Transcript

Sharri | 22 April · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News.
0:04
Speaker 2: This is Sharry Good Evening.
0:07
Speaker 3: Tonight, President Trump extends the ceasefire against Iran after it
0:12
Speaker 3: rejected peace talks. This is the Wall enters our region
0:16
Speaker 3: with America seizing an Iranian linked ship in the Indo Pacific.
0:21
Speaker 3: Will have full analysis with Peter Jennings. Australia's worst Foreign Minister,
0:26
Speaker 3: Penny Wong has combined her two favorite pastimes, attacking Trump
0:30
Speaker 3: and calling.
0:31
Speaker 2: For de escalation.
0:32
Speaker 3: We'll get a reaction to her comments with Michael Kroger
0:35
Speaker 3: in a moment, and the inside scoop on the shock
0:39
Speaker 3: immunity deal granted to one of Ben Robert Smith's main accusers,
0:43
Speaker 3: Aaron Patrick, the journalist who's investigating these deals, will be
0:47
Speaker 3: here at the desk. Plus, the new AFP Commissioner, Chrissy
0:51
Speaker 3: Barrett isn't off to a great start, from her role
0:54
Speaker 3: in the sensational arrest of Ben Robert Smith to her
0:57
Speaker 3: comments after the Bondai massacre. If I'm an AFP insider,
1:01
Speaker 3: We'll get into that a bit later, but first tonight,
1:05
Speaker 3: Foreign Minister Penny Wong was criticizing President Trump again today.
1:10
Speaker 2: As she is doing more and more frequently, it.
1:13
Speaker 1: Is difficult isn't it to look and see a president
1:18
Speaker 1: an administration that is behaving very differently to how we
1:22
Speaker 1: have previously envisioned America.
1:25
Speaker 3: It seems her two favorite media lines are critiquing the
1:29
Speaker 3: president and calling.
1:31
Speaker 2: For de escalation.
1:33
Speaker 3: But this is extraordinary open public criticism from a foreign
1:38
Speaker 3: minister of an ally, a supposed ally, And it's criticism
1:42
Speaker 3: of a president that is going to war on behalf
1:45
Speaker 3: of Western civilization in the name of freedom and safety
1:49
Speaker 3: against Islamic extremists obtaining a nuclear weapon. She's also criticizing
1:55
Speaker 3: the president of a nation that Australia relies on for
1:59
Speaker 3: our national security because we shore as hell can't defend
2:03
Speaker 3: ourselves with a state of our military, which the Albanezi
2:07
Speaker 3: government has refused to properly invest in. And do you
2:11
Speaker 3: think anyone would be joining the ADF after seeing how
2:14
Speaker 3: Ben Roberts Smith has been treated a war hero held
2:18
Speaker 3: up as a scapegoat, while four others who have culpability
2:23
Speaker 3: in alleged murders have been given immunity in order to
2:27
Speaker 3: testify against him. President Trump has been right to criticize
2:33
Speaker 3: Australia and speaking of the so called allies, keya Stamer
2:37
Speaker 3: and Emmanuel mccron. You'll recall they held a big press
2:41
Speaker 3: conference on Friday, positioning themselves as heroes, declaring that they'd
2:46
Speaker 3: protect international shipping.
2:49
Speaker 2: But that was when they thought the war had stopped.
2:51
Speaker 2: Here's what they said.
2:53
Speaker 4: The central message today is one of hope, a clear
2:56
Speaker 4: call for preparedness and a unified European response, standing alongside
3:02
Speaker 4: member nations from the Gulf, Asia, Africa, Latin America and
3:06
Speaker 4: the Pacific. In short, the world were united in this
3:10
Speaker 4: shared goal, a coalition of independent states upholding international law
3:15
Speaker 4: and safeguarding freedom of navigation.
3:17
Speaker 5: That, along with France the UK will lead a multinational
3:21
Speaker 5: mission to protect freedom of navigation as soon as conditions allow.
3:26
Speaker 5: This will be strictly peaceful and defensive, as a mission
3:31
Speaker 5: to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance.
3:36
Speaker 3: So that was when Iran had committed to open the
3:39
Speaker 3: Strait of Homos for two weeks to allow international shipping
3:43
Speaker 3: to resume safely. Well, that commitment has now turned to dust.
3:49
Speaker 3: So where is Keir Starman?
3:51
Speaker 6: Now?
3:51
Speaker 2: Where is Macron?
3:53
Speaker 3: Will they, along with allies like Australia, still fulfill their
3:56
Speaker 3: commitment to protect international shipping now that there's.
4:00
Speaker 2: An actual risk, of course, not.
4:04
Speaker 3: Defense expert Peter Jennings confirmed there's no British or French
4:08
Speaker 3: operations in the golf at the moment. He'll be on
4:11
Speaker 3: the show shortly, but here's what he told me today.
4:14
Speaker 3: He said, it's very disappointing the British and French have
4:17
Speaker 3: done nothing beyond talk, no naval action beyond some preparation,
4:23
Speaker 3: despite having very direct security interests in the Straits opening.
4:28
Speaker 3: So their political position is that they'll only step in
4:32
Speaker 3: to escort ships if a peace agreement has been reached,
4:37
Speaker 3: and this is absurd by definition. If we get to
4:40
Speaker 3: that stage, the ships won't need escorting through the Strait
4:44
Speaker 3: at all.
4:45
Speaker 2: Now, this fight.
4:46
Speaker 3: Against Iran, they should remember, is on behalf of the
4:50
Speaker 3: West against terror and Islamic radicalization. Yet the Allies are
4:55
Speaker 3: missing in action. Trump has described these leaders and NATO
5:01
Speaker 3: as a paper tiger, and it seems is one hundred
5:04
Speaker 3: percent right.
5:10
Speaker 6: Now.
5:10
Speaker 3: President Trump has extended the ceasefire with Iran even though
5:14
Speaker 3: it refuses to commit to peace talks. The President had
5:18
Speaker 3: just said in an interview that Iran had no other
5:21
Speaker 3: option than to negotiate because they're in such a weak position.
5:25
Speaker 2: And here he was making this.
5:27
Speaker 6: Point, We're going to end up with a great deal.
5:30
Speaker 6: I think it's got I think they have no choice.
5:32
Speaker 6: We've taken out their navy, we've taken out their air force,
5:35
Speaker 6: we've taken out their leaders, frankly, which does complicate things
5:38
Speaker 6: in one way, but these leaders are much more rational.
5:41
Speaker 6: It's a It is regime change, no matter what you
5:44
Speaker 6: want to call it, which is not something I said
5:46
Speaker 6: I was going to do. But I've done it indirectly maybe,
5:50
Speaker 6: but I've done it, and I think we're in a
5:52
Speaker 6: very strong negotiating position to do what other presidents should
5:56
Speaker 6: have done during a forty seven year period. We have
6:00
Speaker 6: years where these bloodthirsty people have been killing a lot
6:04
Speaker 6: of soldiers, a lot of our soldiers, and a lot
6:06
Speaker 6: of other people. They've killed forty two thousand people over
6:09
Speaker 6: the last two months.
6:12
Speaker 3: So, by all logic, what he says should be true
6:15
Speaker 3: that Iran is in such a weak position it has
6:17
Speaker 3: no choice but to negotiate. Yet Iran's leadership is in disarray.
6:23
Speaker 3: The IIGC military seems happy to run the nation into
6:27
Speaker 3: the ground as long as they can maintain their grip
6:30
Speaker 3: on power. The American blockade strategy is excellent, But the
6:36
Speaker 3: IIGC don't seem to care about the daily economic losses
6:41
Speaker 3: worth half a billion dollars and keeping the pots closed.
