Transcript

Credlin | 13 April · Credlin

0:02
Speaker 1: Peter Krandland live on Sky News Australia.
0:08
Speaker 2: I don't know, Chris. I just want a good person
0:10
Speaker 2: running the army. I don't care if there're a heat
0:12
Speaker 2: or a she and the army's in the spotlight again tonight.
0:15
Speaker 2: We'll get to that in the moment. Welcome to the program.
0:18
Speaker 2: He's what's coming up on kred lad No deal reached
0:20
Speaker 2: between the US and Iran as our government spends twenty
0:23
Speaker 2: million of your dollars on ads basically telling you how
0:27
Speaker 2: to drive. Chris Yelman on this absurdity amidst a very
0:30
Speaker 2: real crisis coming out now. I've just got back from
0:34
Speaker 2: a big weekend Chris crossing in the seat of Farah
0:36
Speaker 2: ahead of the by election so one Nation, the Libs
0:39
Speaker 2: and ADS in this so called independent. Plenty of reaction
0:43
Speaker 2: to get to you from the locals, including some pretty
0:45
Speaker 2: harsh words for the Prime minister. Plus what does a
0:48
Speaker 2: former AFP senior officer make it? The way the federal
0:51
Speaker 2: police handle the very public arrest of Ben Roberts Smith
0:55
Speaker 2: last week and why arrest him in New South Wales?
0:58
Speaker 2: What's that about? And staying on these private Robert Pope
1:03
Speaker 2: murdered by a rogue Afghan soldier. His father Hugh joins
1:07
Speaker 2: me tonight and but half of the defense families left
1:10
Speaker 2: stunned by the way the government has pursued our veterans.
1:15
Speaker 3: We've spent three hundred million dollars pursuing aggressively and relentlessly
1:20
Speaker 3: our Australian heroes.
1:23
Speaker 2: That's the former Defense Minister Labor Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon,
1:27
Speaker 2: of course, the dad of a dead soldier to himself.
1:31
Speaker 2: But first, the Prime Minister's Asian safari to secure liquid
1:34
Speaker 2: fuel supplies continued today. Now obviously Australia stops if we
1:38
Speaker 2: don't have fuel, and the countries that keep us supplied
1:41
Speaker 2: with gas should keep us supplied with fuel provided they
1:45
Speaker 2: have it. And that's the problem if the fuel isn't
1:49
Speaker 2: leaving the Persian Gulf, Singapore, South Korea, in Malaysia, or
1:52
Speaker 2: they don't have the crude oil to refine and then
1:56
Speaker 2: supply to Australia, which is why short term freedom of
1:59
Speaker 2: nonavigation must be restoring the Gulf, and long term we
2:04
Speaker 2: need much more storage onshore and much more development of
2:08
Speaker 2: domestic oil production that's been stymied by the climate cult
2:12
Speaker 2: and we'll never get that from the Albanezer government. Will
2:14
Speaker 2: we Yet again? Today our Prime Minister was parading our
2:18
Speaker 2: unwillingness to do anything at all to help restore safe
2:21
Speaker 2: passage for shipping.
2:23
Speaker 4: We've received no requests and they've made this announcement overnight,
2:29
Speaker 4: and they've done that in a unilateral way and we
2:34
Speaker 4: haven't been asked to participate. And I don't expect that
2:37
Speaker 4: we will.
2:38
Speaker 2: Be dodge, dodge, duck and weave. But the even deeper
2:44
Speaker 2: problem is the Albaneza government's unshakable fossil fuel phobia. Here's
2:49
Speaker 2: the Infrastructure Minister over the weekend, point blank refusing to
2:53
Speaker 2: develop new oil fields.
2:56
Speaker 5: The world has moved on, the world's moved on in
2:59
Speaker 5: terms of energy security, and we've got this incredible resource
3:03
Speaker 5: here in this country that lots of other countries don't have,
3:06
Speaker 5: where a secure, stable democracy, the capacity to generate renewables
3:11
Speaker 5: here in this country and then actually electrify it.
3:16
Speaker 2: Well, it hasn't moved on. It hasn't moved on. We
3:19
Speaker 2: wouldn't be in this energy crisis, you dope. And here's
3:23
Speaker 2: the Energy minister today, doubling down on the government's commitment
3:26
Speaker 2: to renewables and nothing but renewables.
3:29
Speaker 6: There isn't one country in the world that said, you
3:32
Speaker 6: know what this fuel crisis reminds us is we need
3:34
Speaker 6: more fossil fuels. In fact, our countries around the world
3:37
Speaker 6: are saying this underpins and underlines the need to keep
3:41
Speaker 6: going with things like electrification and ensuring renewable energy.
3:48
Speaker 2: Honestly, listen to the two of them. It's like stupidity
3:51
Speaker 2: is contagious. I mean, earth to bowen if we don't
3:55
Speaker 2: need more fossil fuels, and why is your boss back
3:58
Speaker 2: on the plane to Asia this week? It isn't to
4:01
Speaker 2: get more renewables. I mean, right now tonight, over ninety
4:05
Speaker 2: percent of Australia's energy needs are still supplied by fossil fuels.
4:10
Speaker 2: We are about the most liquid fuel dependent nation on Earth,
4:14
Speaker 2: given our farming, mining and transport all run on diesel.
4:17
Speaker 2: And that's not going to change for decades, if ever.
4:21
Speaker 2: Nearly all of our renewables infrastructure, and the solar panels,
4:25
Speaker 2: the wind turbines, they all come from China. Nearly all
4:28
Speaker 2: the firming, the batteries, they come from China. Even if
4:32
Speaker 2: it could be done, and it can't, what's the point
4:36
Speaker 2: of ending our dependence on gulf oil subject to an
4:39
Speaker 2: islam As dictatorship, only it become dependent on Chinese infrastructure,
4:43
Speaker 2: much of it with inbuilt kill switches, subject to a
4:46
Speaker 2: communist dictatorship bent on world domination. Either way, under labor
4:53
Speaker 2: it's insanity. But we're stuck with it unless we can
4:57
Speaker 2: grow a spine and dig and drill. Here as a
5:00
Speaker 2: matter of urgency, here's the Queensland Premier, David Chris A.
5:04
Speaker 2: Fooley with a homegrown Australian product, oil oil, Australian oil
5:11
Speaker 2: that he wants help to get out of the ground.
5:14
Speaker 7: But that is I'm handing you the first oil from
5:18
Speaker 7: the Tarum Trough, that is from a scene that's about
5:23
Speaker 7: three k's deep. We believe there's a massive, massive opportunity
5:27
Speaker 7: for us to do what we used to do in
5:29
Speaker 7: this country once upon a time.
5:31
Speaker 2: Look at that liquid gold, Australian liquid gold oil that
5:36
Speaker 2: makes us self sufficient and makes us resilient. So why
5:40
Speaker 2: is the opposite Albanese government so incapable of providing the
5:45
Speaker 2: leadership that Australian needs. Look now back to an issue
5:53
Speaker 2: where I have got as many, if not more contact
5:57
Speaker 2: from you as I did during the Voice referendum. Debate,
6:00
Speaker 2: and this is the arrest of Victoria Cross hero Ben
6:03
Speaker 2: Robert Smith. Now it's produced more reaction and more passion
6:08
Speaker 2: than just about any other story I've covered on this program.
