Transcript

Credlin | 7 April · Credlin

0:01
Speaker 1: Peter Krendlin live on Sky News Australia.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good evening, Welcome to the program tonight. Here's what's coming
0:10
Speaker 2: up on Kredlin, former SAS soldier Ben Roberts Smith Chardjoger
0:14
Speaker 2: alleged war crimes. The fallout's already significant, so to the
0:18
Speaker 2: impact on other veterans in Limbo since the Brereton Report.
0:22
Speaker 2: Play analysis coming up, including something from a legal advisor
0:26
Speaker 2: who was there with a special operations group in Afghanistan.
0:31
Speaker 2: Concerns mount says Federal Education Minister Jason Claire unwittingly attends
0:35
Speaker 2: a barbecue with a man linked to an.
0:37
Speaker 3: Arabic fascist group.
0:39
Speaker 2: I'll speak with an expert on the group and their
0:41
Speaker 2: expanding influence as extremism in Australia appears to grow. He
0:47
Speaker 2: didn't want her to win, but she did. And in
0:49
Speaker 2: an interview today, the Victorian Liberal Party president speaks out
0:53
Speaker 2: warning against a lurch to the right as he attacked
0:56
Speaker 2: one nation, this network and a little bit for me
1:00
Speaker 2: as well. And Trump's deadline for Iran looms, with the
1:03
Speaker 2: President launching another broadside against US allies.
1:08
Speaker 4: Not just NATO. You know, Welston help us. South Korea
1:11
Speaker 4: didn't help us. You know who Elston help us or
1:14
Speaker 4: Australia didn't help us.
1:17
Speaker 3: Australia, he says.
1:19
Speaker 2: We'll get to that in a moment, but first, the
1:21
Speaker 2: arrest of Victoria Cross recipient Ben Robert Smith today, charged
1:25
Speaker 2: with alleged war crimes is a tragedy for him to
1:28
Speaker 2: his family, of course, for our armed forces, but also
1:31
Speaker 2: for our country. There are some things that should never happen,
1:36
Speaker 2: even in war, but that doesn't mean that the actions
1:39
Speaker 2: of soldiers in combat should be judged by the standards
1:42
Speaker 2: of a civilian test far from the safety of our
1:46
Speaker 2: lounge rooms. If Ben Robert Smith had transgressed, why wasn't
1:51
Speaker 2: that uncovered in the due diligence before his several decorations
1:54
Speaker 2: for gallantry, including his VC. If there was a culture
1:59
Speaker 2: of rutilizing prisoners, why wasn't that stopped by senior commanders
2:04
Speaker 2: rather than allowed to take root for years? Senior commanders,
2:08
Speaker 2: I might add, who all seemed to have prospered from
2:12
Speaker 2: promotion after Afghanistan and never themselves Cobbdetti blame as the
2:17
Speaker 2: junior warriors did who were.
2:19
Speaker 3: Thrown under the bus.
2:21
Speaker 2: Remember, the allegations against special forces relate to conduct between
2:26
Speaker 2: two thousand and five and twenty thirteen. The Brereton investigation, well,
2:32
Speaker 2: it wasn't commission until twenty sixteen and did not report
2:36
Speaker 2: until twenty twenty. The first charge was not laid until
2:39
Speaker 2: March twenty twenty three, and that trial is still not
2:43
Speaker 2: concluded more than three years on. Whatever happened to the
2:48
Speaker 2: one time maxim Justice delayed is justice denied. Meanwhile, dozens
2:53
Speaker 2: of former Special Forces operators have been dismissed, retired early,
2:58
Speaker 2: are in mental health or otherwise in limbo because the
3:03
Speaker 2: cloud of suspicion hangs over all of them. And in
3:07
Speaker 2: the defamation action that Robert Smith brought, even though the
3:11
Speaker 2: judge found against him on the lower burden of the
3:15
Speaker 2: balance of probabilities, there was enough testimony both ways to
3:20
Speaker 2: make sustaining a criminal charge of beyond reasonable doubt highly questionable.
3:26
Speaker 2: Now no Australian can deny the fact that ben Robert
3:30
Speaker 2: Smith repeatedly put his life on the line for our country.
