Transcript

Sharri | 12 February · Sharri

0:01
Speaker 1: Live on Sky News. This is Sharry.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good Evening. It's the last chance saloon for the Liberal Party,
0:11
Speaker 2: with ten front benches now quitting. Tobac Angus Taylor, the
0:15
Speaker 2: Liberal who moved the spill motion to overthrow Susan Lee,
0:18
Speaker 2: will be on the show live. Also tonight will cross
0:22
Speaker 2: live to Melbourne as protests against Israeli President Isaac hertzog
0:26
Speaker 2: eat up and Noah Tishby will be here to discuss.
0:31
Speaker 2: The battle is on to save defense assets from Labour's firesale.
0:36
Speaker 2: Michael McLaren is leading the charge and he'll be on
0:38
Speaker 2: the desk with me later. Plus the extraordinary TRIPLEO call
0:43
Speaker 2: from thirteen year old Austin who swam four kilometers in
0:47
Speaker 2: rough seas to save his family. But first, It's been
0:52
Speaker 2: a huge day today with multiple Liberals quitting the front
0:55
Speaker 2: bench ahead of a leadership spill tomorrow morning. Policy heavyweight
0:59
Speaker 2: James p Ddison led the pack in support of rival
1:03
Speaker 2: Angus Taylor over Susan Lee. In total, ten have quit
1:07
Speaker 2: the front bench, including Patterson, Jonathan Duniam, Matt O'Sullivan, Claire Chandler,
1:13
Speaker 2: Philip Thompson, Leah Blythe Michaylia Cash, Dantean James McGrath and Moore. Now,
1:21
Speaker 2: some voters and some of you question whether Angus Taylor
1:25
Speaker 2: has what it takes to rebuild the coalition and to
1:29
Speaker 2: inspire voters. But the point is this, it's the last
1:34
Speaker 2: chance saloon for the Liberal Party. Patterson put it perfectly
1:39
Speaker 2: when he described it as a change or die moment
1:43
Speaker 2: for the Liberals.
1:45
Speaker 3: If it goes on, there'll be nothing left of the
1:48
Speaker 3: Liberal Party via the next selection. It's for those reasons
1:52
Speaker 3: that this morning I tended my resignation to Susan Lee
1:56
Speaker 3: as to the leader of Liberal Party.
1:58
Speaker 1: Susan Lee.
1:59
Speaker 3: It's something that I didn't do lightly. It's something I
2:02
Speaker 3: did with a heavy heart. Susan is a decent person,
2:06
Speaker 3: She is a good Liberal. She has been dealt many
2:09
Speaker 3: tough hands in the last nine months. But I no
2:13
Speaker 3: longer had confidence in her ability to turn this ship
2:16
Speaker 3: around to get our party back on track before.
2:20
Speaker 1: The next election.
2:22
Speaker 2: And Patterson is now doing the numbers for Taylor head
2:25
Speaker 2: of tomorrow morning's party room meeting. Well, the Liberal Party
2:29
Speaker 2: urgently needs to do three things. It needs to find policy,
2:34
Speaker 2: conviction and direction. It needs fresh leadership, and above all,
2:40
Speaker 2: it needs unity. That's for the whole of the coalition
2:44
Speaker 2: as well. James Patterson spoke today about changing direction to
2:48
Speaker 2: win back voters because the truth is most have deserted
2:52
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party for one nation now. Angus Taylor's pitch
2:56
Speaker 2: is to focus on the economy also our way of life.
3:01
Speaker 2: It's a vision that's been described today as Howard ask.
3:05
Speaker 1: The first is.
3:06
Speaker 3: To restore Australians standard of living, which have been absolutely
3:09
Speaker 3: smashed under this government over the last four years. Australians
3:13
Speaker 3: feel poorer and that's because they are. The second is
3:16
Speaker 3: to defend the Australian way of life. Many Australians feel
3:19
Speaker 3: that our way of life is under attack and Bondai
3:22
Speaker 3: was just the worst most recent moment of that. Those
3:25
Speaker 3: are Angus's priorities and I think they're priorities that will
3:28
Speaker 3: appeal to the vast majority of Australia.
3:31
Speaker 2: But not all Liberals are convinced that he's the answer.
3:35
Speaker 2: And here's the reaction from some Liberals who've not expressed
3:39
Speaker 2: outright support for Angus Taylor. Susan hasn't given.
3:44
Speaker 4: A budget reply yet and I think over the last
3:47
Speaker 4: twelve months, well last eight months, I should say, it's
3:50
Speaker 4: been a pretty rocky road. There's been a couple of
3:52
Speaker 4: bus ups with the NATS. There was a Cataclyst Mik
3:55
Speaker 4: election defeat under Peter Dutton. So I think leadership debates
4:00
Speaker 4: and a like premature. But I mean, if all you
4:04
Speaker 4: do is talk about yourselves, then I think you'll find
4:06
Speaker 4: yourself in a pretty bad position.
4:08
Speaker 5: Look.
4:09
Speaker 1: I support Susan Lee.
4:10
Speaker 6: I think she's done a very good job under very
4:12
Speaker 6: difficult circumstances. She hasn't been the leader for twelve months yet,
4:17
Speaker 6: it's only been nine months since the election in May.
4:21
Speaker 2: And you heard from Wallace on this show last night
4:23
Speaker 2: as well. James Patterson, in response, has mounted the case
4:28
Speaker 2: for Taylor, specifically, if.
4:31
Speaker 3: A spill motion is successful, I'll be voting for Angus
4:33
Speaker 3: Taylor as leader. Angus is the smartest policy brain in
4:38
Speaker 3: the shadow cabinet. He's a man of deep conviction and
4:42
Speaker 3: courage and values.
4:45
Speaker 2: And so a Liberal spill ladder was formally given to
4:48
Speaker 2: Susan Lee today asking for a spill motion at a
4:51
Speaker 2: Liberal Party room meeting. It was sent by Jess Collins,
4:55
Speaker 2: who'll be on the show shortly, and that meeting will
4:58
Speaker 2: take place tomorrow morning. Will be it here on Sky
5:02
Speaker 2: Now Susan Lee was forced to front question time today
5:05
Speaker 2: with the leadership hanging over her head. It was perhaps
5:09
Speaker 2: her final question time as leader, but she maintained her
5:14
Speaker 2: professionalism and she pressed the Prime Minister on CFMU corruption,
5:20
Speaker 2: but disrespectfully. Many Labor ministers mocked the Liberals and Taylor.
5:26
Speaker 7: Actually they all agree, they all agree we're not looking
5:30
Speaker 7: after a strange but just looking after themselves. One thing
5:34
Speaker 7: is crystal clear his focus is self interest, not the
5:38
Speaker 7: national interest.
5:40
Speaker 1: Because Julius Caesar had more.
5:42
Speaker 8: Support from his senators than what we've seen going on
5:45
Speaker 8: over there today.
5:47
Speaker 9: So after forty weeks of carrying a baby, mums and
5:50
Speaker 9: dads can look up to look forward to six months off.
5:54
Speaker 9: But after thirty nine weeks of carrying the Liberal Party,
5:57
Speaker 9: I'd say this leader of the opposition can also look
6:00
Speaker 9: forward to a little bit of time off from the job.
6:04
Speaker 2: Now, Labor will frame this as the Liberals tearing down
6:08
Speaker 2: a female leader. Well, firstly, at least the Liberals chose
6:12
Speaker 2: a female leader because look at how Anthony Albanezi has
6:16
Speaker 2: treated his rival in Tanya Plibisek. She's very talented, she's
6:20
Speaker 2: very popular, but he's thwarted her at every turn, taking
6:25
Speaker 2: away her beloved education portfolio and giving her tricky roles,
6:30
Speaker 2: setting her up to fail. Secondly, given the state of
6:34
Speaker 2: the public opinion polls, given how Australians feel about the coalition,
6:41
Speaker 2: Susan Lee clearly isn't being judged on her gender but
6:46
Speaker 2: on her performance. As Taylor said last night, the Liberal
6:49
Speaker 2: Party position has deteriorated since the crushing defeat at the
6:54
Speaker 2: election last year, and the party is now weaker than
6:57
Speaker 2: at any point in history. It is obviously time for
7:02
Speaker 2: a massive change. Now. The question is, and it's a
7:06
Speaker 2: good question, whether Angus Taylor personally has what it takes.
