Speaker 1: Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
Speaker 2: Good Evening. Welcome to the show tonight.
Speaker 3: Bombshell revelations about the Islamophobia Register. Despite being concerned about
Speaker 3: one type of racism, one of its directors has been
Speaker 3: found saying highly offensive things about Jews who support Israel.
Speaker 3: And this organization gets more than a million dollars in
Speaker 3: taxpayer funds. My exclusive coming up also tonight. Albanizi under
Speaker 3: pressure over rising power bills. His broken promises come back
Speaker 3: to bite him. Michael Kroger and Richo will get stuck
Speaker 3: in the coalition calls for migrants to be tested on
Speaker 3: anti Semitism. Anthony Albanize's insulting and patronizing.
Speaker 2: Response will shock you.
Speaker 3: I'll speak about this with David Ossip a bit later
Speaker 3: and will cross live to Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharen Haskell.
Speaker 2: As the war on her Mus resumes.
Speaker 3: But first tonight, energy and climate activism are shaping up
Speaker 3: to be major election issues, and tonight the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: is under pressure over his broken promise on power bills
Speaker 3: as Australians face an increase in their power bills of up.
Speaker 2: To two hundred dollars come July.
Speaker 3: Alban Easy Today was mumbling and stumbling over his broken
Speaker 3: promise at the last election. Just three years ago, he
Speaker 3: pledged ninety seven times.
Speaker 2: That your power bills would be cheaper under his leadership.
Speaker 3: You've seen this before, but it's just the extraordinary to
Speaker 3: watch when we know that it was a commitment he
Speaker 3: never should have made because he was never going to
Speaker 3: deliver on it, and he knew it.
Speaker 4: Reducing power prices by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
Speaker 5: Reducing power prices by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
Speaker 6: By twenty twenty five, two hundred and seventy five dollars
Speaker 6: a year.
Speaker 4: Two hundred and seventy five dollars a year will.
Speaker 7: Get power prices down by two hundred and seventy five dollars.
Speaker 5: A year, two hundred and seventy five dollars for the
Speaker 5: average house lower in twenty twenty five than today.
Speaker 3: So it wasn't a one off remark. The Prime Minister
Speaker 3: made the promise ninety seven times, but he's never apologized
Speaker 3: to Australians for this. If he had, if he'd owned
Speaker 3: up to it, perhaps voters wouldn't be so angry and
Speaker 3: hold it against him instead. It's come back to bite him,
Speaker 3: with new polling today showing that more than half of
Speaker 3: voters blame the alber Ezi government's energy policies for soaring
Speaker 3: household power bills. They also believe the country is heading
Speaker 3: in the wrong direction. Redbridge polster Coosamaras said, voters believe
Speaker 3: the alban Ezi government's renewable policies had pushed their energy
Speaker 3: costs through the roof.
Speaker 8: It's pretty clear to us now that not just why
Speaker 8: this particular poll, but a lot of work that we've
Speaker 8: done in this space that Australians are losing confidency in
Speaker 8: that energy transition. People now have a very strong view
Speaker 8: that it's going to be much more expensive, more unstable
Speaker 8: and an unpredictable.
Speaker 2: That's what voters are telling pollsters.
Speaker 3: Well, here was the Prime Minister being questioned about the
Speaker 3: issue today.
Speaker 9: Can you guarantee energy prices will calm down or at
Speaker 9: least you remain stable under a second channel?
Speaker 3: And instead of a guarantee alber ez He continued with
Speaker 3: his theme of blaming global factors for rising power bills.
Speaker 2: Rather than acknowledging that perhaps it's his.
Speaker 3: Own Minister Chris Bowen's irresponsible policies.
Speaker 4: Well, we know that we have international impact of global
Speaker 4: inflation has had an impact. The Russian invasion of Ukraine
Speaker 4: had an impact on energy prices.
Speaker 3: He isn't taking any responsibility for any issue at all
Speaker 3: and is turning this into a fine art. Yet the
Speaker 3: situation with rising power bills is so severe that it's
Speaker 3: now being described as energy poverty, where some Australians just
Speaker 3: can't afford to use electricity, and even the progressive Labour
Speaker 3: state of Victoria is reportedly considering extending the life of
Speaker 3: colfied power stations, although this has been met with denials
Speaker 3: today and the Victorian government claims the Yellown power station
Speaker 3: will still close in twenty twenty eight. As you know,
Speaker 3: Labor premiere in New South Wales, Chris Mins has already
Speaker 3: had to extend the life cycle of a raring, the
Speaker 3: Coulfide power station in this state, and this is because
Speaker 3: Chris Bowen and id logues like him at a state
Speaker 3: level rushed the transition to renewables before the infrastructure was
Speaker 3: in place, before it was ready. Yet, instead of focusing
Speaker 3: on power bills, Chris Bowen seems to be spending more
Speaker 3: and more of his time making social media videos.
Speaker 7: So you think wind turbites can't be recycled. This surf
Speaker 7: pild is made out of wind.
Speaker 3: Service videos where he blames everyone but himself for high
Speaker 3: power bills. He even blamed Australians for just getting the
Speaker 3: wrong energy deal.
Speaker 5: Did you know that eighty one percent of Australians paying
Speaker 5: more for electrocy they need to because they're not on
Speaker 5: the best plan available. That's the data from the age.
Speaker 5: All our government is making it easier for you switch providers.
Speaker 5: This website will help you find the best possible deal
Speaker 5: for somebody with your energy news.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all your fault. Come on, this is nonsense.
Speaker 3: Chris Bown already lost Bill shot En, the former Labor leader,
Speaker 3: the twenty nineteen election, because of his highly unpopular high
Speaker 3: taxing policies when he was Shadow Treasurer at the time,
Speaker 3: and given today's latest polling, well Chris Bowen could play
Speaker 3: a starring role in losing alban Easy support too, because
Speaker 3: of the genuine anger at the cost of energy, a
Speaker 3: cost that Alberan Easy can't pretend he didn't promise to
Speaker 3: bring down. It's one of many broken promises he can't
Speaker 3: escape from. He'd be better off simply apologizing.
Speaker 2: But don't hold your breath for that.
Speaker 3: Now tonight we can expose a director of the Islamophobia
Speaker 3: Register spreading highly offensive messages about Zionists and that's Jews
Speaker 3: who support Israel. You might have seen that the Islamophobia
Speaker 3: Register came out a few days ago and it made
Speaker 3: major news.
Speaker 10: Researchers from Monash and Deacon Universities analyzed more than six
Speaker 10: hundred incidents reported to the Islamophobia Register. Register has been
Speaker 10: operating since twenty fourteen and the latest results are the
Speaker 10: worst on record.
