Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
Speaker 2: This is Sharry.
Speaker 3: Well, good evening and welcome to the program. I'm James
Speaker 3: Macpherson filling in for Shari. Coming up tonight, a reality
Speaker 3: check for labor as Australia's economy grows at a snail's pace.
Speaker 3: But Jim Chalmers, well, he's more concerned about playing the
Speaker 3: blame game. I'll discuss today's GDP figures shortly. Also tonight,
Speaker 3: the latest push to crack down on social media giants
Speaker 3: in a bid to protect our kids. But is there
Speaker 3: a hidden agenda. I'll ask child psychologist Claire row about
Speaker 3: that later. And University of Sydney Vice Chancellor Mark Scott, well,
Speaker 3: he's been grilled in an inquiry about why he allowed
Speaker 3: a pro Palestinian encampment to festa on campus. The politician
Speaker 3: behind the tough questions will join me to explain how
Speaker 3: it all went down. But first, Queers for Palestine, well
Speaker 3: they got a little reality check today. Our ambassador in
Speaker 3: Iran was given address down for an Instagram post promoting homosexuality.
Speaker 3: You see, homosexuality is illegal in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Speaker 3: and by illegal I mean the Islamists will hang you
Speaker 3: by the neck. For it, and that might be considered lenient.
Speaker 3: In other parts of the Muslim world, they'll stone you
Speaker 3: to death or throw you off a building for being gay.
Speaker 1: As a side note, the.
Speaker 3: Gay community in Israel, Enjoy writes not even afforded in
Speaker 3: many Western nations. But let's not allow facts to get
Speaker 3: in the way of contempt for Israel. Perhaps our ambassador
Speaker 3: in Iran, Ian mcconval had been drinking the quiz for
Speaker 3: Palestine kool aid. The photo of mcconval wearing purple and
Speaker 3: sharing purple cupcakes was posted on the official Australia in
Speaker 3: Iran Instagram account in support of Where It Purple Day now?
Speaker 3: Where a Purple Day is an annual LGBTQIA plus awareness
Speaker 3: day to celebrate and promote all things queer.
Speaker 1: Who knew that was a thing in Iran?
Speaker 3: I suppose you've got to trust our diplomats to know
Speaker 3: their audience. The Instagram post was helpfully captioned in Persian
Speaker 3: so the locals could read it. It read celebrating were
Speaker 3: It Purple Day with a splash of purple in every
Speaker 3: corner and some delicious cupcakes made with love. Today and
Speaker 3: every day We're dedicated to creating a supportive environment where everyone,
Speaker 3: especially LGBTQIA plus youth, can feel proud to be themselves.
Speaker 3: Let's keep championing diversity and inclusion for a brighter, more
Speaker 3: inclusive future. Now, obviously, the post, which naturally included a
Speaker 3: pride flag flown at so many pro Palestinian rallies around
Speaker 3: our country, was light by about three thousand people. But
Speaker 3: here's a surprise, and I'm sure a surprise for quiz
Speaker 3: for Palestine. The Ayatola was not one of those liking
Speaker 3: this particular post. Does the Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Speaker 3: Republic of Iran not like cupcakes?
Speaker 1: Maybe purple's just not his color.
Speaker 3: The Iranian minut My History of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned
Speaker 3: our embassy for promoting homosexuality, which it described.
Speaker 1: As abnormal conduct.
Speaker 3: According to Iranian news agencies, our officials were told the
Speaker 3: content published by the Australian Embassy is insulting and contrary
Speaker 3: to Iranian and Islamic tradition, customs and culture. Well, this
Speaker 3: news will surely come as an enormous shock to all
Speaker 3: those protesters we see on the streets of Sydney and
Speaker 3: Melbourne madly waving their rainbow flags alongside Palestinian flags, as
Speaker 3: if they were natural bedfellows.
Speaker 1: It seems gay rights.
Speaker 3: And Palestinian rights are linked, but only in the fertile
Speaker 3: imaginations of those who enjoy the comfort of opinion without
Speaker 3: the discomfort of thought. Now, this, of course raises an
Speaker 3: awkward question for the LGBTQ community in this country. How
Speaker 3: do they reconcile their support for Iran's proxy hamas with
Speaker 3: Iran's anti gay laws. Iran is happy to accept the
Speaker 3: support of gay activists on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne,
Speaker 3: but won't accept even a gay cupcake on the streets
Speaker 3: of Tehran. Now this should give Quiz for Palestine something
Speaker 3: to ponder. I'm looking forward to seeing all those university
Speaker 3: students on campus tomorrow protesting the homophobic Iranian government.
Speaker 1: We'll wait meanwhile.
Speaker 3: Federal Government Minister Murray Watt told the ABC he was
Speaker 3: upset by the Iranian reaction to our purple cupcakes.
Speaker 4: I am concerned to see this reaction from the Iranian
Speaker 4: government to the activities of the Australian Embassy. We're very
Speaker 4: proud about the fact that our embass is promote Australian
Speaker 4: values internationally. And I'm very keen concerned to see an
Speaker 4: overseas government seemingly take action against an Australian embassy that
Speaker 4: is upholding Australian values.
Speaker 3: To write, mister Watt, you learn a great deal about
Speaker 3: the values of a nation by listening closely to what
Speaker 3: comes out of their embassy. Speaking of which, it's exactly
Speaker 3: a month ago that our government summoned Han's ambassador to
Speaker 3: Australia to explain his social media post calling not for
Speaker 3: wear It Purple Day, but for wipeout Israel Day.
Speaker 1: Cupcakes not included.
Speaker 3: Iran's ambassador wrote that wiping out the Zionis plague out
Speaker 3: of the Holy Lands of Palestine happens no later than
Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven now. Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi said at
Speaker 3: the time those comments were abhorrent, hateful, anti Semitic and
Speaker 3: had no place in Australia, well unless you're at one
Speaker 3: of those pro Palestinian marches that happen every other weekend.
Speaker 1: But hang on a second.
Speaker 3: When the Iranian ambassador posted that Israel Israel should be eliminated,
Speaker 3: wasn't that just Iran's embassy promoting Iranian values. We value tolerance,
Speaker 3: they value the wiping out of Israeli's.
Speaker 1: In the Middle East. It's called diversity.
