Transcript

Sharri | 4 February · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News nis Is Sharry.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good evening. It's great to be back. I've been off
0:09
Speaker 2: for a few weeks working on a documentary on the
0:12
Speaker 2: Bondi terror attack, and I'll tell you more about it
0:15
Speaker 2: a little later. A huge thank you to James McPherson
0:18
Speaker 2: for filling in and for doing such a fantastic job.
0:22
Speaker 2: Thank you, James. Look, it's a big news day today.
0:25
Speaker 2: Here's what's coming up. The Albanezy government under pressure to
0:29
Speaker 2: cut spending amid warnings rates will continue to rise. Former
0:33
Speaker 2: Assistant Treasury Secretary David Pearl joins me to unpick where
0:37
Speaker 2: labor went so wrong. Police one, they can't keep Jewish
0:42
Speaker 2: Australian safe. Ahead of Israeli President Isaac Hertzog's visit, I'll
0:46
Speaker 2: speak with Julie and Lisa about this. A fresh Epstein
0:50
Speaker 2: twist tonight. UK detectives now looking at claims he accessed
0:55
Speaker 2: confidential government documents and a brave thirteen year old boy
0:59
Speaker 2: has spoken about how he swam for four hours without
1:03
Speaker 2: a life jacket to save his mums and siblings after
1:07
Speaker 2: they were dragged out to sea. Or hear how he
1:10
Speaker 2: did it. It's all coming up, but first let's start
1:14
Speaker 2: with the economy and the rate decision. Around the world,
1:17
Speaker 2: inflation is mostly no longer a problem and interest rates
1:21
Speaker 2: are falling. Households are feeling relief in most comparable developed nations,
1:27
Speaker 2: but not in Australia. Not under the Albanezy government. The
1:32
Speaker 2: RBA has raised the cash rate for the first time
1:35
Speaker 2: since twenty twenty three, and an average mortgage will now
1:39
Speaker 2: increase by another one two hundred dollars a year. Again,
1:44
Speaker 2: this is while families around the world are seeing their
1:47
Speaker 2: mortgage repayments ease. The political attacks over the rate rise
1:53
Speaker 2: escalated in Parliament today.
1:56
Speaker 3: Under Labor, Australians are living with higher prices and increase
2:00
Speaker 3: interest rates. So will the Prime Minister accept responsibility for
2:05
Speaker 3: yesterday's rate rise?
2:07
Speaker 4: When will the Treasurer finally admit he must control his
2:10
Speaker 4: spending to prevent the fourteenth interest rate rise under Labor?
2:16
Speaker 5: When the Reserve Band cut rates in August last year,
2:19
Speaker 5: the Treasurer put out a long media statement taking credit
2:21
Speaker 5: for the decision. Treasurer, why does a government take credit
2:25
Speaker 5: when infrastrates go down but no one takes any responsibility
2:28
Speaker 5: when the rates go up.
2:31
Speaker 2: The IRBA now says that inflation and productivity will get
2:35
Speaker 2: worse under the Albanese government. Now, inflation was meant to
2:39
Speaker 2: have returned to the target band of between two to
2:42
Speaker 2: three percent by now, and instead it's forecast to rise
2:46
Speaker 2: above four percent by the middle of this year, and
2:50
Speaker 2: it's not forecast to get back to target until mid
2:53
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight. And by the way, that forecast is
2:57
Speaker 2: not even worth the paper it's printed on. This means
3:00
Speaker 2: that prices are continually rising. As RBA Governor Michelle Bullock
3:05
Speaker 2: points out, it all accumulates.
3:09
Speaker 6: It's it's the price level. The price level has gone
3:12
Speaker 6: up twenty to twenty five percent over the last few years,
3:17
Speaker 6: and people see that every time they walk into a
3:19
Speaker 6: supermarket or they go to the doctor or whatever.
3:24
Speaker 2: Twenty to twenty five percent over the last few years.
3:28
Speaker 2: In her own words, Well, Michelle Bullock has put the
3:31
Speaker 2: Treasurer in the hot seat with her comments that productivity
3:35
Speaker 2: is out of her control.
3:38
Speaker 6: Productivity is is the issue, and I'm not the productivities are.
3:45
Speaker 2: One of the key issues that has contributed to the
3:47
Speaker 2: higher inflation is record government spending. Now, as you know,
3:52
Speaker 2: economists have been warning about high spending for months and months.
3:59
Speaker 7: We just don't have the space in our economy for
4:01
Speaker 7: our governments to be growing at the pace they have been,
4:03
Speaker 7: and they need to cut back on their spending. And
4:06
Speaker 7: that's the universal message from economists.
4:09
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that government spending is boomed in the
4:11
Speaker 4: last six months.
4:13
Speaker 8: It's really the fact that it's.
4:14
Speaker 4: Boomed over the last six or seven years.
4:16
Speaker 7: COVID was part of it, but that's spending.
4:18
Speaker 9: Job Keeper is now gone, and yet public spending as
4:21
Speaker 9: the share of the economy is running above levels.
4:24
Speaker 1: Above those levels.
4:25
Speaker 7: The main fact is actually excessive government spending. So one
4:29
Speaker 7: of the reasons why Australia's inflation is so high is
4:31
Speaker 7: because public demand, which is basically government spending, is that
4:35
Speaker 7: a near record high share of GDP. It's actually the
4:38
Speaker 7: highest in Australi's history outside of the pandemic.
4:41
Speaker 2: There's no question government spending is contributing to higher rates
4:46
Speaker 2: to inflation, but economists do this. Sloan writes today that
4:50
Speaker 2: the RBA also has questions to answer, and she says
4:53
Speaker 2: the RBA's record has been extremely disappointing. Sloane says it's
4:59
Speaker 2: impossible to avoid the conclusion that the bank has been
5:02
Speaker 2: far too timid in recent times. In knocking inflation on
5:06
Speaker 2: the head while prematurely initiating an easing cycle. The contrast
5:11
Speaker 2: with other central banks around the world is telling Judith
5:16
Speaker 2: Rights that in most developed countries, core inflation is now
5:20
Speaker 2: under control and interest rate easing is in progress, and
5:26
Speaker 2: so family suffer while the government continues its spending splurch.
5:31
Speaker 2: And even worse, the government is now not ruling out
5:35
Speaker 2: changes to capital gains tax.
5:37
Speaker 10: Well, the news about the capital gains tax comes from
5:43
Speaker 10: a committee that the Greens and the Liberals set up
5:45
Speaker 10: in the Senate. We've made it very clear that we
5:49
Speaker 10: consider there to be intergenerational issues in housing, but our
5:53
Speaker 10: focus there is on building more homes.
5:56
Speaker 2: On supply well, the answer is not taxes. The answer
6:02
Speaker 2: isn't higher government spending. But without a functioning opposition to
6:07
Speaker 2: hold the alban Easy government to account, our economy and
6:10
Speaker 2: household finances are crumbling. Now I've got some breaking news.
6:19
Speaker 2: A man has been arrested for impersonating the Bondai shooters
6:23
Speaker 2: on the Bondai footbridge and for threatening to kill Jews.
6:28
Speaker 2: Those details about our exclusive in just a moment, but
6:31
Speaker 2: first let's talk about all of the shocking developments today.