Speaker 9: The report compiled by academics for the Islamophobia Register Australia
Speaker 9: found anti Palestinian sentiment played a part and that Muslim
Speaker 9: women were disproportionately targeted.
Speaker 3: With The Islamophobia Register uses their annual data to call
Speaker 3: for more federal government funding, and they received one point
Speaker 3: one million dollars in funding from the Australian government last year.
Speaker 3: That's the grant finding details on your screen now. One
Speaker 3: of their directors of the Islamophobia Register is Hilal Yassin.
Speaker 3: He works in private equity as Group Managing Director at
Speaker 3: First Key Capital and despite being concerned about one form
Speaker 3: of racism, he said highly offensive things about Zionists Jews
Speaker 3: whose support Israel. He's perpetuated the blood libel that Zionists
Speaker 3: see themselves as superior, and he called Zionists savage. He
Speaker 3: wrote on LinkedIn, the fundamental problem is one of psychology,
Speaker 3: whereby the savage Israeli Zionists see themselves as a superior
Speaker 3: race over and above the subhuman, animalistic Palestinians, just like
Speaker 3: the barbaric Nazi Aryan German race who believed they were
Speaker 3: from a racially superior bloodline to what they termed other
Speaker 3: human rats. He also wrote, shame on the Zionist racial supremacists.
Speaker 2: A danger to humanity and world.
Speaker 3: Peace at large. Now I've said this repeatedly, but being
Speaker 3: a Zionist is simply supporting the existence of Israel. If
Speaker 3: you're not a Zionist, you wan't the state of Israel eliminated.
Speaker 2: So let's look again. Here's more from the.
Speaker 3: Islamophobia just a director Hilel Yasay. He said Nazism had
Speaker 3: been replaced with Zionism, both racial supremacist groups, both believing
Speaker 3: they are above the law due to their superior ethnicity,
Speaker 3: and both a danger to humanity at large. Now Yusain
Speaker 3: has even encouraged putting an end to Zionist practices.
Speaker 2: This seems very dangerous to me. He wrote, we.
Speaker 3: Put an end to the practices of the savage Nazis
Speaker 3: and the racial supremacist master race ideology, and I'm certain
Speaker 3: we will also put an end to the practices of
Speaker 3: the barbaric Zionists and racial supremacist chosen race ideology. It's
Speaker 3: just a matter of time, just a matter of time
Speaker 3: until there's an end to the practices of the barbaric Zionists.
Speaker 2: That's what he's saying.
Speaker 3: This seems to be calling for an elimination of the
Speaker 3: practices and ideology of Jews who support Israel. He says,
Speaker 3: just like the Nazi ideology was eliminated. This is really
Speaker 3: inflammatory language and potentially even incitement to violence. Now Y're
Speaker 3: seen also claimed in one post that Zionists are European colonialists,
Speaker 3: non indigenous. He wrote, have a look, the issue is
Speaker 3: not one about religion, but one about the dispossession, occupation,
Speaker 3: and subjugation of the brown indigenous Palestinian Semites of the
Speaker 3: Middle East by European colonial Zionist European colonial Zinis. And
Speaker 3: that is completely inaccurate and dangerously misleading to suggest Jews
Speaker 3: only came from Europe when we know Jews are indigenous
Speaker 3: to the land of Israel. In another post, he agreed
Speaker 3: with someone else that survivors of the whole cost were
Speaker 3: now programming their children to inflict one You can see
Speaker 3: the post and under it, he said, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: There are many, many, many similar posts and comments like
Speaker 3: I've shown you, And since his online commentary.
Speaker 2: Was first exposed by.
Speaker 3: A digital investigations team Nashajew, he then changed his LinkedIn profile.
Speaker 3: Now I put questions to Yasine today and his lawyers
Speaker 3: responded to me. They said that Yasine differentiates between a
Speaker 3: Zionist ideology and Australian Jews. His lawyers said, and I quote,
Speaker 3: mister Yassin has spoken out against antisemitism, which is different
Speaker 3: to criticizing the evil, illegal act of the.
Speaker 2: State of Israel.
Speaker 3: Mister Yassin's criticism of supremacist evil ideology is consistent whether
Speaker 3: it claims to be based in Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Now, Yeah,
Speaker 3: seines lawyers also told me, I'm going to quote here,
Speaker 3: Australian Jews have been trying to highlight this distinction to
Speaker 3: distance themselves from the Zionist ideology that has hijacked their religion.
Speaker 3: We provide examples from the Jewish Council of Australia, Louise Adler,
Speaker 3: Sarah Schwartz, and hundreds of other Australian Jews.
Speaker 2: Well as far as.
Speaker 3: I can tell, Yasine operates under his own definition of Zionism,
Speaker 3: perhaps supported by a tiny minority of Jews. I personally
Speaker 3: find his definition of Zionism ignorant, offensive and deeply divisive.
Speaker 3: And I can say with pride on national television that
Speaker 3: I am a Zionist. I strongly support the state of Israel.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't stand alongside the company he describes. And I
Speaker 3: think Nadiyahoo has been a truly at a time when
Speaker 3: young Israelis have been on the front line fighting for
Speaker 3: the very survival of the Jewish state when it's under
Speaker 3: attack from bloodthirsty terrorists. Will we put questions to the
Speaker 3: Islamophobia Register as well about these comments where fellow directors
Speaker 3: are award winning and he racism advocate Marry him Visada,
Speaker 3: who CEO of Media Diversity Australia. Another director is Wali
Speaker 3: Dahli's wife, Susan Carland. And here is Yescene with Wali
Speaker 3: Dhli at the Media Diversity launch in twenty seventeen. Now,
Speaker 3: given Walid has written about anti Semitism, I do presume
Speaker 3: genuinely that he and his wife would be pretty unimpressed
Speaker 3: with Yesine's comments about Zionists. Now, Yasin is also pictured
Speaker 3: here with Sarah Schwartz, who he mentioned, and you may
Speaker 3: recall she was responsible for the eventsive Utom's jue slides.
Speaker 3: Now The Islamophobia hasn't responded to our media request as yet.
Speaker 3: We also asked Home Affairs how it was appropriate for
Speaker 3: a million dollars of federal government funding to go towards
Speaker 3: an organization where a director is spreading highly offensive content
Speaker 3: about Zionists, and Home Affairs told us the Australian Government
Speaker 3: has and continues to provide grants to a number of organizations,
Speaker 3: including the Islamophobia Register of Australia, that focus on combating
Speaker 3: racism and reducing misinformation and disinformation impacting Australian communities. Under
Speaker 3: the guidelines, there are measures in place to ensure funding
Speaker 3: is used for the specific stated purpose. The grants are
Speaker 3: monitored through an agreed reporting and financial acquittal process grant
Speaker 3: agreements in between the department and the recipient organization rather
Speaker 3: than an individual. Now, social cohesion is incredibly important in
Speaker 3: our country in Australia, but it's curious that people who
Speaker 3: are supposedly against hatred and racism are perpetuating dangerous messages
Speaker 3: about Jews who support Israel, which is the majority of Jews.