7:11
Speaker 2: There'll be a great deal of pressure on him and
7:13
Speaker 2: the Albanezy government and their sharp labor machine will be unrelenting.
7:20
Speaker 2: Now in the interest of democracy, let's hope that he
7:24
Speaker 2: fares better than Lee, because Australia needs a strong opposition
7:29
Speaker 2: all democracies do to ensure the government of the day
7:33
Speaker 2: doesn't get away with secrecy, corruption and waste of our
7:38
Speaker 2: hard earned taxpayer dollars. There needs to be a solid,
7:43
Speaker 2: functioning opposition to hold the Albanezy government to account. Now
7:52
Speaker 2: he's ready. President Isaac Hurtzog arrived in Melbourne today, only
7:56
Speaker 2: to be welcomed by thousands of protesters scending on the city.
8:01
Speaker 2: The location of one event he was attending leaked and
8:05
Speaker 2: pro Palestinian groups spread the word. Now they gathered at
8:09
Speaker 2: Flinders Street Station. They've been there since five o'clock. Were
8:12
Speaker 2: crossed to the crowd shortly. But here's what some of
8:15
Speaker 2: the protesters were chanting this evening. Death to Herzog was
8:35
Speaker 2: also graffited on a university building and there were chants
8:39
Speaker 2: of death to the IDF. And it comes after violent
8:43
Speaker 2: clashes in Sydney where Grace came yelled as well about
8:47
Speaker 2: the interfada.
8:49
Speaker 10: From Gadigol to Gaza, Globalize the Inchafara won my time,
8:55
Speaker 10: from Gadigol to Gaza globalize the Achara.
9:00
Speaker 2: And just a reminder, those were comments that Albersi did
9:04
Speaker 2: not condemn. And you have to wonder if it's because
9:08
Speaker 2: the Prime Minister agrees with Grace Tame. You'll recall Albanesi
9:13
Speaker 2: was himself an activist many years ago at similar protests
9:17
Speaker 2: where flags were burned outside the American Embassy in Sydney, Israel.
9:26
Speaker 7: Trulent children owing Welsh with helicopter gunships with checks as.
9:37
Speaker 2: I mean so this is a large part of the
9:39
Speaker 2: challenge we face here in Australia. A Prime minister who
9:44
Speaker 2: doesn't condemn the hatred and he does not do the
9:49
Speaker 2: right thing. He'd rather turn a blind eye than stand
9:53
Speaker 2: up to racism. Now, over the past few days we've
9:56
Speaker 2: seen monstrous protests in Sydney, activists attacking and even biting police. Thankfully,
10:04
Speaker 2: the police was strong in their response. They didn't let
10:08
Speaker 2: the mob get away with it. They upheld the law,
10:11
Speaker 2: they protected public security. And these rallies were all to
10:15
Speaker 2: protest the peaceful visit of the Israeli President, Isaac Hertzog.
10:21
Speaker 2: And when I interviewed Hertzog, he spoke about the irony
10:25
Speaker 2: of the protesters targeting him. Yet never one chant against Iran.
10:31
Speaker 11: Why don't you demonstrate against Iran and what it's doing.
10:34
Speaker 11: It's atrocities. They butchered tens of thousands of their own
10:38
Speaker 11: citizens just about two weeks three weeks ago. Where are
10:41
Speaker 11: you all?
10:42
Speaker 2: Your father visited as president?
10:44
Speaker 11: Exactly forty years ago, it was that Bob Hawk was
10:48
Speaker 11: a prime minister. He didn't have three thousand police officers
10:53
Speaker 11: protecting him, nor was there so much tension, and he
10:56
Speaker 11: didn't come after a horrific Talil attack and I think
11:00
Speaker 11: we have to work hard to return to the same
11:02
Speaker 11: good old days. Where as well as Bay Party is
11:05
Speaker 11: an issue now, to.
11:08
Speaker 2: His credit, newsu was Premier Chris Mins has shown leadership
11:12
Speaker 2: and he's even introducing legislation to ban the phrase Globalize
11:16
Speaker 2: the INTERFARTA. And unlike the Prime Minister, Chris Mins did
11:20
Speaker 2: speak out against Grace Team.
11:35
Speaker 5: Look, I'm not going to jump the gun in relation
11:37
Speaker 5: to that, other than to say that I thought that
11:39
Speaker 5: was a distressing scene. You know, in the circumstances where
11:44
Speaker 5: six weeks ago we lost fifteen members of the Jewish
11:48
Speaker 5: community to a hate crime, a violent terrorist uprising. I mean,
11:52
Speaker 5: that's what the consequences of Globalize the INTERFARTA mean, are
11:55
Speaker 5: violent uprising in Sydney's streets. I can only imagine what
11:58
Speaker 5: those families thought when they saw someone screaming it from
12:02
Speaker 5: the steps of town. All the pain that they would
12:04
Speaker 5: have gone through.
12:04
Speaker 2: Again, it's not a distant memory.
12:06
Speaker 5: We're talking about weeks ago that their family members were
12:09
Speaker 5: mowed down and murdered because they were Jewish. Yeah, she
12:14
Speaker 5: can defend the saying.
12:15
Speaker 2: I thought it was I thought it was terrible, good
12:19
Speaker 2: on Chris Mins. That is moral clarity, that is leadership,
12:23
Speaker 2: something Albinizi knows nothing about. Can you imagine him ever
12:28
Speaker 2: saying those words? And Mens today again continued to back
12:33
Speaker 2: in his police, as the Lebanese Muslim Association and other
12:37
Speaker 2: groups demanded they apologize. And why should the police apologize
12:42
Speaker 2: when the protesters defied orders and many behaved atrociously, not
12:48
Speaker 2: to mention spreading hatred and division. The police, our state police,
12:54
Speaker 2: should be applauded. Albanese's refusal to condemn Grace Tamas she
12:58
Speaker 2: calls to globalize into FADA also shows us that he
13:02
Speaker 2: still hasn't learned the lessons of Bondai, of where dehumanization
13:08
Speaker 2: of Zionists leads, of where rampant antisemitism can lead. And
13:15
Speaker 2: this week there was an extraordinary admission from ASIO, and
13:18
Speaker 2: you wouldn't have seen this yet, an extraordinary admission from
13:22
Speaker 2: the ASIO Director General Mike Burgess, that not enough has
13:25
Speaker 2: been done to fight anti semitism now when he speaks here,
13:30
Speaker 2: Burgess wasn't referring to his own agency, but more broadly
13:34
Speaker 2: in Australia.
13:36
Speaker 12: Was enough done to address anti Semitism? If not, why not?
13:40
Speaker 12: I repeatedly put on the record my concerns about escalating
13:43
Speaker 12: antisemitism in our country, with the general harassment and intimidation
13:47
Speaker 12: of Jewish Australians transitioning to the direct targeting of people,
13:51
Speaker 12: businesses and places of worship. I told this committee antisemitism
13:56
Speaker 12: was asio's most pressing threat to life priority.
14:00
Speaker 2: And Burgess is right. He had been sounding the alarm
14:06
Speaker 2: about anti Semitism for a very long time. Remember as
14:10
Speaker 2: he just said that he did want that it was
14:12
Speaker 2: the most pressing threat to life in our country.
14:16
Speaker 3: What's your assessment about the increase in the level of
14:20
Speaker 3: antisemitism right now?
14:21
Speaker 12: In terms of my organization, our threats have faced, threats
14:24
Speaker 12: to life, threats to way of life. In terms of
14:26
Speaker 12: threats to life, it's my agency's number one priority because
14:29
Speaker 12: of the weight of incidents we're seeing play out in
14:32
Speaker 12: this country.
14:33
Speaker 3: Well, when would you've ever said before that a form
14:35
Speaker 3: of racism was the number one concern for ASIO.