6:36
Speaker 2: Support is emerging for the Bondai shooters. At the very moment,
6:41
Speaker 2: police admit they can't guarantee the safety of Australians during
6:45
Speaker 2: the upcoming visit by Israeli President Isaac Hertzog. Hertzog begins
6:50
Speaker 2: his official state visit on Monday, and it's to show
6:53
Speaker 2: his solidarity with the Australian Jewish community after the terror attack.
7:00
Speaker 2: But now an extraordinary admission from police they say they
7:04
Speaker 2: can't guarantee public safety during his visit a New South
7:09
Speaker 2: I was Police Commissioner mal Lanyon had this warning.
7:13
Speaker 11: I know that there is significant animosity about President Herzog's visit.
7:18
Speaker 11: The President is here as an invitee of the Commonwealth Government.
7:22
Speaker 11: He is here to mourn and provide support to the
7:24
Speaker 11: Jewish Australian community which were callously targeted Bondi. It's important
7:29
Speaker 11: to remember that peace and showing respect is important at
7:33
Speaker 11: this time. What I fear is a large scale public
7:35
Speaker 11: assembly with so much animosity could present a risk community safety.
7:41
Speaker 2: This has been the issue since October nine at the
7:44
Speaker 2: Opera House, where police ceded the public square to an
7:48
Speaker 2: aggressive mob rather than enforce public safety, and little has changed.
7:54
Speaker 2: Authorities are now concerned about violent extremists and about anti
7:59
Speaker 2: Israe protests that may directly target Jewish Australians attending events
8:04
Speaker 2: with President Herzog. Now, the New South Wales government has
8:08
Speaker 2: extended its bound on protests, but pro Palestinian groups are
8:13
Speaker 2: expected to defy it anyway.
8:16
Speaker 4: President of Israel has been invited to commemorate that event
8:20
Speaker 4: with the Jewish community in New South Wales, and most
8:24
Speaker 4: people would expect the government and the police to keep
8:27
Speaker 4: public safety, to ensure that there is public safety.
8:31
Speaker 2: During that period.
8:32
Speaker 4: And if that means that there's restrictions in place as
8:34
Speaker 4: to where you can and you can't march to keep
8:37
Speaker 4: the public safe, I think that's a reasonable restriction.
8:41
Speaker 2: At least two New South Wales Labor and Peas, are
8:44
Speaker 2: openly supporting these protests and they're calling for Herzog's visit
8:48
Speaker 2: to be canceled Upper House and p Sarah Kaine, she said,
8:52
Speaker 2: stop and think about someone signing a bomb that kills
8:55
Speaker 2: guards and children. I have to register my most sincere
8:58
Speaker 2: concern and despare that coming to Australia. While Cameron Murphy
9:03
Speaker 2: told The Guardian he'd be attending the rally because we
9:07
Speaker 2: shouldn't be welcoming to Australia the head of a state
9:10
Speaker 2: engaged in an ongoing genocide, now federal labor and p
9:15
Speaker 2: ed Husick didn't go as far as Murphy or Cain,
9:19
Speaker 2: but he made his feelings still very clear.
9:23
Speaker 1: I'm obviously very uncomfortable about this visit. It's really hard
9:26
Speaker 1: for me to reconcile the vision of him signing bombs
9:31
Speaker 1: that went on to be dropped on Palestinian homes, to
9:35
Speaker 1: reconcile that vision with the notion of social cohesion. So
9:41
Speaker 1: from that perspective, I've obviously got deep concerns.
9:45
Speaker 2: Ed Husick should know better. This should be a moment
9:49
Speaker 2: of national solidarity with the Jewish community. This isn't about
9:55
Speaker 2: the Middle East or Gaza. This is the president of
9:58
Speaker 2: the only Jewish nation in the world world visiting after
10:01
Speaker 2: the worst terror attack on Australian soil that specifically targeted
10:07
Speaker 2: Jewish families. What we are seeing instead is a pro
10:12
Speaker 2: Palestinian movement that continues to put hatred above peace. The
10:18
Speaker 2: folks should be unity and solidarity with the victims of terror,
10:24
Speaker 2: victims who have suffered unimaginably and it's something I've witnessed
10:29
Speaker 2: firsthand over the past seven weeks while interviewing survivors who
10:33
Speaker 2: were shot and the family members of Australians who were murdered,
10:38
Speaker 2: and here's just a little snippet from some of those
10:42
Speaker 2: survivors in our documentary promo. He said, why would someone
10:47
Speaker 2: shoot an old man?
10:48
Speaker 12: And he said, Mom, I know it was because we
10:50
Speaker 12: were at Heimilka.
10:53
Speaker 5: I heard when we arrived here essentially looked like a
10:57
Speaker 5: war zone.
10:59
Speaker 13: It okay, yeah, but that's not.
11:02
Speaker 2: I come from. Where are you being from? I said,
11:06
Speaker 2: get down, get down, So you're crouching.
11:08
Speaker 13: We're crouching here below this wall.
11:10
Speaker 2: To think how close you were to the shooters.
11:14
Speaker 14: And you know sky is exclusive here from the man
11:17
Speaker 14: who survived six bullet wounds.
11:20
Speaker 9: I knew I was in trouble when I got even
11:22
Speaker 9: in the chest, and I didn't want to die in
11:25
Speaker 9: front of my kids.
11:28
Speaker 2: And that airs on February twenty four. By the way,
11:31
Speaker 2: it's essential viewing for Australians because, disgracefully, we're now seeing
11:37
Speaker 2: support for the accused shooters themselves. A picture of shooter
11:44
Speaker 2: Navid Akram has been plastered publicly across Melbourne CBD, and
11:48
Speaker 2: even worse, beneath it, the word Ozzy. Melbourne man Nick
11:53
Speaker 2: Reese has announced a new policy requiring racist material to
11:58
Speaker 2: be removed within an hour.
12:01
Speaker 1: At the City of Melbourne.
12:02
Speaker 15: We have a new policy of one hour removal time
12:06
Speaker 15: for hateful, racist and anti Semitic material. So our tweam
12:12
Speaker 15: swung into action and worked around the clock actually across
12:15
Speaker 15: the weekend and got we believe most of the posters down.
12:22
Speaker 2: But it's not just in Melbourne where support for extremist
12:25
Speaker 2: Islam is out in the open. In Bondai just on
12:29
Speaker 2: Saturday evening, there were two men standing on the infamous
12:33
Speaker 2: Bridge impersonating the shooters. They re enacted the attack, allegedly
12:40
Speaker 2: took selfies, pretending to fire weapons, then allegedly ran down
12:44
Speaker 2: Campbell Parade shouting f the Jews and kill the Jews.
12:49
Speaker 2: A friend of mine witnessed it, took these photographs that
12:52
Speaker 2: you're looking at on your screen and immediately reported it
12:55
Speaker 2: to police. Police interviewed one of the men at the scene,
12:59
Speaker 2: but the fled. But I can after speaking to police today,
13:05
Speaker 2: we can tonight exclusively tell you that police have now
13:08
Speaker 2: arrested a man in relation to that incident. A twenty
13:12
Speaker 2: two year old was arrested at couldji just before five
13:15
Speaker 2: pm today and take into the station where inquiries are continuing.