Speaker 3: And yet the Albanzi government continues to insist that Israel
Speaker 3: has to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, which, as
Speaker 3: they know very well, is nothing but an extension of Iran,
Speaker 3: whose spokesmen here are openly touts for the elimination of Israel.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what, support for a Hamas controlled Palestine
Speaker 3: is a very queer thing. Indeed, well, speaking of cupcakes,
Speaker 3: Queensland Premier Stephen Miles, the Premier has defended his decision
Speaker 3: to use a private jet to make an eleven minute
Speaker 3: flight from Harvey Bay to Bunderberg in order to deliver
Speaker 3: a birthday cake to one of his MPs. It's a
Speaker 3: crazy country, isn't it. You and I are wondering can
Speaker 3: we afford a birthday cake this year? The Premier's biggest
Speaker 3: problem hmm do I deliver the cake in a jet?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: To be fair, the seventy four kilometer journey wasn't only
Speaker 3: to deliver a cake. Stephen Miles also announced a new
Speaker 3: fence would be built for Bunderberg East State School if
Speaker 3: he wins the next election.
Speaker 1: Now did it never occur to the premier.
Speaker 3: He could cancel the cupcake flight and use the money
Speaker 3: spent on avgas to give the kids offense.
Speaker 1: No no, his office explained.
Speaker 3: The government had already leased the private jet, so it
Speaker 3: didn't cost taxpayers anything.
Speaker 1: To fly it north. Well, where can I lease this plane?
Speaker 3: I want to take my kids for a no cost
Speaker 3: flight to Port Douglas.
Speaker 1: What does it run on?
Speaker 3: Solar or maybe it was a translink plane and so
Speaker 3: the fare to Bunderberg only cost fifty cents.
Speaker 5: It might be easy fodder for tabloid newspapers, but it
Speaker 5: would have cost more to hire a car for that
Speaker 5: one leg, and the other legs could not be completed
Speaker 5: by another transport mode.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 3: So when Queenslanders refuel their cars, they need to take
Speaker 3: out a second mortgage, sell a kidney. But when the
Speaker 3: Premier is questioned about using a jet to deliver mudcake
Speaker 3: for a mate, well that's.
Speaker 1: Just fodder for tabloid journalists.
Speaker 3: Talk about arrogant and what about all those jet emissions.
Speaker 3: I thought we're in the middle of a climate emergency
Speaker 3: and that Stephen Miles was a climate champion.
Speaker 6: For the United States. Vice President Al Gore has offered
Speaker 6: his congratulations to new Queensland Premier Stephen Miles. The well
Speaker 6: wishes came after the new premier pledged an increased towards
Speaker 6: greenhouse and gas emissions target by twenty thirty five, ahead
Speaker 6: of net zero in twenty fifty. Mister Gore took to
Speaker 6: social media saying I know there's more to come and
Speaker 6: hope his leadership inspires others across Australia and around the world.
Speaker 3: Oh, mister Miles, climate leadership is inspiring all right. He
Speaker 3: floats high in the sky above. He floats high in
Speaker 3: the sky, rather far above Queenslanders, who are well, of
Speaker 3: course beneath him. They're expected to drive an EV that's
Speaker 3: barely affordable up the Bruce Highway that's barely maintained. Now,
Speaker 3: I know what you're thinking, How clueless is the Queensland Premier.
Speaker 3: How could he not know that this doesn't you know,
Speaker 3: pass the pub test? Well, how could he know there's
Speaker 3: no airstrip near the pub to land his private jet?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: I was going to tell you tonight that Australia's economy
Speaker 3: is growing at a snail's pace, but that would be
Speaker 3: unfair to snails. Data release today confirms the economy is
Speaker 3: growing at its slowest pace since the nineteen nineties recession
Speaker 3: outside of the COVID pandemic. New figures from the Australian
Speaker 3: Bureau of Statistics show GDP rose by zero point two
Speaker 3: percent in the June quarter and by just one percent
Speaker 3: over the last financial year. Que the political spin from
Speaker 3: Treasurer at Jim Chalmers.
Speaker 7: Without government spending, without growth in government spending, there'd be
Speaker 7: no growth in our economy at all, that is primarily
Speaker 7: health spending. This vindicates the approach that we took in
Speaker 7: the budget and it frankly torpedoes a lot of the
Speaker 7: free advice that we got at budget time to cut
Speaker 7: harder and harsher.
Speaker 3: Well, let's take this to our panel form of Victorian
Speaker 3: liber Party president Michael Kroger and former Labor Minister Graham Richardson. Gentlemen,
Speaker 3: thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1: Michael. Let me start with you.
Speaker 3: Whatever Jim Chalmers says, however he spins this, this is
Speaker 3: a big reality check for labor, is it not?
Speaker 8: It certainly is. But look, I think Jim's hopelessly out
Speaker 8: of his depth. He's a commentator, you know, he's just
Speaker 8: watching the train go by the truth of The matter
Speaker 8: is this, there's no productivity growth in this country, which
Speaker 8: is one of the main ways of you know, growth
Speaker 8: in your economy. Immigration has been far too high, which
Speaker 8: adds to aggregate demand. You've got a pro union government,
Speaker 8: and we've seen all the pro union changes to help
Speaker 8: the unions stay alive, their anti business.
Speaker 1: But the worst thing of all is this.
Speaker 8: You know, Chalmers talks about a strong economic leadership. If
Speaker 8: you look at the budget papers twenty twenty three and
Speaker 8: twenty twenty six, government revenues federally, federally go up seventy
Speaker 8: billion seven zero bi in, but government expenditure goes up
Speaker 8: one hundred and thirty five billion. They're in the budget papers.
Speaker 8: They're spending sixty five billion dollars over their three year period,
Speaker 8: more than they're earning. That's before you add in all
Speaker 8: these venture capital green schemes which run also into the
Speaker 8: tens of billions, many of which.
Speaker 1: Will fall over.
Speaker 8: And that's before you add in all the state government
Speaker 8: added expenditure. So the Reserve Bank was right when they
Speaker 8: politely said to the governments around this country, if you
Speaker 8: stop spending, we might get somewhere with interest rates. But
Speaker 8: the economy is running far too hot with all your spending,
Speaker 8: and that's exactly what's happening. This guy's hopelessly out of
Speaker 8: his depth. I mean, you know, he's worse than people say.
Speaker 8: He's the worst since Wayne's Wine. He's much better than
Speaker 8: Wayne Swine. I mean, I don't think it. Wayne had
Speaker 8: those four surpluses that he announced, of course that night.
Speaker 8: But he is a poor man's Jim Cans. That's what
Speaker 8: he is, Charmers, and he's a millstone around the neck
Speaker 8: of this government made well.
Speaker 1: Richard, let me go to you.