14:39
Speaker 12: I don't believe we've done that in a history.
14:43
Speaker 2: Those remarks were a full year ago, February last year.
14:47
Speaker 2: And yet you don't need me to tell you that
14:49
Speaker 2: the Albanezy government, the Prime Minister failed to listen. And
14:55
Speaker 2: so now Burgess is publicly asking why more action wasn't
14:59
Speaker 2: taken on anti Semitism. Now, the media debate, including at
15:04
Speaker 2: the ABC, has been focused on whether there was an
15:07
Speaker 2: intelligence failure in the lead up to Bondi, and if
15:11
Speaker 2: there were failures, we'd expect the Royal Commission to expose them.
15:15
Speaker 2: But why isn't the media or the broad public debate
15:18
Speaker 2: focusing on the fact that Burgess's warnings the head of
15:22
Speaker 2: ASIO were ignored. Why did the Albanese government fail to
15:27
Speaker 2: act when the head of our intelligence agency said openly,
15:31
Speaker 2: publicly and repeatedly that antisemitism was the most pressing threat
15:37
Speaker 2: to life. This is my concern and as we've seen
15:42
Speaker 2: with Albanesi's equivocation in response to questions about Grace Tame,
15:47
Speaker 2: he hasn't learned much since Bondi. As I mentioned, protests
15:55
Speaker 2: have erupted in Melbourne during Isaac Hertzog's visit and will
15:58
Speaker 2: cross live to Melbourne where we've got reporter Jack Naihoff
16:02
Speaker 2: at the protest. Jack, thanks for joining us. So it looks
16:05
Speaker 2: pretty quiet behind you. What have the scenes been like
16:08
Speaker 2: this afternoon.
16:11
Speaker 13: We're expecting around five thousand people to attend this demonstration.
16:16
Speaker 13: It began earlier in the evening around five o'clock. There
16:19
Speaker 13: was strong numbers of people. The chance included things like
16:22
Speaker 13: death to the IDF Zionus terrorists, as well as the
16:27
Speaker 13: traditional sayings that we've been hearing as well, like from
16:29
Speaker 13: the river to the sea, let Palestine be free. But
16:32
Speaker 13: despite that language, physically the protest was very peaceful. There
16:38
Speaker 13: was really no scuffles that broke out. Police were being
16:41
Speaker 13: very strategic to keep their visibility limited while still being present.
16:45
Speaker 13: Of course, that's different to what we saw earlier in
16:47
Speaker 13: the day with the Israeli President of visiting government House.
16:51
Speaker 13: There was a strong police presence there as well as
16:53
Speaker 13: a nearby community center where he was addressing members of
16:56
Speaker 13: the Jewish community. Roads around that region were blocked off off.
17:00
Speaker 13: Despite that, protesters in smaller numbers gathered there as well
17:04
Speaker 13: to try and protest his visit here. But as we say,
17:08
Speaker 13: mostly the protests that we've seen over the past few
17:10
Speaker 13: hours has been peaceful, just with those very strong language
17:14
Speaker 13: when it comes to what they've.
17:15
Speaker 2: Been chanting, Yeah, hateful chance. Indeed, all right, Jack, thank
17:19
Speaker 2: you so much, and glad it hasn't been anywhere near
17:22
Speaker 2: as violent as in Sydney. Thanks for joining us. All right,
17:25
Speaker 2: let's bring in now to discuss the Liberal leadership. Liberal
17:29
Speaker 2: Senator Alex Antik Alex, thank you for your time. Now.
17:34
Speaker 2: I just caught you at the end of an interview
17:36
Speaker 2: with Sarah Ferguson. It's fascinating how differently the ABC portrays
17:41
Speaker 2: what's going on now the Liberal leadership then you know
17:48
Speaker 2: most regular media outlets do. It was portrayed on the
17:53
Speaker 2: ABC as this conservative push. I even think the journalist
17:57
Speaker 2: said by Young Turks, I mean that's not what this is,
18:01
Speaker 2: is it.
18:04
Speaker 14: Well, and I didn't hear that Chari, but no, that
18:06
Speaker 14: is not what this is at all. I mean, we
18:09
Speaker 14: simply have a situation here, as I think Senator Patterson
18:12
Speaker 14: said earlier in the day to the media, where we
18:15
Speaker 14: are hemorrhaging votes. I mean it as simple as that
18:17
Speaker 14: five million Australians voted for the Liberal Party at the
18:20
Speaker 14: last election, and something in the order of two hundred
18:23
Speaker 14: thousand of them per month are abandoning us. And that's
18:26
Speaker 14: not just the rank and file people on the street
18:30
Speaker 14: that we're also losing members. Something has to change. So,
18:34
Speaker 14: you know, any characterization in any other way than simply
18:38
Speaker 14: this is an emergency is I don't think he is right,
18:41
Speaker 14: and we don't have time. We simply do not have
18:44
Speaker 14: time to waste anymore. We've got two and a bit
18:46
Speaker 14: years before the next election. Election cycles move quickly and
18:49
Speaker 14: something has to change.
18:51
Speaker 2: Angus Taylor and his support is obviously hitting the phone.
18:54
Speaker 2: What is the main pitch here from a policy perspective, Well,
19:01
Speaker 2: I mean, look.
19:01
Speaker 14: I don't want to put words in anyone's mouth, but
19:03
Speaker 14: I can see what I think the message needs to be,
19:06
Speaker 14: and that is that we need to get back to
19:09
Speaker 14: liberal values, liberal principles, and that always includes the economy.
19:12
Speaker 14: That's the sort of thing I think that is universally accepted.
19:15
Speaker 14: But if you look at where the votes are going,
19:17
Speaker 14: they're going to the One Nation Party who are talking
19:20
Speaker 14: about different issues, things we're not talking about at the moment,
19:22
Speaker 14: like immigration and Australia First, issues which are really resonating
19:27
Speaker 14: out there in the community. So we have to get
19:29
Speaker 14: back to MENSI and liberal values, which means a very
19:34
Speaker 14: very clear policy path, very very quickly. And Angus is
19:38
Speaker 14: a very good policy brain. And if he is successful tomorrow,
19:41
Speaker 14: which we don't yet know, then I'll expect him to
19:44
Speaker 14: move very very quickly.
19:47
Speaker 2: We've heard from several Liberals now that Susan Lee hasn't
19:50
Speaker 2: been given enough time, it's only been nine months, that
19:54
Speaker 2: it'll be very damaging to tear down a female leader.
19:57
Speaker 2: What's your response to some of these criticisms.
20:02
Speaker 14: Well, look, I mean, you know, nine months in an
20:04
Speaker 14: election cycle is a long time, I would say, am,
20:06
Speaker 14: and there only three year terms and you're either campaigning,
20:09
Speaker 14: getting ready, or you're somewhere in the middle. So I mean,
20:12
Speaker 14: as I said, we simply don't have a lot of
20:14
Speaker 14: time left. And my concern is that if we were
20:17
Speaker 14: to leave it any longer, there may not be a
20:19
Speaker 14: Liberal party left to salvage. I mean, the rate of
20:23
Speaker 14: drop off to the One Nation Party over the last
20:25
Speaker 14: three months has been spectacular. I mean, if that isn't
20:28
Speaker 14: the message, then we need to be doing something different
20:30
Speaker 14: than I don't know what is. So Look, I just think,
20:33
Speaker 14: you know, I think there is a mood to change.
20:36
Speaker 14: I think we will probably see it tomorrow and I'll
20:39
Speaker 14: certainly be.
20:39
Speaker 2: Supporting Angus just very quickly because there were reports that
20:44
Speaker 2: you were being courted by One Nation. You know, have
20:47
Speaker 2: you seriously considered switching?
