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Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another week of the Daily OS.

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Speaker 1: Is Monday, the eleventh of July. I hope everybody had

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Speaker 1: a wonderful weekend. There's a lot to talk about. On

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Speaker 1: today's podcast, We're going to bring you up to speed

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Speaker 1: on Friday's extremely distressing and dramatic assassination of former Japanese

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Hopefully a recap on what was

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Speaker 1: a momentous world event will leave you feeling up to

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Speaker 1: speed Before that, though, Billy, what are the headlines of

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Speaker 1: the morning?

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Speaker 2: COVID nineteen anti viral drugs will be available to more

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Speaker 2: Australians from today. Any Australian who is over seventy years

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Speaker 2: old and test positive to COVID can now access the treatment,

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Speaker 2: as well as people aged over fifty who have at

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Speaker 2: least two risk factors that could lead to severe disease.

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Speaker 2: Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said it will help keep

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Speaker 2: people out of hospital.

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Speaker 1: You might have missed this one over the weekend. US

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Speaker 1: President Joe Biden has signed an executive order designed to

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Speaker 1: protect abortion rights for women in states where the practice

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Speaker 1: remains partially legal. This comes after the Supreme Court over

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Speaker 1: to the country's constitutional right to an abortion last month.

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Speaker 1: The order cannot restore access to abortion in states that

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Speaker 1: have banned the practice fully, but will mitigate penalties for

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Speaker 1: women or health practitioners in other states where there are

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Speaker 1: only some restrictions.

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Speaker 2: Foreign Minister Penny Wong has met with her Chinese counterpart

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Speaker 2: Wang Year on the sidelines of the G twenty Foreign

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Speaker 2: Ministers meeting in Bali. Wong said the pair both recognize

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Speaker 2: it is a first step for both our nations, with

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Speaker 2: China's trade sanctions against Australian produce and growing influence in

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Speaker 2: the Pacific disgust. It was the first face to face

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Speaker 2: meeting between foreign ministers of the two nations since twenty.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen, and this morning's good news. Over the weekend, Australian

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Speaker 1: tennis players Matt Ebden and Max Purcell won the Wimbledon

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Speaker 1: Men's doubles Championship. They are the first all Australian men's

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Speaker 1: pair to win the doubles since two thousand.

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Speaker 2: Sam. On Friday, we got the news that former Japanese

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Speaker 2: PAS shinzo Abe had been assassinated whilst giving a speech

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Speaker 2: in Japan. He was the longest serving PM in Japan's

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Speaker 2: history and he was just sixty seven years old. Can

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Speaker 2: you give me a full rundown on what actually happened.

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Speaker 1: Officials and local media said that Arbe was shot at

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Speaker 1: eleven thirty am local time while delivering a campaign speech

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Speaker 1: on a street near a train station in Nara ahead

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Speaker 1: of yesterday's election for Japan's upper house, and I'll tell

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Speaker 1: you a little bit more about that election later. The

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Speaker 1: NHK broadcaster, which is the national broadcaster just like the ABC,

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Speaker 1: said its reporter on the scene heard two gunshots before

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Speaker 1: Rba collapsed on the street. It aired footage showing Arbe

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Speaker 1: clutching his chest with his shirt smeared in blood, as

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Speaker 1: well as some footage of the suspected gunman shooting at

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Speaker 1: the form of Prime Minister from behind. You kind of

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Speaker 1: saw a puff of smoke and a lot of activity.

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Speaker 1: We then saw some footage of Arba collapsing visibly bleeding

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Speaker 1: and bystanders began to administer cardiac massage. We then saw

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Speaker 1: the shooter being wrestled to the ground and taken into custody.

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Speaker 1: So it was kind of a couple of different pieces

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Speaker 1: of the puzzle, mostly emerging on social media via short

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Speaker 1: form video for us to kind of put together. From

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Speaker 1: there we got word that Abe was being transferred to

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Speaker 1: Nara Medical University, and the NHK and Kyodo News Agency

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Speaker 1: both said that Arbe appeared to be in a state

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Speaker 1: of cardiac arrest when airlifted to hospital after initially being

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Speaker 1: called conscious and responsive. Then the Associated press came out

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Speaker 1: with this release of a local fire department officials saying

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Speaker 1: that Abe had no vital signs and that his heart

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Speaker 1: had stopped while being airlifted to hospital. This is where

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Speaker 1: global media first got a strong sense that Abe was

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Speaker 1: likely to pass away. Arbe was pronounced dead by the

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Speaker 1: hospital's professor of emergency medicine in the afternoon. It was

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Speaker 1: about seven pm here in Australia, saying Shinzo Abe was

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Speaker 1: transported to the hospital at twelve twenty pm he was

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Speaker 1: in a state of cardiac arrest. Upon arrival, resuscitation was administered. However,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately he died at five three pm.