Speaker 3: You're either against racism or you're not. You can't be
Speaker 3: a director of the Islamophobia Register while spreading vicious libels
Speaker 3: that one of Australia's largest minority groups already facing so
Speaker 3: much hate, would find highly offensive. Okay, let's bring in
Speaker 3: now from a Victorian Liberal Party President Michael Kroger and
Speaker 3: Farmer Labor Senator Graham Richardson. Great to see both as
Speaker 3: always on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Look, I want to start with the.
Speaker 3: Polling that I just mentioned a moment ago that the
Speaker 3: majority of voters now blame Anthony Albinizi and his government
Speaker 3: for the skyrocketing power prices. Polling wasn't overwhelmingly positive for
Speaker 3: the coalition he that had Labor just a head on
Speaker 3: a two party preferred basis, but it seems that no
Speaker 3: voter can forget the prime Minister's broken promise. So you know,
Speaker 3: what do you make of how big of an issue
Speaker 3: power prices will be at the.
Speaker 2: Election and just where it's up to overall? Right now, I'd.
Speaker 11: Prefer to start with mister m But anyway, I think
Speaker 11: you said it all, Shari. Look, this is a monstrous issue,
Speaker 11: is it is the dominant policy issue that we remember
Speaker 11: from the twenty twenty two election, the two to seventy
Speaker 11: five promise repeated one hundred times. It was the dominant
Speaker 11: issue in the whole election, and the average working middle
Speaker 11: class voter saw that, believed that, and voted for Albanizi accordingly,
Speaker 11: you know, apart from the fact there was a nine
Speaker 11: year old liberal government, you know, the most powerful political
Speaker 11: policy they had in that campaign was that promise. People
Speaker 11: believed it, acted on it, and it's coming back to
Speaker 11: buy him and all is twisting and turning. When every
Speaker 11: time Bowen or Minister's asked about the promise, oh it
Speaker 11: was Ukraine or something, people are furious that they were
Speaker 11: lied to. Right, this was a con job. There was
Speaker 11: no proper modeling. This was just an advertising gimmick that
Speaker 11: Albanese was told to run with to get him over
Speaker 11: the line. It won him tens of thousands of votes.
Speaker 11: It's coming back to bite him and I'd be absolutely
Speaker 11: certain the Liberal Party will be reminding everybody they were
Speaker 11: lied to it the last election and don't believe it
Speaker 11: our ALBANIZI next time, Rich.
Speaker 3: I do you think Albert would be better off just
Speaker 3: apologizing to Australian saying he got it wrong? But because
Speaker 3: he can't pretend those comments weren't made, everyone remembers that
Speaker 3: he did promise cheaper power prices. And even if they
Speaker 3: forget like Michael just said, the Coalie, you aren't going
Speaker 3: to let them forget it.
Speaker 12: Of course they're not. And I don't understand why politicians
Speaker 12: are always so afraid of saying sorry, I mucked that up.
Speaker 12: I'll now fix it up. I do not understand why
Speaker 12: they won't do that. It goes back and would never
Speaker 12: do it, but you have to do it the mob. No,
Speaker 12: everybody knows there's been a stuff up, so why would
Speaker 12: you be hesitant to admit it?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 2: I think that's absolutely right.
Speaker 3: Just in terms of the overall polling, though, Michael, where
Speaker 3: do you think Darton is at the minute, Because you know,
Speaker 3: before this particular poll had the coalition ahead.
Speaker 2: Now it's got Labor ahead.
Speaker 11: So I think Peter Dutton in the opposition had a
Speaker 11: few flat weeks and Labor probably have made up some ground.
Speaker 11: That's been apparent to me for a month. But I
Speaker 11: can see the wheel turning back again. I think Dutton's
Speaker 11: probably fifty one to fifty two somewhere around there. I
Speaker 11: still think he's on seventy two seats. I still think
Speaker 11: he's going to win the election. The budget will not
Speaker 11: help labor. The advertising campaign on that promise is not
Speaker 11: going to help labor. And Sharis I've said before, he's
Speaker 11: got another huge issue, green preferences. Is he going to
Speaker 11: tell Labor voters to put the Green second? I mean,
Speaker 11: this is the repol sive organization. Now, the Green is
Speaker 11: an extremist organization that has smashed social occasion in this country,
Speaker 11: as you've pointed out on many occasions. Is he going
Speaker 11: to ask Labor voters in McNamara to vote for the
Speaker 11: Greens ahead of the coalition.
Speaker 1: So he's still going to answer this question.
Speaker 11: You noted every time he's asked, he fobs it off
Speaker 11: to the national executive or the organizational wing. In the end,
Speaker 11: it's his decision. And he he's got to confront that
Speaker 11: issue one way or the other. And I think we
Speaker 11: know what he's going to do, and that's going to
Speaker 11: be very.
Speaker 1: Bad news for him.
Speaker 3: The Nightly has a front page story tonight, so their
Speaker 3: nightly edition tonight where they're saying that the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: is even boasting of winning another four seats so rich.
Speaker 3: Oh it sounds like Albanze is getting overly confident. He's
Speaker 3: telling people at private dinners that he's actually going to
Speaker 3: pick up seats.
Speaker 2: He doesn't think Dutton can win.
Speaker 12: Oh yeah, I wouldn't write him off picking up seats.
Speaker 12: And if you're a political leader and you are not
Speaker 12: an optimist, especially you're at dinners of supporters and you're
Speaker 12: a mug, So of course he's doing that. He has
Speaker 12: to project an image of confidence. He has to look
Speaker 12: like he is certain to win the election. If he
Speaker 12: doesn't look like that, then people will take advantage of it.
Speaker 3: I don't think people like arrogance either though, which is
Speaker 3: what it sounds like this boast was.
Speaker 2: But we'll come back to that now.
Speaker 3: Peter Darton has put forward the idea that migrants prospective
Speaker 3: migrants would be tested on antisemitism in their citizenship test. Now,
Speaker 3: he suggested adding a question to the exam to ensure
Speaker 3: applicants are adequately screened.
Speaker 13: Now.
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister immediately was dismissive of this idea.
Speaker 2: Have a look at this.
Speaker 4: It's another soap bobble. We'll see if it lasts till
Speaker 4: you know, a couple of a couple of hours away.
Speaker 4: Yesdays didn't make it to lunch time, so we'll wait
Speaker 4: see what happens the Coalition. The Coalition have run a
Speaker 4: campaign complaining that too many Australians were making the citizenship pledge.
