personally, 0:23:19.550 --> 0:23:22.490 I have to say, Pauline Hanson, and she hit out 0:23:22.869 --> 0:23:26.189 in a post on X, accusing Labor of inciting political 0:23:26.270 --> 0:23:29.949 violence against One Nation. And I have to say, you know, 0:23:30.150 --> 0:23:33.140 the language used by the Prime Minister, well, she's right 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:33.960 to call it out, Chris. 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:37.540 Well, Peter, the one thing that I heard the Prime 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:40.040 Minister say is that Pauline Hanson and One Nation would 0:23:40.260 --> 0:23:43.359 say anything and do anything. 0:23:43.020 --> 0:23:44.619 To get elected. 0:23:44.700 --> 0:23:46.510 Well, pot, kettle, pot. 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:50.760 I think most Australians would look at both major parties, 0:23:50.820 --> 0:23:54.280 but particularly the government, and start to add these things up. 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:58.859 $ 275 cut to your electricity bill by 2025. That was 0:23:58.900 --> 0:24:00.900 a promise that never emerged. Then there was the promise, 0:24:00.940 --> 0:24:03.379 of course, not to do anything about capital gains tax 0:24:03.460 --> 0:24:06.840 or negative gearing, and that was a promise that was broken. 0:24:06.900 --> 0:24:09.980 Changes on superannuation as well. You start to add up 0:24:10.060 --> 0:24:12.439 the scorecard, and I think it's a bit rich for 0:24:12.460 --> 0:24:15.540 the Labor Party to be saying that another party... is 0:24:15.580 --> 0:24:20.090 prepared to break promises to get into government because that's 0:24:20.109 --> 0:24:20.790 what we've seen. 0:24:22.650 --> 0:24:24.670 Well, let's go to where Pauline Hanson was today. She 0:24:24.710 --> 0:24:27.470 was in the Latrobe Valley down at Yallourn. And this 0:24:27.530 --> 0:24:30.990 is really interesting for two reasons. The first that I 0:24:31.330 --> 0:24:34.430 think Australians are desperate for a fair dinkum debate about 0:24:34.490 --> 0:24:37.629 baseload energy. They know our coal and our gas is 0:24:37.710 --> 0:24:40.310 headed offshore for other countries to burn while we're going 0:24:40.350 --> 0:24:43.770 crazy about renewables here and ramping up our power prices. 0:24:44.369 --> 0:24:46.909 But she's also sending a message to the people of 0:24:46.930 --> 0:24:51.040 the Latrobe Valley, many of them in tough circumstances now, 0:24:51.780 --> 0:24:54.600 lower income anyway, really struggling with the loss of jobs 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:58.590 as these coal-fired power stations are closing down. And it 0:24:58.619 --> 0:25:00.990 reminded me a lot of the way that Trump went 0:25:01.050 --> 0:25:04.830 through all those Rust Belt states and really picked up 0:25:04.890 --> 0:25:07.469 an army. It didn't surprise me, Chris, that she was 0:25:07.510 --> 0:25:08.190 down there today. 0:25:09.980 --> 0:25:12.140 Now, the other thing, Peter, is it's very smart politics 0:25:12.200 --> 0:25:14.679 because of this, and that is Yallourn is slated to 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:21.679