6:13
Speaker 2: How can officialdom make someone a war hero one day
6:17
Speaker 2: and then allege that he's a war criminal the next
6:20
Speaker 2: without there being something very wrong with officialdom? And if
6:26
Speaker 2: that weren't obvious before, it absolutely is now officialdom is
6:32
Speaker 2: not playing fair. How many other arrests are filmed by
6:36
Speaker 2: the Australian Federal Police with the footage then distributed to
6:40
Speaker 2: the wider world just so that everyone, including potential jurors,
6:45
Speaker 2: can see Robert Smith potentially prejudged as a criminal. Certainly
6:51
Speaker 2: that's the view of critics. Here's that footage again, water
6:55
Speaker 2: marked with the AFP logo. And how many arrests tipped
7:00
Speaker 2: off to the media, in this case the Channel nine
7:03
Speaker 2: media that have been running their own case against our
7:06
Speaker 2: most decorated soldier for years. Channel nine had their own
7:10
Speaker 2: cameras there so they could get their own angle on
7:14
Speaker 2: the arrest. And then there are those credible reports that
7:17
Speaker 2: Nick McKenzie, the Channel nine journo who's been hounding Robert
7:21
Speaker 2: Smith for nigh on a decade, had his story on
7:25
Speaker 2: the arrest written and filed hours before it happened. But
7:30
Speaker 2: it gets worse. Ben Robert Smith's lawyers had repeatedly told
7:34
Speaker 2: the prosecution that the VC recipient would turn himself in
7:38
Speaker 2: voluntarily if ever required. But instead the officer of the
7:43
Speaker 2: Special Investigator and the AFP, with the apparent approval of
7:48
Speaker 2: the Albanezy government's Attorney General, the Federal Attorney General Michelle
7:51
Speaker 2: Roland too, signed off on the arrest warrant. Or they
7:56
Speaker 2: made the arrest at Sydney Airport, dragging him off a
7:59
Speaker 2: plane in front of his teenage daughters and in front
8:02
Speaker 2: of dozens of spectators, so the trial could be held
8:05
Speaker 2: in Sydney. Sydney, Sydney, not Perth, where he was domiciled
8:11
Speaker 2: when the alleged defenses took place, not Brisbane, where he
8:15
Speaker 2: has been living for many years, but Sydney, where some
8:18
Speaker 2: believe it would be easier to get a jury to convict.
8:23
Speaker 2: Here's a report from the Cydney Morning Herald and says
8:25
Speaker 2: quote one well placed source suggested that investigators might have
8:30
Speaker 2: waited to arrest Robert Smith in New South Wales because
8:33
Speaker 2: they wanted access to a wider and more diverse jury pool.
8:39
Speaker 2: Now what does that really mean, a wider and more
8:42
Speaker 2: diverse jury pool. Well, Ben Robert Smith has spent a
8:46
Speaker 2: career in the military taking out Islamist extremists out our
8:52
Speaker 2: nations for hest when we're at war with the Taliban. Now,
8:57
Speaker 2: whether he did what is now being charged with is
9:00
Speaker 2: a matter for a jury of twelve to decide. But honestly,
9:05
Speaker 2: how can I get a fair trial when the establishments
9:08
Speaker 2: already thrown fairness into question doing things in a procedural
9:12
Speaker 2: sense that we have ever rarely seen before in any
9:16
Speaker 2: case of this magnitude. Now, do not lose sight of
9:21
Speaker 2: the fact that tonight he remains behind bars and if convicted,
9:27
Speaker 2: faces life in prison. Even as I was out and
9:31
Speaker 2: about in country New South Wales on the weekend discussing,
9:34
Speaker 2: of course the pharaoh by election, the case of Ben
9:37
Speaker 2: Robert Smith was raised with me. Such is the impact
9:41
Speaker 2: this is having right across the country, and not just
9:44
Speaker 2: with military families. We will come back to that story
9:52
Speaker 2: tonight with a family member whose son was killed in
9:56
Speaker 2: Afghanistan by a rogue Afghan soldier who had it's a
10:00
Speaker 2: very unique connection to Ben Roberts Smith but let's go
10:04
Speaker 2: now first to Canberra for the headlines Skye is political
10:07
Speaker 2: reporter Ribbon Spargo.
10:09
Speaker 3: The Prime Minister says Australia has not been asked to
10:11
Speaker 3: join any United States led blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
10:16
Speaker 3: Anthony Alberzi is calling for peace talks to resume.
10:19
Speaker 4: Lack of a resolution in the negotiations that took place
10:25
Speaker 4: on the weekend where disappointed. We want to see the escalation.
10:29
Speaker 3: The newly announced incoming Chief of Defense Rear Admiral Mark
10:32
Speaker 3: Hammond says the Australian Navy is as ready as it's
10:36
Speaker 3: ever been to deploy. Anthony Albernesi is preparing for a
10:39
Speaker 3: second consecutive week of international travel to meet the leaders
10:43
Speaker 3: of Malaysia and Brunei. Australia's at risk of being impacted
10:47
Speaker 3: by potential export controls.
10:49
Speaker 4: We have important relationships and we are working to secure
10:55
Speaker 4: the Australian national interest.
10:57
Speaker 3: Coalition MPs are criticizing the government's new twenty million dollar
11:00
Speaker 3: information campaign on reducing fuel use.
11:03
Speaker 2: Together, simple actions can make our supply go further.
11:07
Speaker 3: Ruben Spargo Sky News camera.
11:11
Speaker 2: All right told him now. Our Sky's political contributor Chris Yelman. Chris,
11:15
Speaker 2: over the weekend, we're all hit with that twenty million
11:18
Speaker 2: dollar ad campaign basically, and I'm serious here telling us
11:22
Speaker 2: all how to drive, you know, pump up our tires,
11:25
Speaker 2: get rid of the roof racks. They say there's a plan.
11:28
Speaker 2: If you look at the AG tagline, I can't see
11:30
Speaker 2: what the plan is. It's certainly not the plan to
11:32
Speaker 2: dig or drill in Australia. And let's not forget the
11:35
Speaker 2: PM doesn't even drive himself these days. The AFP or
11:39
Speaker 2: there behind the wheel and he hasn't paid a dollar
11:41
Speaker 2: for petrol in thirty years, the whole time he's been
11:44
Speaker 2: in the Parliament. We're the taxpayer, have filled up his tank.
11:48
Speaker 2: But if that wasn't bad enough, we got this today
11:51
Speaker 2: from Chris Bowen.
11:54
Speaker 6: There isn't one country in the world that said, you
11:57
Speaker 6: know what this fuel crisis reminds us is we need
11:59
Speaker 6: more fossil fils. In fact, our countries around the world
12:02
Speaker 6: a saying this underpins and underlines the need to keep
12:05
Speaker 6: going with things like electrification and ensuring renewable energy.
12:13
Speaker 2: Chris, do you want to respond?
12:17
Speaker 8: Yeah, where to start, Peter? With the twenty million dollar campaign,
12:19
Speaker 8: I think most people will see through that ninety someone
12:22
Speaker 8: who'd spent a lifetime in and around Canberra could say
12:24
Speaker 8: that that's a modest amount of money to spend its patronizing.
12:28
Speaker 2: It's political.
12:29
Speaker 8: It will do very very little in terms of this
12:31
Speaker 8: crisis and what we see at the moment as a
12:33
Speaker 8: government that is literally scrounging around the world, paying well
12:36
Speaker 8: over the odds to try and get as much fuel
12:39
Speaker 8: as it can into Australia to keep us afloat because
12:42
Speaker 8: we are so underdone when it comes to having our
12:44
Speaker 8: own supplies. And when Chris Bowen says that no one
12:47
Speaker 8: else is looking, we're going to keep on down the
12:49
Speaker 8: path that we're going down. Well, yeah, look at what
12:51
Speaker 8: the world is actually doing at the moment. A giant
12:53
Speaker 8: hydrocarbon hole has opened up and everyone is looking to
12:56
Speaker 8: fill it. You know what, They're filling it with coal.