6:46
Speaker 3: All they care about is staying in control with their
6:49
Speaker 3: oppressive Islamic extremist rule. When Trump prefers, as you heard
6:54
Speaker 3: there to more rational leaders a new regime, will he need,
7:00
Speaker 3: he means Mohammad Gullibaf and Abbas Aragachi, who are considered
7:06
Speaker 3: slightly more moderate than the late Ayatola Khamenei. But the
7:10
Speaker 3: issue is the military isn't listening to them. Aragachi declared.
7:14
Speaker 3: The Strait of Hall Moves was opened, but barely twelve
7:17
Speaker 3: hours later, the military was firing on international ships trying
7:22
Speaker 3: to pass. I dare say Aragachi's life could even be
7:26
Speaker 3: at risk. And so these so called moderate leaders were overruled,
7:32
Speaker 3: and Iran shockingly withdrew from the peace talks, Vice President JD.
7:36
Speaker 2: Vance abandoning his trip.
7:39
Speaker 3: JD was on standby to fly to Pakistan for the
7:41
Speaker 3: negotiations along with Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushna. Now, in response,
7:48
Speaker 3: Trump has extended the ceasefire. And now here's exactly what
7:52
Speaker 3: he said on truth Social He said based on the
7:55
Speaker 3: fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not
7:59
Speaker 3: unexpectedly so, and upon the request of Field Marshal assamanir
8:04
Speaker 3: and Prime Minister Schebaz Sharif of Pakistan, we have been
8:07
Speaker 3: asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran
8:10
Speaker 3: until such time as their leaders and representatives can come
8:13
Speaker 3: up with a unified proposal. So Trump says, I've therefore
8:17
Speaker 3: directed our military to continue the blockade and in all
8:21
Speaker 3: other respects remain ready and able, and will therefore extend
8:25
Speaker 3: the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted
8:30
Speaker 3: and discussions are concluded one way or another. So the
8:36
Speaker 3: ceasefire extended indefinitely, and this means the timeline has been
8:41
Speaker 3: handed over to Iran. Iran is in control, and they
8:47
Speaker 3: will delay talks to gain the upper hand. Now, Trump
8:52
Speaker 3: has shown that he knows what he's doing, but this
8:56
Speaker 3: could be read as rewarding Iran's refusal even sit down
9:01
Speaker 3: for peace talks, and some defense experts argue this is
9:06
Speaker 3: a mistake and that the best response to Iran's delaying
9:10
Speaker 3: tactics is a military one. It's to go harder, and
9:15
Speaker 3: Trump has threatened to return to bombing if Iran doesn't negotiate.
9:21
Speaker 6: Well, I expect to be bombing because I think that's
9:24
Speaker 6: a better attitude to go in with. But we're ready
9:27
Speaker 6: to go. I mean, the military is rare and to go.
9:30
Speaker 6: They are absolutely incredible. They use the bridges for their weapons,
9:34
Speaker 6: for their missile movements. You know, they're trying to move
9:37
Speaker 6: the missiles because we've obliterated most of their missiles and
9:40
Speaker 6: they're trying to move their missiles around even during the
9:42
Speaker 6: cease fire, which I think was a good thing, because
9:44
Speaker 6: we're totally loaded up. We have so much, Amma, we
9:47
Speaker 6: have so much of everything that we've like much much
9:50
Speaker 6: more powerful than it was four or five weeks ago.
9:54
Speaker 6: So we've used this to restock and they probably have
9:56
Speaker 6: done a little bit of restocking.
9:59
Speaker 3: And as I said, he will maintain the blockade of
10:01
Speaker 3: Iranian ports, which is which he says is costing the
10:05
Speaker 3: regime around five hundred million dollars a day. Meanwhile, the
10:09
Speaker 3: war has also entered our region. Overnight, the US bordered
10:14
Speaker 3: an oil tanker in the Indo Pacific that had been
10:17
Speaker 3: sanctioned for working with Iran, and President Trump says it
10:21
Speaker 3: may have.
10:22
Speaker 2: Come from China.
10:23
Speaker 3: They're not sure, so America in Israel's military strategy has
10:27
Speaker 3: been unbelievably successful and impressive. But the issue is these
10:33
Speaker 3: extremist thugs do not care about their own country, their economy,
10:39
Speaker 3: or their people, so the usual negotiating tactics of squeezing
10:43
Speaker 3: it financially and crushing it militarily aren't forcing them to
10:48
Speaker 3: the negotiating table. And Iran knows that Trump clearly doesn't
10:53
Speaker 3: want to return to war because of the domestic political implications,
10:58
Speaker 3: the markets, the oil, the pushback from the MAGA movement,
11:03
Speaker 3: But given Iran's refusal to talk, let alone give up
11:07
Speaker 3: its nuclear ambitions, the President may be forced to return
11:12
Speaker 3: to war as much as he doesn't want to. All right,
11:19
Speaker 3: for more on this, We've got a lot coming up
11:21
Speaker 3: in the show. But for more on this now, Former
11:23
Speaker 3: Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger and Sky News host
11:27
Speaker 3: Joe hild Around join me.
11:28
Speaker 2: Great to see you both. So as I.
11:32
Speaker 3: Played there, Penny Wang again criticizing Donald Trump today.
11:36
Speaker 2: This is happening more and more often, even on.
11:39
Speaker 3: A daily basis, and it comes as even when Australia
11:43
Speaker 3: relies on the United States for our security. I'll just
11:46
Speaker 3: play you another clip. Here's Penny One calling for de
11:48
Speaker 3: escalation again.
11:51
Speaker 7: Well, we're not engaged in these seat negotiations obviously, and
11:56
Speaker 7: we are not party to any of the offensive action
12:00
Speaker 7: and against Iran, so we'll continue to engage on the escalation.
12:05
Speaker 3: So, Michael Kroger, the allies are happy to let the
12:08
Speaker 3: United States do all the heavy lifting.
12:13
Speaker 8: Well, well, well, what's news with Penny Wong. You know,
12:17
Speaker 8: she's the worst foreign minister Australia's ever had, the weakest.
12:20
Speaker 8: She's embarrassed our nation internationally, embarrassed us in front of
12:24
Speaker 8: all of our allies. I can't help thinking, Shari, if
12:28
Speaker 8: she'd been Foreign minister in nineteen thirty nine, would she
12:32
Speaker 8: have labor were in power, would she have supported Australia
12:35
Speaker 8: joining Britain in the war against Nazi Germany? Or would
12:38
Speaker 8: she have argued for restraint against the Nazis.
12:42
Speaker 1: You know, it's a.
12:42
Speaker 8: Serious question because when you see what happened on October seven,
12:47
Speaker 8: when human beings were beheaded by Hamas, their bodies mutilated
12:53
Speaker 8: in the most disgusting, inhumane way, she was calling on
12:58
Speaker 8: the Jewish State of Israel exercise restraint. Really, she always
13:03
Speaker 8: calls for restraint. So here's someone from the hard left
13:07
Speaker 8: of Australian politics. Who's not to be taken seriously.
13:13
Speaker 2: I mean, Joe.
13:13
Speaker 3: There's also the question of whether a foreign minister of
13:16
Speaker 3: an ally can publicly criticize the president as often as
13:21
Speaker 3: she's doing without impacting on the alliance.
13:25
Speaker 6: Yeah.