13:20
Speaker 2: Now here's the statement from New Southe's police. They told
13:22
Speaker 2: us police were told one man allegedly mimicked firing upon
13:27
Speaker 2: people near the bridge. When challenged over his actions, police
13:31
Speaker 2: will allege the man verbally abuse the bystanders, causing them
13:35
Speaker 2: to feel fearful and intimidated. I mean, it just makes
13:40
Speaker 2: me so deeply sad to live in a country where
13:42
Speaker 2: this is happening. Our country shouldn't tolerate hatred masquerading as protests.
13:50
Speaker 2: Glorification of evil must be confronted. The police need to
13:56
Speaker 2: crack down on this quickly. All right, Well tonight, Susan
14:05
Speaker 2: Lee and David Little Proud are still locked in a
14:07
Speaker 2: stale mate over whether the coalition can reunite. Susan Lee
14:11
Speaker 2: says the coalition could reform as soon as this week,
14:15
Speaker 2: but only if her conditions are met.
14:18
Speaker 3: The coalition can reform this week with conditions that are
14:21
Speaker 3: supported by the overwhelming majority of my party room.
14:25
Speaker 2: And meanwhile, this could be Susan Lee's final week as
14:29
Speaker 2: Liberal leader. I've spoken to liberal sources and there are
14:33
Speaker 2: rumblings that there could be a challenge in support of
14:36
Speaker 2: Angus Taylor as early as next week. Well let's bring
14:40
Speaker 2: a now former Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and
14:43
Speaker 2: Sky News host Joe Hildebrandt. Great to see you both.
14:47
Speaker 2: Thank you, Joe, Thank you so much, Michael. So what
14:52
Speaker 2: do you think is happening here? Lee? If Susan Lee
14:55
Speaker 2: doesn't get the coalition back together, are we likely to
14:59
Speaker 2: see a challenge from Angus Taylor or his supporters next week?
15:04
Speaker 16: I doubt that, but I think they will get back together.
15:08
Speaker 16: I mean it's imperative for the center right in Australian
15:12
Speaker 16: politic to have a coalition. I mean it would be
15:14
Speaker 16: electoral suicide for us to go alone, the National Party
15:18
Speaker 16: to go alone one nation other splinter groups on the right.
15:21
Speaker 16: I mean, historically the center right is better when the
15:25
Speaker 16: Liberal and the National Party is in coalition. Even when
15:27
Speaker 16: we've had a majority in our own right, we've ruled
15:30
Speaker 16: in coalition. This goes back to men'sies, to Fraser to Howard.
15:35
Speaker 16: So they'll be given to take on both sides and
15:37
Speaker 16: I assume they will come back together. By the way,
15:40
Speaker 16: one of the other reasons why I think the National
15:42
Speaker 16: Party will agree is that and no one has yet
15:45
Speaker 16: worked this out. If you don't have a coalition shari,
15:50
Speaker 16: then there's no reason for a joint Senate ticket in
15:53
Speaker 16: Victoria and New South Wales. So Bridget mackenzie comes up
15:57
Speaker 16: for reelection in twenty twenty eight from Victoria and Ross
16:01
Speaker 16: Caddell does in New South Wales from the National Party.
16:03
Speaker 16: They both elected on a joint Centate ticket. So if
16:06
Speaker 16: there's no coalition, there's probably no joint Senate ticket and
16:10
Speaker 16: mackenzie and Kadell have to run as National Party candidates,
16:13
Speaker 16: not on a coalition ticket, and none other them will
16:16
Speaker 16: win because because their vote will be well below the
16:21
Speaker 16: one Nation vote, the other minor right wing parties will
16:24
Speaker 16: probably preference one Nation before the National Party. So McKenzie
16:28
Speaker 16: and Cadell will both lose their seats if there's no coalition.
16:32
Speaker 16: And now that's up to the Victorian New South Wales
16:34
Speaker 16: division leadership obviously not me, but it would it would
16:38
Speaker 16: be ludicrous for there to be a joint Senate ticket
16:44
Speaker 16: if in the Liverwoo party to give away two spots if
16:46
Speaker 16: there's no coalition.
16:48
Speaker 2: I mean, enjoy the bigger picture here is that you know,
16:51
Speaker 2: the Albanezy government is getting away with everything, whether it's
16:55
Speaker 2: national security, the aftermath of Bondai, or the economy. Don't
17:00
Speaker 2: understand how the Coalition can prolong this chaos. It is
17:04
Speaker 2: so self destructive it's staggering.
17:06
Speaker 17: It's the most idiotic self immolation I've ever seen in politics.
17:10
Speaker 17: I do not even understand. You can't actually lower your
17:15
Speaker 17: analytical critical thinking to the level whether to actually underunderstand
17:21
Speaker 17: what the coalition is thinking. It's like trying to think
17:23
Speaker 17: like a five year old in a school playground. Even
17:26
Speaker 17: you know, members of the Coalition are just scratching their heads.
17:29
Speaker 17: And certainly I don't know what happened, What just happened?
17:32
Speaker 1: Why is this?
17:33
Speaker 17: Why did we do it again? The idea that you're
17:36
Speaker 17: then in talks with So I mean, talk about shuffling
17:38
Speaker 17: the deck chairs on the Titanic. The idea that Lee
17:41
Speaker 17: is now in talks with Little Proud about whether the
17:43
Speaker 17: three front benches are suspended from the shadow cabinet for
17:47
Speaker 17: six months or whether they return immediately.
17:50
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, it's insanity.
17:51
Speaker 17: It is insane. Yeah yeah, okay, it really is months
17:55
Speaker 17: that'll stop one nation, Like you absolute numpties, Like the
18:01
Speaker 17: idea that you know, I mean, and this is the thing,
18:03
Speaker 17: and you saw this coming out when they were talking.
18:06
Speaker 17: I loved Michael holding the pre selections over their head,
18:08
Speaker 17: by the way, because it's only self interest that's motivating
18:11
Speaker 17: these people. But you know, the idea that you would
18:14
Speaker 17: have these people coming out even after this stupid split
18:17
Speaker 17: that didn't need to happen and has condemned Susan Lee's
18:19
Speaker 17: leadership to death. They're saying, oh no, because we were
18:22
Speaker 17: at that meeting and I sent an email and no,
18:25
Speaker 17: we didn't say this. We actually let them know. I mean,
18:27
Speaker 17: it's like it's kind of like people sitting around, you know,
18:30
Speaker 17: Parisian cafe debating existentialism while the building's burning down.
18:34
Speaker 2: It is just and I have to tell you every
18:36
Speaker 2: day over the past few weeks, I've been interviewing these
18:40
Speaker 2: deeply traumatized survivors of Bunde, all the family members of
18:44
Speaker 2: people who were killed, and then you know, you turn
18:46
Speaker 2: on the news, you step away from the interview, look
18:48
Speaker 2: at the news and you see the nationals are resigning
18:50
Speaker 2: and Susan Lee saying this, and you just think, I
18:52
Speaker 2: can't believe you lot are not holding the Albanezy government
18:56
Speaker 2: to account after this territory. It makes me furious with
18:59
Speaker 2: all sides of politics. Cannot deal with them right now. Unbelievable.
19:03
Speaker 2: They've got to get their act together. Now, let's turn
19:06
Speaker 2: to some positive news, because don't we needed. This was
19:10
Speaker 2: a totally extraordinary rescue. This is off WA's southwest coast.
19:16
Speaker 2: Joanne Applebee was out with her three kids kayaking and paddleboarding.