20:52
Speaker 14: Look, I haven't really been courted by one nation. I
20:54
Speaker 14: wouldn't say. Perhaps that came as a result of me
20:57
Speaker 14: pointing out that the party that is winning at the
20:59
Speaker 14: moment is the party that is speaking common sense, you know,
21:02
Speaker 14: common sense, every day language to every day Australians. And
21:05
Speaker 14: so I do have a lot of time. I mean,
21:07
Speaker 14: I know that's not always the case on my side
21:09
Speaker 14: of politics, but I do have a lot of time
21:10
Speaker 14: for the approach. I do have a lot of time
21:12
Speaker 14: for people. I think Pauline is much underestimated, and I
21:14
Speaker 14: think she's a very good politician, and I think we
21:16
Speaker 14: need to see more authenticity and you know, I'm confident
21:19
Speaker 14: Angus will do that. But no, I'm not contemplating moving
21:24
Speaker 14: at this stage.
21:25
Speaker 2: Now, all right, Alex Andtik, thank you very much for
21:27
Speaker 2: joining us tonight. Now. The spill motion was delivered to
21:31
Speaker 2: Susan Lee by two Liberal MP's Phil Thompson and Senator
21:35
Speaker 2: Jess Collins and Jess Jones. Me now, Jess, good to
21:38
Speaker 2: see you. Now, why did you decide this was the
21:41
Speaker 2: moment to have a spill?
21:45
Speaker 15: Well, look, thanks so much for having me Shari, and
21:49
Speaker 15: we just couldn't go on like this time is of
21:51
Speaker 15: the essence we are in a critical moment right now.
21:55
Speaker 15: We are losing members. I can't tell you a number
21:58
Speaker 15: of emails and messages I get every day saying please
22:01
Speaker 15: help me. I've got members leaving, left, right and center.
22:04
Speaker 15: It's not just that, it's the Australian people too, So
22:07
Speaker 15: we know we are really letting people down. And every
22:10
Speaker 15: day that passes is another day that we are letting
22:13
Speaker 15: people down. So time is of the essence. We've got
22:16
Speaker 15: to do this now. It's going to be pretty tough
22:18
Speaker 15: times ahead. It's going to be a pretty big task
22:21
Speaker 15: for whoever wins the leadership tomorrow, and let's face it,
22:25
Speaker 15: that could be Susan. Whoever it is has to write
22:28
Speaker 15: the ship. We have to change direction and we've got
22:30
Speaker 15: to get ourselves out of this doll drum and start
22:33
Speaker 15: representing the people again.
22:35
Speaker 2: The way I read it from the people I've been
22:37
Speaker 2: speaking to is if there is a vote between Susan
22:41
Speaker 2: Lee and Angus Taylor, Taylor would have the numbers. But
22:44
Speaker 2: where I'm picking up that there is a level of
22:46
Speaker 2: apprehension or nervousness is actually the spill motion that there
22:50
Speaker 2: are a number of MPs who are a number of
22:53
Speaker 2: liberals who don't want to support a spill what's your
22:58
Speaker 2: sense on this front. Do you think there is nervousness
23:02
Speaker 2: about whether this spill motion will actually get up?
23:06
Speaker 15: Yep, there always has been. There always has been. Look,
23:08
Speaker 15: I'm not doing the numbers, so I don't know, but
23:12
Speaker 15: I can understand that colleagues are nervous about it. But
23:14
Speaker 15: I think when the time comes to it tomorrow, I
23:17
Speaker 15: think overwhelmingly right across the party, whether you're on the
23:19
Speaker 15: left or the right of the party, I think everybody
23:21
Speaker 15: can agree that this has to come to an end.
23:24
Speaker 15: The question of leadership has to come to an end,
23:26
Speaker 15: and I think that has to happen through the spill
23:28
Speaker 15: motion tomorrow.
23:31
Speaker 2: Just finally, a lot of people are, whether it's commentators
23:36
Speaker 2: or other politicians, are expressing some reservations about Angus Taylor
23:41
Speaker 2: whether he is the person that can rebuild the Liberal Party.
23:45
Speaker 2: Do you think he is?
23:48
Speaker 15: I absolutely do. He's got courage, he's got conviction, he's
23:51
Speaker 15: got intellectual depth, he's been really supportive right across the
23:56
Speaker 15: party of a lot of people's mental to me. I
24:02
Speaker 15: have read in the past few days, and again I
24:04
Speaker 15: heard you talking before about you know, the left playbook,
24:07
Speaker 15: right now and how they're analyzing this particular leadership challenge.
24:12
Speaker 15: He doesn't have a woman problem, he doesn't at all,
24:15
Speaker 15: and I can attest to that, and I think it'd
24:19
Speaker 15: be an absolutely terrific leader for the Liberal Party. He's
24:22
Speaker 15: got vision, he's got conviction, and he's got courage, and
24:25
Speaker 15: he's going to fight for Australia. And I think that's
24:27
Speaker 15: what the people want, not just the members, but the
24:29
Speaker 15: Australian people. You know, they're pretty sad right now they're
24:33
Speaker 15: seeing this country. I mean you were talking before about
24:36
Speaker 15: the protests that are happening across the country. So when
24:38
Speaker 15: I see those images, I am sad, I'm angry, I'm frustrated,
24:43
Speaker 15: and I think a lot of people in Australia are too,
24:45
Speaker 15: and we just need a strong leader to be able
24:46
Speaker 15: to come up and fight against that and fight for Australia.
24:49
Speaker 2: No, exactly, all right, Jess Collins, good to have you
24:52
Speaker 2: on the show. Thank you so much, And for everyone
24:54
Speaker 2: at home, make sure you turn on Sky eight am
24:56
Speaker 2: tomorrow for coverage of the leadership. All right, more discussion
25:00
Speaker 2: on this. Let's bring in now John Howard's former Press secretary,
25:03
Speaker 2: David Gazzard and the Institute of Public Affairs chief economist
25:06
Speaker 2: Adam Priighton. Great to see you both now. David Labour's
25:11
Speaker 2: already tying Taylor to pass policies like arguing against tax
25:15
Speaker 2: cuts for low income Australian So do you think, given
25:19
Speaker 2: your extensive political history, Angus Taylor will face a more
25:22
Speaker 2: relentless campaign than Susan Lee.
25:27
Speaker 16: He will, no doubt about that, and in a way
25:30
Speaker 16: in politics he probably should. I mean, the Parliament is
25:33
Speaker 16: the white hot cauldron of ambition and of policy, and
25:37
Speaker 16: if you are if you're found out your policy is deficient,
25:41
Speaker 16: it is a it's a brutal place. So Angus will
25:44
Speaker 16: be ready for that. He's been part of this for
25:47
Speaker 16: some time and if he gets up tomorrow he will
25:49
Speaker 16: certainly be required. And I think he's got license too.
25:53
Speaker 16: With the primary vote somewhere might around eighteen percent to
25:56
Speaker 16: swing for the fences. So his colleagues are saying, Australians
26:00
Speaker 16: are saying, Former Liberal voters are saying, current Liberal Party
26:04
Speaker 16: members are saying, Angus, you've got free reign, swing for
26:08
Speaker 16: the fences, go for it, sun. So he will have
26:11
Speaker 16: to put up policies to win back voters that drifted
26:14
Speaker 16: to one Nation or parking their votes with one Nation,
26:17
Speaker 16: and you'll have to stand up policies that go to
26:19
Speaker 16: address some of the serious concerns we have with the economy,
26:23
Speaker 16: with other social things like immigration coming out of the
26:26
Speaker 16: back of BONDI. I mean, that's a longer term thing
26:29
Speaker 16: than that, but there are crucial needs that have to
26:32
Speaker 16: be met, and he has to come up with some
26:35
Speaker 16: of the solutions, and they will face scrutiny.
26:38
Speaker 2: Adam, there's a lot of focus on one Nation. Do
26:41
Speaker 2: you think, you know, like many people do, that this
26:44
Speaker 2: is just a protest vote while the coalition is in disarray,
26:49
Speaker 2: or do you think people might actually at the next election,
26:52
Speaker 2: you know, vote for One Nation in higher numbers than
26:56
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party.
26:59
Speaker 7: Well, certainly. Sorry, that first poll came out about seven
27:01
Speaker 7: or eight weeks ago with One Nation at twenty four percent.