Speaker 3: Household spending is down, business investment is down. Only government's
Speaker 3: spending is up and keeping the economy out of recession.
Speaker 3: But record government spending can't prop up the economy forever,
Speaker 3: can it?
Speaker 9: No? Not forever. You have got a hope that it
Speaker 9: gets a return. It hasn't got that return yet, but
Speaker 9: I guess Charmers is hoping that return comes soon.
Speaker 3: I reckon he's got every finger crossed. Meanwhile, Chalmers has
Speaker 3: been royally told off by John Howard for blaming his
Speaker 3: economic woes on the RBA's interest rate hikes. Writing in
Speaker 3: The Australian, John Howard said there's little argument that the
Speaker 3: Albanezy government has lost control of expenditure. By his opportunistic
Speaker 3: and quite disloyal remarks, Chalmers has diminished himself, not Bullock,
Speaker 3: that's Michelle Bullock from the RBA. Michael should Charmers be
Speaker 3: embarrassed by these comments?
Speaker 8: Well, of course he should be. When John Howard knows
Speaker 8: more about the economy than almost in the Australian alive
Speaker 8: given the fact that he was true to runder Malcolm
Speaker 8: Fraser's government then Prime Minister for almost four years. I mean, Chalmers,
Speaker 8: this is a politic blacked by the way. Let's make
Speaker 8: no mistake about this, James. The Labor Party leadership have decided,
Speaker 8: how do we get away from the fact that been
Speaker 8: all these thirteen interest rate rises on our watch. Australian
Speaker 8: mortgage holders in eighty percent of them on variable rates.
Speaker 8: So they're getting murdered. Any homeowner with a mortgage is
Speaker 8: getting murdered. How do we shift the blame from us?
Speaker 8: Because they said they had a cost of living plan.
Speaker 8: Of course there was an emergency under Scott Morrison that
Speaker 8: they had a plan to fix. They had no plan.
Speaker 8: It was just advertising gulf it was polybabble. So what
Speaker 8: they've done politically is decided. Let's shift the blame for
Speaker 8: the Reserve Bank. Let's sort of wink wink, it's their fault.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 8: So you've seen my friend Stephen Conroy, You've seen Craig Emerson,
Speaker 8: now you've seen the Treasurer. You've seen other Labour figures
Speaker 8: coming out blaming the Reserve Bank. This is a political
Speaker 8: act to try and take the heat of the government
Speaker 8: and blame the Reserve Bank Board. You know, I think
Speaker 8: four or five of whom they've appointed.
Speaker 3: It certainly seems that way, Richo, based on what we've
Speaker 3: seen for the past two years. Let me ask you this,
Speaker 3: why should Australians have any confidence this government knows what
Speaker 3: it's doing.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 9: I think there are so many fronts where the government
Speaker 9: has shown it's done it's doing well. The trouble is
Speaker 9: on the front where you know these kinds of judgments
Speaker 9: are going to be made. Labor's just a bit soft
Speaker 9: and so it's suffering at the moment because of that.
Speaker 9: But I think, you know, Albow and Charmers between them
Speaker 9: will work that out. They'll sort it out, we'll move on,
Speaker 9: the economy will stay solid and labor will win again.
Speaker 1: I like your optimism, Rich, I really do. Hey, at
Speaker 1: least the Coalition.
Speaker 3: Are committed to generating wealth rather than squandering it. They've
Speaker 3: promised to approve the Beleague in New South Wales gold
Speaker 3: mine if they win the upcoming federal election. Have listened
Speaker 3: to Nationals leader David little Proud, he's with Senator just
Speaker 3: Into Price earlier today.
Speaker 11: I can tell you that while this is the biggest
Speaker 11: issue in town, this is also the biggest issue for
Speaker 11: the resource sector right across the nation. Unless Minister Plebisac
Speaker 11: wants to come out and publicly give the reasons, then
Speaker 11: ultimately this company has done all that they've been asked of.
Speaker 11: Minister Plebisac has a lot of answers to give for
Speaker 11: the questions that are being asked by this community.
Speaker 1: Michael, is this a smart move from the Coalition?
Speaker 8: Yeah, of course it is, and they're absolutely right. I mean,
Speaker 8: what a farcical decision. This is embarrassing when we're a
Speaker 8: first world country. So Tanya Plebsik makes this decision, it's secret.
Speaker 8: She can't tell us why she's made it. The land
Speaker 8: owners in the area, the recognized traditional owners, are saying
Speaker 8: it's gumf and she because she's never run a business
Speaker 8: and there's no idea about how a mine operates or
Speaker 8: geology operates. Simply says I'll move the tailings dam somewhere else.
Speaker 8: I mean, people have got no idea how these public companies,
Speaker 8: these mining companies work. Without the mining industry in this country,
Speaker 8: we would be in a serious depression in this country.
Speaker 8: Yet Pleba sic Albanizi, they're all anti mining. They want
Speaker 8: to kill off coal, gas whatever. For goodness sake, what
Speaker 8: are we going to run this country on? You know,
Speaker 8: solar panels. We're going to have a solar panel led
Speaker 8: economy to beat off those Chinese who you know. I mean,
Speaker 8: this is not serious. This has made us an international
Speaker 8: laughing stock. And these mining companies committing millions and millions.
Speaker 1: Of shareholder dollars to these projects.
Speaker 8: And having them ki boshed at the last minute for
Speaker 8: unexplained reasons by people who the traditional owners have never
Speaker 8: heard of. It makes a laughing stock of this country,
Speaker 8: a laughing stock of the minister and a laughing stock
Speaker 8: of the government.
Speaker 3: Well, Richo, here's the thing I can't understand about this
Speaker 3: whole fiasco. Tanya Plibasek has blocked the project on cultural grounds,
Speaker 3: but also says cultural grounds prevent her from explaining the decision.
Speaker 1: To block the projects.
Speaker 3: So how can the government expect people to be okay
Speaker 3: with that kind of communication or lack thereof.
Speaker 9: I don't think you can ever expect it to be
Speaker 9: okay if you don't explain what you're doing. So I'm
Speaker 9: not going to try and defend that one.
Speaker 1: You can't all right.
Speaker 3: As I mentioned at the top of the show, Queensland
Speaker 3: Premier Stephen Miles.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Stephen for a moment.
Speaker 3: He's been forced to defend himself after catching an eleven
Speaker 3: minute ride the Border government jet from Harvey Bay to
Speaker 3: Bunderberg on Monday. In case you missed it earlier here, he.