19:21
Speaker 2: The conditions turned pretty quickly. We're told that it was
19:24
Speaker 2: calm in the morning and they were all dragged out
19:27
Speaker 2: to see Now, Joanne made a call that no parent
19:32
Speaker 2: wants to make. She told her thirteen year old Austin,
19:35
Speaker 2: her eldest son, to try and swim back to share
19:38
Speaker 2: for help. Now. He tried to kayak in, but the
19:41
Speaker 2: kayak kept dumping him and taking on water, so he
19:45
Speaker 2: ditched the kayak and swam four kilometers through rough seas,
19:50
Speaker 2: fading light hours of sheer, exhausting. Here is this incredible
19:55
Speaker 2: thirteen year old Austin describing what it was like swimming
19:58
Speaker 2: back to shore.
20:00
Speaker 14: I just said, all right, not today, not today, not today.
20:04
Speaker 14: I did great stroke, I do freestyle, survived backstroke. I
20:07
Speaker 14: hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed.
20:13
Speaker 14: And then after that I had to spread two filters
20:16
Speaker 14: to go get to the phone.
20:19
Speaker 2: Unbelievable. Michael so Austin then went and had to go
20:23
Speaker 2: two kilometers, had to find help, and then the search
20:26
Speaker 2: and rescue effort had to try and locate where his
20:29
Speaker 2: mum and siblings were.
20:34
Speaker 16: What an absolute hero that kid is. I mean, if
20:36
Speaker 16: you can give orders of Australia to miners, I think
20:39
Speaker 16: he's in line for one of those, or he's the
20:43
Speaker 16: hero of Western Australia of the year. What a remarkable
20:46
Speaker 16: young man. And you know, it just shows you how
20:49
Speaker 16: far people will go to fight for their own family
20:52
Speaker 16: and that's what he did. And what an extraordinary, courageous
20:57
Speaker 16: young man. And you know, credit to his parents for
21:00
Speaker 16: bringing up a kid that way. My god, what a
21:02
Speaker 16: story of survival and what a story of carriage. What
21:04
Speaker 16: a great young man.
21:05
Speaker 2: And all the decisions Joe he had to make, just
21:08
Speaker 2: as a thirteen year old on his way back in
21:10
Speaker 2: to dump the kayak, then to dump his life jacket
21:13
Speaker 2: even because it was slowing him down.
21:15
Speaker 17: It's extraordinary. I'm just thinking about I heard this story,
21:18
Speaker 17: Yesterda back to when I was a teenager. The furthest
21:22
Speaker 17: I ever swam, and I was considered a really good
21:23
Speaker 17: swimmer like I was, you know, I was winning school
21:26
Speaker 17: competitions and stuff. The furthest I ever swam was twenty laps,
21:30
Speaker 17: that's one kilometer, and that was breaststroke, which is the
21:33
Speaker 17: easiest and less least energy intensive stroke. So I even
21:39
Speaker 17: I and that's in a swimming pool, and swimming in
21:42
Speaker 17: the surf is so much.
21:43
Speaker 2: Can barely make the fifty race that you had to
21:45
Speaker 2: do it.
21:46
Speaker 17: It is bonkers, like the idea that you would be
21:48
Speaker 17: able to swim for four hours in four kilometers, four
21:52
Speaker 17: hours in the surf rough season. It's a long, long,
21:56
Speaker 17: long time's credible stuggering, it really is.
22:00
Speaker 2: It's almost Michael Krogan, Joe hud A Ran. Great to
22:02
Speaker 2: see both.
22:03
Speaker 8: Thanks for you.
22:05
Speaker 11: Now.
22:05
Speaker 2: As we discussed before, police a warning of major security
22:08
Speaker 2: challenges around events and protests linked to Israeli President Isaac
22:13
Speaker 2: Kurtzog's visit on Monday. Well, let's bring it now to
22:15
Speaker 2: discuss the liberal MP Julian Lisa, Julia, Julian, good to
22:19
Speaker 2: see you. What's your comment on the fact that police
22:22
Speaker 2: are admitting publicly that they can't guarantee safety.
22:29
Speaker 18: Well, Shari I wrote to mal Lanyon, the Police Commissioner,
22:32
Speaker 18: last week, asking him to extend the ban on protest
22:35
Speaker 18: areas around Bondai and around Jewish communal sites and synagogues,
22:39
Speaker 18: because I don't want to see the Jewish community re
22:42
Speaker 18: traumatized after what it's gone through out at Bondai. The
22:46
Speaker 18: Jewish community deserves its moment to mourn. It deserves to
22:49
Speaker 18: be let alone and left in peace. And I say
22:52
Speaker 18: to the people who are organizing these protests, have a
22:55
Speaker 18: thought for your fellow Australians and the beliice. I say,
22:58
Speaker 18: your job is not.
23:00
Speaker 13: To protect the peace, it is to protect the peaceful.
23:03
Speaker 18: And I think we have to be able to have
23:04
Speaker 18: gatherings of the Jewish community to mourn the dead, to
23:08
Speaker 18: comfort the victims, to talk to those who are injured,
23:12
Speaker 18: without those things being demons interrupted by demonstrators.
23:17
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I also want to ask what you make of
23:20
Speaker 2: at Hughsick's comments that he isn't comfortable with Hertzeg visiting Australia.
23:27
Speaker 18: Well, Hertzog is the president of the Jewish State. We
23:30
Speaker 18: saw the worst terrorist attack committed on Australian soil in
23:34
Speaker 18: our history, where fifteen people were murdered in cold blood,
23:37
Speaker 18: where the Jewish community was directly targeted, and President Hertzog
23:41
Speaker 18: is here as a guest of government to comfort Jewish
23:44
Speaker 18: Australians at a time of mourning. I think this is
23:47
Speaker 18: a time where all Australians can appreciate what the Jewish
23:51
Speaker 18: community is going through. And I applaud the government for
23:54
Speaker 18: asking President Hertzog to be here, and I think everyone
23:56
Speaker 18: should support the visit in the interests of the safety
24:00
Speaker 18: and the interest of respecting Jewish Australians given what they've
24:03
Speaker 18: been through.
24:05
Speaker 2: In question time today, one of the til MPs, I
24:08
Speaker 2: mean she had the chance to push the government on
24:11
Speaker 2: hate speech laws, whether they're actually being used to kick
24:14
Speaker 2: out extremists or band groups, but instead have a look
24:17
Speaker 2: at the question she asked.
24:21
Speaker 19: Two weeks ago, this Parliament passed legislation to respond to
24:23
Speaker 19: the Bondai terror attack. The cross Bench was required to
24:27
Speaker 19: vote on legislation mere hours after receiving it. That process
24:31
Speaker 19: disrespected the one in three Australians who voted for a
24:34
Speaker 19: strong cross Bench and it degrades the democracy that we
24:37
Speaker 19: fought so hard to nurture. What steps will the government
24:41
Speaker 19: take to ensure that lawmaking processes following future crises will
24:45
Speaker 19: not degrade democracy in this.
24:46
Speaker 2: Way degrading democracy, Julian, what do you make of that?