13:25
Speaker 9: Look, I'm not sure how much it will impact. I mean,
13:27
Speaker 9: it was a pretty mild rebuke, and Donald Trump has
13:29
Speaker 9: of course said far worse about us. But the point
13:31
Speaker 9: is that America can say whatever it wants about anyone
13:34
Speaker 9: else at wants because it's the biggest and most powerful
13:36
Speaker 9: country on the planet. And the fact is that when
13:39
Speaker 9: you are the smaller part of an alliance and you
13:43
Speaker 9: rely on the protection of a larger, more powerful nation state,
13:47
Speaker 9: then of course you have to be very very polite
13:51
Speaker 9: to and about that nation state. So I don't think
13:54
Speaker 9: criticizing Donald Trump first, I don't think it does any
13:57
Speaker 9: good whatsoever, and it certainly doesn't make any difference, and
14:01
Speaker 9: I certainly don't think it's it's particularly sensible. I think,
14:04
Speaker 9: you know, you have to show restraint, as hard as
14:06
Speaker 9: that might be. The interesting thing I think is that
14:09
Speaker 9: those very qualities that Donald Trump has probably the best
14:14
Speaker 9: shot that the Allies and the West has of actually
14:18
Speaker 9: resolving this conflict. It is precisely because Donald Trump is
14:22
Speaker 9: so mercurial and so unpredictable that a completely rogue state
14:27
Speaker 9: like Iran, which is basically run by a bunch of
14:31
Speaker 9: you know, apocalyptic, crazy, theocratic, extremist militants who believe the
14:37
Speaker 9: end of the world is coming anyway, so why not
14:39
Speaker 9: hurry it along. It probably takes someone like Donald Trump
14:43
Speaker 9: to kind of out crazy the crazies and be so
14:47
Speaker 9: you know, so decisive and emphatic and swift in his
14:51
Speaker 9: action when it happens. I mean, you often only know
14:53
Speaker 9: that you know the bombs are falling after he's posted
14:55
Speaker 9: about it, or the decease fires broke out after about it.
14:58
Speaker 2: Joe just interrupt them, and you can't.
15:00
Speaker 3: Trump is out crazying the crazies. I mean, we're talking
15:03
Speaker 3: about Ayotola's regime. That is hardline, that is extremist, that
15:09
Speaker 3: is insane. And what Trump has done is far better
15:12
Speaker 3: foreign policy than anything we've seen up until this point.
15:16
Speaker 3: Barack Obama gave him run billions and billions of dollars,
15:20
Speaker 3: which it used to build its military, to further its
15:24
Speaker 3: nuclear ambitions, to fund its terror proxies like Hamas and Hezbalas.
15:29
Speaker 2: So I just disagree with you.
15:31
Speaker 9: I'm not saying he's more an outstream than them. I'm
15:33
Speaker 9: saying he's unpredictable. He's more unpredictable than any other Western leader,
15:37
Speaker 9: and that makes it that puts a run on the back.
15:39
Speaker 2: Actually think he's been very thoughtful.
15:43
Speaker 3: I mean, he took a couple of months to decide
15:46
Speaker 3: whether to actually take action with a run. You know,
15:49
Speaker 3: you have to think back to December, December, January. We
15:53
Speaker 3: all had no idea whether he was going to decide
15:56
Speaker 3: to do this. Well, when it happened, it was a surprise,
16:00
Speaker 3: but it was well ventilated in the media, and he
16:02
Speaker 3: went and got the he went and sought the opinion
16:06
Speaker 3: of all the Arab nations. He took his time to
16:09
Speaker 3: come to the decision. So you know, he's not impulsive.
16:12
Speaker 9: He's very thoughtful, even with this latest seat but even
16:15
Speaker 9: this cease file, Like he was saying just a day
16:17
Speaker 9: or two ago that if he wasn't going to extend
16:20
Speaker 9: the ceasefire publicly saying this as was the White House,
16:23
Speaker 9: and now he's saying he is going to So again,
16:25
Speaker 9: I'm not having a crack at him, as I said,
16:27
Speaker 9: but his behavior is unpredictable, and I'm saying that that
16:31
Speaker 9: is a strength. The fact that he is not he
16:33
Speaker 9: doesn't do things boringly and predictably and by the book,
16:36
Speaker 9: is the strength that he has in this conflict.
16:39
Speaker 3: Okay, let's just turn to the fuel security aspect of this,
16:42
Speaker 3: because we had alber Easy today saying that he'd secured
16:46
Speaker 3: four extra diesel cargoes worth just over two hundred million liters,
16:52
Speaker 3: which is obviously a good move, very important. But Michael,
16:56
Speaker 3: with Australia burning through about ninety three million liters a day,
17:00
Speaker 3: some are already asking whether this is enough of a buffer.
17:05
Speaker 8: Well, of course it's not. But what's happened in Australia
17:09
Speaker 8: since Rudd and we got caught up in this, but
17:14
Speaker 8: more recently in the last few years is Australians and
17:17
Speaker 8: this is underpinning the rise in the one nation vote.
17:21
Speaker 8: There's a reality dawning on Australians as opposed to a fantasy.
17:25
Speaker 8: We've been living in this fantasy world for twenty years
17:28
Speaker 8: and said we were caught up in it a bit.
17:31
Speaker 8: The fantasy is that you don't need fuel self sufficiency,
17:35
Speaker 8: that you can close down oil, gas and coal. That
17:39
Speaker 8: unlimited immigration is great, mass immigration is great for your country.
17:44
Speaker 8: That attacking Islamic extremism is racist. That you don't really
17:50
Speaker 8: need to spend money on defense, That you can spend
17:53
Speaker 8: unlimited amounts of money on green schemes, that you can
17:57
Speaker 8: regulate a country to death, and the debt doesn't matter.
18:02
Speaker 8: Governments can spend unlimited amounts of money. And these fantasies
18:06
Speaker 8: are now the one nation voters are now waking up
18:08
Speaker 8: and realizing this is all nonsense. We've been fed all
18:12
Speaker 8: this stuff for twenty years, off and on, and it's nonsense.
18:16
Speaker 8: And you know the reality of no houses, high inflation,
18:22
Speaker 8: no wage growth, massive government debt, mass immigration, you know,
18:27
Speaker 8: begging now for fuel to Asia, no defense. All right,
18:32
Speaker 8: it's now dawning on people that they've been fed all
18:34
Speaker 8: this fantasy over the last twenty years and reality is
18:38
Speaker 8: hitting people.
18:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, very good point.
18:41
Speaker 3: And I think people are really worried that we do
18:43
Speaker 3: only have about a month's supply fuel at any given
18:46
Speaker 3: time instead of the international benchmark of ninety days. And
18:49
Speaker 3: I think the Australians are going to demand action on that.
18:53
Speaker 3: Just turning to the ndis because I want to make
18:55
Speaker 3: sure we speak about this Mark Butler today and now
18:58
Speaker 3: it's sweeping changes.
19:00
Speaker 2: I did kick one.
19:00
Speaker 3: Hundred and sixty thousand people off the scheme to save
19:04
Speaker 3: around fifteen billion dollars over the next four years.
19:07
Speaker 2: Have a look here he was.
19:09
Speaker 10: Under this plan, the NDIS will grow every year. I
19:13
Speaker 10: instead of costing more than seventy billion dollars in twenty thirty,
19:18
Speaker 10: tax bars will spend around fifty five billion dollars.
19:23
Speaker 3: I mean, Joe, this was quite extraordinary. It was a
19:25
Speaker 3: long awaited admission that the scheme is blowing out and
19:29
Speaker 3: is being exploited.
19:31
Speaker 6: Yeah.
19:31
Speaker 9: Absolutely, And this is something, as you know, something I've
19:35
Speaker 9: been saying since the very beginning of the NDIS, even
19:38
Speaker 9: as it was being created, and you had very naive,
19:41
Speaker 9: foolish sort of activists who were trying to sort of
19:44
Speaker 9: a bit like with the Voice, you know, pack everything
19:46
Speaker 9: in the back of the station wagon that you possibly
19:49
Speaker 9: can and hope that it just gets through. My best
19:53
Speaker 9: friend is a quadriplegic. I've been with him as he
19:56
Speaker 9: has been denied things that are frank, life saving, things
20:01
Speaker 9: that could mean God willing it won't happen, but could
20:04
Speaker 9: mean that he lives or dies. In the middle of
20:07
Speaker 9: the night, and that could be a difference, and those
20:09
Speaker 9: things he is sort of quibbling with them with well,
20:11
Speaker 9: at the same time, you've got people with very, very
20:15
Speaker 9: mild disabilities who are getting diagnoses that entitle them to
20:20
Speaker 9: NDIS support when frankly, they can probably get by without.