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Speaker 2: And so, as I said, he was the longest serving

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Speaker 2: prime minister in Japan's history, can you give me a

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Speaker 2: bit more of a sense of who Shinzo Abe was

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Speaker 2: and what his legacy in Japan is.

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Speaker 1: So he was in office from two thousand and six,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, and then again in twenty twelve,

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Speaker 1: all the way until twenty twenty. He was a Conservative

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Speaker 1: and the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party or the

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Speaker 1: LDP now Aarbe was best known for his economic policies

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Speaker 1: and it kind of got coined Arbanomics. So in short,

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Speaker 1: Arbanomics was all about opening up Japan to be a

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Speaker 1: stronger player in the global economy, and the aggressively ambitious

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Speaker 1: measures implemented by Abe over that eight year period led

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Speaker 1: to some really strong economic growth, some high government spending

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Speaker 1: on public goods, and digitalization of the country. Now, at

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Speaker 1: the time of the shooting, Arbe was speaking in support

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Speaker 1: of the LDP candidates ahead of this Upper House elections

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Speaker 1: that took place yesterday. So despite resigning as Japan's PM

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty due to health reasons, he remained an

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Speaker 1: influential figure in the country's political landscape. Kind Of think

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Speaker 1: of it as like when Paul Keating pops up and

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Speaker 1: makes some comments before an election here in Australia, and

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Speaker 1: he continued to campaign for the LDP. He was the

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Speaker 1: founding member of the Quad, which is an alliance between

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Speaker 1: Australia the US, India and Japan, and he also was

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Speaker 1: the driving force behind Tokyo's successful Olympics.

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Speaker 2: And what do we know about the suspect here?

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Speaker 1: So we're talking here about a forty one year old

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Speaker 1: man who has admitted to shooting Ahbe and this is

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Speaker 1: according to Narunishi Police during a news conference on Friday.

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Speaker 1: It was pretty early in the piece that we learned

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Speaker 1: that this man had admitted to shooting the form PM.

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Speaker 1: We know the man is unemployed, and he told investigators

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Speaker 1: that he holds hatred towards a certain group that he

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Speaker 1: thought Ahbe was linked to, and police interestingly have not

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Speaker 1: named that group. The man is being investigated as a

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Speaker 1: suspect for murder in a case to which ninety investigators

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Speaker 1: have been assigned, and there's obviously massive ounce of footage

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Speaker 1: of the attack. It's also been reported that the suspected

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Speaker 1: gunman worked for the Maritime Self Defense Force for three

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Speaker 1: years back in two thousand and two to two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five. Now, Billy, there's been a lot of reporting

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Speaker 1: and speculation around the weapon. And as we know, gun

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Speaker 1: violence is phenomenally rare in Japan and therefore guns are

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Speaker 1: very rare in the country. We put up a post

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Speaker 1: on Saturday saying that there were ten shootings in Japan

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Speaker 1: in the entire year of twenty twenty one, with only

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Speaker 1: one death resulting from those shootings. Police said the suspect

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Speaker 1: used a homemade gun in the shooting, and images from

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Speaker 1: the scene showed what appeared to be a weapon with

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Speaker 1: two metal barrels wrapped in black duct tape. Authorities later

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Speaker 1: confiscated several handmade pistol like items from the suspects apartment,

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Speaker 1: and they released information that the bullets used to kill

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Speaker 1: Abe were bought online. Japan's National Police Agency said that

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Speaker 1: they're going to go back and review the security arrangements

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Speaker 1: that were in place in Nara now. Security was being

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Speaker 1: handled by the Nara Police up a security plan for

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Speaker 1: the former PM while he was in the city. That's

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Speaker 1: pretty standard practice, and the agency said several dozen officers

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Speaker 1: and security personnel from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police were also

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Speaker 1: on duty and had reportedly watched Abe from all sides

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Speaker 1: during the speech.