12:58
Speaker 8: A lot of them are using coal, and that's the
13:00
Speaker 8: Prime Minister has not mentioned the fact that we will
13:02
Speaker 8: be bargaining with our thermal coal as much as with
13:05
Speaker 8: our gas in places like Japan and in places like
13:08
Speaker 8: South Korea, because they are now substituting the liquefied natural.
13:12
Speaker 9: Gas with coal. That's going to be an important bargaining.
13:14
Speaker 2: Tip for us.
13:15
Speaker 8: But of course that is the fuel that they're not
13:17
Speaker 8: speak its name.
13:19
Speaker 2: But this is a point, Chris. I mean, this is
13:21
Speaker 2: the same government that's flying around the world desperate to
13:24
Speaker 2: try and get us as new resources, as you say,
13:26
Speaker 2: bargaining with coal, the very same coal that they're trying
13:30
Speaker 2: to basically make it is kryptonite in Australia, but they're
13:34
Speaker 2: trying to drum out of business in this country. None
13:37
Speaker 2: of this stacks up. I feel like the Emperor's got
13:39
Speaker 2: no clothes. We're all screaming at the TV every night
13:41
Speaker 2: to have some a wake up call out of this crisis.
13:45
Speaker 2: But we just lumber on with these idiots in Canberra
13:48
Speaker 2: telling us that wind and soul is going to save
13:50
Speaker 2: the day.
13:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, we are at a hinge point, Peter. And what
13:55
Speaker 8: matters now is that we take the right lessons out
13:58
Speaker 8: of this crisis, and that should be that we should
14:00
Speaker 8: put all boats out. We should use every available fuel
14:04
Speaker 8: source in Australia to make sure that this does not
14:06
Speaker 8: happen again. That is coal, that is oil, that is gas,
14:10
Speaker 8: that is uranium, and it's wind and solar as well.
14:13
Speaker 8: We should put all boats out and try and gather
14:16
Speaker 8: as much of the energy as we possibly can. We
14:18
Speaker 8: could actually benefit from something like this in the long term.
14:20
Speaker 8: Australia has a.
14:21
Speaker 9: Massive energy endowment.
14:23
Speaker 8: But as I've said before, Peter, you'll notice that no
14:25
Speaker 8: one's bombing wind turbines in the Middle East. The countries
14:28
Speaker 8: of the world that are sensible know where their energy
14:30
Speaker 8: actually comes from. That's the lesson we're being taught at
14:33
Speaker 8: the moment. And if we refuse to learn it, or
14:35
Speaker 8: we're on a high way to poverty.
14:39
Speaker 2: What about the bottom line? Because Deloittees've got to report
14:41
Speaker 2: out that even if the war's ending has ended by June,
14:46
Speaker 2: even then our anemic economic growth would be more than
14:48
Speaker 2: halved zero point seven percent. Unemployment they say, will rise
14:52
Speaker 2: above five percent. We've got you labor four starter out
14:55
Speaker 2: this week. That's at best if it ends by June.
15:00
Speaker 2: There's a lot of talk now, credible economic Talkchris, that
15:04
Speaker 2: we could have a recession by the end of the year.
15:09
Speaker 8: Yeah, we could see the old demon of the nineteen
15:11
Speaker 8: seventies come out again with stagflation, which is rising unemployment
15:14
Speaker 8: and rising inflation at the same time. A very difficult
15:17
Speaker 8: problem to deal with. And what we've seen in the
15:20
Speaker 8: Middle East and in this Gulf war is the destruction
15:23
Speaker 8: of assets which are absolutely essential. So terminals have been destroyed,
15:27
Speaker 8: refineries have been destroyed. All these ships are now in
15:30
Speaker 8: the wrong place. Even if they get out of the Gulf,
15:32
Speaker 8: do you think that owners are going to rush back
15:34
Speaker 8: in if it could be closed again in a heartbeat?
15:37
Speaker 8: So this will have a very very long tail. Inflation
15:41
Speaker 8: will rise.
15:41
Speaker 9: Off the back of this.
15:42
Speaker 8: It's just a question of how high it will go.
15:46
Speaker 2: There's a sticky point in the US Iranian negotiations. It
15:50
Speaker 2: hinges again on this whole point, the whole reason they're
15:53
Speaker 2: in this fire in the beginning, the nuclear program. Right
15:56
Speaker 2: now tonight we've got this maritime blockade of Iran. Give
16:00
Speaker 2: me your latest take on things.
16:04
Speaker 8: Well, Peter, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that I had
16:06
Speaker 8: never from the start been able to understand the purpose
16:08
Speaker 8: of Donald Trump's mission. I certainly always understood the purpose
16:12
Speaker 8: of Israel's Benjamin Ettnie, who has a very very clear
16:14
Speaker 8: idea that he's going to clean the clock of everyone
16:17
Speaker 8: in that region and give Israel at least twenty years
16:19
Speaker 8: breathing space from being attacked from all sides. That makes
16:23
Speaker 8: sense to me. With Donald Trump, I mean, where do
16:25
Speaker 8: you get off basically saying you don't need your allies,
16:27
Speaker 8: then criticizing your allies, and then demanding that they join
16:30
Speaker 8: you to try and clear the state of or moves up.
16:33
Speaker 8: You've been responsible for closing it. But this is our
16:36
Speaker 8: problem now, it's the world's problem now. So if Australia
16:38
Speaker 8: is called on to help, I think we should help.
16:41
Speaker 8: But I don't think that Donald Trump's helped himself much
16:43
Speaker 8: at all, and he's done enormous damage to all of
16:45
Speaker 8: these relationships and some of the stuff that he's posting now,
16:47
Speaker 8: I'm with what Tucker Carlson said about him recently.
16:50
Speaker 9: Who do you think you are?
16:54
Speaker 2: I do think some of the stuff is problematic. I
16:56
Speaker 2: do think it is rhetorical to the edge of sanity.
17:00
Speaker 2: But I'm never ever with Tucker Carlson on this. I
17:03
Speaker 2: got to leave it there. Thank you, Chris. We'll patch
17:05
Speaker 2: up again next week. I want to now return to
17:08
Speaker 2: the arrest the arrest component. I'm want to look at
17:10
Speaker 2: the process of what happened to being at Robert Smith.
17:14
Speaker 2: I know you've contacted me with your views. Thank you.
17:16
Speaker 2: ASA said, I've never seen a response like this, I'd
17:18
Speaker 2: have to go back to the voice, and even then
17:21
Speaker 2: I think this is more in my inbox than I
17:23
Speaker 2: had in the voice. There are serious questions now about
17:26
Speaker 2: the way the federal police handled the arrest of Australia's
17:30
Speaker 2: most decorated war hero. Joining me now to discuss this.
17:33
Speaker 2: Former AFP SO Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent David Craig. David, welcome.
17:40
Speaker 2: Before we get into the specifics of how the arrest
17:43
Speaker 2: was conducted at Sydney Airport, given the fact that his
17:47
Speaker 2: lawyers offered to make him available to the police if
17:51
Speaker 2: that was needed at any time, did they even need
17:55
Speaker 2: to arrest him in the first place.
18:00
Speaker 1: Peter, After almost a quarter of a century in federal
18:03
Speaker 1: law enforcement, that's a resounding no in my opinion. I
18:06
Speaker 1: don't believe it was necessary, and I think it may
18:09
Speaker 1: be bordering on unlawful.
