Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from the Australian. I'm Christinamiott with the
Speaker 1: Front's afternoon headlines. Sacked radio host Kyle Sandalance claimed an
Speaker 1: executive of the ARN Radio Network would be gone in
Speaker 1: eight months in an explosive on air rant. That's according
Speaker 1: to documents filed in court by ARN. The one hundred
Speaker 1: million dollar contracts of Sandalans and his former co host
Speaker 1: Jackie Henderson were torn up by ARN last month after
Speaker 1: they failed to reconcile following an on air spat. Both
Speaker 1: former hosts of the Kyle and Jackie oh Show, which
Speaker 1: was broadcast nationally on Kiss FM, are now suing ARN
Speaker 1: for more than eighty million dollars each, effectively the balance
Speaker 1: of their contracts, But the radio network's legal defense reveals
Speaker 1: Sandaland's and arn's management were at odds. Months before the
Speaker 1: shock jock was sacked. Sandalance allegedly blasted the company's then
Speaker 1: chief operating officer, Michael Stevenson, who'd only been in the
Speaker 1: job for a few months, saying he didn't quote give
Speaker 1: a shit about Stevenson's attempts to tone down parts of
Speaker 1: the show. The shock jock allegedly said he's quote been
Speaker 1: through thousands of coos in his time in the radio industry.
Speaker 1: Michael Stevenson was promoted to chief executive of ARN earlier
Speaker 1: this year. Sandalance and Henderson will return to court on
Speaker 1: Friday for a case management hearing. Sir Keir Starmer bullied
Speaker 1: senior government officials to approve a controversial diplomatic appointment. That's
Speaker 1: the allegation aired in London as the Jeffrey Epstein scandal
Speaker 1: continues to swirl. Longtime labor figure Lord Peter Mandleson was
Speaker 1: appointed by Starmer as the UK's ambassador to Washington in
Speaker 1: early twenty twenty five. Mandalson was Starmer's director of Communications
Speaker 1: at the time. It was later revealed Mandalson failed the
Speaker 1: foreign officer's national security checks and that he maintained a
Speaker 1: long association with the convicted Petiph Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelsson was
Speaker 1: removed from his post in September and is now the
Speaker 1: subject of a UK police investigation. He was arrested in
Speaker 1: February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The authorities
Speaker 1: alleged he shared sensitive financial information with Epstein during the
Speaker 1: global financial crisis. Mandelson's bail conditions have since been lifted
Speaker 1: and he's denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this week, Keir Starmer
Speaker 1: conceded it was a mistake to appoint Mandelssohn to the
Speaker 1: Washington ambassadorship.
Speaker 2: But the heart of this there is also a judgment
Speaker 2: I made that was wrong. I should not have appointed
Speaker 2: Peter Mandelsson. I take responsibility for that decision, and I
Speaker 2: apologize again to the victims of the Peter Phile Jeffrey Epstein,
Speaker 2: who were clearly failed by my decision.
Speaker 1: But a sacked former senior bureaucrat says it's all on
Speaker 1: Sir Kire. Appearing before a select committee, former Permanent and
Speaker 1: Under Secretary of the UK's Foreign Office, Sir Olli Robbins
Speaker 1: said Starmer and his office at ten Downing Street put
Speaker 1: quote constant pressure on officials to give Mandalson's appointment the
Speaker 1: green light. Robins didn't tell Starmer about Mandelssenn's security check failure,
Speaker 1: but in his evidence overnight, Robins claimed Starmer was quote
Speaker 1: dismissive of security vetting and would have pushed for the
Speaker 1: appointment to go ahead anyway. He also said Downing Street
Speaker 1: was angling to get Mandelsson a new job behind the
Speaker 1: back of the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Under Secretary
Speaker 1: Robins was sacked by Kiir Starmer last week. He said
Speaker 1: at this week's hearing he doesn't understand why he lost
Speaker 1: his job and said it's made him quote desperately sad.
Speaker 1: Now some of Kiir Starmer's labor colleagues are distancing themselves
Speaker 1: from the under fire PM ahead of the UK's local
Speaker 1: elections happening on May seven. Check out those stories live
Speaker 1: right now at the Australia dot com dot au and
Speaker 1: come back to the front first thing in the morning
Speaker 1: for our close look at huge new reforms to the
Speaker 1: National Disability Insurance Scheme which will see one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty thousand participants booted. That's right here, Thursday morning.