24:52
Speaker 18: I was flabbergasted by this question, Shari. This parliamentarian represents
24:57
Speaker 18: the second largest Jewish community in Australia. I was in
25:00
Speaker 18: her electorate when the terrorist attack occurred at a similar
25:04
Speaker 18: event to the event in Bondai. What Jewish Australians want
25:07
Speaker 18: to know, What law abiding Australians want to know, including
25:10
Speaker 18: people in her electorate, is how many hate preachers? As
25:13
Speaker 18: the government turfed as a result of these laws, When
25:16
Speaker 18: is his book Toier going to be used? Are going
25:18
Speaker 18: to be listed? When are the neo Nazis going to
25:21
Speaker 18: be listed? And instead she asks a question about process.
25:25
Speaker 18: The Teals are completely out of touch here. They're supposed
25:28
Speaker 18: to change politics and supposed to represent their communities better
25:31
Speaker 18: than the major parties. But I can say this parliamentarian
25:34
Speaker 18: is not representing her community and all the Teals do
25:37
Speaker 18: in my electorate is for ment anti Semitism.
25:41
Speaker 2: Pretty strong comments there, and I just should probably say,
25:45
Speaker 2: for legal reasons they would deny that they're contributing to
25:48
Speaker 2: anti Semitism. Julian Susan Lee and David Little prowd they're
25:52
Speaker 2: locked in these talks over whether the coalition can reunite
25:55
Speaker 2: or not. Julian from the Liberal MPs, you're speaking to
25:59
Speaker 2: do most ignol knowledge that you guys can't actually win
26:02
Speaker 2: government without a coalition with the NATS.
26:08
Speaker 18: Well, Susan Lyn, David Little proud of working through the
26:10
Speaker 18: issues and I'm very hopeful that the coalition will come
26:13
Speaker 18: back together and they are working those issues through in
26:18
Speaker 18: a constructive manner. You know, we have been in government
26:23
Speaker 18: with the National Party in the past and our tradition
26:26
Speaker 18: has been to have a coalition and that's what's being
26:29
Speaker 18: worked towards. But like you, Shari, as you said in
26:33
Speaker 18: your earlier segment, as I've been going around the country,
26:36
Speaker 18: people are actually still processing the issues around Bondi. I
26:40
Speaker 18: had people coming up to me with tears in their
26:43
Speaker 18: eyes at my son's school who doesn't go to a
26:45
Speaker 18: Jewish school, who wanted to talk to me about the
26:48
Speaker 18: tragedy of Bondai. And this week in particular, Australians are
26:52
Speaker 18: focused on the rising cost of living caused by the
26:55
Speaker 18: out of control spending of the Albanese government, with another
26:58
Speaker 18: interest rate rise Strailians as they're sending their children back
27:01
Speaker 18: to school or asking how do we pay the school fees?
27:04
Speaker 18: How do we afford to send our kids to childcare
27:07
Speaker 18: when more than double the number of childcare centers are
27:11
Speaker 18: now charging above the cap than they were when we
27:14
Speaker 18: left office, so costs are going up everywhere. These are
27:18
Speaker 18: the things people are focused on. They're not focused on
27:21
Speaker 18: what's happening in this building.
27:22
Speaker 2: Well exactly, and that's the disgrace about what's happening with
27:25
Speaker 2: the coalition that they should be focused on these important
27:27
Speaker 2: issues instead of just imploding. But Julian Lisa, well, really.
27:32
Speaker 4: O Schari.
27:33
Speaker 18: We are asking questions about these issues in the Parliament
27:36
Speaker 18: every day and we'll continue to hold the government to account.
27:39
Speaker 2: I know you well, Jullian Lisa, thank you very much.
27:41
Speaker 2: Great to see you as always. All right, let's return
27:44
Speaker 2: to the interest rate rise now fresh hit to households
27:47
Speaker 2: a political headache as well for the alban Ezy government.
27:50
Speaker 2: And joining me now is former Assistant Treasury Secretary David Pearl. David,
27:55
Speaker 2: thanks for your time. Look, starting with the point on
27:58
Speaker 2: government spending, how much do you think this is contributing
28:03
Speaker 2: to the rate hike that we saw this week.
28:08
Speaker 13: That's contributing significantly.
28:10
Speaker 1: Chari.
28:11
Speaker 13: Yes, we're seeing a strong private sector led recovery, as
28:16
Speaker 13: the Treasurer points out, But that is precisely the reason
28:20
Speaker 13: that the Treasurer should be pulling the lever he has
28:22
Speaker 13: control of, which is commonwealth out lace to take pressure
28:27
Speaker 13: off a supply constrained economy. So yes, it's playing a
28:30
Speaker 13: big role.
28:32
Speaker 2: When Jim Chalmers was asked about this, he pointed to
28:35
Speaker 2: private sector spending and the private sector. What's your reading
28:40
Speaker 2: of the comments that Michelle Bullock actually made.
28:46
Speaker 13: I think Michelle Bullock had a difficult time throughout that
28:49
Speaker 13: press conference. It was probably the first grilling she'd received
28:53
Speaker 13: in any of her post meeting press conferences. I was disappointed,
28:56
Speaker 13: Scharri she didn't admit to serious policiras last year strategic
29:00
Speaker 13: errors and show any contrition On the question of government spending.
29:05
Speaker 13: Bullock dodged it. She said that I control, together with
29:10
Speaker 13: my board, the interest rate lever. Jim Chalmers controls the
29:13
Speaker 13: fiscal policy lever. But fiscal and monetary policy have to
29:17
Speaker 13: work together if we're in an inflationary crisis in Australia.
29:21
Speaker 13: Along with Norway's the only oecit country in the view
29:25
Speaker 13: of the IMF, with a persistent inflation problem. So I
29:29
Speaker 13: think Michelle Bullock should be much more upfront about the
29:32
Speaker 13: need for fiscal and monetary policy working together.
29:36
Speaker 2: When you just mentioned there that she didn't show contrition,
29:39
Speaker 2: which you would have liked to have seen from her
29:41
Speaker 2: admitting her errors, I take it you're referring to the
29:44
Speaker 2: interest rate cut before the election last year.
29:50
Speaker 13: Absolutely, Sherry, and I was on your program this time
29:52
Speaker 13: last year as soon as that cut was announced, and
29:56
Speaker 13: I was flabbergasted that the step was made. And this
30:00
Speaker 13: is not being a smart alec in hindsight. At the time,
30:06
Speaker 13: as I explained to you and your listeners, Shari, the
30:09
Speaker 13: RBA board's own test for an interest rate cut had
30:14
Speaker 13: not been met. We had not seen underlying inflation return
30:18
Speaker 13: to the target band, and it certainly hadn't returned in
30:21
Speaker 13: a sustainable way, so they did jump the gun.
30:23
Speaker 2: I mean, seeing this, I don't know if you want
30:25
Speaker 2: to call it mismanagement, but seeing the wrong calls being made.
30:28
Speaker 2: I mean, you were in the Treasury as an assistant secretary.
30:34
Speaker 2: Do you feel angry that now households are going to
30:36
Speaker 2: have to pay more higher rates, and there might be
30:39
Speaker 2: another rate rise as well.