18:12
Speaker 2: So pull that apart for me. Why do you think
18:15
Speaker 2: that they didn't need to arrest him at all, even
18:19
Speaker 2: if he faced serious charges as he's now been leveled.
18:24
Speaker 1: Right Well, first of all, people will say, oh, they're
18:27
Speaker 1: serious allegations and he had to be arrested. But under
18:30
Speaker 1: the crimes act on in fourteen Section three W, which is.
18:33
Speaker 9: The arrest power.
18:34
Speaker 1: Seriousness of the offense is not a consideration. So the
18:38
Speaker 1: seriousness of the offense is completely irrelevant to the argument.
18:42
Speaker 1: In my opinion, Ben Robert Smith had explicitly offered to
18:47
Speaker 1: present himself to police, and he has a demonstrated history
18:51
Speaker 1: of compliance and returning to the jurisdiction from international travel.
18:55
Speaker 1: He's a highly recognized person with family and assets in Queensland,
19:00
Speaker 1: you know. And he's also a person that's made it
19:02
Speaker 1: clear that he wants to clear his name. Now people
19:04
Speaker 1: want to clear their name, don't run. I don't believe
19:07
Speaker 1: that the arrest was necessary to have his appearance before
19:11
Speaker 1: the court. I do believe that a summons could have
19:14
Speaker 1: been arranged in instant summons which would place a requirement
19:17
Speaker 1: on him to return to court. I don't believe that
19:21
Speaker 1: this was a very good alternative for the AFP. I
19:24
Speaker 1: think the AFP should have considered, which you know, arrest
19:28
Speaker 1: is a mechanism of the last we thought the AFP
19:30
Speaker 1: should have considered a summons. In my opinion, they could
19:34
Speaker 1: have issued it with him to him immediately.
19:38
Speaker 2: Okay, so you're saying that an arrest wasn't warranted. They
19:43
Speaker 2: did it an arrest. We clearly saw that arrest. But
19:45
Speaker 2: there are two sorts of arrests, and you know this, well,
19:47
Speaker 2: there's a quiet arrest, if I can say that, and
19:51
Speaker 2: then there is a very loud arrest. And what we
19:54
Speaker 2: saw on the tarmac in Sydney was a very very
19:57
Speaker 2: loud arrest done in front of his family, in front
20:01
Speaker 2: of his daughters. And not only that, but the vision
20:04
Speaker 2: was filmed not just by a tipped off Channel nine,
20:09
Speaker 2: but also filmed on the tarmac by the AFP and
20:13
Speaker 2: released publicly. Now critics might argue this is prejudicial to
20:18
Speaker 2: any chance he has of a fair trial. I've never
20:22
Speaker 2: seen anything like that sort of performance before, certainly not
20:26
Speaker 2: for a decorated soldier.
20:28
Speaker 1: Have you no bear? It does seem like it was
20:33
Speaker 1: a publicity stunt. I think it's a very public and
20:36
Speaker 1: orchestrated arrest in front of the children and the public
20:38
Speaker 1: with the media present. Is completely unnecessary and possibly a
20:45
Speaker 1: disproportionate execution of power by the Australian Federal Police. And
20:48
Speaker 1: I'm AFP blue, you know, I bleed blue, But this
20:53
Speaker 1: was not correct. This was not the right thing to do.
20:57
Speaker 2: What about the Channel nine tip off too. I have
21:01
Speaker 2: to say it looks like a tip off. They had
21:03
Speaker 2: cameras in place, they had exclusive footage that they ran
21:06
Speaker 2: hard that night. There's also reports on the nightly that
21:10
Speaker 2: there was an online story about the arrest written hours
21:14
Speaker 2: before it had even taken place. This is a concern
21:18
Speaker 2: as well.
21:20
Speaker 1: Of course, this looks to me, in my opinion, that
21:23
Speaker 1: Channel nine got a hint of the arrest and they've
21:26
Speaker 1: got onto the AFP and said if you give us
21:28
Speaker 1: exclusive coverage, we won't blow your story everywhere. Now, if
21:31
Speaker 1: that has happened, I mean, that's close to perverting the
21:33
Speaker 1: course of justice. There needs to be an examination into
21:36
Speaker 1: the consideration and circumstances of Ben Robert Smith's arrest. I mean,
21:40
Speaker 1: this is a decorated soldier with a history of community influence,
21:46
Speaker 1: and I don't think he should have been treated this way.
21:48
Speaker 1: An arrest by arrangement through his legal representative or a
21:52
Speaker 1: summon's would have been more appropriate.
21:55
Speaker 2: And you and I both know, David, that an airport
22:00
Speaker 2: is a federal jurisdiction, So we're talking about Sydney Airport.
22:05
Speaker 2: For people to be on the tarmac who are not
22:08
Speaker 2: authorized employees of the airport or particularly of airlines. There
22:14
Speaker 2: has to be agreement from the security agencies, from the
22:17
Speaker 2: AFP and others for that to happen. So you got
22:21
Speaker 2: to ask real questions here.
22:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely, the integrity of our border is actually under question
22:27
Speaker 1: here because this simply you can't just walk onto a
22:29
Speaker 1: tarmac just like you said, you need the proper airside
22:33
Speaker 1: clearances and they're not handed out over the phone. I mean,
22:36
Speaker 1: they could have been escorted, but this max of orchestration
22:40
Speaker 1: and that the media were escorted in so that the
22:42
Speaker 1: AFP could grandstand for political points. They appear to be
22:47
Speaker 1: a puppet for the Albanzi government that, in my opinion,
22:50
Speaker 1: perhaps wanting to grandstand against anything that may be against
22:55
Speaker 1: the Muslim vote.
22:57
Speaker 2: All right, why then was he at in New South Wales?
23:01
Speaker 2: He lives in Queensland when these crimes were allegedly committed. Yes,
23:06
Speaker 2: he was in Afghanistan, but his domicile, his home jurisdiction
23:10
Speaker 2: was wa. Why do you think he was arrested in
23:14
Speaker 2: Sydney and hence being arrested in Sydney, can he apply
23:20
Speaker 2: to have any legal proceedings from here on in dealt
23:23
Speaker 2: with in a Brisbane court.
23:27
Speaker 1: I'm sure that his legal team would be pushing that
23:30
Speaker 1: very much. If you spend ten years investigating something, in
23:34
Speaker 1: a four year investigation solely on what his actions may
23:38
Speaker 1: or may not have been in Afghanistan, you shouldn't need
23:42
Speaker 1: to have a surprise arrest done in front of the
23:44
Speaker 1: camera's airside at the airport. I mean, why wouldn't you
23:47
Speaker 1: simply arrange to meet him at the courthouse in Brisbane,
23:51
Speaker 1: charge him and then do a media release saying this
23:53
Speaker 1: person has been charged with these allegations. I mean, I'm
23:57
Speaker 1: sure he will want to return to Queensland, his famili's there.
24:00
Speaker 1: Why it was done that way? It does not seem
24:03
Speaker 1: to me like necessity necessity. It seems like an operational
24:07
Speaker 1: decision and orchestration.
24:10
Speaker 2: David, what about the claim they made in the City
24:12
Speaker 2: Morning Herald from a source that this was about getting
24:16
Speaker 2: in Paneling our quote, a wider and more varied jury pool.