Speaker 4: She'd been in the queue, some of them for years.
Speaker 2: Michael first out.
Speaker 3: I think this is so insulting from the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: not to take this proposal seriously of stopping anti Samites
Speaker 3: coming into the country.
Speaker 2: But I do think it would need to be more
Speaker 2: than just a question.
Speaker 3: There need to be some social media checking as well,
Speaker 3: depending on which part of the world people were coming from.
Speaker 11: Of course, I think it's preferable you don't have people
Speaker 11: coming to this country to live permanently you hate Jews
Speaker 11: and who were brought up in an education system where
Speaker 11: they're talked to hate Jewish people. I don't think that's
Speaker 11: good for our country. And I don't think anywhere near
Speaker 11: a majority of Australians would think that was a good idea.
Speaker 11: But I'll tell you what's happened here. I'll tell you
Speaker 11: what's happened here. That was an appalling comment belb and
Speaker 11: easy or that was a shocking comment. Why would he
Speaker 11: say that. I'll tell you why I said that, Because
Speaker 11: on Monday this week Peter Dutton did the right thing,
Speaker 11: came out and he and Tim Wilson and Benson Salo,
Speaker 11: the candidate McNamara and James Patterson made an announcement of
Speaker 11: thirty five million dollars to help rebuild their synagogue in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: Great announcement.
Speaker 11: Albert camt yesterday and promised almost the same amount. Very
Speaker 11: good work by the Primisi and doing that. But you
Speaker 11: just imagine what's happened internally within the Labor Party. Tony Burke,
Speaker 11: the large Muslim constituencies in those western suburb Sydney seats
Speaker 11: will have been furious that Albanezi is giving thirty one
Speaker 11: point two million dollars to the Jewish community in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: They will have been furious his.
Speaker 11: Phones yesterday afternoon or Tuesday and today will have been
Speaker 11: ringing off with people complaining about his support for the
Speaker 11: Jewish community. So Today's came out and made this ridiculous
Speaker 11: contribution somewhere in order to sort of balance things.
Speaker 1: Up a bit.
Speaker 11: I don't do what I'm know I've done follow Dutton
Speaker 11: on this stuff. I've got my own views, and you know,
Speaker 11: I don't think we should do this.
Speaker 1: It's the same. I think that's what's happened here.
Speaker 11: He's copped huge flack in the last two days for
Speaker 11: helping donate money to rebuild a synagogue.
Speaker 7: Fire by and by.
Speaker 2: Burn to the ground jewishump.
Speaker 11: Painting racist racist extremists. So he's done the right thing,
Speaker 11: and no doubt Tony Burke and others are not saying
Speaker 11: back specifically, but people around the left of the Labor
Speaker 11: Party and the Muslim community have been furious with him
Speaker 11: ever since Monday.
Speaker 1: That's what I think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, let's turn to Trump, Russia and Ukraine. We
Speaker 3: know that the President had a to our phone call
Speaker 3: with Prutin. Look, he managed to extract some concessions, but
Speaker 3: it clearly wasn't the deal he was hoping for because
Speaker 3: Prutin said no to a thirty day ceasefire He did
Speaker 3: agree to stop targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure effective immediately, but
Speaker 3: then there were reports that he resumed targeting the infrastructure. So, Richo,
Speaker 3: do you have confidence that Trump is going to reach
Speaker 3: an agreement that doesn't involve giving Russia more Ukraine in land.
Speaker 12: I never have much confidence in anything that comes up
Speaker 12: with Pitton. I think he's one of the worst murderous
Speaker 12: grubs I've ever known in politics, and so I worry
Speaker 12: about Trump's, you know, looking friendly occasionally towards him. I
Speaker 12: don't think we should be friendly to this fellow at all.
Speaker 12: This guy killed the people personally, let alone. You know,
Speaker 12: we're using the apparatus of the state, and so you
Speaker 12: don't admire that, you criticize it, and you condemn it.
Speaker 3: Well, I understand the tactic of not criticizing Prutin why
Speaker 3: you're trying to get him to agree to a cease
Speaker 3: fire or a peace deal. But Michael, you know at
Speaker 3: this point, and look, I hope more than anything that
Speaker 3: Trump can get a deal done here, but at this point,
Speaker 3: you know, it doesn't look promising.
Speaker 2: What do you think.
Speaker 11: You don't know fully what's happening behind the scenes. I
Speaker 11: think that's the first thing to say. But to the
Speaker 11: extent that we know, we know from the public statements
Speaker 11: made by both leaders on the details of the conversations,
Speaker 11: and they've been picked over by many journalists who've basically
Speaker 11: concluded that Putin did better than Trump. My worry is
Speaker 11: that he's got this completely wrong. Instead of hitting on
Speaker 11: Zelenski first, he should have been hitting on Putin first.
Speaker 11: I mean, Zolenski was easy to get him to agree
Speaker 11: because the country's being smashed. The first portcoll should have
Speaker 11: been with Putin. Now it looks like on the service,
Speaker 11: it's looked like Putin can just sit there month after
Speaker 11: month after month. He'll still be president long after Trump's gone,
Speaker 11: and so he can weigh him out. As the Chinese
Speaker 11: and the North Koreans waited Trump out in twenty twenty,
Speaker 11: he can.
Speaker 1: Wait him out.
Speaker 11: And the longer it goes, the worse it is to Trump,
Speaker 11: because don't forget again, this was one of his major
Speaker 11: campaign election promises that he fixed it in the day,
Speaker 11: meaning he'd fix it in a few months. If he
Speaker 11: can't fix this on reasonable terms, it's very damaging to
Speaker 11: Trump and it doesn't read so good so far.
Speaker 3: And the issue is that Putin of course knows that
Speaker 3: Trump desperately wants to get this done.
Speaker 2: But you know we haven't given up.
Speaker 3: Favorite We'll see where this ends, all right, Michael Kroger,
Speaker 3: Gray Ritson, Great to see you as always. In a
Speaker 3: Wednesday Now as Sydney nurse charged over the viral video
Speaker 3: in which he boasted of killing Israeli patients, will plead
Speaker 3: not guilty on the basis he didn't consent to being recorded.
Speaker 2: Our Sky News.
Speaker 3: Reporter and friend Caroline Marcus was in court today and
Speaker 3: here's the report she filed a little earlier.
Speaker 13: Shari. There were chaotic scenes outside court today as supporters
Speaker 13: of former nurse Sarah Abu Lebday clashed with the media
Speaker 13: after her hearing. Mith Lebday had less to say than
Speaker 13: the last time we saw her, in that online video
Speaker 13: chat with Israeli influencer Max Wiefer, which went viral last month.