20:24
Speaker 9: I know a lot of people, people in my own family,
20:26
Speaker 9: who do not have a diagnosis even though they could
20:29
Speaker 9: get one, and are not taking NDIS funding, even though
20:32
Speaker 9: they would be entitled to it, or would have been
20:35
Speaker 9: before these reforms. So this is a scheme that was
20:37
Speaker 9: meant to provide vital assistance to the most profoundly disabled people,
20:43
Speaker 9: people who could not support themselves otherwise, in line with
20:47
Speaker 9: the Victorian Transport Accident Commission scheme that basically inspired it,
20:52
Speaker 9: and instead it's become this kind of giant money pit
20:56
Speaker 9: where you've had shameless wraughters as well as riders who
21:00
Speaker 9: are going up to people and again I hear all
21:02
Speaker 9: this stuff firsthand, going up to say, do you know
21:04
Speaker 9: you could put in an extra claim for this or
21:06
Speaker 9: you're actually entitled to this so that they can provide it,
21:09
Speaker 9: they get the pay for it, and it's not even
21:11
Speaker 9: something that the client themselves has said that they need.
21:14
Speaker 9: It's not what you need, it's just whatever you can
21:16
Speaker 9: get that has suddenly become the yardstick. So it's a
21:20
Speaker 9: long overdue, long overdue overhaul, and I welcome it, Michael.
21:24
Speaker 3: Impressive performance from Mike Butler today as well.
21:29
Speaker 8: Yeah, I give Butler credit for getting up to the
21:30
Speaker 8: microphone and saying what Jim Chalmers wouldn't have the courage
21:33
Speaker 8: to do. But look, I can't help. And this is
21:36
Speaker 8: a great The indios is a great social reform supported
21:40
Speaker 8: by everybody that's lost its way, and thank goodness something's
21:43
Speaker 8: been done about it. But you know, I can't help.
21:46
Speaker 8: But think of the hypocrisy of Labor. I mean, Scott
21:48
Speaker 8: Morrison tried to introduce some reforms to the NDOS and
21:52
Speaker 8: twenty twenty one and Labour said he was inhuman right,
21:55
Speaker 8: inhumane reforms right. The Coalition were inhumane. We know if
21:59
Speaker 8: the Coalition have done this, label would say you are
22:02
Speaker 8: slashing and burning, you are praying on the most vulnerable,
22:06
Speaker 8: you are attacking the disabled. You're a disgusting political party
22:12
Speaker 8: praying on those in need. So the coalition's response today
22:16
Speaker 8: has been muted. Support criticisms around the edge. But we
22:19
Speaker 8: haven't said Mark Butler's inhuman. We haven't said Mark Butler.
22:23
Speaker 8: Butler is praying on the disabled. So this is the
22:26
Speaker 8: hypocrisy of labor. I mean, they've been warned about this
22:29
Speaker 8: for years. They've done nothing for four years. And as
22:31
Speaker 8: I said, when Scott Morrison tried to bring in some
22:34
Speaker 8: mild reforms in twenty twenty one, he had to drop
22:38
Speaker 8: the reforms because labor opposed them and made huge political
22:42
Speaker 8: capital out of them. So I say to Butler, you know,
22:45
Speaker 8: well done having the courage. But I say to Labor,
22:47
Speaker 8: shame on you for your hypocrisy.
22:50
Speaker 3: You are completely right, and it is only labor that
22:54
Speaker 3: could have reformed the NDIS in this way because of
22:57
Speaker 3: this very reason. You know, they would have turned it
22:59
Speaker 3: into it scare campaign yet again. Right, Joco to Brown,
23:02
Speaker 3: Michael Kraeger, thank you so much.
23:04
Speaker 2: As always.
23:06
Speaker 3: Now let's turn to the story we've been covering all week.
23:09
Speaker 3: The Ben Robert Smith ordeal has taken an extraordinary turn
23:13
Speaker 3: after journalist Aaron Patrick revealed on This Show and Monday
23:16
Speaker 3: Night that one of the main accusers against the war
23:18
Speaker 3: hero has been promised immunity over his own admitted role
23:23
Speaker 3: in the killing of an Afghan prisoner. Patrick writes today
23:26
Speaker 3: about each of the four former SAS veterans who have
23:30
Speaker 3: been promised legal protection to testify against Robert Smith, and
23:35
Speaker 3: I quote, each of these witnesses has admitted their personal
23:38
Speaker 3: involvement in executing one or more detainees at the direction
23:43
Speaker 3: or with the complicity of Robert Smith. The written allegation
23:47
Speaker 3: state in each instance Robert Smith was their military superior.
23:51
Speaker 3: These witnesses have provided written accounts of their actions. Each
23:55
Speaker 3: details other murders they witnessed. Now just to add that
23:59
Speaker 3: these versions of events are contested by ben Robert Smith,
24:04
Speaker 3: who denies he was.
24:05
Speaker 2: Involved in any war crimes. Now, Aaron Patrick ends.
24:09
Speaker 3: His feature today with the question that this may lead
24:13
Speaker 3: Australians to ask how do you get away with murder
24:17
Speaker 3: in war? And he joins me, now, Aaron, good to
24:21
Speaker 3: see you. And I have to say it's not often
24:23
Speaker 3: I have the same guest on twice in one week,
24:26
Speaker 3: but your reporting has been so remarkable on this that
24:29
Speaker 3: I did want to speak to you in more detail
24:31
Speaker 3: about your feature today. So you have gone into extraordinary
24:36
Speaker 3: detail about this so called person four. What can you
24:41
Speaker 3: tell us about person four who is one of the
24:44
Speaker 3: main accusers against Ben Robert Smith.
24:47
Speaker 11: Well, Person four was there right from the start. He
24:51
Speaker 11: was there with Ben Roberts Smith and other members of
24:54
Speaker 11: their team in two thousand and nine when he allegedly
24:59
Speaker 11: killed prisoner, stayed with the team, and by twenty twelve,
25:05
Speaker 11: when the government alleges the killings continued, he'd risen to
25:09
Speaker 11: be Ben.
25:09
Speaker 12: Roberts Smith's number two.
25:12
Speaker 11: And so he has seen a lot, and all the
25:16
Speaker 11: evidence is that he has flipped to become a crucial
25:21
Speaker 11: government witness and that if he did kill anyone, he
25:26
Speaker 11: will never go to jail for it.
25:27
Speaker 3: He's been given full immunity.
25:29
Speaker 12: That's certainly how it looks.
25:33
Speaker 11: We will see as this progresses out, but that's what
25:35
Speaker 11: the governor said in their statement. He and three other
25:38
Speaker 11: sas old has been given immunity to testify.
25:41
Speaker 3: I mentioned this before, but just saying again, Ben Robert
25:44
Speaker 3: Smith contests these versions of events. He denies he ordered
25:48
Speaker 3: any murders at all.
25:50
Speaker 11: He flat out Ben Robert Smith on multiple times under oath,
25:54
Speaker 11: has said he never executed anyone and he never saw
25:58
Speaker 11: any prisoner executed.
26:00
Speaker 3: So Person four, it has been just worrying it carefully
26:05
Speaker 3: here It has been alleged by Nine in the defamation
26:08
Speaker 3: case that Person four was responsible for the murder of
26:14
Speaker 3: an Afghan civilian, but Person four claims it was under
26:20
Speaker 3: Ben Robert Smith's direction. So what I'm trying to get
26:24
Speaker 3: to here is what you actually have, which is the
26:26
Speaker 3: front page of the Nightly today which we just showed,
26:28
Speaker 3: is that you know, someone who who Nine in the
26:32
Speaker 3: defamation case claims was responsible for a murder, is getting immunity.