24:24
Speaker 1: Again, Peter, I would if that has got any substance,
24:28
Speaker 1: I would be looking closely at perverting the course of
24:30
Speaker 1: justice charges because this is simply orchestration of an element
24:35
Speaker 1: of our government to get a favorable outcome. I mean,
24:38
Speaker 1: this isn't for the police to make a decision about
24:40
Speaker 1: this is about the court to impartially decide what should
24:44
Speaker 1: happen here. It's not up to the police to make
24:47
Speaker 1: a decision about where trials should be held. It's beyond
24:49
Speaker 1: their purview.
24:52
Speaker 2: And just before we go, David, I know that through
24:55
Speaker 2: the AFP you were deployed to Afghanistan at one time time,
25:00
Speaker 2: won't you.
25:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, I spent twelve months over there as the Deputy
25:05
Speaker 1: Commander of the AFP mission in Afghanistan. I was based
25:07
Speaker 1: in Taran Cott with the Australian troops and also in
25:10
Speaker 1: Kandahart In the twelve months that I was there, training
25:13
Speaker 1: Afghan police and doing other things required of the AFP
25:17
Speaker 1: in that role.
25:19
Speaker 2: I want to make that point just to underscore your
25:21
Speaker 2: expertise in this area. Thank you, David Craig. There you
25:24
Speaker 2: have it, former AFPs, Australian Federal Police and Detective superintendent.
25:29
Speaker 2: And they are explosive comments from him tonight after the
25:34
Speaker 2: break the stunning contrast between the Australian government's pursuit of
25:37
Speaker 2: war crimes allegations and the lack of justice for three men,
25:41
Speaker 2: three Australians who are murdered in cold blood by a
25:44
Speaker 2: rogue Afghan soldier. This family has a very unique connection
25:47
Speaker 2: to Ben Robert Smith. Will speak to the dad of
25:50
Speaker 2: one of those soldiers, the late Private Robert Pote. Welcome back,
25:59
Speaker 2: coming up. Victorian Liberals announced a big plan on the
26:02
Speaker 2: weekend to tackle the state's crime. Opposition leader Jess Wilson
26:06
Speaker 2: coming up, But first to the fallout from the arrest
26:09
Speaker 2: of Ben Robert Smith that's hit far and wide in
26:11
Speaker 2: the defense community, and nowhere more so than within the
26:15
Speaker 2: family of Private Robert Pote, who was tragically killed by
26:19
Speaker 2: rogue Afghan soldier Heck Matula near Taran Cott in Afghanistan
26:23
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve. Robert was killed alongside two other Australian soldiers,
26:29
Speaker 2: Lance Corporal Rick Melosovic and Sappa James Martin, as they
26:33
Speaker 2: were playing cards inside the supposed safety of a forward
26:38
Speaker 2: operating base. Now, heck Matula was one of many Afghan
26:41
Speaker 2: soldiers that Allies were training to take over the defense
26:45
Speaker 2: of their country in time, and sadly, he wasn't the
26:48
Speaker 2: only such Taliban sleeper terrorist who killed Allied troops in
26:52
Speaker 2: this way. Within twenty minutes of Robert Pote's cold blooded murder,
26:58
Speaker 2: Ben Robert Smith and his small sas team were on
27:02
Speaker 2: the scene. Now by then heck Matula was on the run.
27:06
Speaker 2: A few days later they came close to encountering him
27:10
Speaker 2: at the village of Dawan, but he evaded them and
27:13
Speaker 2: was later arrested in Pakistan. At his trial in the
27:17
Speaker 2: Afghan Supreme Court, heck Matula confessed to the murders of
27:20
Speaker 2: the three Australians and was sentenced to death, but four
27:24
Speaker 2: years later, as part of a US led prisoner swap deal,
27:27
Speaker 2: he was set free, and following the chaotic Biden withdrawal
27:31
Speaker 2: from Kabul, heck Matula returned to a hero's welcome from
27:35
Speaker 2: the Taliban, who were now back in charge. Hugh Pote
27:40
Speaker 2: ses the father of Robert, and last week he made
27:43
Speaker 2: the powerful contrast between the Australian government's pursuit of war
27:47
Speaker 2: crimes allegations in the Brereton Report and the lack of
27:51
Speaker 2: justice for his son. Hugh Pote joins me, Now, before
27:57
Speaker 2: we get into Hugh your decade long fight for justice
28:02
Speaker 2: for your son, tell us about Robert and what led
28:06
Speaker 2: into a life in the army. No.
28:10
Speaker 10: Well, Robbie was a very good student at school and
28:18
Speaker 10: captain of his football team. We have a rural property
28:23
Speaker 10: out of Canberra, and at school he became very friendly
28:28
Speaker 10: with a lot of the fellows who were from rural properties.
28:34
Speaker 10: He was very keen on trapping rabbits and hunting and
28:41
Speaker 10: what have you at the farm, and one thing led
28:43
Speaker 10: to another. He did a lot of research on the
28:48
Speaker 10: army and he decided to sign up.
28:52
Speaker 2: I've got some pictures of him on the screen with
28:55
Speaker 2: you and your wife, Jenny, and you know, like any
28:57
Speaker 2: parent who sees their kid in uniform, you must have
28:59
Speaker 2: been incredibly proud. I need to move to the issue
29:05
Speaker 2: of the Ben Roberts Smith arrest, and we know that
29:08
Speaker 2: the guilty or innocence of the man will be judged
29:11
Speaker 2: by a jury of twelve people. But given his connection
29:15
Speaker 2: to your son that I've just outlined, and the way
29:19
Speaker 2: he was hunting for Robert's killer, you must have been
29:22
Speaker 2: hit really hard by the images of his arrest last week.
29:29
Speaker 10: Yeah, I was. I just found it quite unbelievable that
29:33
Speaker 10: this sort of thing could happen in this country. It's
29:36
Speaker 10: more what you would expect from Russia or China, and
29:42
Speaker 10: the person they arrested being the highest decorated Australian soldier
29:48
Speaker 10: from the Afghan war who put his life on the
29:52
Speaker 10: line and somehow managed to come back alive. I don't
29:57
Speaker 10: know how when you read the citation for a Medal
30:03
Speaker 10: of Gallantry and his Victoria Cross. But to treat somebody
30:07
Speaker 10: like that, to humiliate a person of that stature and
30:12
Speaker 10: that caliber in this country, I just found it quite unbelievable,
30:17
Speaker 10: and I really think that this should be investigated in
30:22
Speaker 10: the highest levels and something ought to be done about it.
30:25
Speaker 10: We can't put up with this sort of nonsense.
30:30
Speaker 2: I was speaking just a moment ago to a former
30:33
Speaker 2: very senior AFP officer who had pretty much the same
30:36
Speaker 2: sentiment as you about the circumstances of the rest, the
30:41
Speaker 2: way it was conducted, perhaps some motivations behind it. As
30:45
Speaker 2: I say, guilty or innocence. None of us want to
30:48
Speaker 2: jeopardize what might be a trial here. That's now a
30:51
Speaker 2: matter for the jury. But let's go back to your son,
30:55
Speaker 2: because I went through the circumstances of heck Matula being
31:00
Speaker 2: sentenced to death but released in a prisoner swap deal
31:03
Speaker 2: and finding his way back as a hero to the
31:05
Speaker 2: Taliban in Carbull. You fought for a coronial inquest into
31:11
Speaker 2: your son's death and this coronial inquest, it found that
31:16
Speaker 2: there were systemic failures in the chain of command. Now
31:20
Speaker 2: that contradicted Defense Zone internal findings. But even in the
31:25
Speaker 2: coronal inquest when it said there was fault with the
31:28
Speaker 2: chain of command, so that means fault with the senior
31:31
Speaker 2: officers in charge, no one was held accountable. And that's
31:36
Speaker 2: been one of the key criticisms that people have made
31:39
Speaker 2: in relation to Brereton, that the rank and file soldier
31:43
Speaker 2: has been hung out to dry and the senior ranks
31:47
Speaker 2: have been left untouched. Is that fair? Hmm?