30:42
Speaker 13: I do feel angry because the Treasury of twenty years ago,
30:45
Speaker 13: Shari was a policy conscience for the government because every minister,
30:50
Speaker 13: apart from the treasurer, every department in Canberra wants more
30:54
Speaker 13: money and wants to raise taxes, and Treasury when I joined,
30:57
Speaker 13: was the only one together with a strong treasure and
31:00
Speaker 13: we had Peter Costello at the time who would basically
31:04
Speaker 13: keep spending in check. And because we don't have, in
31:07
Speaker 13: my view, a competent treasurer. He's very good at one
31:11
Speaker 13: line as to the media, but doesn't actually run erc
31:14
Speaker 13: in the way that previous treasurers have. He doesn't corral
31:17
Speaker 13: state and federal, state and territory treasurers, and he doesn't
31:21
Speaker 13: have any control of a Chris Bowen and energy policy.
31:24
Speaker 13: We don't have any effective control over that. And it
31:27
Speaker 13: does make me angry because Treasury today, I'm sad to say,
31:30
Speaker 13: is hopelessly politicized.
31:34
Speaker 2: It is a pretty especially for families that are now
31:37
Speaker 2: dealing with another rate rights and not to mention the
31:40
Speaker 2: economy more broadly. All right, David Pearl, thank you very
31:42
Speaker 2: much for your time still to come. Channel nine tries
31:46
Speaker 2: to suppress details of a hush money payment. They want
31:49
Speaker 2: to keep it secret for fifty years. So much for
31:52
Speaker 2: the public's right to know. At Channel nine plus, an
31:55
Speaker 2: incredible Bondi survivor donates his blood stained shirt to the
31:59
Speaker 2: Jewish music Vlad will join me right here after the break,
32:08
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Well. On the night of the bond Eyed
32:10
Speaker 2: terror attack, State emergency services chaplain Vlad Cotlier came on
32:15
Speaker 2: air to tell us about the horror. Now you may
32:18
Speaker 2: recall seeing Vlad that night. Oh that your hands. He's
32:24
Speaker 2: showing you his hands because they're covered in blood. Flad,
32:26
Speaker 2: what happened when the shooting started?
32:29
Speaker 20: So I was with my son, eight years old. I
32:34
Speaker 20: pushed him to the ground and I fell on top
32:35
Speaker 20: of him. The shooting was going on five minutes, NonStop,
32:40
Speaker 20: probably fifty sixty gunshots. It was non stop. And then
32:43
Speaker 20: once the shooting stop, I went out tried to help people.
32:48
Speaker 20: I was just covering bodies because there was people dead everywhere.
32:53
Speaker 20: Young old Rabbi, they're all dead, and.
32:58
Speaker 2: Blad joins me. Live now, I mean, Glad, when you
33:01
Speaker 2: came on air, that was I think the moment that
33:04
Speaker 2: we all really understood the scale of what had happened.
33:10
Speaker 20: Yeah, I think it was. Yeah, it's still it's still
33:14
Speaker 20: coming around, you know. The same time is you know,
33:19
Speaker 20: fixing better. I found it. As time goes by, it
33:21
Speaker 20: you get to remember more things that you didn't remember
33:24
Speaker 20: on the time. You know, you go a you know,
33:26
Speaker 20: auto pilot, You do whatever you train to do. You
33:29
Speaker 20: just do what you can. But as time goes by
33:33
Speaker 20: and more things comes back. So it's not quite time
33:36
Speaker 20: is curing yet, but I'm sure it will get better.
33:38
Speaker 20: We'll have to.
33:39
Speaker 2: And how's your eight year old son, David. I met
33:42
Speaker 2: him a couple of nights ago. How's he managing? Because
33:45
Speaker 2: he was obviously there, he saw the massacre.
33:49
Speaker 20: He I hope he didn't see much because when I
33:51
Speaker 20: pulled him out, he pulled his shirt over his head,
33:53
Speaker 20: so he can't because we were right in the middle
33:55
Speaker 20: with a lot of casualties. Well, so I don't think
33:58
Speaker 20: it's so much, but he get the grasp of what happened.
34:01
Speaker 20: But just to give you an idea, when he.
34:03
Speaker 2: Heard it though, you know, there were a lot of
34:05
Speaker 2: children there who who heard or saw, and I can
34:08
Speaker 2: give you a little more than they should ever see
34:10
Speaker 2: in their lives.
34:10
Speaker 20: They shouldn't.
34:11
Speaker 2: I mean, you don't let a child watch movies with
34:14
Speaker 2: this sort of violence. And they and they had to
34:16
Speaker 2: live through it, wondering if they were going to survive
34:18
Speaker 2: big impact on the kids.
34:20
Speaker 20: Well, just last weekend Australia, they we were in one
34:23
Speaker 20: of the fairies and when the gun slut started, he
34:27
Speaker 20: had massive pitears that he just melted down and he
34:30
Speaker 20: didn't you know, I didn't I knew what it was,
34:33
Speaker 20: but he didn't. He just went they did it shooting.
34:36
Speaker 2: And you know, so he even adults when there's a
34:39
Speaker 2: loud noise at a construction site or something, a lot
34:41
Speaker 2: of adults who were there are out jumping in shape.
34:45
Speaker 20: I can see that myself.
34:46
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah so that I mean in that clip
34:49
Speaker 2: we just played there, we saw your your hand covered
34:53
Speaker 2: in blood, but actually your shirt as well was covered
34:58
Speaker 2: in blood of people you tried to save that night
35:01
Speaker 2: people you helped an incredible thing. You're now donating that
35:05
Speaker 2: shirt or giving it to the Sydney Jewish Museum.
35:09
Speaker 20: Why so we spoke with Rabbi Yosi and he said, oh,
35:16
Speaker 20: there's a museum. A lady from the museum will be
35:18
Speaker 20: coming to that Sunday memorial name reading and I said,
35:24
Speaker 20: I have the shirt. I didn't wash it, not in
35:27
Speaker 20: any for any particular reason. I just put it away
35:30
Speaker 20: and not look at it. And when you mentioned it
35:32
Speaker 20: to me, I said, you know what, I've got the shirt.
35:34
Speaker 20: I haven't washed it. It's all still the same as
35:36
Speaker 20: it was. How but we'll give it to the museum.
35:39
Speaker 20: And we thought that's a great idea, and so he
35:42
Speaker 20: reached out to the Jewish Museum and the lady said, yeah, absolutely,
35:45
Speaker 20: will want to get that.
35:47
Speaker 2: And the Jewish Museum is collecting a lot of things
35:49
Speaker 2: from that night. Also, they've collected some of the flowers
35:53
Speaker 2: from the memorial. I mean thousands and thousands of Australians
35:57
Speaker 2: came to pay their respect and they brought flowers. Then
36:00
Speaker 2: when the floral tribute finished, people have been writing on stones,
36:06
Speaker 2: so the museums also connecting the stones. I mean, there's
36:09
Speaker 2: really been a sense of community at that memorial site.
36:12
Speaker 20: Absolutely, And I was lucky enough to get called to
36:15
Speaker 20: that warehouse where they were processing all these flowers. And
36:18
Speaker 20: the artist, her name is Nina, she came, she flew
36:20
Speaker 20: from Melbourne and they showing a huge amount of word.
36:24
Speaker 20: They were pulling separate colors and separate flowers, and they're
36:28
Speaker 20: putting them together and it's going to go all to
36:29
Speaker 20: the Jewish Museum for exhibitions.
36:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that the museum's closed at the moment.
36:33
Speaker 2: It will be about a year before before you know,
36:37
Speaker 2: there'll be a whole section. I mean, it's terrible, not
36:40
Speaker 2: just on the Holocaust, but our section on the Bonday
36:43
Speaker 2: terror attack. Vlad, you knew many of the people who
36:48
Speaker 2: lost all, they lost their lives.