26:36
Speaker 2: That's what I'm trying to get to, and.
26:38
Speaker 12: That's exactly what's happening.
26:40
Speaker 11: And the crucial point here is the government says these
26:45
Speaker 11: four soldiers, including Person four, were told by Ben Roberts
26:49
Speaker 11: Smith to execute prisoners. But nine and other experts, sorry
26:54
Speaker 11: nine's lawyers and independent experts.
26:56
Speaker 12: Say it's no excuse.
26:58
Speaker 11: Okay, there's no lawful order that allows you to execute
27:03
Speaker 11: any prisoner. And they all, all these soldiers go for
27:06
Speaker 11: the training, the ESSA soldiers in particular, and they should
27:09
Speaker 11: know that that's not a lawful order and it's not
27:11
Speaker 11: a legal.
27:12
Speaker 3: Excuse either, and you quoted a law professor on that
27:17
Speaker 3: in your piece today. Look, I just want to go
27:19
Speaker 3: into some of the amazing detail that you had you
27:22
Speaker 3: had an anecdote in your feature about Person's person Fall's
27:26
Speaker 3: wife at a barbecue. So this is the wife of
27:29
Speaker 3: an SAS soldier at an SAS barbecue.
27:32
Speaker 2: Tell us about this.
27:33
Speaker 11: Well, most of the SAA soldiers live in a suburb
27:36
Speaker 11: next to Swanburn Barracks in Perth.
27:39
Speaker 12: It's a military suburb.
27:40
Speaker 11: I've driven around it myself, and they live very close
27:43
Speaker 11: to each other and they socialize each other and the
27:46
Speaker 11: families get to know each other very well. And so
27:49
Speaker 11: there was a barbecue for members of the troop, which
27:53
Speaker 11: is their platoon, which is not uncommon. And Person four
27:59
Speaker 11: was told that he'd deserve the Victoria Cross and he
28:02
Speaker 11: said he was as brave as Ben Robert Smith in
28:06
Speaker 11: that Battle of Tizzak, where Ben was recognized with the
28:09
Speaker 11: Victoria Cross. Now he got nothing, at least initially. And
28:12
Speaker 11: at this barbecue, his wife went up to the sergeant
28:16
Speaker 11: very important job in the essays, and said, where's my
28:19
Speaker 11: husband's VC. And he said he's Scott. He said pull
28:23
Speaker 11: your neck in. And that goes to the deep tensions
28:29
Speaker 11: that were ripping apart the unit at this point in
28:33
Speaker 11: the wake of twenty ten, when they had this massive
28:36
Speaker 11: battle that they all could have died.
28:38
Speaker 3: Which is what you wrote a book on this.
28:40
Speaker 11: It is incredible and also to be fair, Person four
28:43
Speaker 11: was very brave in that battle. He helped Ben Robert Smith.
28:46
Speaker 11: He put his life on the line for Ben Robert Smith,
28:48
Speaker 11: and Ben Robin Smith said, Person four saved my life.
28:52
Speaker 12: So these are.
28:53
Speaker 3: Stepped out from behind a tree, is that right for?
28:57
Speaker 2: And what did he do?
28:58
Speaker 3: He fired at Taliban insurgents while Ben Robert Smith was
29:02
Speaker 3: running in Is that right?
29:04
Speaker 11: There was a big there's a big Taliban machine gun position,
29:08
Speaker 11: and it was about to kill three of them, and
29:11
Speaker 11: he stepped out from the side of a tree, exposed
29:14
Speaker 11: himself to an enormous amount of fire multiple times, so
29:18
Speaker 11: Ben could throw Ben Robertson could throw a grenade and
29:21
Speaker 11: then charge ins at the courtyard and he ran right
29:23
Speaker 11: behind him. So these are very brave men, all of them.
29:26
Speaker 2: And he did.
29:27
Speaker 3: Person four three years later receive a Bravery Award, just
29:31
Speaker 3: not the vs No.
29:32
Speaker 12: I got the third rank the medal for gallantry.
29:34
Speaker 3: Now, you mentioned here on the show on Monday Night
29:36
Speaker 3: that you were trying to publish the name of Person four,
29:41
Speaker 3: but that when you tried to do so, the court
29:44
Speaker 3: was going to seek the opinion of rival media outlet
29:48
Speaker 3: Channel nine. Now you expect to hear more about this
29:52
Speaker 3: tomorrow from the Federal Court whether you are or are
29:55
Speaker 3: not able to publish the name of person four, because
29:59
Speaker 3: I know from the feedback I've had over the last
30:02
Speaker 3: two nights of reporting on this that a lot of
30:04
Speaker 3: Australians are asking, why do these accusers get an animpity
30:09
Speaker 3: when Ben Robert Smith is being named and shamed.
30:12
Speaker 11: Well, also, it's not like this is a mafia trial
30:16
Speaker 11: where the witnesses have been flipped and they're in you know,
30:21
Speaker 11: witness witness protection program.
30:24
Speaker 12: These are men who's who.
30:26
Speaker 11: No one's going to go and kill them, and they
30:29
Speaker 11: are accused of murder and a lot of people would
30:32
Speaker 11: like to know who they are in the community. Everyone
30:35
Speaker 11: within the Special Forces community knows exactly who they are,
30:38
Speaker 11: and because I have people emailing me telling me, you know,
30:42
Speaker 11: these are the names, and I know where some of
30:44
Speaker 11: them live. But the Federal Court rule has imposed pretty
30:51
Speaker 11: tough restrictions and I've gone to the court and asked
30:55
Speaker 11: them to clarify that, and they're going through this quiet,
31:00
Speaker 11: long winded process of seeking legal submissions from.
31:04
Speaker 12: All the lawyers. Know, we're talking more than a dozen
31:06
Speaker 12: lawyers involved.
31:07
Speaker 2: In this, just to venting all the various parties, all various.
31:11
Speaker 12: Parties, including nine. They have nine lawyers on the conversation.
31:16
Speaker 12: Nine has nine.
31:17
Speaker 11: Lawyers pursuing this matter, whether we can publish the name,
31:19
Speaker 11: which you think would be in all media's interests. So
31:23
Speaker 11: I think the courts or the jarge is going to
31:25
Speaker 11: come up with a decision tomorrow. But look, I'm not
31:28
Speaker 11: holding my breath.
31:29
Speaker 3: All right, Well, we'll get an update on the show
31:31
Speaker 3: tomorrow night on that.
31:32
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Aeron, really appreciate it.
31:35
Speaker 3: All right, Still to come as serious questions over how
31:38
Speaker 3: the daughter of an Iranian diplomat accused of funneling millions
31:42
Speaker 3: to terror group Hasbla ended up living and working in Australia.
31:46
Speaker 3: David Craig will be here on the vetting failure and
31:49
Speaker 3: should Trump continue the cease fire even though Iran is
31:52
Speaker 3: refusing to join peace talks. We'll talk about that after
31:55
Speaker 3: the break. Welcome, well, President Trump is maintaining the blockade
32:02
Speaker 3: on Iranian pods tonight and extending the ceasefire even though
32:06
Speaker 3: Tehran refused to join the talks that were meant to
32:09
Speaker 3: be happening in Islamabad. Pakistan's attempt to broker another round
32:13
Speaker 3: of talks appears to have hit a wall. And for
32:15
Speaker 3: more on this, I'm joined by Sky News defense analyst
32:18
Speaker 3: Peter Jennings.
32:19
Speaker 2: Peter, great to see you. Do you think there are risks?
32:23
Speaker 1: Sure?
32:24
Speaker 2: Do you think there are risks.
32:25
Speaker 3: In Trump's decision to indefinitely extend the ceasefire when Iran
32:30
Speaker 3: is refusing to even sit down for talks.
32:36
Speaker 12: Yes, there are risks.