31:55
Speaker 10: Yeah. Now, look this, the Burton Inquiry seems to be
31:59
Speaker 10: a continuation of what we experienced during the inquest and
32:05
Speaker 10: following the inquest. I should add that the internal inquiry report,
32:12
Speaker 10: which was basically the army investigating itself, found absolutely no
32:16
Speaker 10: failures in the chain of command, and which is why
32:24
Speaker 10: the families, the three families, decided to call for an inquest,
32:27
Speaker 10: because we were hearing from the soldiers returning from that
32:30
Speaker 10: tour of duty that the incident was the result of
32:38
Speaker 10: appalling leadership, and the longer as time went by, we
32:45
Speaker 10: were hearing more and more of the same. You don't
32:50
Speaker 10: get an inquest unless you can provide some sort of
32:53
Speaker 10: prima facie case for it. So we write a rather
32:58
Speaker 10: extensive submission to the coroner who agreed to hear the inquest.
33:02
Speaker 10: And of course, after the coroner announced his findings of
33:07
Speaker 10: five systemic failures in the chain of command on that
33:11
Speaker 10: very day, the Chief of Army at the time expressed
33:17
Speaker 10: his full confidence in the chain of command, you know,
33:22
Speaker 10: and there was I just don't understand the way those
33:25
Speaker 10: people be say again.
33:29
Speaker 2: And there was no after the Chief of Army. After
33:32
Speaker 2: the Chief of Army said you know, I have full
33:35
Speaker 2: confidence in the senior officials. That was the end of
33:40
Speaker 2: the story.
33:43
Speaker 10: No, not really, there was more to it. He then,
33:46
Speaker 10: in the fullness of time, promoted all officers. So you know,
33:53
Speaker 10: there was nothing.
33:57
Speaker 2: What would be a message to Camber?
34:02
Speaker 10: What would be my message? Well, I don't think the
34:07
Speaker 10: Australian public accept this sort of thing. The family certainly didn't,
34:13
Speaker 10: which is why I decided to write a book about
34:18
Speaker 10: the findings of that inquest. The Australian public has blind
34:23
Speaker 10: faith that its defense force is exceptionally well led, but
34:31
Speaker 10: the inquest showed that that was a fallacy. Unfortunately at
34:37
Speaker 10: that point in time. I mean I've got to give
34:39
Speaker 10: credit words due Since that time, we have had a
34:43
Speaker 10: changing of the guard and there are some exceptionally good
34:46
Speaker 10: officers that have now got senior positions in the army.
34:52
Speaker 10: But no, we can't put up with that sort of thing.
34:56
Speaker 10: I think officers need to be better trained for their
34:59
Speaker 10: leadership roles and because generally speaking, it's not the officers
35:06
Speaker 10: that face enemy fire, it's the troops under their command.
35:11
Speaker 10: And that was ejected the case with Ben Robert Smith.
35:14
Speaker 10: You know, he didn't just flag down a helicopter and
35:17
Speaker 10: go out into the desert and try and hunt down
35:21
Speaker 10: some bad guys. Those guys are highly trained people. They
35:25
Speaker 10: only follow orders, and that's what Ben was doing at
35:30
Speaker 10: the time and when they arrived at the tribe base
35:33
Speaker 10: by headwear.
35:37
Speaker 2: So I'm going to have to I'm going to have
35:39
Speaker 2: to leave it there. I'm afraid. I will come back
35:42
Speaker 2: and talk to you though again if you are willing.
35:43
Speaker 2: I know, I know it's a big ask for you
35:45
Speaker 2: to speak about this publicly. You and I had a
35:48
Speaker 2: chat today and you're a little bit nervous about coming
35:50
Speaker 2: on TV. But I think you've been extraordinary tonight and
35:54
Speaker 2: my inbox will be filled with people who support you.
35:57
Speaker 2: I'm sure, and I'll pass it on. I'll leave it
35:58
Speaker 2: there though, Hugh, and I'll come back. I can speak
36:00
Speaker 2: to you again at another time. Thank you. There you go,
36:04
Speaker 2: Hugh Pope. They're the father of Robert quick Break after
36:07
Speaker 2: the break. The Victorian opposition leader on their big police
36:09
Speaker 2: announcement over the weekend, welcome back coming out. One hell
36:19
Speaker 2: of a fight's going on in Farah. Was there on
36:21
Speaker 2: the weekend, the tier where she's ducking and weaving one nation,
36:25
Speaker 2: certainly barnstorming the electorate. I've got some vision from the trip.
36:28
Speaker 2: I'll show you that in a moment. But first to Victoria,
36:30
Speaker 2: where the Liberals are making some real headway for all
36:34
Speaker 2: the right reasons. They've unveiled a major plan to combat
36:38
Speaker 2: the state's climbing crime crisis, vowing to reopen some forty
36:43
Speaker 2: police stations and hire some three thousand more officers, half
36:47
Speaker 2: from overseas. Do you'll understand why? In a moment joining
36:50
Speaker 2: me now, Opposition leader Jess Will said two things struck
36:54
Speaker 2: me about that. One. I could not believe we've got
36:56
Speaker 2: forty police stations in the middle of a crime crisis
36:59
Speaker 2: that are not fully out operational hours across the state.
37:03
Speaker 2: And two, I know there were some critics out there
37:05
Speaker 2: on TV saying, oh, I can't believe you're getting these
37:08
Speaker 2: officers from overseas, but I took that if you get
37:11
Speaker 2: them from overseas and they come from countries that are
37:14
Speaker 2: like us, they can almost be sworn in and hit
37:17
Speaker 2: the ground running. Is that part of the plan.
37:20
Speaker 11: That's spot on. So the reason why we're going after
37:22
Speaker 11: part of the solution from international recruits and from countries
37:26
Speaker 11: like Ireland, the UK and New Zealand is one because
37:29
Speaker 11: they share our values too. There's a common law system
37:32
Speaker 11: and that is similar to here in Victoria, and we
37:35
Speaker 11: can do a bridging course that is far faster than
37:38
Speaker 11: putting new recruits through the academy here in Victoria.
37:42
Speaker 2: There's still want.
37:42
Speaker 11: New recruits though, absolutely we want new recruits here from Victoria.
37:45
Speaker 11: We want them from interstate. We want Victoria Police to
37:48
Speaker 11: be a destination. We want people to come to Victoria
37:51
Speaker 11: and to live here. We want people here in Victoria
37:53
Speaker 11: to want to be members of Victoria Police. But that
37:56
Speaker 11: means we have to back Victoria Police, give them the
37:58
Speaker 11: resources they need. You're right in saying more than forty
38:01
Speaker 11: police stations have closed their doors or reduced their hours
38:05
Speaker 11: since Premier Justinto Allen actually came to power. So in
38:09
Speaker 11: the midst of a crime crisis, record crime, nearly half
38:12
Speaker 11: of all crimes go unsolved in Victoria. We have fifteen
38:16
Speaker 11: hundred vacancies in Victoria Police, meaning police stations are closing
38:19
Speaker 11: their doors. It's not good enough. And I'm tired of
38:23
Speaker 11: hearing from Victorians that they don't feel safe in their
38:26
Speaker 11: own homes, in their businesses, in the streets. And putting
38:29
Speaker 11: three thousand additional cops on the beat in our first
38:32
Speaker 11: term will back Victoria Police and make sure the Victorians
38:35
Speaker 11: are safe.