Speaker 13: In that clip, she said she would kill Israelis who
Speaker 13: turned up at the hospital for treatment. Do you have
Speaker 13: anything you'd like to say to the Jewish community, of
Speaker 13: the Israeli community.
Speaker 2: Your brother said you were set up. Do you believe
Speaker 2: you were set up?
Speaker 13: Her co accused, a fellow former Bangstown Hospital nurse Ahmad
Speaker 13: Rashard Nadir claimed in the video that he'd already killed
Speaker 13: Israeli patience. Police allegedly found morphine in his hospital locker.
Speaker 13: Outside court, mister Nada's lawyer said that he would defend
Speaker 13: the charge of a harassed menace or offend using a
Speaker 13: carriage service on legal and technical grounds.
Speaker 2: Do you have anything to say?
Speaker 13: How do you intend to plead?
Speaker 7: My client will be pleading not guilty to the charges.
Speaker 13: On what basis is he pleading not guilty with caught
Speaker 13: on the video?
Speaker 7: He'll be defending the matter on legal and technical grounds.
Speaker 2: Can you expand on that? What kind of grounds?
Speaker 13: What legal grounds?
Speaker 7: The video which was captured and recorded was done without
Speaker 7: the consent of my client, without his knowledge, and we
Speaker 7: will argue for that to be excluded.
Speaker 2: Mister, do you regret? Do you regret what you said?
Speaker 13: The case has been adjourned for eight weeks so that
Speaker 13: the prosecution can prepare a grief of evidence. It will
Speaker 13: return here in court in May, but the pair of
Speaker 13: Foremer nurses are excused from having to appear in person.
Speaker 13: Then if they're found guilty, they face a maximum sentence
Speaker 13: of ten years in jail.
Speaker 3: And Caroline Marcus did great worker outside court and what
Speaker 3: of course, will keep reporting on that case.
Speaker 2: All right, still to.
Speaker 3: Come, we'll speak with Sharanna Haskell in his trail as
Speaker 3: the war on her mus resumes. Plus a major embarrassment
Speaker 3: for Mark Speakman today as he corrects the record after
Speaker 3: we revealed that his team did negotiate with the Greens.
Speaker 3: You don't want to miss his fiery clash when he
Speaker 3: was confronted with the facts today.
Speaker 2: That's after this.
Speaker 3: I'llcome back when New South Wales opposition leader Mark Speakman
Speaker 3: is in hot water for butting up with the Greens
Speaker 3: on a parliamentary inquiry into much needed.
Speaker 2: Hate speech laws.
Speaker 3: Now, he denied that the coalitions that the Coalition had
Speaker 3: been working with the Greens, but right here last night
Speaker 3: we showed that to be false and two GB host
Speaker 3: Mark Levy hounded him about it this morning.
Speaker 14: Why did you lie on the Drive show yesterday?
Speaker 15: Well, I didn't lie. That's not a lie. I said
Speaker 15: that I was not aware of any communication and that's
Speaker 15: the truth. I didn't have any communication with missus Higginson.
Speaker 15: My officers had no communication with miss Higginson. She's not
Speaker 15: even in my phone director at the moment, I said,
Speaker 15: I believed that no one else had communication with her,
Speaker 15: but you'd have to ask them that, and apparently people
Speaker 15: have asked them and there was one communication, So.
Speaker 2: That admission right there, there was a communication.
Speaker 3: Well. Mark Levy then took him to task about his
Speaker 3: support for an inquiry in desperately needed laws yes on
Speaker 3: hate speech and the ban for protesters outside places of worship.
Speaker 1: He's got him to do.
Speaker 14: What's this got to do with the Dural caravan when
Speaker 14: there's an anti Semitism crisis.
Speaker 1: You are trying to combine hate.
Speaker 14: Speech laws with the Geral caravan, which are completely separate issues.
Speaker 14: You are sabotaging what the premier is trying to do
Speaker 14: in supporting the Jewish community who have been subjected to
Speaker 14: these apparrent attacks. And you're in there saying, oh, we
Speaker 14: need an inquiry, which opens the door for the pro
Speaker 14: Palestinian mob to come in there and start questioning the
Speaker 14: hate speech laws.
Speaker 15: What is the point that accusation is completely unfounded, unfounders.
Speaker 15: We are not supporting the revocation of the hate speech laws.
Speaker 3: And Mark Speakman then suggested that Australians had been misled
Speaker 3: because the caravan plot was, according.
Speaker 2: To him, all a hoax.
Speaker 14: Do you acknowledge that this legislation has nothing to.
Speaker 15: Do with Geral, Well, in the sense that we're not
Speaker 15: going to revoke the legislation, that's correct, but no, no,
Speaker 15: that's not my question.
Speaker 14: Do you acknowledge that the hate speech legislation has nothing
Speaker 14: to do.
Speaker 15: With Geral The legislation may have been passed in circumstances
Speaker 15: where the general public and my fellow MP's have misled.
Speaker 15: If that's the case, we still don't want to revoke
Speaker 15: the hate speech laws because there's too much any Semitism
Speaker 15: around to do that, all.
Speaker 3: Right, and to discuss joining me now as the new
Speaker 3: South Wales Jewish Body of Deputies President David us of David, great.
Speaker 2: To see you again.
Speaker 3: Look, there's been a misconception in the media that these
Speaker 3: laws were in response to the Cara run plot when
Speaker 3: they had nothing to do with them.
Speaker 6: That's entirely You're right, sorry, and it's good to be
Speaker 6: with you as always. It's a complete fallacy to suggest
Speaker 6: that these laws only came about or were proposed because
Speaker 6: of the caravan incident. The Jewish community has been calling
Speaker 6: for reforms to hate speech laws for eighteen months. Ever
Speaker 6: since existing laws proved unable to deal with the scenes
Speaker 6: of infamy that we saw on the steps of the
Speaker 6: Opera House. Since then, over that eighteen month period, we've
Speaker 6: seen too many instances of extremely dangerous hate speech, which
Speaker 6: in many cases verged or inte crossed the line into
Speaker 6: outright inssignment of violence. In religious settings. Jews have been
Speaker 6: dehumanized and vilified compared to animals, depicted as being uniquely
Speaker 6: evil and representing the worst traits of humanity. On the
Speaker 6: streets of Chillura and Sydney, a group of young men
Speaker 6: chanted in Arabic for the massacre of Jews. As a
Speaker 6: civil society, we can't tolerate this and caravan or no caravan,
Speaker 6: criminal conspiracy or no criminal conspiracy. These laws are critically
Speaker 6: important and we welcomed the strong and forthright leadership of
Speaker 6: the Premier in his government in standing behind these hate
Speaker 6: speech laws, and also gratify that the opposition has now
Speaker 6: confirmed that they also won't support repealing these laws.