32:38
Speaker 13: He's handed the decision making time frame to the Iranians
32:43
Speaker 13: because he said he'll keep the ceasefire going until such
32:46
Speaker 13: a point as the Iranians can bring a sort of
32:49
Speaker 13: a consulted agreement together to the negotiation table in Islamabad.
32:56
Speaker 13: And you know, one thing we know for certain is
32:58
Speaker 13: that the Iranians are apps masters at being able to
33:01
Speaker 13: string these things out, which while they do that, they
33:05
Speaker 13: can reconstitute their military forces and prepare for new military actions.
33:10
Speaker 13: So I don't think we necessarily have to worry too
33:13
Speaker 13: much that Trump is going to stick to the letter
33:15
Speaker 13: of that comment that he made, because let's face it,
33:17
Speaker 13: he changes these things very regularly. But right now he's
33:21
Speaker 13: put the initiative in the court of the Iranians. Now,
33:24
Speaker 13: the thing we're seeing from the Iranians is that they're
33:26
Speaker 13: not turning up. And what I think that tells me
33:29
Speaker 13: is that the Revolutionary Guard has now taken control of
33:32
Speaker 13: the negotiation process. These are the hardliners, the ones who
33:35
Speaker 13: seem to have their backs to the wall and are
33:37
Speaker 13: more interested in thinking about their own death than in
33:40
Speaker 13: concluding agreement and agreement with the Americans. So we could
33:45
Speaker 13: be in the no man's land for some period of
33:48
Speaker 13: time while the Iranians try to work out who's really
33:51
Speaker 13: in charge and Trump tries to work out what's the
33:54
Speaker 13: right response.
33:56
Speaker 3: So Trump did this interview and I played a little
33:59
Speaker 3: steparts of it at the start of the show.
34:00
Speaker 1: It was with.
34:01
Speaker 3: CNBC's Squawker podcast or program, and it was before Iran
34:07
Speaker 3: had pulled out of the deal, and he was saying
34:10
Speaker 3: there's a new regime in place, it's a more moderate
34:12
Speaker 3: regime that he's succeeded in regime change. Well, you could
34:17
Speaker 3: argue that if it's Gullabuff and Aragachi who are running
34:21
Speaker 3: the show, but as you just spoke about, as I
34:24
Speaker 3: spoke about earlier, they don't have the final say. It's
34:28
Speaker 3: the IIGC military. So do you think there needs to
34:32
Speaker 3: be more specific and deliberate targeting by Israel and America
34:39
Speaker 3: of IIGC military leaders.
34:45
Speaker 13: So sorry, there has been a kind of regime change,
34:48
Speaker 13: but it's a regime change, as you say, towards the
34:52
Speaker 13: hardline Revolutionary Guard and if they can consolidate that power,
34:58
Speaker 13: which means defeating the the so called moderates, although I
35:02
Speaker 13: would prefer to call them the somewhat less extreme in
35:06
Speaker 13: the parliamentary side of the Iranian regime, If the Revolutionary
35:10
Speaker 13: Guards can consolidate their control, I think that the US
35:15
Speaker 13: and the Israelis probably have no option other than to
35:17
Speaker 13: go after those so called high value targets Major General Vahaji,
35:22
Speaker 13: who's currently the head of the IRGC, in the hope
35:26
Speaker 13: that if they can move a number of those people
35:28
Speaker 13: out of contention that's code for kill the Mamifron, then
35:33
Speaker 13: maybe Gallibuff and the moderates are able to take control
35:38
Speaker 13: of the negotiations with the US.
35:40
Speaker 3: No, that's really interesting. So then turning to the American blockade,
35:44
Speaker 3: I mean, look, it is working, but how successful is
35:48
Speaker 3: it If these military hardliners just don't care about the
35:52
Speaker 3: Iranian economy, If they don't care about the Iranian people.
35:57
Speaker 13: So the blockade is probably costing Iran hundreds of millions
36:03
Speaker 13: of dollars a day, and one wonders, Sharry, why the
36:06
Speaker 13: Americans didn't make this an intrinsic part of their military
36:09
Speaker 13: operations seven weeks ago. But I think they're right to
36:12
Speaker 13: do it now. The problem that Trump has is that
36:15
Speaker 13: I don't think the Revolutionary Guard frankly, cares that much
36:18
Speaker 13: about economic damage. Their interest is to stay in control,
36:23
Speaker 13: and I think they would rather be in control of
36:25
Speaker 13: a house which is burning down around them than be
36:28
Speaker 13: out of control in an Iran which has still a
36:32
Speaker 13: viable economy, because they're out at that stage and they're
36:35
Speaker 13: probably dead. And so whether or not the economic blockade
36:41
Speaker 13: is something that is really going to move the Revolutionary Guard,
36:45
Speaker 13: I don't think that's right. I don't think that's part
36:47
Speaker 13: of their calculus for how to stay in power.
36:50
Speaker 3: So do you think Trump should be returning to military
36:52
Speaker 3: action then, I mean, you know you've indicated another decapitation
36:57
Speaker 3: strategy without calling it such.
37:01
Speaker 13: Well, the fact is he's not yet one.
37:04
Speaker 12: Even though he claims to.
37:05
Speaker 13: Have done so on a daily basis, He's not yet
37:08
Speaker 13: achieved the objectives he's set out. As long as the
37:11
Speaker 13: Revolutionary Guard is in control, there is always going to
37:14
Speaker 13: be the concern about a nuclear program, There's always going
37:17
Speaker 13: to be support about the terrorist proxy groups overseas, and
37:20
Speaker 13: about drones and missiles and so forth. The only way
37:24
Speaker 13: to be assured that that's gone is to get rid
37:28
Speaker 13: of the Revolutionary Guard. So I think Trump is going
37:30
Speaker 13: to be forced back to this because he realizes that
37:33
Speaker 13: walking away from it now really delivers a kind of
37:36
Speaker 13: victory to the Iranians, and that's going to do him
37:39
Speaker 13: more damage than continuing military operations for a period.
37:44
Speaker 3: Just shows how far apart we are from Pennywong, doesn't it.
37:46
Speaker 3: She's saying de escalation, we're saying he's probably going to
37:49
Speaker 3: have to go back to wards to get rid of
37:50
Speaker 3: these hardliners. Just finally, Peter, before you go, I'm keen
37:54
Speaker 3: to get your thoughts on the Allies, on mccrin and
37:57
Speaker 3: Stamo making that big announcement about helping US international ships
38:01
Speaker 3: through the Strait of Her moves but then disappearing.
38:06
Speaker 13: Yes, And of course Wong is one at one with
38:12
Speaker 13: Starmer and Macron inasmuch as they're prepared to do absolutely
38:16
Speaker 13: everything except be useful to the broadest strategic aim, which
38:20
Speaker 13: all Western countries have to see the Strait of Humu's
38:23
Speaker 13: open and to see crude oil flowing again. So the
38:27
Speaker 13: British and the French are not there. They're saying they
38:30
Speaker 13: may be prepared to do maritime operations, but only when
38:33
Speaker 13: piece is broken out, And of course, Sherry, the point
38:36
Speaker 13: is that's precisely the moment where they will not be needed.
38:39
Speaker 13: So all of the Western democracies outside of Israel are
38:43
Speaker 13: really as bad as each other at the moment. Lots
38:45
Speaker 13: of sound and fury, but not adding anything useful to
38:48
Speaker 13: the broadest strategic picture.
38:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely one percent correct.
38:53
Speaker 3: Peter Jennings, thank you very much for joining us. Still
38:57
Speaker 3: to come, why America's economy powers a hair of Australia's
39:01
Speaker 3: And serious questions for the AFP commissioner After the Ben
39:04
Speaker 3: Robert Smith public arrest spectacle, Former AFP Detective Superintendent David
39:09
Speaker 3: Craig would join me next.