38:35
Speaker 2: There's a lot more behind it than as some journals
38:38
Speaker 2: would complain the other day, that was a bit of
38:39
Speaker 2: a stunt. Doesn't seem like a stunt when he goes
38:42
Speaker 2: with that level of detail.
38:43
Speaker 11: Well wasn't even journo's that called it a stunt. It
38:46
Speaker 11: was the Attorney General of Victoria, the first law officer
38:49
Speaker 11: of this state, calling putting more police on the beat
38:53
Speaker 11: in the midst of a crime crisis a stunt. And
38:56
Speaker 11: I think that is just extraordinary that that was the
38:58
Speaker 11: government's response. There are fifteen hundred vacancies in Victoria police
39:03
Speaker 11: today and because of that, we're seeing police stations close
39:06
Speaker 11: their doors. And we've seen the situation that you know,
39:09
Speaker 11: come to reality where a woman was being chased. She's
39:13
Speaker 11: gone to the police station, it's hours have been reduced
39:16
Speaker 11: and it is closed, and the offender has slashed her
39:18
Speaker 11: outside the police station where she went to seek refuge.
39:21
Speaker 11: What about the pursuit laws? Why do they manage so
39:24
Speaker 11: much to police? So this is about backing in Victoria police.
39:27
Speaker 11: So we will put in place a new offense of
39:30
Speaker 11: initiating a police pursuit. That means that offenders who start
39:34
Speaker 11: the chase will be held accountable and allow Victoria Police
39:38
Speaker 11: to know that they can go after these offenders because
39:41
Speaker 11: we will change the cropability. This means that you know,
39:44
Speaker 11: if you start a police chase and you crash the car,
39:47
Speaker 11: or you cause a multic crash collision, or you drive
39:50
Speaker 11: into someone's home, you will behold accountable for that, not
39:54
Speaker 11: Victoria Police, because it's the offender that actually starts the
39:57
Speaker 11: chase and puts other people in danger. So this is
40:00
Speaker 11: about backing our police officers. Can I tell you, Peter,
40:03
Speaker 11: the response we've had from police officers right across this state,
40:07
Speaker 11: messaging me on social media, sending me emails, even stopping
40:10
Speaker 11: me in the street to say thank you for actually
40:13
Speaker 11: backing us to do our job to catch offenders and
40:16
Speaker 11: to make sure that defenders actually understand that under a
40:19
Speaker 11: government I lead, there will be consequences.
40:22
Speaker 2: All credit for you because you supported Morademing. I know
40:24
Speaker 2: you supported her reference and you supported her all the
40:26
Speaker 2: way through the process, But you'd have to be living
40:29
Speaker 2: under a rock to know that I haven't been that
40:32
Speaker 2: supportive and praiseworthy about the clown show that's the Liberal
40:38
Speaker 2: party head office at the moment. Are you confident you
40:41
Speaker 2: couldn't work any harder from where I could sit. I
40:43
Speaker 2: think some of your colleagues could, and I'd like to
40:46
Speaker 2: see more policy like you've announced over the weekend out there, Jess,
40:49
Speaker 2: But are you confident that the machine that sits behind
40:51
Speaker 2: you and your supporter a base and everyone else are
40:53
Speaker 2: really going to get their act together and save this
40:56
Speaker 2: state from a returned labor government.
41:00
Speaker 11: Look, and let me be upfront, because I was upfront
41:02
Speaker 11: over the past couple of weeks that I share the
41:04
Speaker 11: frustrations you know this debacle should never have happened and
41:08
Speaker 11: I'm pleased as you say that Mora has been reindorsed.
41:11
Speaker 11: But my expectation, and I've made it very clear to
41:13
Speaker 11: the party organization, is that we now need to be
41:17
Speaker 11: singlearly focused on our job at hand, and our job
41:20
Speaker 11: is to ensure that in November this year, we change
41:23
Speaker 11: the government here in Victoria. I'm the alternative premier. I
41:27
Speaker 11: have a team behind me that is absolutely focused on
41:30
Speaker 11: changing the government, but most importantly to actually delivering good
41:34
Speaker 11: government come November this year, because that's what Victoria needs.
41:38
Speaker 11: They need a change, they need a fresh start, they
41:40
Speaker 11: need someone that's going to repair the budget, make sure
41:43
Speaker 11: that we end the crime crisis. These are our priorities,
41:46
Speaker 11: and I know that the organizational wing understands so that
41:48
Speaker 11: it has to be everyone's.
41:49
Speaker 9: Focus in the party.
41:50
Speaker 2: So they left their game.
41:51
Speaker 11: Absolutely and that's my expectation.
41:53
Speaker 2: My expectation. That's tough words there from the opposition lated
41:56
Speaker 2: just Wilson, thank you, thank you, Peter. All right, quick
41:59
Speaker 2: break after the break or shows some footage from Farah.
42:02
Speaker 2: Very interesting this by election that's coming out. Well the
42:10
Speaker 2: back look, Miam I was already flooding with a lot
42:12
Speaker 2: of people who want to hear again that interview from
42:15
Speaker 2: Hugh Pote and what David Craig, former AFP officer I
42:18
Speaker 2: had to say about the arrest of Ben Robert Smith.
42:21
Speaker 2: It'll be up on the Sky News website in just
42:23
Speaker 2: a moment skyews dot com dot Au. Get there and
42:26
Speaker 2: have a look and share it around all right. My
42:29
Speaker 2: weekend on the ground in Farah very very telling, not
42:32
Speaker 2: just for the by election, but the state of play
42:35
Speaker 2: of politics more broadly were pulled apart with my panel
42:38
Speaker 2: coming up. It was very interesting. I didn't just fly
42:41
Speaker 2: in and out of Aubrey either. I got in my
42:43
Speaker 2: car drove up from Melbourne. I went to Bruga, Token
42:46
Speaker 2: More Blidy Finley, Giraldry and then into Aubrey. Along the
42:50
Speaker 2: way I was invited to the farm of a personmon grower,
42:53
Speaker 2: so it's a fruit you see in the supermarket. His
42:56
Speaker 2: name was Chris and he put together some of his
42:58
Speaker 2: neighbors or other fruit grow horticultures croppers as well, and
43:02
Speaker 2: we had a long discussion not just about the by
43:04
Speaker 2: election but Australia, including how far we've let our self
43:09
Speaker 2: sufficiency slide a lot of.
43:13
Speaker 1: Things with energy and food supply and everything else.
43:16
Speaker 9: And we've we've just let it all slip away. It's ridiculous.
43:21
Speaker 2: We dig up our CaAl and we send it to
43:23
Speaker 2: China and we're all too scared to use it to
43:26
Speaker 2: use here. Does that make sense to you?
43:29
Speaker 11: Not at all.
43:29
Speaker 12: We need to get burnout and use our own coal,
43:33
Speaker 12: make our own steel instead of buying it and bringing
43:36
Speaker 12: it back, sending the call and bringing it back.
43:38
Speaker 9: But fertilizer.
43:40
Speaker 2: We used to make our own urea.
43:42
Speaker 13: We wouldn't be paying six nine or seven eight hundred
43:44
Speaker 13: dollars a ton for urea if.
43:46
Speaker 9: We're building our own and using our own gas.