36:51
Speaker 20: I was just talking. It was Sonya about the Rubby
36:57
Speaker 20: Eli that was Eli Schlang slang that he actually went
37:01
Speaker 20: to Israel about twelve years ago and marry me there.
37:06
Speaker 20: So he flew from here there. So that's how close
37:07
Speaker 20: we were. Oh wow, he married you women, they flew
37:11
Speaker 20: together there, And how.
37:14
Speaker 2: Are you coping? How are you dealing with this?
37:18
Speaker 20: You just have to it is that we don't have
37:20
Speaker 20: any other option. We just have to carry on. We
37:23
Speaker 20: have to show we we're proud of who we are.
37:26
Speaker 20: We have to let the light always win over the darkness,
37:30
Speaker 20: and by just being strong, that's what we do. And
37:32
Speaker 20: I just show that we're here and we're here to stay.
37:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think we have to keep telling the
37:38
Speaker 2: stories not only to record what happened for posterity, but
37:43
Speaker 2: also as a warning to make sure this doesn't happen again.
37:46
Speaker 2: I mean, this is very real, this anti Semitism fight.
37:49
Speaker 2: We just have to do everything we possibly can.
37:52
Speaker 20: And sometimes it's difficult to repeat the story again and
37:55
Speaker 20: again because I do get asked often too. And I said, look,
37:59
Speaker 20: as much as it sometimes difficult, I do go ahead
38:04
Speaker 20: until to every possible detail I can remember.
38:06
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being here of that, really
38:09
Speaker 2: really appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right, Still
38:12
Speaker 2: to come Channel nine, losers. It's bid to keep a
38:15
Speaker 2: seven hundred thousand dollars hush money payment secret for fifty
38:19
Speaker 2: years plus. The world waits to see what Donald Trump
38:22
Speaker 2: will do about Iran. That's next welcome back, we'll Amid
38:31
Speaker 2: fresh tensions in the Gulf, the US is still pushing
38:33
Speaker 2: ahead with talks with Iran. Now, Israel wants Trump's envoy
38:37
Speaker 2: Steve Wickcoff to go in skeptical because Iran Neddiya, who
38:41
Speaker 2: says won't stick to any deal, especially with zero enrichment
38:45
Speaker 2: and missile limits back on the table. Trump insists that
38:49
Speaker 2: he's undertaking negotiations with Iran in good faith.
38:53
Speaker 8: They are negotiating and they'd like to do something, and
38:56
Speaker 8: we'll see if something is going to be done. They
38:58
Speaker 8: had a chance to do something a while ago and
39:02
Speaker 8: it didn't work out, and we did Midnight Hammer. I
39:05
Speaker 8: don't think they want that happening again, but they would
39:08
Speaker 8: like to negotiate. We are negotiating with them right now.
39:11
Speaker 2: Is joining me now to unpack this strategic analysis Australia
39:15
Speaker 2: Director Michael Shuebridge. Michael, thanks for your time. So around
39:19
Speaker 2: claims it still once fair talks of the US over
39:22
Speaker 2: its nuclear program, but we've seen a drone was shot
39:25
Speaker 2: down near a US carrier. There was also an attempted
39:28
Speaker 2: boarding of a US flagged ship, so this is a
39:32
Speaker 2: volatile situation.
39:35
Speaker 9: Well, exactly, Charie. The US is putting a huge amount
39:39
Speaker 9: of military force into the region on top of the
39:42
Speaker 9: presence they usually have in bases in places like the
39:45
Speaker 9: UAE and Katar. So that aircraft carrier strike group around
39:50
Speaker 9: the Abraham Lincoln that's the one that shot down the
39:53
Speaker 9: single Iranian surveillance drone. That's just part of the military
39:58
Speaker 9: build up. The problem that Donald Trump is going to
40:01
Speaker 9: have is when you put that much military force in place,
40:05
Speaker 9: you either use it or you have to move it
40:08
Speaker 9: after a while because the costs get very big, very fast.
40:13
Speaker 2: I mean, is there a situation, a scenario do you
40:16
Speaker 2: think where he's just playing out the motions of a
40:19
Speaker 2: negotiation while you know, as you say, getting that infrastructure
40:23
Speaker 2: and equipment in place ready to attack.
40:29
Speaker 9: I think that's very hard to tell, because the problem
40:32
Speaker 9: that the Pentagon military planners have is what is the
40:36
Speaker 9: purpose of military strikes against Iranian targets? Remember back in
40:41
Speaker 9: June last year with Operation Midnight Hammer, President Trump told
40:46
Speaker 9: the world that the strikes had completely and totally obliterated
40:50
Speaker 9: the Iranian nuclear program. Well, now we're hearing the purpose
40:54
Speaker 9: of putting this carrier in the Gulf is to stop
40:59
Speaker 9: the Iranians pursuing their continuing nuclear program. So it's a
41:03
Speaker 9: confusing goal and it can't be achieved by limited military strikes.
41:10
Speaker 2: I mean, it's been in part at least sparked by
41:14
Speaker 2: the Iranian protest, hasn't it pushing for regime change?
41:20
Speaker 1: Possibly?
41:21
Speaker 9: Except the Trump administration has been very clear twice now
41:25
Speaker 9: in their National Security Strategy and their recent National Defense
41:29
Speaker 9: Strategy that's only a week and a bit old, that
41:33
Speaker 9: the US is not interested in regime change. What it's
41:37
Speaker 9: interested in is using force narrowly to coerce countries to
41:41
Speaker 9: do it at once. And what President Trump is saying
41:44
Speaker 9: about this military force build up is it's about Iran's
41:48
Speaker 9: nuclear program, and it's about Iran's support to proxies like
41:53
Speaker 9: Hesbola and Hamas. This isn't about regime change.
41:57
Speaker 2: Although you remember a few weeks ago when we started
42:00
Speaker 2: the public executions, Trump did take to social media and
42:03
Speaker 2: he said help is on its way. So you know,
42:06
Speaker 2: this could be an extension of that as well. But
42:08
Speaker 2: as you say, we just won't know just yet. Perhaps
42:11
Speaker 2: things will become clearer in the next week or so.
42:14
Speaker 2: Now I want to ask you about the Albaneze government's
42:16
Speaker 2: move today to do this big defense property sell off
42:20
Speaker 2: sixty seven sites. Now they say this is to save
42:24
Speaker 2: about two billion dollars, but I mean, this is what
42:28
Speaker 2: I struggle with. You look at the wasst in other
42:31
Speaker 2: areas twenty billion dollars. The Albanezy government wiped in student debts.
42:36
Speaker 2: So they're selling off all these defense assets for just
42:39
Speaker 2: two billion, but they're wasting money in other areas. Hex's
42:42
Speaker 2: debt is just one example.
42:44
Speaker 9: What do you think yes, I think you're right, Jerry.
42:48
Speaker 9: I mean a profligate family is one that sells off
42:52
Speaker 9: the family, silver and family assets to fund a bad lifestyle.
42:59
Speaker 9: That's what is happening with this defense estate fire sale.
43:03
Speaker 9: The government has decided to sell off extraordinarily valuable historic
43:11
Speaker 9: inner urban defense properties like Victoria Barracks in Sydney, and
43:16
Speaker 9: they tell us it's to help reinvest in defense capability.