Speaker 5: Was generally we book it by the day. Any additional
Speaker 5: costs apport fees would be highly negligible. We had a
Speaker 5: significant traveling party, including members of the media. In order
Speaker 5: to hire cars to go to and from a location,
Speaker 5: we have arrangements that we generally try to avoid the
Speaker 5: jet flying without passengers.
Speaker 3: Now we're not one hundred percent sure why he needed
Speaker 3: to get to Bunderberg so fast, seeing as a drive
Speaker 3: would have only taken about ninety minutes, but we do
Speaker 3: know he surprised a local MP with some mudcake for
Speaker 3: his birthday. That same afternoon, Michael Stephen Miles dismissed critics
Speaker 3: of his flight as tabloid fodder.
Speaker 1: Is that fair? Goodder, James?
Speaker 8: I think the less time we spend on this show,
Speaker 8: or any show on skuy talking about Stephen Miles, the
Speaker 8: better I think.
Speaker 1: Succinct. Rich have what about you?
Speaker 8: It's like nothing, there's nothing to be going, there's nothing
Speaker 8: to be going.
Speaker 3: Well, it seems to me, Rich, Stephen Miles has given
Speaker 3: up on any pretense of being sensible. You don't pull
Speaker 3: stunts like this in the middle of a cost of
Speaker 3: living crisis, let alone fifty days before an election.
Speaker 1: What's wrong with Stephen Miles?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I'd have to agree it's not the most intelligent decision
Speaker 9: I've seen made, and I don't understand how you defend it,
Speaker 9: so I'm not going to try. I mean, it was
Speaker 9: just dumb.
Speaker 1: Rich.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's two from two that you've not attempted to
Speaker 3: defend tonight.
Speaker 9: You can't defend it. You can't defend the indefensible.
Speaker 1: Really, let me go.
Speaker 8: From Rich, RICHI I read rich O, you're working for
Speaker 8: one of those lobbying.
Speaker 1: Businesses or one of those businesses.
Speaker 8: Would there be a position there for Stephen after the
Speaker 8: Ober election? Stephen miles much you could take him on.
Speaker 3: Michael and RICHI, I appreciate your time tonight, Thanks so
Speaker 3: much for joining me well. University of Sydney Vice Chancellor
Speaker 3: Mark Scott copped a grilling in New South Wales Parliament
Speaker 3: estimates earlier today over his handling of the pro Palestinian
Speaker 3: encampment that was allowed to exist on campus for two months.
Speaker 3: Despite Jewish students complaining they felt unsafe with such phrases
Speaker 3: as from the River to the Sea being chanted daily
Speaker 3: as they tried to go to class, the professor defended
Speaker 3: the environment he had permitted, dismissing the phrases as technically
Speaker 3: not illegal.
Speaker 12: Students have reported quote, I do not feel safe on
Speaker 12: campus and actively struggle to learn when faced with the
Speaker 12: reminder that people are openly allowed to call for my
Speaker 12: death in the next room. How does that help the
Speaker 12: psychosocial safety of students?
Speaker 13: Well, I'd want to see the specific nature of that.
Speaker 13: I cannot find a jurisdiction in the country that has
Speaker 13: banned the use of those phrases.
Speaker 3: I'm enjoined now by New South Wales Liberal MLC Susan Carter.
Speaker 1: Susan, thanks for joining me tonight.
Speaker 3: You were the one delivering most of the blows in
Speaker 3: estimates today and I want to go through some of
Speaker 3: the specifics in a moment, but just generally, what did
Speaker 3: you make of Mark Scott's responses to your questions today?
Speaker 12: Oh, James, it was very, very disappointing. The university talks
Speaker 12: about the importance of empathy about free speech, but doesn't
Speaker 12: seem to have actually heard what the Jewish students and
Speaker 12: Jewish staff members have been saying about the effect of
Speaker 12: the encampment and about the effect of the protests on
Speaker 12: the just their feelings of personal safety.
Speaker 3: One of the first questions you asked was about the
Speaker 3: ongoing support that was given to staff and students. And
Speaker 3: Mark Scott radloff all the things he had done in
Speaker 3: the wake of October seven, But do you think he
Speaker 3: answered that question about whether or not targeted and ongoing
Speaker 3: support was necessary to make sure Jewish students actually felt
Speaker 3: safe on campus.
Speaker 1: Did he answer that question adequately?
Speaker 12: He never answered that question, and in fact he kept
Speaker 12: talking about communication and a lot of very high level things.
Speaker 12: But it was interesting when I tried to drill down
Speaker 12: and say, okay, you talk about safety escorts, does that
Speaker 12: mean that a student who felt unsafe would be able
Speaker 12: to have an escort to take them past the encampment,
Speaker 12: past the real locus of where they felt fear and anxiety,
Speaker 12: It appeared to be simply, well, we made sure everybody
Speaker 12: had the phone number of security. That's not actually anything
Speaker 12: that's targeted and positive and supportive for students who are
Speaker 12: feeling tremendous anxiety and often frankly fear.
Speaker 3: Well, you mentioned those safety escorts that were provided for
Speaker 3: Jewish students, but no one from Sydney University could actually
Speaker 3: say today whether those security escorts were ever used or
Speaker 3: if indeed Jewish students knew they were available.
Speaker 12: Absolutely, and frankly, I think it's a fairly token response
Speaker 12: to what was going on at the university. You had
Speaker 12: an encampment of students who were making it uncomfortable, if
Speaker 12: not impossible, for Jewish students to go in a whole
Speaker 12: area of their own campus to walk to their graduation,
Speaker 12: to walk to lectures.
Speaker 1: You had a.
Speaker 12: Situation where the nanoscience hub and lecture theaters in Castlaw
Speaker 12: were being locked down because of safety concerns and to
Speaker 12: suggest that when you're dealing with, frankly, what was a
Speaker 12: climate of violence, that an appropriate response is to say, well,
Speaker 12: we'll get somebody to walk you past the worst bits
Speaker 12: of It's it's hard to see that that is actually
Speaker 12: real targeted action that would support Jewish students to feel
Speaker 12: safe in their own place of learning.
Speaker 1: Right, here's the part of the hearing that really annoyed me.
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but.
Speaker 3: Notice there was a lot of pushback from Labour MLC
Speaker 3: Stephen Lawrence, who seemed very concerned that your questions were provocative. Now,
Speaker 3: this whole topic is provocative, and speaking of provocative, Jewish
Speaker 3: students were expected to put up with provocation. But Mark
Speaker 3: Scott said at the Estimates hearing, well he's got to
Speaker 3: be protected from it.