43:50
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, how I pad on form a liberal MPAID country
43:52
Speaker 2: girl ourself Nicole Flint and Page Research Center chief executive
43:56
Speaker 2: Jared Holland. I'll put plenty of that footage to air
43:59
Speaker 2: tomorrow night Wednesday Thursday. Nick, like you, I love getting
44:02
Speaker 2: out and talking to country people. There's so much common
44:05
Speaker 2: sense out there. But I'll tell you what was huge,
44:08
Speaker 2: Murray Darling Basin. This has been an issue out that
44:12
Speaker 2: way for about two decades. What I found out that
44:15
Speaker 2: the teal running the seat, she's no independence, she's a teal.
44:19
Speaker 2: She wants more water off farmers. For the environment, and.
44:26
Speaker 13: We are currently seeing environmental and economic fantasy meeting reality, Peter.
44:31
Speaker 13: So you want to take even more water off farmers again,
44:36
Speaker 13: and what you will see is less farmers and less
44:39
Speaker 13: produced and high prices and needing to import produce from
44:43
Speaker 13: overseas from countries who do not have the environmental standards
44:47
Speaker 13: that we do. It is just absolute madness. The same
44:50
Speaker 13: is applying to our fuel supplies and our fertilizer crisis.
44:55
Speaker 13: We have exported all of our natural resources and we're
44:59
Speaker 13: not making anything pretty much here or anymore, and it's
45:03
Speaker 13: hurting us badly. It's all got to change.
45:08
Speaker 2: And as all of that too, plus the renewables push
45:10
Speaker 2: that's desecrating farmland, taking away our best productive land in
45:14
Speaker 2: some areas. But then you've got these emissions targets. I mean,
45:18
Speaker 2: they've hit transport, they've hit energy, they haven't even got
45:21
Speaker 2: to agriculture yet, jaredh When they do, it'll annihilate anything
45:26
Speaker 2: that's got a hoof, you know, our bovine herd. The
45:30
Speaker 2: only way you can cut emissions from cows is to
45:32
Speaker 2: kill a cow. And this is what's coming.
45:35
Speaker 12: And the frustration about all of this, Peter, is that
45:38
Speaker 12: they just have absolutely no understanding of agriculture and these
45:41
Speaker 12: processes in the first place. And you mentioned cows and methane.
45:45
Speaker 12: Cows do not emit. They are a closed loop system.
45:48
Speaker 12: They graze the grass, they poop on the grass, they burp,
45:51
Speaker 12: they fart, and.
45:52
Speaker 9: Then when they pass away, then.
45:53
Speaker 12: Their bodies move back into the ecosystem. And methane only
45:57
Speaker 12: has a half life of fifteen years. It is not
46:00
Speaker 12: like CO two, which stays up in the atmosphere for
46:02
Speaker 12: one hundred plus years. Not that that's a particular concern anyway,
46:05
Speaker 12: but the way that the government accounts for methane is
46:09
Speaker 12: as if the methane that cows burp out stay in
46:11
Speaker 12: the atmosphere forever.
46:13
Speaker 9: It is just a fundamental misunderstanding of agriculture.
46:15
Speaker 12: Never mind the fact that all the crafts that these
46:18
Speaker 12: cows grays are CO two sinks. They tread over the soil,
46:21
Speaker 12: they then fertilize it, and every single step along this process,
46:26
Speaker 12: be it punishing farmers for emissions.
46:28
Speaker 9: We saw those with a carbon tax under labor.
46:30
Speaker 12: Over a decade ago that how that affected every single
46:32
Speaker 12: input that a farmer relies on, their fertilizer, their transport
46:35
Speaker 12: costs in a fuel crisis. The fact that we are
46:38
Speaker 12: still pursuing this net zero madness. It just defies belief
46:42
Speaker 12: of the arrogance of this government.
46:45
Speaker 2: All right, lit's to this scorecard about Canberra.
46:50
Speaker 11: Just diminishing by the day in statue and I think
46:55
Speaker 11: it's becoming very pathetic to be quietness.
46:58
Speaker 2: What's disappointed you? I suppose he's lack of leadership or
47:02
Speaker 2: lack of.
47:02
Speaker 11: Just saying definitely whatever, even if I disagree, if it
47:07
Speaker 11: was definitely, you know, he's just wishy washy to put it.
47:10
Speaker 2: Mind, Nick, she's a fan of the program. She called
47:15
Speaker 2: me at the Jewelry footy and I tell you she's
47:17
Speaker 2: not wrong, is she?
47:19
Speaker 9: No, not at all.
47:20
Speaker 13: Anthony Albanezi is the most uninspiring prime minister we've seen
47:24
Speaker 13: in a very long time. And Peter, it sounds like
47:27
Speaker 13: you heard a lot of common sense out and about
47:30
Speaker 13: in Paris.
47:33
Speaker 2: What about this unemployment data? This is a shaker, Jared.
47:36
Speaker 2: It says fivefold increase in young Australians, predominantly men, reporting
47:41
Speaker 2: that they are permanently unable to work. And this is
47:45
Speaker 2: before we even get into AI coming in, wiping out
47:49
Speaker 2: the opportunity for graduate jobs. And we know that automation's
47:53
Speaker 2: going to hit jobs in working class roles as well.
47:57
Speaker 2: What do you make of these shocking stats?
48:00
Speaker 9: I mean, I mean it is just unbelievable.
48:02
Speaker 12: I would say there's three real drivers at this and
48:05
Speaker 12: the first one elephant in the room is the NDIES.
48:07
Speaker 12: If you've got a fifty two billion dollar scheme that
48:10
Speaker 12: incentivizes people to prove they have a permanent disability, which
48:14
Speaker 12: means they can't access full time employment, I think that
48:17
Speaker 12: is obviously going to impact the over reporting and representation
48:20
Speaker 12: of some of these cases.
48:21
Speaker 9: I think you also have a decade now.
48:23
Speaker 12: Of identity politics playing out our education system, and we're
48:26
Speaker 12: seeing now university graduates are overwhelmingly women out mundering menually
48:30
Speaker 12: two to one, and that's going to have an impact
48:32
Speaker 12: of the kind of life trajectory and path that young
48:35
Speaker 12: men feel they can take. But then you've got us
48:37
Speaker 12: moving from a producer society, be that through manufacturing or
48:40
Speaker 12: our primary and secondary industries, towards a consumer society and
48:46
Speaker 12: looking towards you know, services in hospitality, be in the
48:51
Speaker 12: public service.
48:51
Speaker 9: And elephant the room, men want stuff to do, they
48:54
Speaker 9: want to work with their hands.
48:55
Speaker 12: That is still overwhelmingly where people are looking for jobs,
48:58
Speaker 12: and when they don't want to BEARISA for the rest
49:00
Speaker 12: of their lives, when they don't necessarily see a path
49:03
Speaker 12: in higher education or doing an arts degree, what jobs
49:06
Speaker 12: are left for them? And I think this hollering out
49:08
Speaker 12: of our manufacturing base. I think we're about three percent
49:11
Speaker 12: of GDP now, down from about fifteen percent at its peak.
49:14
Speaker 12: There is so much more we could be doing to
49:15
Speaker 12: give our young men opportunity.
49:17
Speaker 2: At the moment, nikaole Flinn, I was going to ask
49:20
Speaker 2: you about your reaction to the PM's ad to tell
49:23
Speaker 2: you how to drive differently, but given your love a Vau,
49:26
Speaker 2: I don't reckon I could even put that to air.
49:29
Speaker 2: I'll leave it there for next week. Thank you to
49:30
Speaker 2: you both. I don't miss tomorrow's show. We're in Farah
49:35
Speaker 2: Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. I'm going to put
49:38
Speaker 2: it to air. I'll teach you about this by election
49:40
Speaker 2: and the issues really biting in this race between one
49:44
Speaker 2: nation and that's the Libs and the Teal