43:20
Speaker 9: What they're going to get from selling sixty eight properties
43:24
Speaker 9: is about one point eight billion dollars over a long
43:28
Speaker 9: period of time, extraordinarily bad result for selling such valuable
43:33
Speaker 9: property around the nation. And that's not even enough to
43:36
Speaker 9: buy twenty percent of a single Hunter frigate. So they're
43:41
Speaker 9: stripping defense of its historical national assets instead of just
43:47
Speaker 9: increasing the defense budget to do what the organization needs to.
43:51
Speaker 2: Do, increasing the defense budget and creating savings elsewhere, starving
43:57
Speaker 2: wasting money elsewhere. But they made all these election promises
44:00
Speaker 2: that they now have to fund instead of, as you say,
44:04
Speaker 2: promising to increase how much we are spending in our
44:06
Speaker 2: defense capability at the time when the world is the
44:09
Speaker 2: most volatile it's ever been in recent history at.
44:12
Speaker 9: Least, And this is another grand announcement from the Albanesi
44:17
Speaker 9: government about how historic and enormous it is. And when
44:20
Speaker 9: you actually look at the numbers, they're getting a very
44:23
Speaker 9: small return from flogging off historic assets in our most
44:29
Speaker 9: valuable parts of the country. It just looks like very
44:33
Speaker 9: amateur public administration and wasteful use of national assets.
44:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, indeed, all right, Michael Schubridge, thank you very much
44:42
Speaker 2: for your time. All Right, Well nine has tried to
44:45
Speaker 2: keep a pretty explosive settlement under wraps. This is relating
44:48
Speaker 2: to a witness key to the Ben Robert Smith case
44:51
Speaker 2: coming up after the breakoff speak with a media lawyer
44:54
Speaker 2: about what could now be revealed. Well, now, to the
45:01
Speaker 2: hypocrisy of a media company that claims to champion the
45:05
Speaker 2: public interest. Channel nine has tried to suppress the details
45:09
Speaker 2: of a hush money payment with a key witness in
45:12
Speaker 2: the Ben Robert Smith defamation trial, suppress it for fifty years.
45:18
Speaker 2: This after she planned to expose a damning recording of
45:21
Speaker 2: journalist Nick mackenzie. We're joining me now to discuss is
45:25
Speaker 2: media lawyer Nicholas Pullen. Nicholas, thank you. So nine wanted
45:29
Speaker 2: a deal. They wanted to keep this deal, This hush
45:32
Speaker 2: money payment secret for fifty years, but a judge has
45:37
Speaker 2: decided now to toss out that suppression order. Tell us
45:40
Speaker 2: about this, Yes, that's right.
45:42
Speaker 12: On Monday, Justice Perum came down after an interim order
45:48
Speaker 12: had been in place suppressing the contents of this confidential settlement.
45:54
Speaker 12: In the final hearing, his judgment was that no, because
45:58
Speaker 12: of a well, publications of the contents last year actually
46:04
Speaker 12: prior to the order being made. Most likely the judge
46:10
Speaker 12: found that, well, the cat's been the cat's essentially out
46:13
Speaker 12: of the bag, So I'm not going to make an
46:15
Speaker 12: order suppressing this confidential settlement.
46:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was of course reporting on this program
46:22
Speaker 2: here because we covered it extensively. So what happens now,
46:26
Speaker 2: and that's nine appeals, the full details will become public,
46:30
Speaker 2: is that right?
46:31
Speaker 12: That's right. Justice Peram has given until the sixteenth of
46:37
Speaker 12: February the nine media network to consider whether or not
46:45
Speaker 12: they want to make a special appeal. Now, if they
46:47
Speaker 12: haven't by that date, then the contents of that confidential
46:50
Speaker 12: settlement will be able to be published.
46:54
Speaker 2: Just a comment from you, I mean, seeking a suppression
46:57
Speaker 2: order for fifty years, that's quite unusual, isn't it. I mean,
47:01
Speaker 2: it's more than cabinet papers.
47:03
Speaker 12: Yeah, it certainly is. Look, one can only speculate that
47:07
Speaker 12: they were trying to make it as palatable as possible
47:10
Speaker 12: to not have a suppression order forever more. But let's
47:13
Speaker 12: put a time on it, so anyone who's been involved
47:16
Speaker 12: in that settlement will no longer be on this earth.
47:18
Speaker 12: That's I think the best we can speculate on it.
47:21
Speaker 12: But it is extraordinary. I haven't heard of anything of
47:24
Speaker 12: this nature being applied for.
47:25
Speaker 2: In the past, and it is bizarre when I've already
47:28
Speaker 2: reported on this, when Sky News has already reported on
47:30
Speaker 2: this on air and on our website, it is already
47:34
Speaker 2: in the public domain. Not the full details. We don't
47:36
Speaker 2: know what else is there, but at least the key details,
47:40
Speaker 2: that's right.
47:41
Speaker 12: And not to mention that the Nine Media didn't make
47:46
Speaker 12: any application to have what you can currently actually access
47:50
Speaker 12: on the internet right now. The contents of that settlement
47:54
Speaker 12: quite extraordinary.
47:57
Speaker 2: So what does this do as well? I mean maybe
48:00
Speaker 2: this is not really a legal question, but what do
48:02
Speaker 2: you think this does to public confidence in a media company?
48:06
Speaker 2: We always see the Nine network claiming independent always they're
48:10
Speaker 2: fighting for you, They're fighting for the average person. But
48:13
Speaker 2: now they're fighting to keep their own hush money payment
48:16
Speaker 2: secret for fifty years.
48:19
Speaker 12: At the very least, it's ironic. Some could stress it
48:24
Speaker 12: even further in relation to the nature of a media
48:27
Speaker 12: company seeking a suppression order, when they are always thumping
48:32
Speaker 12: the table in courts fighting against suppression orders on the
48:35
Speaker 12: basics of a public interest. One would have thought there's
48:39
Speaker 12: quite a public interest in the content of this settlement,
48:46
Speaker 12: given the circumstances in which it was made.
48:49
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I was looking at it from a
48:50
Speaker 2: public's perspective, but from you as a lawyer, it must
48:53
Speaker 2: be frustrating to see them claim everything's in the public
48:56
Speaker 2: interest all the time when they're fighting to publish, when
48:59
Speaker 2: they're fighting other suppression holders to publish information on their programs.
49:04
Speaker 2: But yet here they are trying to keep what is
49:06
Speaker 2: a public interest story out of the media domain. It's unbelievable,
49:11
Speaker 2: really hypocrisy. All right, Nicholas Pull and thank you very
49:15
Speaker 2: much for your time. Really appreciate it. And look, it
49:20
Speaker 2: is so great to be back with you all tonight.
49:22
Speaker 2: I've really missed you all again. I've been working so
49:25
Speaker 2: hard on this documentary. It's been a really emotional seven
49:29
Speaker 2: weeks since the terror attack. I think a lot of
49:32
Speaker 2: Australia has just moved on, but for the Jewish community,
49:35
Speaker 2: we haven't moved on. Life will never be the same again,
49:39
Speaker 2: and I think I just want to remind everyone of that.
49:41
Speaker 2: All right, I'll see you tomorrow at eight. He's Paul Murray.