27:03
Speaker 7: I thought exactly that it was a flash in the pan,
27:06
Speaker 7: But we've seen every single poll ever since their support
27:09
Speaker 7: goes up and up and up, and so now I'm
27:11
Speaker 7: actually thinking that, yes, actually, this is the biggest political
27:14
Speaker 7: earthquake since the split of the Labor Party in the
27:17
Speaker 7: nineteen fifties. That's what we're facing here. And as much
27:20
Speaker 7: as we might like Susan lay as she's a nice person.
27:24
Speaker 7: The last few months have been absolutely disastrous for the
27:26
Speaker 7: Liberal Party. I think they do need to change leader,
27:28
Speaker 7: as long as it's about policy. It's been nine months
27:32
Speaker 7: since the federal election. I still really don't know where
27:34
Speaker 7: the Liberal Party stands on immigration, on energy, even they've
27:38
Speaker 7: dumped it zero, but they haven't talked about it at all.
27:41
Speaker 7: So I need know they need to sort themselves out,
27:43
Speaker 7: and the nation really needs that. We've had nine of
27:46
Speaker 7: the last twelve quarters GDP per capita has shrunk. That's
27:49
Speaker 7: the worst record pretty much in the Western world, and
27:53
Speaker 7: yet it's not getting any scrutiny. You've got in Victorian
27:55
Speaker 7: Labour Party accused of fifteen billion dollars of fraud and
27:58
Speaker 7: that's not getting any scrutiny either.
28:00
Speaker 1: It's all being chewed up.
28:01
Speaker 7: The political oxygen is all being chewed up by this.
28:04
Speaker 7: So let's hope it ends and they settle on a
28:06
Speaker 7: leader soon.
28:07
Speaker 2: Just picking up on the economic situation that you mentioned there, Adam,
28:11
Speaker 2: I mean the news today. Gross debt is now barreling
28:14
Speaker 2: towards the one trillion dollar mark, earlier than forecast expected
28:19
Speaker 2: to happen in just a matter of weeks now. The
28:22
Speaker 2: Treasurer was asked about this and he deflected a question
28:25
Speaker 2: in Parliament today. Have a look.
28:27
Speaker 17: The idea that we would take lectures on debt from
28:31
Speaker 17: those opposite is preposterous after the mess that they've left
28:34
Speaker 17: us and the efforts that we have put in to
28:37
Speaker 17: cleaning up that mess, Mister Speaker, in every long list
28:42
Speaker 17: of possible deputy leaders and shadow treasurers, the Member for
28:45
Speaker 17: Fairfax isn't on it. The Member for Fairfax is the
28:50
Speaker 17: only person considered incapable of retaining his spot. It should
28:55
Speaker 17: take some comfort from the fact that the last guy
28:58
Speaker 17: who failed as shadow treasurer now considers himself entitled to
29:02
Speaker 17: a promotion.
29:04
Speaker 2: So David, you know, one trillion dollars of debt is
29:08
Speaker 2: a major deal, but Labor gets away with it.
29:12
Speaker 16: Well, that is the weakness of the opposition of the moment,
29:14
Speaker 16: and it looks like they're going to resolve that problem.
29:17
Speaker 16: I mean, we're heading into budget five and Jim Chalmers's
29:22
Speaker 16: treasure is still blaming the Liberal Party for the previous
29:26
Speaker 16: four budgets that he hasn't seen about a reign in.
29:29
Speaker 16: In fact, spending as a proportion of GDP is at
29:32
Speaker 16: the absolute top red line level of the range. And
29:36
Speaker 16: to give you a sort of a neat summarization of
29:40
Speaker 16: the laughability of those comments he was making in the
29:43
Speaker 16: Parliament today, his own Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson, who sits
29:48
Speaker 16: on the Reserve Bank of Australia Board, voted unanimously with
29:53
Speaker 16: the other board members to raise interest rates because in part,
29:58
Speaker 16: government spending is too high. So the idea that over
30:01
Speaker 16: the last four budgets he couldn't have rained in spending
30:04
Speaker 16: to more acceptable levels and cut out some of the
30:07
Speaker 16: fat instead blaming it all on the previous government is
30:12
Speaker 16: I just think receding into incredulity with every passing day.
30:18
Speaker 2: And Adam, this level of debt comes at the same
30:21
Speaker 2: time that there's record ever revenue and Australians pay among
30:26
Speaker 2: the highest personal income taxes in the world.
30:31
Speaker 7: Yes, look, certainly that is true. And with this rate
30:33
Speaker 7: of inflation of four percent, you've got extreme supercharged bracket creep,
30:37
Speaker 7: so taxes are going up every single year by a
30:39
Speaker 7: large amount without a single law being passed. And yet
30:42
Speaker 7: even then you've got budget deficits as far as the
30:44
Speaker 7: eye can see. You've got federal spending, just to put
30:46
Speaker 7: it in context, is growing about eight or nine percent
30:49
Speaker 7: every single year. I mean, the population is growing fast
30:53
Speaker 7: because of immigration, but nine percent a year federal spending.
30:56
Speaker 2: I mean, David's quite right.
30:57
Speaker 7: The level of spending is great, but the growth rate
30:59
Speaker 7: is straordinary, the fastest I believe, since the mid nineteen seventies.
31:03
Speaker 7: And again it's not getting any scrutiny, so let's hope
31:07
Speaker 7: that situation changes very soon.
31:09
Speaker 2: Just before you go, Adam, you popped into the pro
31:12
Speaker 2: Palestinian protest in Melbourne this evening on your way in.
31:16
Speaker 2: Not to protest, of course, not, but as a I
31:19
Speaker 2: don't know, protest tourist, if you like, what did you
31:22
Speaker 2: tell us about what you saw? Having never been at
31:24
Speaker 2: one of these protests myself.
31:27
Speaker 7: Yes, well there's still a journalist in me, so I
31:29
Speaker 7: had to go.
31:30
Speaker 1: Look.
31:30
Speaker 7: It didn't seem like five thousand people to me, but
31:32
Speaker 7: I haven't seen any of the reporting. But what was
31:34
Speaker 7: particularly funny was speeches about white sovereignty and white supremacy
31:38
Speaker 7: amongst a crowd that was ninety nine percent white and
31:41
Speaker 7: five percent of whom had purple hair. So it was
31:44
Speaker 7: a very strange experience. Lots of Palastine flags, an Irish
31:48
Speaker 7: flag even you know, I just thought most people in
31:50
Speaker 7: the audience have really no idea about the Middle East.
31:52
Speaker 2: They haven't read the history, they don't understand.
31:55
Speaker 7: It's a symptom of a very wealthy country, and I
31:57
Speaker 7: think people don't realize it's going downhill, very far asked,
32:00
Speaker 7: and at some point I hope these people realize that
32:02
Speaker 7: there are much more, much more important things for Australians
32:04
Speaker 7: to be Yeah, but.
32:05
Speaker 2: Well, what about the pictures you sent me about the
32:08
Speaker 2: memorabilia they were selling, Well, little trinkets for Gaza, you are,
32:14
Speaker 2: You're right to bring that up.
32:15
Speaker 7: I was astonished at the cost.
32:16
Speaker 2: There was a stall that was lacking.
32:17
Speaker 7: It was like an Easter show stall with Palestinian flags
32:20
Speaker 7: at every single item was ten dollars each. So a
32:24
Speaker 7: plastic earring with a watermelon or a Gazan flag was
32:27
Speaker 7: ten dollars. And that's not for two earrings, that's for one.
32:30
Speaker 7: I mean that's a lot of money. These people are
32:31
Speaker 7: wealthy people, you know, they are not the working class.
32:34
Speaker 2: And I thought that was very amusing. Ten dollars for
32:37
Speaker 2: an earing is very cheap. Just saying that, that's right, ay,
32:43
Speaker 2: one ten dollars for an earing. All right, Adam Crichton,
32:46
Speaker 2: our reporter at the protest, plus David Gazard, good to
32:49
Speaker 2: see you both. All right, still to come the fight
32:51
Speaker 2: to save defense assets like Victoria Barretts from being sold off.