39:14
Speaker 2: Welcome back.
39:15
Speaker 1: Well.
39:15
Speaker 3: The new AFP Commissioner, Chrissy Barrett, is under scrutiny after
39:20
Speaker 3: the spectacle that was the Ben Robert Smith arrest in
39:23
Speaker 3: front of his children. Despite the war veteran offering to
39:26
Speaker 3: turn himself in. This is not the first time she's
39:29
Speaker 3: been criticized. After the Bondai terror attacks, Chrissy Barrett claimed
39:33
Speaker 3: that it wasn't religiously motivated.
39:37
Speaker 14: These are the alleged actions of those who have aligned
39:40
Speaker 14: themselves with a terrorist organization, not a religion.
39:47
Speaker 3: And joining me now is former AFP Detective Superintendent David Craig.
39:51
Speaker 2: David, thanks so much for your time.
39:53
Speaker 3: So what are your reflections on her leadership after these
39:58
Speaker 3: couple of incidents.
40:02
Speaker 15: I have to say I was a big supporter of
40:06
Speaker 15: Christy Barrett. She came through the organization from the grassroots level.
40:09
Speaker 15: She worked away all the way through, and I was
40:13
Speaker 15: a big supporter first AFP female commissioner. Not the gender
40:17
Speaker 15: really matters, but it's just good to see that it
40:19
Speaker 15: does recognition where merits deserved. However, she has stubbed a
40:24
Speaker 15: toe twice now in the last six months, since August
40:27
Speaker 15: last year, and also just recently in relation to the
40:30
Speaker 15: Ben Robert Smith affair. Well the spectacle. It was an
40:34
Speaker 15: unnecessary arrest in a public spotlight. I'm concerned that maybe
40:41
Speaker 15: she's worked away through the organization, but the AFP does
40:45
Speaker 15: have a very serious woke problem. And if you can't
40:49
Speaker 15: call radical Islamic activity violent radical Islamic activity, then how
40:55
Speaker 15: are you meant to measure it? How are you meant
40:57
Speaker 15: to counter it. The AFP had a very strong commissioner
41:01
Speaker 15: back with Mick Kelty when we were taking the fight
41:04
Speaker 15: to terrorists offshore before terrorism really landed in Australia. And
41:08
Speaker 15: I haven't seen that sort of gumption from this commissioner.
41:13
Speaker 3: I mean, do you have confidence that under her leadership,
41:16
Speaker 3: serious issues this country faces will be dealt with.
41:23
Speaker 15: I am still hopeful Shari. I would like her too.
41:27
Speaker 15: She's just got to get on the front foot and
41:29
Speaker 15: call a spade a spade. I mean, this is the
41:31
Speaker 15: Australian Federal Police. If they're not going to take a
41:33
Speaker 15: front foot against anti Islamic, anti Jewish, anti society values,
41:43
Speaker 15: then who is I mean, this is a federal agency
41:46
Speaker 15: with access to other countries and across Australia. We need
41:49
Speaker 15: to be on the front foot and not be hiding behind,
41:53
Speaker 15: you know, scared to say it may be related to
41:55
Speaker 15: a religion. If it's related to religion, call it out.
41:57
Speaker 15: That's what it is. That's a motivating factor. Doesn't mean
42:00
Speaker 15: everyone of that religion is evil, of course not, of
42:02
Speaker 15: course not.
42:03
Speaker 3: I also want to discuss this incredible story in The
42:05
Speaker 3: Australian yesterday by James Dowling. A daughter of an Iranian
42:10
Speaker 3: diplomat is now an Australian citizen working for Queensland Health.
42:15
Speaker 3: And it wasn't just any Iranian diplomat, but he's accused
42:18
Speaker 3: of smuggling millions to Hesbelal being involved in that money
42:22
Speaker 3: laundering operation. Now we have to say, of course there's
42:25
Speaker 3: no suggestion the daughter has done anything wrong, but Home
42:28
Speaker 3: Affairs and the Albanezi government have serious questions over this.
42:31
Speaker 2: Where was the vetting process?
42:35
Speaker 15: That's a good question, Shari. I mean we need to
42:39
Speaker 15: look carefully at how we've got. We have familial relationships
42:43
Speaker 15: in this country with people involved in well terrorist regimes.
42:49
Speaker 15: Now those relationships need to be looked at very carefully.
42:53
Speaker 15: I mean, where is our scrutiny and our examination of
42:57
Speaker 15: these types of influencers that someone may be under. Now,
43:02
Speaker 15: of course there's nothing to say that this person has
43:04
Speaker 15: done anything wrong. However, as geopolitical tensions increase, this type
43:09
Speaker 15: of threat will increase with it, and we need to
43:12
Speaker 15: increase our vigilance with it. We need to be aware
43:14
Speaker 15: of who is in this country and what their motivations are.
43:18
Speaker 3: I mean, when you were involved in counter terrorism for
43:21
Speaker 3: the AFP, were you seeing more of this type of
43:26
Speaker 3: radicalization or more foreign influence operations? Were these trends already starting.
43:34
Speaker 15: I don't think they had a good foothold shari to
43:37
Speaker 15: be honest. Look, there was always there's always been grassroots
43:43
Speaker 15: people sort of with ill want against Australian values. But
43:49
Speaker 15: it has definitely. I mean, if the AFP just spent
43:52
Speaker 15: half the time that they did on Ben Robert Smith
43:54
Speaker 15: on anti semitism, then I think perhaps we could have
43:56
Speaker 15: avoided Bondai and say that.
43:58
Speaker 3: Bluntly not to mention the cost. I mean we haven't
44:01
Speaker 3: had the cost confirm, but I've seen other people put
44:04
Speaker 3: out there that they've spent upwards of hundreds of millions
44:08
Speaker 3: of dollars on the Ben Robert Smith investigation over the
44:11
Speaker 3: past decade or more. It's an extraordinary amount of money.
44:16
Speaker 15: Yes, I know, and this is where you know the
44:19
Speaker 15: New South Wales police drop the ball on the Opera house.
44:22
Speaker 15: The AFP hasn't done anything to back up this anti
44:25
Speaker 15: Semitic stance that we need to be taking against these
44:30
Speaker 15: sort of hate peaches and hate people that just promulgate
44:35
Speaker 15: this hatred in our society. I mean, it's been building
44:37
Speaker 15: up and building up. And I said at the time,
44:40
Speaker 15: just after the Bondi massacre, that we need to fundamentally
44:43
Speaker 15: change the way we are approaching radical Islamics in Australia,
44:48
Speaker 15: and unfortunately I'm not seeing that from the AFP Commissioner.
44:52
Speaker 2: Right, David Craig, Thank you very much for your time.
44:56
Speaker 2: Now still to come.
44:56
Speaker 3: Donald Trump ways in on the Kiir Starmer political crisis,
45:00
Speaker 3: plus how the American economy is powering ahead while OLS
45:05
Speaker 3: is a disaster.
45:06
Speaker 2: That's after the.
45:06
Speaker 3: Break, welcome back. Well, let's go to the US now,
45:13
Speaker 3: where Kevin Walsh has been selected as the new.
45:15
Speaker 2: Federal Reserve chair after.
45:17
Speaker 3: Being forced to answer some bizarre questions during his testimony
45:21
Speaker 3: at the confirmation hearing.
45:22
Speaker 7: Have a look, are you going to be the President's
45:25
Speaker 7: human starck puppet Centaer, Absolutely not.
45:29
Speaker 15: Are you going to be anybody's human starck pup?
45:32
Speaker 6: No, I'm honored the President nomad for the position, and
45:35
Speaker 6: I'll be an independent actor if confirmed as Chairman of
45:38
Speaker 6: the Federal Reserve.
45:40
Speaker 3: And let's bring in now Sky News contributor Kosher Gada Kosher.
45:43
Speaker 2: Great to see you.