Speaker 3: They won't support repealing the laws, but they do support
Speaker 3: this parliamentary inquiry. And the only reason there's a parliamentary
Speaker 3: inquiry in the first place is because some of the
Speaker 3: other political parties don't.
Speaker 2: Support the laws.
Speaker 3: Are you concerned that the coalition has supported this inquiry?
Speaker 3: You know when we're likely to hear it's likely to
Speaker 3: give a platform to people who just want to deny
Speaker 3: the crisis.
Speaker 6: We'll look as a general proposition. We're fortunate in New
Speaker 6: South Wales to enjoy strong bipartisan support in a way
Speaker 6: we don't federally. In fact, with the exception of the Greens,
Speaker 6: we have support across the Parliament and we feel grateful
Speaker 6: and fortunate for that. But we as a community didn't
Speaker 6: support the establishment of this inquiry for a few reasons. First,
Speaker 6: we didn't want the legitimacy of the extremely important laws
Speaker 6: which passed the Parliament to be called in question. The
Speaker 6: Police press conference was barely over and the Greens, the
Speaker 6: Palestine Action Group and other hostile actors put in a
Speaker 6: wait to start a campaign to undermine the laws and
Speaker 6: to suggest that they were illegitimate. We don't want this
Speaker 6: inquiry to undermine these important laws by painting them as illegitimate. Secondly,
Speaker 6: we don't want this inquiry to be a platform for
Speaker 6: actors like the Greens, which is which itself has been
Speaker 6: tainted by Anti Simonson to gaslight and diminish this usedness
Speaker 6: of what the Jewish community has had to deal with
Speaker 6: over the past eighteen months, but particularly over the past
Speaker 6: three months. There is currently a go ahead.
Speaker 3: Jerry no, I was just going to say, you mentioned
Speaker 3: the Greens, and I had the Greens on my show
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 2: I basically never do, but I did last night, and
Speaker 2: it was quite bizarre to see them.
Speaker 3: Support the pro Palestinians who claim that they deserve the
Speaker 3: right to continue to protest and harass yous outside of
Speaker 3: a synagogue.
Speaker 2: Just have a look at that.
Speaker 3: They should be able to harass Jews outside synagogues.
Speaker 4: I absolutely stand with them because I think the worshould.
Speaker 3: They be able to harass Jews outside of a place
Speaker 3: of worship that has nothing to do with the Middle
Speaker 3: East and is only about Judaism chari.
Speaker 11: This is about all places of worship, the laws the
Speaker 11: Men's government introduced.
Speaker 3: We're not seeing protests outside of any other places of worship.
Speaker 3: We're seeing pro Palestinian activists outside synagogues. I mean, David,
Speaker 3: this is ludicrous to claim that protests should happen outside
Speaker 3: places of worship.
Speaker 6: Of course it is, but It's just further evidence that
Speaker 6: the Green's political Party are a bad faith actor. They've
Speaker 6: poured fuel on the fire of anti sympisms for the
Speaker 6: past eighteen months and in some cases been anti Symitic themselves.
Speaker 6: They are the self described party of human rights who
Speaker 6: seemingly draw the line when it comes to the human
Speaker 6: rights of the Jewish community, and they seemingly have no
Speaker 6: concern about joos being locked down in their synagogues while
Speaker 6: protesters recover outside. It's a campaign of diminishment, distortion and
Speaker 6: gas lighting, and we have to fight against it.
Speaker 3: No indeed, all right, David Asip really appreciate your time,
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Now still to come across live
Speaker 3: to Israel with Deputy Foreign Minister Sharend Haskell. Plus Labor
Speaker 3: confirms even more spending in next week's budget.
Speaker 2: Well will this.
Speaker 3: Push inflation up? An economist will join me next.
Speaker 2: Welcome back.
Speaker 3: Well next Tuesday, it's the budget and the Treasurer has
Speaker 3: confirmed there'll be more cost of living relief. This is
Speaker 3: despite the fact that we're staring down a twenty six
Speaker 3: point nine billion dollar deficit.
Speaker 2: Let's bringing down.
Speaker 3: Managing director at EQ Economics, Warren Hogan, Warren so great
Speaker 3: to see you again.
Speaker 4: So the issue is.
Speaker 3: More spending at a time when most economists are saying, look,
Speaker 3: you've got it, keep spending in check to make sure
Speaker 3: inflation doesn't rise again.
Speaker 16: What's your view on this, Yeah, well I think that's
Speaker 16: been the issue for a number of years. This is
Speaker 16: a massive spending government. The size of government in this
Speaker 16: country is like nothing we've seen before, and we'll see
Speaker 16: again next Tuesday night. A big upward revision to the
Speaker 16: amount of tax because there's more jobs out there and
Speaker 16: more income tax which they're taxing plus bracke yep, and
Speaker 16: then they're spending it. And this has been going on well,
Speaker 16: this government for three years in a very concerted fashion.
Speaker 16: Six percent real growth, almost ten percent, nomenal like growth
Speaker 16: in spending every year sort of thing. But it has
Speaker 16: actually been going on for longer than that. But it's
Speaker 16: getting to a point where we're going to start affecting
Speaker 16: the functioning of the economy. But of course now also
Speaker 16: it's not just that they're spending extra tax revenues. They've
Speaker 16: got deficits for as far as the eye can see.
Speaker 16: And of course when you've grown the size of spending
Speaker 16: so much, you think you should be at least a
Speaker 16: little bit constrained around those deficits.
Speaker 3: I mean the issue is that they have been some
Speaker 3: polls that suggests that people don't care about whether the budget,
Speaker 3: whether there is whether Australia is in an enormous amount
Speaker 3: of debt, and so perhaps this has prevented the Albanesi
Speaker 3: government from being more prudent and fiscally conservative with their spending.
Speaker 2: Do you think there's a bit of that int well.
Speaker 16: I think there's definitely been a shift in the last
Speaker 16: you know, the thirty years before COVID, the modern Australian economy.
Speaker 16: There was definitely not just a political desire to run
Speaker 16: sensible financial management and government across all levels, but that
Speaker 16: reflected a desire in the community. And since COVID that
Speaker 16: has changed. But this is what leadership's about, because there's
Speaker 16: always going to be consequences. And of course in that
Speaker 16: last thirty years where we ran very conservative government finances,
Speaker 16: we tried to make sure we didn't run deficits for
Speaker 16: a long time. We aimed to get back into service
Speaker 16: and we had low government debt compared to other countries,
Speaker 16: but we built up the second largest household sector debt
Speaker 16: through mortgages the world, and my concern is if we
Speaker 16: suddenly decide, okay, well we can run debt the size
Speaker 16: of America or the UK or Europe, then we're going
Speaker 16: to have some consequences for the households. We've got all
Speaker 16: these mortgagesig higher rates or access to credits. So we've
Speaker 16: got to be careful with these big shifts. So we've
Speaker 16: got to show leadership.