32:55
Speaker 2: Plus Hrtzey to counsel a visit to the adust Synagogue
32:58
Speaker 2: over security fears. Noah Tishbee will join me here after
33:02
Speaker 2: the break. Israeli President Isaac Hertzog has had to cancel
33:10
Speaker 2: a planned visit to the firebomb to Dash Synagogue with
33:14
Speaker 2: police sighting safety concerns and just to put.
33:18
Speaker 10: From Gadigal to Gaza, globalize the Interfara on my time,
33:23
Speaker 10: from Gadigal to Gaza, globalize the AFA.
33:29
Speaker 2: And you can't watch it enough. That was former Australian
33:32
Speaker 2: of the Year, Grace Tame. We're joining me now, Israeli author, actress, advocate.
33:36
Speaker 2: What can't you do? Noah tishbe great to have you here.
33:39
Speaker 2: It's great to be here. I'm great to be back
33:40
Speaker 2: in Australia. I mean when you see the sort of
33:43
Speaker 2: protests on the streets of Sydney like we just saw their,
33:47
Speaker 2: Grace Tame calling to globalize the Interfada from Gaza, you know,
33:52
Speaker 2: gadigl to Gaza and to the point where it's actually
33:56
Speaker 2: risking the security of Hertzog that he can't make certain
34:00
Speaker 2: stops on his visit. What do you think about that?
34:02
Speaker 18: Well, I think that the thing that is heartbreaking about
34:05
Speaker 18: this is that I thought we saw what globalized into
34:08
Speaker 18: Farta means. That's what happened on the first night of
34:10
Speaker 18: Hanukkah on Bondai Beach. That is globalizing Intifada, Globalizing Tefara
34:15
Speaker 18: means hunt down Jews, and I thought we've had enough here.
34:19
Speaker 18: You know, I have been talking to the Australian Jewish
34:21
Speaker 18: community for the past two and a half years and
34:23
Speaker 18: they've been warning that this is coming. This is entirely predictable.
34:27
Speaker 18: This murder, this massacre was entirely predictable. And to see
34:31
Speaker 18: that demonstration with her In particularly but everybody else as
34:35
Speaker 18: well demonstrating again against President Hertzong was heartbreaking. I thought,
34:40
Speaker 18: you understood what has happened and what's going on here,
34:44
Speaker 18: But I guess not enough.
34:45
Speaker 2: I still think our political leadership failed to understand that
34:50
Speaker 2: the protests that dehumanized Zionists, that's what then leads to
34:55
Speaker 2: terror attacks like Bondai. Absolutely, You've been arguing this for
34:59
Speaker 2: a long time. The modern day form of antisemitism is
35:03
Speaker 2: anti zion absolutely. Absolutely.
35:05
Speaker 18: So there are a couple of things to unpack here. So
35:07
Speaker 18: first of all, people need to understand what antisemitism is.
35:10
Speaker 18: An antisemitism in and of itself is not racism. It
35:14
Speaker 18: is not so called Islamophobia. Antisemitism is a shape shifting
35:18
Speaker 18: conspiracy theory that attributes to the Jews these mythological powers
35:23
Speaker 18: of control and conspiratorial kind of attitude. It's a suspicion
35:27
Speaker 18: against the Jews in which you punched down and you
35:29
Speaker 18: think that you're better than them, but also that they
35:31
Speaker 18: are controlling the universe. Right, So that is what anti
35:35
Speaker 18: semitism is. In every few generation, a change is from
35:37
Speaker 18: religious antisemitism to racial antisemitism. Sometimes Jews are blamed for
35:42
Speaker 18: being a socialist, sometimes they're the capitalist. Whatever it is
35:46
Speaker 18: that is wrong in humanity in society at any given
35:48
Speaker 18: moment is pinned on the Jews. And today it shape
35:52
Speaker 18: shifted into something different, and that is anti Zionism, which
35:56
Speaker 18: is the denying.
35:58
Speaker 2: Israel's right to exist.
36:00
Speaker 18: It's basically, and that's what we saw with that woman, right,
36:03
Speaker 18: it's basically Israel related Jew hatred. So you look at Israel,
36:09
Speaker 18: you think that Israel is the source of all evil,
36:11
Speaker 18: which is antisemitic to begin with. Right, And you say right,
36:15
Speaker 18: because Israel, in my opinion, is the source of all
36:17
Speaker 18: evil in the world. I'm going to go and hunt
36:19
Speaker 18: down Jews and for people to not understand that it's
36:22
Speaker 18: extraordinarily dangerous.
36:25
Speaker 2: That is what is happening right now.
36:26
Speaker 18: Yes, anti Zionism is the new form of antisemitism today
36:29
Speaker 18: and this is what's coming to Australia as it is
36:32
Speaker 18: all over the world, all over the world exactly.
36:35
Speaker 2: The trend has just escalated over the past couple of years.
36:38
Speaker 2: I also want to ask you about the meeting between
36:41
Speaker 2: Israeli Prime Minister Benjaminette and Yahoo and Trump in the
36:44
Speaker 2: White House, and he's reportedly rushed to the White House
36:47
Speaker 2: for this visit obviously about Iran. The American military assets
36:54
Speaker 2: are all in place, but Trump hasn't press go or
36:58
Speaker 2: hasn't signaled the green light yet, which you think's going
37:00
Speaker 2: on here?
37:01
Speaker 18: Well, I wish we all want to be a fly
37:03
Speaker 18: on that wall. The meeting was supposed to be an hour.
37:06
Speaker 18: It took three hours. There was certainly things to discuss there.
37:09
Speaker 18: We have no idea what went down in that meeting,
37:12
Speaker 18: but I do believe that we have a unique opportunity
37:15
Speaker 18: right now to get rid of this regime that is
37:19
Speaker 18: not just the source of all evil in the world
37:21
Speaker 18: and is the tentacles behind every conflict in the world,
37:24
Speaker 18: but also is tormenting and occupying their own people. And
37:28
Speaker 18: the fact that you see these demonstrations against Israel, yet
37:32
Speaker 18: none of these so called social justice warriors is going
37:36
Speaker 18: out on the streets to demonstrate. For the five, ten, twenty,
37:39
Speaker 18: thirty thousand. Nobody even knows how many people were murdered
37:43
Speaker 18: in Iran by their own regime. Can just show you
37:47
Speaker 18: what this movement is really about.
37:49
Speaker 2: It really is about the Jews.
37:50
Speaker 18: People are not The people of Iran have been telling
37:52
Speaker 18: us four years that they want to be free, and
37:56
Speaker 18: I believe that we need to help them get free.
37:58
Speaker 18: We have to help them liberate them from that occupying regime.
38:03
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen their courage in recent in the past. Inspirational.
38:08
Speaker 2: It really is inspirational, and Trump said help was on
38:12
Speaker 2: its way. It's rating between the lines. It seems like
38:15
Speaker 2: Israel is kane for further action. And that the US
38:19
Speaker 2: President just hasn't made up his mind yet. I don't know.
38:23
Speaker 18: I don't work with Israeli government before the Israeli government,
38:26
Speaker 18: as you know, people online would say that I do,
38:29
Speaker 18: but I don't, So I have no idea what the
38:31
Speaker 18: actual opinion is. But I would venture to say that
38:34
Speaker 18: the majority of Israelis would like the Islamic Republic of
38:36
Speaker 18: Iran being removed. That's the majority of Iranian people as well.
38:41
Speaker 18: They need to be free and they need to be liberated,
38:43
Speaker 18: and I hope it happens very soon. I want to
38:45
Speaker 18: say one more thing about the demonstrations that are happening
38:47
Speaker 18: here in Australia because one of the things that is
38:50
Speaker 18: was really devastating to me every time I see it,
38:53
Speaker 18: and I'm seeing it in such force here now, is
38:56
Speaker 18: that you see all these people outside on the street
38:59
Speaker 18: demonstrating against President Herzog talking about a genocide.
39:04
Speaker 1: And the thing is.
39:05
Speaker 18: That people need to get their head like wrap their
39:08
Speaker 18: heads around, is that there has been no genocide.
39:12
Speaker 2: It's not a genocide.