Speaker 12: It looked very interesting observation. James, and I think one
Speaker 12: of the most upsetting things about well two things. The
Speaker 12: safety of Jewish students and their feelings of anxiety and
Speaker 12: fear and not being safe is the most important thing.
Speaker 12: But the other thing really goes to the nature of
Speaker 12: what a university is. University should be places where we
Speaker 12: are encouraging students to respect each other to disagree well,
Speaker 12: as the former Vice chancellor used to say, and to
Speaker 12: actually listen and engage with each other. Yet clearly there
Speaker 12: was no listening and engagement in our exchange today. And
Speaker 12: also there appears to have been no attempt by the
Speaker 12: university to actually take the heat out of the protests,
Speaker 12: for those in the encampment to listen to the concerns
Speaker 12: of the Jewish students and also vice versa. University should
Speaker 12: be about dialogue, but this was about vitriol and hate
Speaker 12: and protest rather than about helping us move forward as
Speaker 12: a society.
Speaker 3: Before I let you go, I want to ask one
Speaker 3: more question. What did you make of Mark Scott's response
Speaker 3: to questions about the presence of has Butteria on campus?
Speaker 1: Have a listen, I.
Speaker 13: Would say about woodsbort Teria, as it's a question perhaps
Speaker 13: for Parliament in some respects if this was a declared
Speaker 13: terrorist organization that was illegal. If the Parliament had declared
Speaker 13: putsbert Teria an illegal organization, then of course they would
Speaker 13: be banned from campus. They are not. There was no
Speaker 13: mechanism in the sense for us to stop them being
Speaker 13: on campus as they are not a banned group.
Speaker 3: So essentially he said, you know, yes there were radicals
Speaker 3: on campus, but not my problem.
Speaker 12: Look, this was just buck passing. Let's reflect from a moment.
Speaker 12: James his but Teria are on record as saying that
Speaker 12: it's fine for a man to discipline a woman with violence.
Speaker 12: They say that the moral problem or the moral curse
Speaker 12: of the world is to be found in the Jewish people.
Speaker 1: Now do we.
Speaker 12: Actually need a law to tell us that that philosophy
Speaker 12: and that those statements are unacceptable and that if there
Speaker 12: are people on campus who are espousing those views, they
Speaker 12: should be unwelcome in a place of high learning.
Speaker 1: Just absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 3: But thank you Susan for what you did today and
Speaker 3: for making those points. Job well done and I appreciate
Speaker 3: you joining me tonight. Well after the break, Big Tech
Speaker 3: put on notice as the E Safety Commission works to
Speaker 3: protect kids from the harms of social media. Plus new
Speaker 3: details leaped over Anthony Albenze's backflip on the LGBTQ census question.
Speaker 1: All of that coming up in a moment welcome back.
Speaker 3: Social media platforms are under pressure to hand over crucial
Speaker 3: data on the number of children using their sites. The
Speaker 3: E Safety Commission has also given Big tech players such
Speaker 3: as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok thirty days to reveal
Speaker 3: how many children have accounts and how they enforce their
Speaker 3: own age restrictions. Now, the minimum age limit is typically
Speaker 3: thirteen for these sites, but as we all know, there
Speaker 3: are plenty of kids younger than that who are on
Speaker 3: social media and suffering repercussions because of it. I'm joined
Speaker 3: now by child and adolescent psychologist Claire row. Claire, thanks
Speaker 3: for joining me tonight. It's almost like these platforms want
Speaker 3: children roaming online.
Speaker 14: Yeah, well, of course they do, James, because that's more
Speaker 14: eyeballs and more brains to addict to their product, isn't it.
Speaker 14: So what people need to understand is these you know,
Speaker 14: billion dollar tech companies literally employee thousands of people in
Speaker 14: places like Silicon Valley where their only job is to
Speaker 14: work out how to tweak that platform to keep you
Speaker 14: on it for longer. And you know, like they say,
Speaker 14: if it appears to be free, then the product is you.
Speaker 14: You know, the product thereafter is your attention. And so
Speaker 14: I suppose what better way to guarantee new lifelong customers
Speaker 14: of addicted minds and put advertising in front of but
Speaker 14: to target to young children and get hooked early on.
Speaker 14: So you know, I'm very cynical to say the least,
Speaker 14: whether tech companies are really genuine about working with government
Speaker 14: and regulatory bodies to keep kids safe and keep kids
Speaker 14: off them. It doesn't make sense for them from a
Speaker 14: business model, to say the least.
Speaker 3: So that's great for those companies they're getting new customers.
Speaker 3: But talk to me as a child psychologist, and I
Speaker 3: mean we've read ad nauseum about all the problems that
Speaker 3: this is causing. But I mean, how bad is it
Speaker 3: for our kids?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 14: I sound pretty doom and gloom when I speak about this,
Speaker 14: but I have been for the last decade now.
Speaker 2: It's not just James, the.
Speaker 14: Content that they see online, and we know that that's
Speaker 14: just unfettered a cess.
Speaker 2: Pit of inappropriate material.
Speaker 14: You know, like I've said for a long time, we
Speaker 14: underprotect our kids in the real world, you know, overprotect them, sorry,
Speaker 14: and we completely you know, underprotect them in the online world.
Speaker 14: But what we forget about as well, it's not just
Speaker 14: what they're seeing online, but it's what they're not doing
Speaker 14: when they're online, and we're talking like four, five, six,
Speaker 14: eight hours a day.
Speaker 2: You know, they're not.
Speaker 14: Socializing they're not talking to each other, they're not getting outside,
Speaker 14: and so you know, it's it's literally you know, the
Speaker 14: hours per week and month that add up that are
Speaker 14: taken away from what previous generations would be doing of
Speaker 14: eight nineteen year olds, which is having a.
Speaker 2: Play based childhood.
Speaker 14: And there's you know, importance in a play based childhood
Speaker 14: for developmental outcomes for children. And it's literally parts of
Speaker 14: the brain I think with children now that are changing
Speaker 14: before our eyes, and that comes down to things like impulsivity, patience, attention, creativity,
Speaker 14: the ability to self entertain. Parents would know that with
Speaker 14: kids these days, they're just losing all these cognitive abilities.
Speaker 14: I think it's disastrous, and I think that we've spoken
Speaker 14: enough about it, and the data is there enough for
Speaker 14: us to make some decisions and legislate against it for kids.
Speaker 3: Okay, so the government is going hard on the big
Speaker 3: tech companies. They want to know how many kids are
Speaker 3: using your app and what are you doing about it?