Speaker 3: I mean, you think back to the two thousand and
Speaker 3: seven election campaign, which I covered as a journalist at
Speaker 3: the time, and Kevin Rudd was trying to be more
Speaker 3: biscally conservative than John Howard, and you just don't that's
Speaker 3: not part of the current debate. Even though inflation is
Speaker 3: not yet back to target Ranger, we just heard from
Speaker 3: the OECD that there are concerns that the global forecasts
Speaker 3: are being revised upwards.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, inflation.
Speaker 16: I've been saying this for a while, but inflation isn't
Speaker 16: just going to disappear. And in this country we've done
Speaker 16: less than others in terms of raising rates, and of
Speaker 16: course we're spending more.
Speaker 1: We're growing our government by more.
Speaker 16: We might have less debt than them, but the growth
Speaker 16: in the size of government he has been huge the
Speaker 16: NDIS program, which admittedly it's over a decade now, but
Speaker 16: that you'd have to go back to wartime military spending
Speaker 16: to see growth in a government spending program.
Speaker 1: So it is I mean, it's interesting.
Speaker 16: Wayne Swan was the great fiscal titaner after the GFC.
Speaker 1: So there has been a big shift.
Speaker 16: But it doesn't mean it's the right thing, because we
Speaker 16: are an economy structured around modest government, not small government,
Speaker 16: and of course sensible management of these debts. So I
Speaker 16: think this is a dangerous economic strategy. And of course
Speaker 16: the other thing is it is inflationary. No matter what
Speaker 16: a lot of people, including the government want to say,
Speaker 16: rising government spending is going to put up with pressure
Speaker 16: on inflation, and that has not disappeared in this country.
Speaker 16: And of course if we're seeing problems and merge overseas,
Speaker 16: then we've got to really take that seriously.
Speaker 3: Look, I also want to ask you, given the OECD's
Speaker 3: revised forecast, do you think that the IBA decision to
Speaker 3: cut rates last month was even more reckless?
Speaker 16: Well, I thought it was reckless at the time, So
Speaker 16: this is the arguments that I was made even more.
Speaker 16: I actually think they probably should have raised rates a
Speaker 16: bit more because we didn't go anywhere near what other
Speaker 16: countries you'd like, not just a one or two rate
Speaker 16: hikes away, we were four or five away. And you
Speaker 16: know this is a political argument. The treasure is going
Speaker 16: to make the next two months that we avoided recession.
Speaker 16: But the thing is the politics of it is, well,
Speaker 16: people has cost their standard living's gone down.
Speaker 1: I mean I think maybe.
Speaker 2: Capita recession though people well it's.
Speaker 1: Dragged it all out.
Speaker 16: It's been a malaise Australia's history, and like many other countries,
Speaker 16: as we deal with our problems, don't drag them out.
Speaker 16: The point now, though, is is that, yes, what happens
Speaker 16: if this inflation comes back and then the RBA has
Speaker 16: got to start raising rates again, that will be a
Speaker 16: disaster for this country. And it'll be a disaster for
Speaker 16: the RBA.
Speaker 3: It'll embarrass them, damage their credibility, and that could that
Speaker 3: is a very real scenario if the government spending is
Speaker 3: so exorbitant.
Speaker 2: We're not in the election campaign yet.
Speaker 3: If the government spending is exobitant, if you know other
Speaker 3: global factors, if inflation does rise and the RBA is
Speaker 3: in a position where it needs to lift that.
Speaker 2: Rate cut raise rates again.
Speaker 3: I mean, how does their credibility recover? And there would
Speaker 3: be even more questions about whether there was political interference,
Speaker 3: whether there was political pressure from the Treasury Secretary, Stephen Kennedy.
Speaker 2: Who is a political animal and he also sits on
Speaker 2: the board.
Speaker 16: Well, the Treasury Secretary shouldn't be on the board and
Speaker 16: that's something we need got to deal with. But the RBA,
Speaker 16: if they have to do in about face, it won't
Speaker 16: be before the election, it will be later in the year.
Speaker 16: But it doesn't change the point you're making because damaging
Speaker 16: the RBA's credibility in not just in our community and
Speaker 16: their ability to manage inflation, but overseas as well, means
Speaker 16: that we pay more for money. We're still reliant on
Speaker 16: borrowing from overseas as a country, and it could increase
Speaker 16: the cost of that and that will mean a cost
Speaker 16: that we bear for years and it's measured in the
Speaker 16: billions of dollars. So let's hope we don't get an
Speaker 16: inflation surge. But I think at the same time, the
Speaker 16: governments should not be spending a lot of money and
Speaker 16: I think the Australian community may not react positively to
Speaker 16: a big spendeth on because I think they're generally understanding
Speaker 16: these issues.
Speaker 3: Well I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you
Speaker 3: have faith in.
Speaker 2: The Australian public. But we're going to catch up after
Speaker 2: the budget next week. I'll be in camera for the budget. Warren.
Speaker 2: Great to see you.
Speaker 1: Thanks, Serry.
Speaker 3: All right, coming up, Israel strikes eighty terrorist targets in
Speaker 3: just ten minutes. All the details with Deputy Foreign Minister.
Speaker 2: Sharen Haskell in a moment. Welcome back.
Speaker 3: Well, next Tuesday, it's the budget and the Treasurer has
Speaker 3: confirmed there'll be more cost of living relief. This is
Speaker 3: despite the fact that we're staring down a twenty six
Speaker 3: point nine billion dollar deficit. Let's bringing down Managing director
Speaker 3: at EQ Economics, Warren Hogan, Warren, so great to see
Speaker 3: you again. So the issue is more spending at a
Speaker 3: time when most economists are saying, look, you've got to
Speaker 3: keep spending in check to make sure inflation doesn't rise again.
Speaker 16: What's your view on this, Yeah, well I think that's
Speaker 16: been the issue for a number of years. This is
Speaker 16: a massive spending government. The size of government in this
Speaker 16: country is like nothing we've seen before, and we'll see
Speaker 16: again next Tuesday night, a big upward revision to the
Speaker 16: amount of tax because there's more jobs out there and
Speaker 16: more income tax which they're taxing plus brack creep yep,
Speaker 16: and then they're spending it. And this has been going
Speaker 16: on well, this government for three years in a very
Speaker 16: concerted fashion. Six percent real growth, almost ten percent nomenal
Speaker 16: like growth in spending every year sort of thing. But
Speaker 16: it has actually been going on for longer than that.
Speaker 16: But it's getting to a point where we're going to
Speaker 16: start affecting the functioning of the economy. But of course
Speaker 16: now also it's not just that they're spending extra tax revenues.