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Speaker 2: The assassination has obviously shaken not just Japan but the

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Speaker 2: entire world. How did a former prime minister who is

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Speaker 2: granted security rights not have more security around him?

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Speaker 1: That's something that I've been thinking about a lot over

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Speaker 1: the weekend. Even somebody like a President Biden in the

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Speaker 1: US or Anthony Alberanzi here at home, they have a

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Speaker 1: lot of security around them, but there still seems to

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Speaker 1: be points where the public can interact with them, such

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Speaker 1: as a campaign speech or a meet and greet. So

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Speaker 1: it's really called all of that into question. But especially

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Speaker 1: in a country like Japan, which is so safe and

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Speaker 1: political violence is so rare. I mean, the last time

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Speaker 1: a prime minister was assassinated in the country was the

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirties, every single little detail is being questioned and doubted.

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Speaker 1: I read a really interesting report from the Japanese Times

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Speaker 1: who said that cars were passing behind the former prime

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Speaker 1: minister while he spoke, and the road wasn't even blocked

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Speaker 1: off for his speech, and the crowd was only feet

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Speaker 1: from him. Now, Japan's National Police Agency, as I said before,

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Speaker 1: are going to be launching a proper investigation into this.

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Speaker 1: But we've already heard some comments from the head of

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Speaker 1: the Nara Police who said there were undeniable issues with

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Speaker 1: the former prime minister's security and vowed that the thorough

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Speaker 1: investigation would be conducted. He gave some comments to the

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Speaker 1: Guardian over the weekend. He said, I believe it is

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Speaker 1: undeniable there were problems with the guarding and safety measures

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Speaker 1: for former Prime Minister Abe. In all the years since

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Speaker 1: I became a police officer in nineteen ninety five. There

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Speaker 1: is no greater remorse, no bigger regret than this.

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Speaker 2: And what has the reaction been like from around the world.

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Speaker 1: I'd say it's been one of universal shock and condemnation,

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Speaker 1: not only in Japan but in pretty much every continent

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Speaker 1: on the planet. Political assassinations are not that common. It's

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Speaker 1: not something that we report on a lot. I've been

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Speaker 1: sitting in the newsroom next to each other for a

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Speaker 1: while now, and this is the first political assassination that

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Speaker 1: I can remember. We heard from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albernizi,

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Speaker 1: who said that Abe was a giant on the world

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Speaker 1: stage and added that his legacy was one of global

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Speaker 1: impact and a profound and positive one for Australia. The

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Speaker 1: current Japanese Prime Minister Kashita described the attack as barbaric,

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Speaker 1: while US Secretary of s Anthony Blincoln called the shooting

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Speaker 1: a very very sad moment. We also heard from President Biden,

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Speaker 1: who said that he was stunned, outraged and deeply saddened

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Speaker 1: by Abe's death, and leaders from around the world gave

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Speaker 1: statements of similar sentiments. Then we also heard from the UN,

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Speaker 1: the Queen, and the International Olympic Committee.

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Speaker 2: And so you said before that despite everything that happened

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Speaker 2: since Friday, Japan still went to a parliamentary election yesterday.

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Speaker 2: How did Abe's death impact that election.

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Speaker 1: Well, there was obviously heightened security for every official on

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Speaker 1: the election trail, and many public gatherings around the countries,

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Speaker 1: such as rallies and post election parties, were canceled. In

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Speaker 1: terms of the actual politics, It's thought that the surge

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Speaker 1: in support for Abe's Liberal Democratic Party could be boosted

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Speaker 1: by sympathy votes, which is a bit of a weird

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Speaker 1: turn of phrase in this situation. I'm going off the

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Speaker 1: words of one analyst who is quoted by the ABC

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Speaker 1: saying the ruling LDP coalition was already on course for

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Speaker 1: a solid victory, but a wave of sympathy votes now

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Speaker 1: could boost the margin of victory. An interesting takeaway when

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Speaker 1: an election is only forty eight hours after a political assassination.

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Speaker 2: It's absolutely shocking news to have a former prime minister

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Speaker 2: of any country to be assassinated, let alone in a

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Speaker 2: country where gun violence is just so rare. Thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Oz.

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Speaker 2: We hope you have a good day and we will

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Speaker 2: see you tomorrow