Speaker 3: But would these companies even know how many children are
Speaker 3: accessing their apps and creating accounts?
Speaker 1: How would they even know this?
Speaker 2: Well, they won't.
Speaker 14: That's exactly what I thought when I read this, James.
Speaker 14: I'm not against data collection at all if it informs
Speaker 14: good policy making and decisions.
Speaker 2: But as we know, as you said in your introduction,
Speaker 2: you've got to into.
Speaker 14: A date of birth on these apps, that is thirteen
Speaker 14: years and above to get an account. And so of
Speaker 14: course what kids do, and sometimes their parents for them,
Speaker 14: is they just enter a fake birth date. And so
Speaker 14: I can't imagine that these companies have any data, reliable
Speaker 14: data on the amount of kids that are under thirteen
Speaker 14: in using social media. That data usually comes from widespread
Speaker 14: surveys of parents and families, and shockingly, you know, it
Speaker 14: is confirmed that we've got you know, eight to nine
Speaker 14: year olds on social media weekly, and so yeah, I
Speaker 14: can't see first of all, or why these companies would
Speaker 14: feel obliged to hand over data, why they would want
Speaker 14: to do it. But second of all, the data that
Speaker 14: they have, I just can't see how that actually reflects
Speaker 14: what's really going on.
Speaker 1: So you raise a great point.
Speaker 3: What do you say to people who argue this is
Speaker 3: overreach on the part of the government. It's mum and dad,
Speaker 3: not Mark Zuckerberg who should police their children's internet use.
Speaker 14: Yeah, well, on face value, I would actually agree with that,
Speaker 14: but I think parents face two main problems. The first
Speaker 14: one is if the children are already on these apps,
Speaker 14: they are addicted.
Speaker 2: And I don't use that word lightly.
Speaker 14: I have seen the most loveliest of children become manipulative, aggressive, lying,
Speaker 14: clinically depressed and withdrawn as they literally struggle from their
Speaker 14: dopamine withdrawal symptoms of being away from these platforms.
Speaker 2: It's shocking.
Speaker 14: And second of all is that the pressure parents are
Speaker 14: under because everyone else has it, and so they don't
Speaker 14: want to exclude their child, they don't want to ostracize them.
Speaker 14: They're all having their conversations on these platforms.
Speaker 2: And so I do.
Speaker 14: Think, and I've said this for a long time, this
Speaker 14: problem could be solved tomorrow. And I think parents have
Speaker 14: no idea about the power that they have in collective action.
Speaker 2: We don't need every kid off these apps.
Speaker 14: What we need is a couple in each classroom, and
Speaker 14: we need a movement by parents to say, look, not
Speaker 14: everyone in the class has it. Actually you know that
Speaker 14: there's half a dozen of you who don't, and so
Speaker 14: you know you're not getting it. And I think legislating
Speaker 14: that will actually give parents the confidence to say, no,
Speaker 14: it's against the law, you're not having it. So it's
Speaker 14: more about giving parents the confidence of having that discussion
Speaker 14: in their family home, because I agree.
Speaker 2: Actually, I think it does come back to parents.
Speaker 3: Clear we've got to go to a break, but just
Speaker 3: very quickly before we go, this is one more question
Speaker 3: I want to ask you. Some people say the government
Speaker 3: isn't really concerned about kids. They're using the protection of
Speaker 3: kids as a trojan horse to introduce the digital ID.
Speaker 1: What do you say to that.
Speaker 2: Look, both might be true.
Speaker 14: I don't think that the government is not concerned about kids.
Speaker 2: I think the lobby groups have done really well.
Speaker 14: I think government and opposition are concerned about kids. Whether
Speaker 14: that is now also simultaneously an opportunity to soft launch
Speaker 14: or test digital ID.
Speaker 2: Is a discussion that we need to have. But I
Speaker 2: think that's a whole other topic.
Speaker 14: And I actually don't think that you know, being careful
Speaker 14: about bringing in digital ID. I don't want that to
Speaker 14: delay what we should do so now, which is just
Speaker 14: about social media and let's discuss the digital idea down
Speaker 14: the track.
Speaker 3: Clairo, always good talking to you, Thanks for your time tonight.
Speaker 3: Well stick around because after the break, the Prime Minister
Speaker 3: racks up a multi million dollar expense bill and you
Speaker 3: won't believe what he said to defend himself. I'll play
Speaker 3: you that next. Okay, So we've still got lots more
Speaker 3: to get through tonight. Let's get straight into it with
Speaker 3: our political panel Labor MP Daniel Malano and LNPMP Andrew Wallace.
Speaker 1: Gentlemen, thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3: Now we've got more details leaked over the Prime Minister's
Speaker 3: mishandling of the proposed LGBTQI questions in the census. Insiders
Speaker 3: have told The City Morning Herald that Anthony Abenezi personally
Speaker 3: found the questions about gender identity complicated and then made
Speaker 3: a captain's call to dump them entirely. But then, of
Speaker 3: course Labor MP's publicly disagreed with the decision, so he
Speaker 3: made a second captain's go call to include one question.
Speaker 1: Provided it is appropriate.
Speaker 3: Daniel is confusing as a question on gender identity might be.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine it being more confusing than the government's
Speaker 3: handling of this issue.
Speaker 15: All Hi, James, and thanks for having me on look.
Speaker 15: I think for me, the core issue here is that
Speaker 15: there was serious consideration into the inclusion of a new question,
Speaker 15: a new question into the census which would deal with sexuality. Know,
Speaker 15: this is something that our party has said that we
Speaker 15: wanted to include in the census for a while. But look,
Speaker 15: there are some sensitivities with a question like this. One
Speaker 15: is how much detail do you include? But also do
Speaker 15: you make it compulsory or do you make it opt out?
Speaker 15: Now I think fundamentally we're two years away from this
Speaker 15: census actually occurring, and I don't think it's at all
Speaker 15: surprising that there's a range of processes going on as
Speaker 15: to how and whether a question like this gets incl alluted.
Speaker 1: What happened, I.
Speaker 15: Think is that the Prime Minister clearly had some concerns
Speaker 15: around the original draft of what that question looked like,
Speaker 15: and then there was a whole lot of feedback from
Speaker 15: the community but also from members of my party expressing
Speaker 15: concerns around the possibility if they're not being a question.
Speaker 15: And in the end we've landed in a position that
Speaker 15: I think is the right position, at a common sense position.