45:44
Speaker 3: So what do we know about the new chair and
45:48
Speaker 3: his plan for the Fed?
45:51
Speaker 14: The new chair is somebody who is imminently qualified based
45:54
Speaker 14: on his background and banking in the private sector and
45:58
Speaker 14: other rules that he's done. This question of the soft
46:01
Speaker 14: puppet that's generating a lot of headlines is of course,
46:03
Speaker 14: because the backstory to this is that President Trump has
46:06
Speaker 14: long been had an adversarial relationship with Jerom Powell, the
46:10
Speaker 14: current FED chair, specifically as it relates to interest rates.
46:14
Speaker 14: He's always been fighting about that and they kind of
46:16
Speaker 14: have opposing views on it. And now that his term
46:19
Speaker 14: is expiring, the current Jerome Poll's term that is in May,
46:23
Speaker 14: the expectation is is that the new appointee will be
46:25
Speaker 14: somebody more favorable to Trump's approach to monetary policy. And
46:29
Speaker 14: what the senators over their questioning is, you know, is
46:33
Speaker 14: that true or you're going to maintain independence. There's this
46:35
Speaker 14: whole other school of thought that actually, that's a false
46:38
Speaker 14: question because the FED isn't a fourth branch of government,
46:40
Speaker 14: and it's totally proper for President Trump to be directing
46:44
Speaker 14: that agenda. So he's sort of coming into that backdrop,
46:47
Speaker 14: and what he does is anybody's guest. But as inflation
46:50
Speaker 14: is going up in the US, it is a little
46:52
Speaker 14: bit of an open question about how hardline he's going
46:54
Speaker 14: to be and following in the footsteps of his predecessor
46:57
Speaker 14: versus being more amenable to Trump's theory.
47:00
Speaker 3: Since the oil crisis has hit, I think it's become
47:02
Speaker 3: really apparent that Australia is in a.
47:04
Speaker 2: Worse position to deal with a.
47:06
Speaker 3: Crisis than many other countries, the United States included. I
47:09
Speaker 3: mean their inflation. You say it's going up, but from
47:12
Speaker 3: a lowest starting point, it's three point three percent. At
47:14
Speaker 3: the moment, growth is stronger, there's more confidence in the system.
47:18
Speaker 3: So why is the US economy clearly outperforming house.
47:24
Speaker 14: Such an important question. You know, there's many things. If
47:27
Speaker 14: I were to boil it down, it's two or three points.
47:29
Speaker 14: One is the US economy is more diversified. It is
47:32
Speaker 14: more complex. There's more industry, more sectors, and that allows
47:36
Speaker 14: an economy to weather the storm of shocks that come
47:39
Speaker 14: into play more so than Australia, which is more concentrated
47:42
Speaker 14: around resources, financial services, public sector, real estate. You know,
47:45
Speaker 14: it's a smaller array. The second is energy independence.
47:50
Speaker 2: Not with oil.
47:51
Speaker 14: The US does still rely on imports for oil, but
47:53
Speaker 14: all in all they are energy independent. They're a large exporter.
47:56
Speaker 14: And that's probably one of the more tragic things about
47:58
Speaker 14: Australia because Australia is a very recent rich economy as well,
48:01
Speaker 14: not for oil but for coal and natural gas, and
48:04
Speaker 14: does not the policies do not really maximize that advantage
48:07
Speaker 14: on the world stage in terms of how it's leveraged.
48:10
Speaker 14: So that's the second one, and I think just that
48:12
Speaker 14: the openness to having more industry and using your assets
48:17
Speaker 14: in a more aggressive way for the betterment of the
48:19
Speaker 14: citizens and the here and now, as opposed to longer term,
48:22
Speaker 14: sort of fluffier agenda items like net zero and all
48:25
Speaker 14: of that, I think is really the biggest fundamental driver,
48:27
Speaker 14: on top of other things structural advantages the US has
48:30
Speaker 14: around its large consumer market, domestic demand. You know that
48:33
Speaker 14: that's just structurally different in Australia. But there are a
48:36
Speaker 14: lot of advantages here that we are not using, and
48:38
Speaker 14: that is a tragedy.
48:40
Speaker 3: Indeed, I want to turn to the Kiostam and leadyship crisis.
48:44
Speaker 3: It obviously a major story. Will yet to see how
48:48
Speaker 3: long he's going to be able to hold onto the
48:50
Speaker 3: top job. I noticed the President actually piled it and
48:54
Speaker 3: commented on Kiyostama's choice for ambassador to Washington today.
48:58
Speaker 2: Here's what he said on truth.
48:59
Speaker 3: Socially say he's a really bad pick.
49:02
Speaker 2: Plenty of time to recover. However, so Trump.
49:06
Speaker 3: Saying that there's plenty of time for Starma to recover.
49:10
Speaker 2: I think that's true.
49:13
Speaker 14: Yeah, I think it was sort of a lighthearted comment,
49:15
Speaker 14: and Starmer handed him a bat to beat him over with,
49:19
Speaker 14: and he took it. Of course, with that appointment, he's
49:22
Speaker 14: probably referring to the fact that the general elections are
49:24
Speaker 14: far away in the UK and the procedural hurdles within
49:27
Speaker 14: the Labor Party in the UK are difficult to replace
49:30
Speaker 14: the incumbent more so than it is with the Conservatives.
49:34
Speaker 14: I don't even know how much depth in that Trump
49:36
Speaker 14: had in his comment there, but those are probably broadly
49:39
Speaker 14: what he's discussing. But we all know that Cure Starmer
49:42
Speaker 14: is in jeopardy even as those hurdles are high, and
49:45
Speaker 14: he certainly is somebody who's very strong politically and knows
49:48
Speaker 14: how to maneuver the system. So he's not going to
49:50
Speaker 14: go down lightly. But the pressure is certainly mounting on him.
49:52
Speaker 14: His favorability is down, his confidence vote down, confidence levels
49:56
Speaker 14: within his party is down. Labor is polling very low
50:00
Speaker 14: right now, so you know, those things are all headwinds
50:02
Speaker 14: for him to overcome.
50:04
Speaker 2: Certainly, just trying to ask you.
50:06
Speaker 3: About the midterms, the Virginia voters are backing a redistricting
50:10
Speaker 3: measure that could potentially shift control of the House in November.
50:14
Speaker 3: Can you explain this to us?
50:17
Speaker 14: Yes, this is a big deal where it's basically redistricting,
50:21
Speaker 14: or it's called jerry Mandarin colloquially, which is redrawing the
50:24
Speaker 14: maps of Congress, a lower chamber to favor a political party.
50:30
Speaker 14: And this has been an arms race really that's been
50:32
Speaker 14: happening behind the scenes for a long time. Started with
50:35
Speaker 14: Texas that actually did it in a way that favored Republicans,
50:38
Speaker 14: and then California and Virginia and Utah and other states
50:40
Speaker 14: have done it favoring Democrats. So there's sort of this
50:43
Speaker 14: fight going on, and right now it is tilting afters
50:46
Speaker 14: Virginia decision yesterday, it's tilting in favor of them, and
50:48
Speaker 14: that could change the trajectory of the midterm elections. And
50:51
Speaker 14: if the Democrats take control, that's going to lead to
50:54
Speaker 14: a whole other set of downstream consequences. Obviously, it's stymy
50:56
Speaker 14: the Trump administration for the last two years.
51:00
Speaker 2: Got a lot in that answer.
51:01
Speaker 3: Koshagada, thank you very much for joining us. And just finally,
51:05
Speaker 3: I'm wearing blue because it's Israel's birthday today, Yom Hartzmaut.
51:09
Speaker 3: It was created seventy eight years ago, in nineteen forty eight.
51:12
Speaker 2: So there you go.
51:14
Speaker 6: Up now.
51:14
Speaker 3: James McPherson filling in for Paul Murray.