39:14
Speaker 18: Well, when down in Gaza was a war that Israel
39:16
Speaker 18: didn't want and didn't start, but had to fight hard.
39:19
Speaker 18: Actually the number of combatants to it to combatants civilians
39:23
Speaker 18: is one of the lowest in the world. This is
39:25
Speaker 18: Gaza is one of the most fortified areas in the world.
39:27
Speaker 18: A three dimensional warfare that no military has ever had
39:30
Speaker 18: to fight. Ever, the Hamas is hiding behind their people.
39:34
Speaker 18: It's an urban warfare that's going to be taught in
39:36
Speaker 18: military school. There has been no genocide in Gaza.
39:41
Speaker 2: A horrible war, a lot of innocent people that have died,
39:44
Speaker 2: but not.
39:45
Speaker 18: An intentional and systematic killing of another people, which is
39:48
Speaker 18: what a genocide is. And to see people demonstrating in
39:52
Speaker 18: the streets and calling Herzog a war criminal because of
39:55
Speaker 18: a genocide that didn't happen is very concerning and is
39:58
Speaker 18: again and it's slander against Jews.
40:02
Speaker 2: So well said, and it's not just on the streets.
40:04
Speaker 2: He did an interview with Channel seven this morning and
40:07
Speaker 2: they also put to him the accusation of genocide as well,
40:11
Speaker 2: which is completely wrong. Not to mention the fact that
40:13
Speaker 2: the birth rate is actually in going up. Yeah, in
40:17
Speaker 2: Gaza more than in Israel.
40:19
Speaker 18: There has never been an intentional desire to Co's not
40:23
Speaker 18: kill the Palestinian people.
40:24
Speaker 19: Never.
40:25
Speaker 2: In fact, on the contrary, every effort taken leaflets, text messages, etc.
40:30
Speaker 2: Noah Tishby, thank you, Thank you so much for being thank.
40:33
Speaker 18: You for everything that you've been doing for the community
40:36
Speaker 18: and for your country.
40:36
Speaker 2: Thank you. I really appreciate that. But your advocacies is
40:39
Speaker 2: completely next level. And I've got your books and recommend
40:43
Speaker 2: everyone reads them. Thank you so much. Thank you, Sherry.
40:46
Speaker 2: All right, Still ahead, Prince Andrew in fresh trouble as
40:49
Speaker 2: police assess new claims tied to Epstein. Plus the petition
40:54
Speaker 2: to government to try and save Victoria Barracks, that's next. Well.
41:02
Speaker 2: The Albanezi government is looking at selling off a stack
41:05
Speaker 2: of defense real estate, including the historic Victoria Barracks in Sydney.
41:10
Speaker 2: Now it's a site that's considered the heart and soul
41:13
Speaker 2: of the military. But you wore to know it from
41:15
Speaker 2: Defense Minister Richard Miles.
41:18
Speaker 20: You want to talk about Victoria Barracks, Sydney. It is
41:21
Speaker 20: a third empty. It is largely a site where we
41:24
Speaker 20: do administrative work. We are faced with something in the
41:29
Speaker 20: order of a two hundred million dollar bill to maintain
41:32
Speaker 20: that site over the next ten years. We've got to
41:35
Speaker 20: stop doing things which make no sense.
41:39
Speaker 2: And Johnny min Now is twogb host Michael McClaren. Michael,
41:43
Speaker 2: you've actually launched a petition to try and save Victoria Barracks.
41:47
Speaker 8: Tell us, well, thanks Sherry for letting me have the
41:49
Speaker 8: opportunity to do it. I mean, I've got no military
41:51
Speaker 8: backman myself, but I appreciate history and I appreciate tradition,
41:54
Speaker 8: and I think most people in the military are the same.
41:56
Speaker 8: So we said, look, we can talk about it and
41:58
Speaker 8: take a thousand calls over all week, or we could
42:00
Speaker 8: try to codify the public's opinion. And so this is
42:03
Speaker 8: our way of attempting to do that. I think as
42:05
Speaker 8: we go to where now we've got close to twelve
42:07
Speaker 8: thousand signatures in less than seventy two.
42:11
Speaker 2: Hours, do you tell people how to sign up?
42:13
Speaker 1: Well, the best thing to do? Yeah, well I hope.
42:14
Speaker 8: So if you just google two GB and petition, click
42:18
Speaker 8: on the link, it's very straightforward to submit. So just
42:21
Speaker 8: google two GB and petition. It'll be the first thing there.
42:24
Speaker 8: And I said, nearly twelve thousand have already put their
42:27
Speaker 8: name to it.
42:28
Speaker 1: And it's a genuine petition.
42:29
Speaker 8: It's not like you can have fourteen names on one
42:31
Speaker 8: email address.
42:32
Speaker 1: It's all filtered out.
42:33
Speaker 2: So what's the argument against selling it off to raise money,
42:37
Speaker 2: which is what Richard Miles wants to do.
42:39
Speaker 8: Well, they're not going to raise any any of the
42:41
Speaker 8: money they claim they will. I mean, they say across
42:43
Speaker 8: the sixty seven sites, and let me just say, out
42:45
Speaker 8: of the sixty seven, there's probably at least sixty three
42:47
Speaker 8: that are of no interest or importance in the true
42:51
Speaker 8: historical sense, but there's a handful that is sacred in
42:54
Speaker 8: the secular sense.
42:55
Speaker 1: And Victoria Barracks would be the appaduvos.
42:57
Speaker 8: They reckon they'll get three billion dollars across all sixty seven.
43:00
Speaker 1: Sites, But then they also claim they'll have.
43:03
Speaker 8: To spend the better part of one and a half
43:04
Speaker 8: billion in relocation fees and who knows what moving people
43:08
Speaker 8: out into other components. Now that leaves you one and
43:12
Speaker 8: a half billion dollars, which is one and a half
43:14
Speaker 8: weeks of the NDIS budget. So for one and a
43:17
Speaker 8: half weeks of the NDAs budget, you lose, you're, well,
43:19
Speaker 8: the better part of your entire military history. And you
43:23
Speaker 8: think about Victoria Barracks established in eighteen forty. The men,
43:26
Speaker 8: largely men who went out those gates, many never came back.
43:30
Speaker 8: They died on fields in Europe and elsewhere defending it's
43:33
Speaker 8: a very democracy and free, disrespectful. I think it's timely
43:36
Speaker 8: disrespectfble and of course and he has apologized since. But
43:39
Speaker 8: in the bear pit today the New South Wales Premier
43:42
Speaker 8: likened it to selling off the neighbor's boat that was
43:44
Speaker 8: blocking the parking in the street. Foolish choice of words.
43:48
Speaker 8: And he's walked those back and I appreciate that. But
43:51
Speaker 8: this has resonated in listener land like very few issues have.
43:55
Speaker 8: And I think the government would be wise to say,
43:57
Speaker 8: look on Victoria Barracks and perhaps lance A Eric's HMA's
44:01
Speaker 8: Penguin potentially these should be left alone, these important historical sites.
44:09
Speaker 8: The military is built on tradition and history, as much
44:11
Speaker 8: as some don't like that, and that's got to be respected.
44:14
Speaker 8: And so this is our little way of trying to
44:16
Speaker 8: codify the public opinion.
44:17
Speaker 2: And good on you.
44:18
Speaker 1: It goes from strength to strength.
44:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, good on you for doing it, and let's hope
44:21
Speaker 2: it makes a difference. Now I want to talk to
44:24
Speaker 2: you about this incredible thirteen year old boy, Austin Applebee.
44:27
Speaker 2: Now we've spoken the show and everywhere last week about
44:31
Speaker 2: how he actually swam four kilometers to shore to save
44:36
Speaker 2: his family when they'd been swept out to sea in
44:39
Speaker 2: some kayaks. But today the police released his triple O call.
44:44
Speaker 2: Have listened to this.
44:46
Speaker 21: Mom told me they go back to get help, and
44:49
Speaker 21: then I haven't seen them since that. I think they're
44:52
Speaker 21: kilometers out in c I think we need to go
44:56
Speaker 21: find them. I'm sitting on the beach right now, and
45:00
Speaker 21: I also explain I think I need an ambulance. So
45:03
Speaker 21: I think I have hypothermia, and I don't know what
45:06
Speaker 21: their condition is right now, and I'm really scared.