Speaker 15: And I've talked to a bunch of people in my
Speaker 15: electorate over the last couple of days outdoor knocking but
Speaker 15: also at community events, and everybody has said to me
Speaker 15: who I've talked to in my electorate that they're glad
Speaker 15: we've landed on the position we've landed on, and that,
Speaker 15: to me is the most important part of all this.
Speaker 3: I reckon you're right, Daniel, the government probably did land
Speaker 3: on the right position. But gee, there's a lot of turbulence.
Speaker 3: It was a bumpy flight getting there because I mean,
Speaker 3: as you said, the Prime Minister promised this would happen.
Speaker 3: Then he had concerns and seems to have panicked and
Speaker 3: said no, no, we're not going.
Speaker 1: To do it.
Speaker 3: Then he got feedback which wasn't complementary, changed his mind again.
Speaker 3: So it just goes to this narrative of a government
Speaker 3: that can't quite get anything right.
Speaker 1: And Andrew, here's the other problem.
Speaker 3: The City Morning Heralds say they spoke with three members
Speaker 3: of Cabinet on the condition of anonymity, of course, regarding
Speaker 3: how all this played out. So cabinet leaks would be
Speaker 3: a worry for the Prime minister, wouldn't they.
Speaker 10: Absolutely, this government, this cabinet is leaking like a sieth.
Speaker 16: I tell you what, this Prime Minister can't hold a
Speaker 16: position on policy from one day to the next.
Speaker 10: You've hit the nail on the head. I think it's extraordinary.
Speaker 10: I can't remember the last time that a sitting Labor
Speaker 10: PM effectively got rolled.
Speaker 16: Not just by his backbach, but rolled by his front
Speaker 16: beach as well. You know, there was a lot of
Speaker 16: disquiet in the Labor Party about this and effectively the
Speaker 16: Prime Minister has done an absolutely u.
Speaker 10: Turn in the space in twenty four hours.
Speaker 16: But you've hit the nail on the head, James, and
Speaker 16: that is disunity is death and where you've got three
Speaker 16: cabinet ministers that are now briefing against the Prime minister.
Speaker 10: That's pretty severe stuff.
Speaker 3: Well, let's stay with the Prime Minister for a moment.
Speaker 3: He's defended himself after the Daily Telegraph revealed his three
Speaker 3: point eight million dollar expense bill, which included a one
Speaker 3: hundred thousand dollars taxpayer bill for private COMCR bookings and
Speaker 3: a two point five million dollar expense for his staff's travel.
Speaker 3: Now Here was his response to all of this earlier today.
Speaker 17: I've seen that analysis that comes out regularly. If they
Speaker 17: think that the Prime Minister of Australia should drive themselves around,
Speaker 17: they should say that I'd rather do that. Frankly, in
Speaker 17: today's world, we need security and we need these things
Speaker 17: to happen, and I think Australians know that.
Speaker 3: It was an interesting response, Dan, You're rather than try
Speaker 3: and deal with any of the issue, it was more
Speaker 3: just you know, what do you expect me to do?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 15: Look, one thing I'd say is that, and I'm sure
Speaker 15: Andrew would have experienced this as well and any member
Speaker 15: of Parliament. Look, people are doing it tough for the minute,
Speaker 15: and frankly, I think no matter what aspect of parliamentary
Speaker 15: expenditure you raise with people, they probably would find it
Speaker 15: jarring at the minute, whether it's any of our salaries,
Speaker 15: or whether it's expenses on the building, or whether it's
Speaker 15: our travel.
Speaker 1: So look, I get that.
Speaker 15: When you tally up a lot of these numbers, people
Speaker 15: out in the community do find it all a bit jarring.
Speaker 1: But what I would say with the PM, but.
Speaker 15: I'd also say this about the Opposition leader, about senior
Speaker 15: people in the cabinet and the Opposition the shadow cabinet,
Speaker 15: is that I think rightly there's an expectation that the
Speaker 15: PM and the Opposition leader are working hard, that they're
Speaker 15: traveling a lot. And I would be not surprised at
Speaker 15: all if people like the PM and Peter Dutton are
Speaker 15: traveling multiple times every week I mean, these numbers do
Speaker 15: add up, but I also think it's extremely important that
Speaker 15: they're traveling a lot, that they're seeing different communities around
Speaker 15: our country, that they're meeting with a whole wide range
Speaker 15: of stakeholders. I mean, I think the point of security
Speaker 15: is an interesting one. I mean, it does reflect the
Speaker 15: fact that security has been beefed up right across Parliament,
Speaker 15: not just for the PM and ministers and shadow ministers,
Speaker 15: but also for a whole bunch of backbenches. So look, unfortunately,
Speaker 15: I think that is just a reflection of where Parliament's
Speaker 15: at the minute. More to the point I think is
Speaker 15: that I think people expect the PM and senior members
Speaker 15: of our Parliament to be traveling and the reality is
Speaker 15: when you add all those costs up, they unfortunately make
Speaker 15: big numbers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon, you're probably right.
Speaker 3: When things are going badly, it doesn't matter what you do,
Speaker 3: you're going to cop criticism. If he travels, he's spending
Speaker 3: too much money. If he doesn't travel well, he's not
Speaker 3: fulfilling his duties as Prime Minister.
Speaker 1: And that's the problem.
Speaker 3: When you can't get anything right, everything becomes a problem.
Speaker 3: Let's return to today's headline. Story Australia's die economic growth.
Speaker 3: Government spending contributed just contributed zero point four percent to
Speaker 3: the Dune quarter outcome, clearly propping up the GDP. Daniel,
Speaker 3: this is not sustainable at all. But let me go
Speaker 3: to Andrew for a second. The sixth consecutive quarter that
Speaker 3: our economic activity declined on a per capita basis.
Speaker 16: Well, James, this reminds me of the time back when
Speaker 16: I was a young fellow, when I was building building
Speaker 16: business in the nineties. Tough times back then after the
Speaker 16: recession that we had to have according to Paul Peting.
Speaker 10: And here we are back there again.
Speaker 16: We've seen the sixth quarter of negative growth, point two
Speaker 16: percent of growth over the last quarter. Look, this is
Speaker 16: dire times for the government. It doesn't seem to be
Speaker 16: able to take a trick, and that's essentially because of
Speaker 16: its own doing. You've got Jim Chalmers out there trying
Speaker 16: to blame everybody by himself, is at war with the
Speaker 16: Reserve Bank. Governor, is at war with the Productivity Commission.
Speaker 16: The only thing he's not at war with is inflation.