Speaker 16: They've got deficits for as far as the eye can see.
Speaker 16: And of course when you've grown the size of spending
Speaker 16: so much, you think you should be at least a
Speaker 16: little bit constrained around those deficits.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 3: The issue is that there have been some polls that
Speaker 3: suggest that people don't care about whether the budget, whether
Speaker 3: there is whether Australia is in an enormous amount of debt,
Speaker 3: and so perhaps this has prevented the Albanesi government from
Speaker 3: being more prudent and fiscally conservative with their spending do you.
Speaker 16: Think there's a bit of that in Well, I think
Speaker 16: there's definitely been a shift in the last you know,
Speaker 16: the thirty years before COVID, the modern Australian economy, there
Speaker 16: was definitely not just a political desire to run sensible
Speaker 16: financial management and government across all levels, but that reflected
Speaker 16: a desire in the community. And since COVID that has changed.
Speaker 16: But this is what leadership's about, because there's always going
Speaker 16: to be consequences. And of course in that last thirty
Speaker 16: years where we ran very conservative government finances, we tried
Speaker 16: to make sure we didn't run deficits for a long time.
Speaker 16: We aimed to get back into service, and we had
Speaker 16: low government debt compared to other countries, but we built
Speaker 16: up the second largest household sector debt through mortgages in
Speaker 16: the world. And my concern is if we suddenly decide, okay,
Speaker 16: well we can run debt the size of America or
Speaker 16: the UK or Europe, then we're going to have some
Speaker 16: consequences for the households got all these mortgagesig higher rates
Speaker 16: or access to credit.
Speaker 1: So we've got to be careful with these big shifts.
Speaker 1: So we've got to show leadership.
Speaker 3: I mean you think back to the two thousand and
Speaker 3: seven election campaign, which I covered as a journalist at
Speaker 3: the time, and Kevin Rudd was trying to be more
Speaker 3: biscally conservative than John Howard, and you just don't that's
Speaker 3: not part of the current debate. Even though inflation is
Speaker 3: not yet back to target ranging. We just heard from
Speaker 3: the OECD that there are concerns that the global forecasts
Speaker 3: are being revised upwards.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, inflation.
Speaker 16: I've been saying this for a while, but inflation isn't
Speaker 16: just going to disappear. And in this country we've done
Speaker 16: less than others in terms of raising rates, and of
Speaker 16: course we're spending more.
Speaker 1: We're growing our government by more.
Speaker 16: We might have less debt than them, but the growth
Speaker 16: in the size of government he has been huge, the
Speaker 16: NDIS program, which admittedly it's over a decade now, but
Speaker 16: you'd have to go back to wartime military spending to
Speaker 16: see growth in a government spending program.
Speaker 1: So it is I mean, it's interesting. Wayne Swann was.
Speaker 16: The great fiscal tier after the GFC, so there has
Speaker 16: been a big shift, But it doesn't mean it's the
Speaker 16: right thing, because we are an economy structured around modest government,
Speaker 16: not small government, and of course sensible management of these debts.
Speaker 16: So I think this is a dangerous economic strategy. And
Speaker 16: of course the other thing is it is inflationary. No
Speaker 16: matter what a lot of people, including the government want
Speaker 16: to say, rising government spending is going to put up
Speaker 16: with pressure on inflation, and that has not disappeared in
Speaker 16: this country. And of course if we're seeing problems and
Speaker 16: merge overseas, then we've got to really take that seriously.
Speaker 3: Look, I also want to ask you, given the OECD's
Speaker 3: revised forecast, do you think that the IBA decision to
Speaker 3: cut rates last month was even more reckless?
Speaker 16: Well, I thought it was reckless at the time. So
Speaker 16: this is the arguments that I've made even more. Yeah,
Speaker 16: I actually think they probably should have raised rates a
Speaker 16: bit more because we didn't go anywhere near what other
Speaker 16: countries you'd like, not just a one or two rate
Speaker 16: hikes away, we were four or five away. And this
Speaker 16: is a argument the treasure is going to make the
Speaker 16: next two months that we avoided recession. But the thing
Speaker 16: is the politics of it is, well, people has cost,
Speaker 16: their standard living's gone down.
Speaker 1: I mean I think maybe.
Speaker 3: Capita recession though people well it's dragged it all out.
Speaker 16: It's been a malaise Australia's history, and like many other countries,
Speaker 16: as we deal with our problems, don't drag them out.
Speaker 16: The point now, though, is is that, yes, what happens
Speaker 16: if this inflation comes back and then the RBA has
Speaker 16: got to start raising rates again, that will be a
Speaker 16: disaster for this country. And it'll be a disaster for
Speaker 16: the RBA.
Speaker 3: It'll embarrass them, damage their credibility, and that could that
Speaker 3: is a very real scenario. If the government spending is
Speaker 3: so exorbitant. We're not in the election campaign yet, If
Speaker 3: the government spending is exobitant, if you know other global factors,
Speaker 3: if inflation does rise and the RBA is in a
Speaker 3: position where it needs to lift that rate cut raise
Speaker 3: rates again, I mean, how does their credibility recover? And
Speaker 3: there would be even more questions about whether there was
Speaker 3: political interference, whether there was political pressure from the Treasury Secretary,
Speaker 3: Stephen Kennedy, who is a political animal and he also
Speaker 3: sits on the board.
Speaker 16: Well, the Treasury Secretary shouldn't be on the board and
Speaker 16: that's something we got to deal with. But the RBA,
Speaker 16: if they have to do in about face, it won't
Speaker 16: be before the election. It will be later in the year,
Speaker 16: but it doesn't change the point you're making because damaging
Speaker 16: the RBA's credibility not just in our community and their
Speaker 16: ability to manage inflation, but overseas as well, means that
Speaker 16: we pay more for money. We're still reliant on borrowing
Speaker 16: from overseas as a country, and it could increase the
Speaker 16: cost of that and that will mean a cost that
Speaker 16: we bear for years and it's measured in the bellions
Speaker 16: of dollars. So let's hope we don't get an inflation surge.
Speaker 16: But I think at the same time, the governments should
Speaker 16: not be spending a lot of money, and I think
Speaker 16: the Australian community may not react positively to a big
Speaker 16: spendeth on because I think they're generally understanding these issues.
Speaker 3: Well I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you
Speaker 3: have faith in the Australian public. But we're going to
Speaker 3: catch up after the budget next week. I'll be in
Speaker 3: camera for the budget. Great to see you. Thanks all right,
Speaker 3: coming up, Israel strikes eighty terrorist targets in just ten minutes.
Speaker 3: All the details with Deputy Foreign Minister SHARENN Haskell in
Speaker 3: a moment