45:10
Speaker 2: I mean, Michael, the calmness, the clarity from a.
45:15
Speaker 1: Thirteen year old, extraordinaries for thirteen for thirteen.
45:18
Speaker 8: I mean, I think back when I was thirteen, I
45:20
Speaker 8: don't think I'd be able to put all that together,
45:22
Speaker 8: particularly given those circumstances. I mean, the young boy is
45:25
Speaker 8: quite extraordinary. He'll grow into a very mature man. I'm
45:27
Speaker 8: sure he.
45:28
Speaker 2: Already seems mature. And to recognize that he had hypothermia,
45:31
Speaker 2: you know, the presence of mind to go, And I
45:35
Speaker 2: mean it took him a while to even find a phone,
45:37
Speaker 2: his mother's phone, to make the call, and then just
45:39
Speaker 2: how calm he was explaining it to them, and you
45:42
Speaker 2: could hear when you listen to the full call, the
45:45
Speaker 2: responder found it hard to believe that his mother had
45:49
Speaker 2: been swept out to see.
45:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, well quite right.
45:51
Speaker 8: I mean, as you say, in those circumstances, given the
45:54
Speaker 8: panic of the situation, there was no sense of that
45:56
Speaker 8: in the voice.
45:57
Speaker 1: Even It was quite amazing to listen to that.
45:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is all right, Michael. Great, have you on,
46:01
Speaker 2: Thank you.
46:02
Speaker 1: Thank you for your time. Thank you, Sherry, and still.
46:05
Speaker 2: To calm UK police, take a fresh look at Prince
46:07
Speaker 2: Andrew and could this finally turn into an outcome. Plus
46:11
Speaker 2: Keir Starmer in hot water two, that's after the break,
46:20
Speaker 2: Welcome back, and let's bring in our Spiked Online editor
46:22
Speaker 2: Tom Slater. Tom, great to see you. Look. Keir Starmer
46:27
Speaker 2: is in even more hot water over this whole Epstein
46:30
Speaker 2: scandal and the appointments he made. Tell us about the
46:34
Speaker 2: latest No.
46:36
Speaker 1: Absolutely schrry.
46:37
Speaker 19: So whilst Kis song was already in hot water over
46:39
Speaker 19: Lord Mandelsson's links to Jeffrey Epstein, accused of passing on
46:44
Speaker 19: sensitive financial information to the convicted pedophile, the former US ambassador.
46:49
Speaker 19: He's now found himself embroad in a not directly Epstein
46:52
Speaker 19: related scandal, but one that certainly raised a lot of questions.
46:54
Speaker 19: This surrounds Lord Doyle, who is his former communications chief,
46:58
Speaker 19: put in the House of Lords by Keir Starmer, and
47:01
Speaker 19: revelations that he had campaigned for a former Labor councilor
47:03
Speaker 19: who has been who had been charged with possessing and
47:06
Speaker 19: distributing indecent images of children. A lot of questions asked
47:10
Speaker 19: about why he wasn't kept out of the House of Laws,
47:13
Speaker 19: why he wasn't suspended when all of this information came
47:16
Speaker 19: to lights. And while this is a separate scandal if
47:19
Speaker 19: you like, it's increasing the pressure on the Prime Minister,
47:22
Speaker 19: who's been accused by his critics of appointing a number
47:25
Speaker 19: of quote unquote pedophile apologiests. So whilst this might be
47:28
Speaker 19: different order to what we've seen before, it's increasing the
47:31
Speaker 19: pressure on already incredibly weak leader in number ten.
47:35
Speaker 2: So Labor and Peas are reportedly furious about this. So
47:39
Speaker 2: is Stamer losing authority and even control of his own MPs.
47:44
Speaker 19: No, absolutely, I think that's why scandals like this are
47:47
Speaker 19: dogging him even more than they otherwise would. He'd long
47:50
Speaker 19: lost authority over the party. There have been a number
47:52
Speaker 19: of U turns over key issues, and crucially, when he
47:55
Speaker 19: was trying to block the release of internal correspondence in
48:00
Speaker 19: relation to Lord Mandelson's appointment, he couldn't command a majority
48:03
Speaker 19: in the House of Commons to do that. He had
48:05
Speaker 19: to climb down and do a deal with his backbenches.
48:07
Speaker 19: In our system, that is the number one way that
48:10
Speaker 19: a Prime minister holds authority. So very much where Kisarmris
48:13
Speaker 19: concerns much he claims he wants to fight on is
48:15
Speaker 19: a question of when, not if he's.
48:17
Speaker 2: Going to go At this point, now this is all
48:19
Speaker 2: a massive story in the UK because now the police
48:22
Speaker 2: are also actively assessing fresh claims about former Prince Andrew's
48:27
Speaker 2: links to Epstein. The confirmed they're talking with specialist prosecutors.
48:32
Speaker 2: So where's this leading.
48:36
Speaker 19: No, Prince Andrews is the problem for the monarchy. That's
48:38
Speaker 19: just not going to go away. As we've seen with
48:41
Speaker 19: his latest release of the Epstein files from the Department
48:43
Speaker 19: of Justice, it's really made clear that his relationship with
48:46
Speaker 19: Epstein was not only much closer than he'd like to
48:48
Speaker 19: make out, that he didn't break it off after two
48:51
Speaker 19: thousand and eight and Epstein's original conviction for soliciting a
48:54
Speaker 19: child for prostitution. But that'sually he'd been sharing confidential information
48:58
Speaker 19: with Epstein, who's passing on official reports about his visits
49:01
Speaker 19: while he was a trade envoy to Singapore, Hong Kong,
49:04
Speaker 19: Vietnam and other places, and also discussions about them potentially
49:08
Speaker 19: setting up some kind of business venture in China. So,
49:11
Speaker 19: as you were saying, the police are talking with the
49:14
Speaker 19: Crown Prosecution Service to prosecutors about this particular issue, and crucially,
49:19
Speaker 19: the Palace of said in recent days that they are
49:20
Speaker 19: ready to cooperate with this investigation.
49:23
Speaker 1: So even though he's.
49:24
Speaker 19: Already at the margins of role life, though he's already
49:26
Speaker 19: been stripped of his titles, I think this is another
49:29
Speaker 19: scanner which is going to rock the monarchy because of
49:31
Speaker 19: you know, whether it's the malign intent of the former
49:35
Speaker 19: Duke or just his idiocy, he's become a problem that
49:37
Speaker 19: really isn't going to go away.
49:39
Speaker 2: And we saw, of course William and Kate released their
49:43
Speaker 2: first statement a few days ago. We've got less than
49:46
Speaker 2: a minute, but very quickly. Now this is hitting this
49:49
Speaker 2: whole scandal of French diplomat who's facing your criminal probe
49:53
Speaker 2: after his name popped up repeatedly in those Justice Department files.
49:57
Speaker 2: So the fallout for this is truly.
50:01
Speaker 19: Global, No, absolutely, this is the revelations that for Ice Aiden,
50:07
Speaker 19: who is again a French diplomat, he is being investigator
50:10
Speaker 19: for a potential breach of the criminal laws relate to
50:12
Speaker 19: how he worked with Epstein potentially, And as you say,
50:15
Speaker 19: it just shows the global reach of this and so
50:18
Speaker 19: many different governments, so many different prominent people are being
50:21
Speaker 19: dragged into that web of intrigue that has been produced
50:24
Speaker 19: by these files.
50:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, and hopefully they'll eventually get to the bottom of it.
50:28
Speaker 2: All right, Tom Slater, thanks so much for your time,
50:32
Speaker 2: and make sure you're watching Sky News from eight o'clock
50:35
Speaker 2: tomorrow or whenever you get up turn on Sky News.
50:37
Speaker 2: The leadership coverage will be best on our channel as all.
50:42
Speaker 2: Wait's all right, thanks for your company. I'll see you Monday.
50:44
Speaker 2: Here's Paul Murray.