Speaker 16: And we all know that that's what's causing so much
Speaker 16: grief for.
Speaker 10: People right now. Cost of living crisis.
Speaker 16: I talk to a lot of people every day, as
Speaker 16: I'm sure Daniel does as well, and so many people
Speaker 16: are talking to me about their inability to be able
Speaker 16: to make ends meet.
Speaker 10: Even people who are on really good incomes.
Speaker 16: I'm coming across now, which is unheard of on the
Speaker 16: Sunshine Coast, people who have mums and dads two incomes,
Speaker 16: both working and they're having to sleep in their cars
Speaker 16: with their kids.
Speaker 10: I mean, people.
Speaker 16: Are really really doing it tough, and they're doing it
Speaker 16: tough because.
Speaker 10: Inflation is not abating, and inflation is not abating.
Speaker 16: Because this government has got the wrong settings, the wrong
Speaker 16: policy settings in place.
Speaker 10: But you can't tell Jim because he knows all what
Speaker 10: to do. Apparently.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, Daniel Andrew, thanks for coming on the program.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. We'll stick around.
Speaker 3: Coming up, we're going live to tell Aviv as the
Speaker 3: UK's arms suspension leads to a diplomatic row with Israel.
Speaker 3: Israeli MP Sharon Haskell joins me in just a moment,
Speaker 3: well Hamas continue to taunt grieving Israeli families, not content
Speaker 3: with shooting hostages in cold blood to stop them being rescued.
Speaker 3: The terrorist group has released a third video from one
Speaker 3: of the six hostages murdered last week.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm not.
Speaker 3: Going to show you the clip because unlike Hamas, the
Speaker 3: rest of us respect human dignity. But the video features
Speaker 3: twenty five year old Uri de Nino, who is shown
Speaker 3: accusing the Israeli government of abandoning him and his fellow hostages.
Speaker 3: The propaganda vie ends with Hamas threatening to kill more
Speaker 3: hostages and the ominous warning quote time is running out.
Speaker 1: For effect.
Speaker 3: The Hamas media team included sand running through an hour glass.
Speaker 1: Classy.
Speaker 3: Let's cross live to tell Aviv now, where I'm joined
Speaker 3: by Israeli MP Sharon Heskell. Sharon, thanks for being with me.
Speaker 3: These hostage videos are beyond cruel. What's been the reaction
Speaker 3: to them in Israel?
Speaker 18: Well, it's absolutely heartbreaking. I mean the families of the hostages,
Speaker 18: not just the six who were executed and brutally murdered,
Speaker 18: but more than a hundred hostages were being held in
Speaker 18: the dungeons of Hamas, being torture, starved, abuse physically and sexually.
Speaker 18: They're absolutely horrifying. Our hearts are shadowed these are you know,
Speaker 18: our entire nation is not just mourning, but it's also
Speaker 18: in a great fear for the lives of our family members,
Speaker 18: daughters and parents and grandparents and babies and sisters and husbands.
Speaker 18: But we want to bring back home as quickly as possible.
Speaker 3: So that's now the big question. How do we get
Speaker 3: the rest of the hostages home? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya,
Speaker 3: who's already under a lot of pressure to bring about
Speaker 3: the ceasefire deal? But how do you make a deal
Speaker 3: with people who use hostages to make propaganda videos before
Speaker 3: shooting them in cold blood and then the next minute, oh,
Speaker 3: let's negotiate a ceasefire.
Speaker 18: Well, you know, the Americans, with the Katari and the
Speaker 18: Egyptians have been sitting around the table for months now
Speaker 18: trying to bring into youal and look, I sit in
Speaker 18: the opposition. I've been criticizing time after time about many
Speaker 18: many things. But we have to say and we have
Speaker 18: to see it upright. Nataniao said yes to a deal
Speaker 18: a few months ago. Nataniao said yes for the deal
Speaker 18: that's on the table right now. The American called it
Speaker 18: a very generous deal. The ones who didn't show up
Speaker 18: to the table, who refused to sit and even negotiate,
Speaker 18: who didn't send representatives or Hamas, the ones who didn't
Speaker 18: accept this deal, any deal is Hamas and and and.
Speaker 18: As much as this is difficult, you know, I am
Speaker 18: criticizing a lot of what the government is doing now
Speaker 18: that they did not put enough military pressure, not now,
Speaker 18: but months ago in order to bring back our family
Speaker 18: members home. I mean, look think about it. In March
Speaker 18: uh uh there were many ministers and and and and
Speaker 18: Prime ministers and Kamala Harris and and and and the
Speaker 18: entire international community who said, you know, do not go
Speaker 18: into Rafa. The hostages were executed in Rafa. If the
Speaker 18: IDEF three months before, six months ago would have gone
Speaker 18: into Rafa, there would have been more pressure on Commas
Speaker 18: and maybe the IDEA would have been able to actually
Speaker 18: reach them and rescue them. They could have been alive.
Speaker 18: And so yes, you know, we're furious and we were heartbroken,
Speaker 18: and unfortunately not many of our allies stood beside us
Speaker 18: to make sure that we do everything in our capability
Speaker 18: to bring them back home.
Speaker 3: Speaking of allies, and we've only got a short time left.
Speaker 3: But the United Kingdom has drawn heavy fire over its
Speaker 3: incomprehensible decision to suspend thirty of its three hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty arms export licenses to Israel, and this move was
Speaker 3: made apparently because of what the UK government called a
Speaker 3: clear risk that the equipment might be used to commit
Speaker 3: serious violations of international law. We've just got a short
Speaker 3: time left, but what's been the action to that in Israel?
Speaker 3: I mean, Israel would have expected the UK to be
Speaker 3: lockstep with them in fighting terrorists, and now the UK
Speaker 3: are forcing Israel to fight with one hand behind their back.
Speaker 3: We've just got thirty seconds, but I wanted to get
Speaker 3: your response to that.
Speaker 18: So our alliance to defend freedom transcend any single government.
Speaker 18: And it feels like the labor government in the UK
Speaker 18: actually betrayed Israel. They betrayed their allies. We are fighting
Speaker 18: the front war of radical Islam against Western civilization and
Speaker 18: during these difficult time we really need our allies free
Speaker 18: democracies in Western civilization. But we leave in freedom to
Speaker 18: stand beside Sharon Sean.
Speaker 3: I've got to leave you there, but thank you so
Speaker 3: much for your time. That's all of my time gone,
Speaker 3: But please don't go anywhere. Coming right up is Paul
Speaker 3: Murray