3:35
Speaker 2: And I am sure that I'm not the only one
3:37
Speaker 2: tonight grateful for his service. I never like to join
3:41
Speaker 2: the media pylon against any accused.
3:45
Speaker 3: Justice is for the courts.
3:48
Speaker 2: That's why comments from the New AFP Commissioner were somewhat
3:52
Speaker 2: disturbing when in defense of our military today she seemed.
3:56
Speaker 3: To infer guilt.
3:58
Speaker 2: Now I hope I'm mistaken, because everyone's owe the presumption
4:02
Speaker 2: of innocence, and no one more so than those who
4:05
Speaker 2: have put their life on the line to defend it.
4:09
Speaker 5: The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to
4:13
Speaker 5: a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF,
4:18
Speaker 5: which helps keep this country safe. The overwhelming majority of
4:23
Speaker 5: our ADF do our country proud. Today's charges are not
4:28
Speaker 5: reflective of the majority members who serve I think the
4:33
Speaker 5: AFP Commissioner there could have done it better. Australia lost
4:38
Speaker 5: forty one soldiers in Afghanistan, our allies, of course many more.
4:43
Speaker 5: The withdrawal was botched under the US President Biden, leaving
4:48
Speaker 5: behind some seven billion dollars of military equipment, leaving it
4:54
Speaker 5: in the hands of the Taliban. Now already the hard
4:58
Speaker 5: won gains for women they have been lost, and the
5:01
Speaker 5: rogue terrorist state has.
5:04
Speaker 3: Only grown stronger.
5:06
Speaker 2: Have we been as well served by all the endless investigations,
5:11
Speaker 2: which even now may well come fail to come to
5:15
Speaker 2: any satisfactory conclusion.
5:19
Speaker 3: We have not.
5:20
Speaker 2: I doubt that very much and look fresh from the
5:29
Speaker 2: Chambali reindorsement of Moira Deeming, whom he couldn't bring himself
5:34
Speaker 2: directly to name in the formal notification that he sent out.
5:37
Speaker 2: Victorian Liberal Party President Phil Davis says had a huge
5:41
Speaker 2: spray at all of his critics today in the Age newspaper,
5:44
Speaker 2: fellow party officials, Jeff Kennett, even me. Davis claims that
5:50
Speaker 2: there is quote an agenda being run through Sky News
5:54
Speaker 2: and News called papers to divide and remake the Liberal
5:57
Speaker 2: Party as what he called nation Light. He says the
6:03
Speaker 2: party is only one when it's campaigned from the center,
6:06
Speaker 2: meaning from the liberal left, and he then goes on
6:10
Speaker 2: to attack one of his own executive committee members, Colleen Harken,
6:14
Speaker 2: urging her to resign. Well a few comments from me
6:19
Speaker 2: in response. Phil Davis, the bloke in the article was
6:24
Speaker 2: the chair of the vetting committee that cleared Dinesh Gurasetti
6:29
Speaker 2: to run as a candidate, when a simple Google search
6:32
Speaker 2: would have exposed his support of a convicted pedophile. If
6:36
Speaker 2: the committee chaired by Davis had done a better job
6:38
Speaker 2: than the whole preselection fiasco that's consumed the party for
6:42
Speaker 2: the better part of a Fortnite would never have occurred.
6:45
Speaker 2: The fact that I exposed yet more failings of internal
6:49
Speaker 2: processes under his watch as president is akin to shooting
6:53
Speaker 2: the messenger. I mean, being a better president phil have
6:57
Speaker 2: better governance and there be no stories, no headlines. Second,
7:02
Speaker 2: attacking fellow Liberal Party official Colleen Harken, Well, that's a
7:07
Speaker 2: dangerous move given she's a plaintiff in a case that's
7:11
Speaker 2: currently before the Supreme Court over multi million dollar loan
7:15
Speaker 2: that you gave former leader John Pzzuto from Liberal Party funds.
7:20
Speaker 2: Gauleyon Hearken to resign would go close to contempt of
7:23
Speaker 2: court for intimidating a plaintiff, but I'll leave that to
7:27
Speaker 2: others to judge. Most relevant out of the day of
7:31
Speaker 2: Spray was this nonsense that the Liberal Party wins when
7:34
Speaker 2: they shift to the left. Well, sorry, when was at
7:38
Speaker 2: Phil at the last state election, it was pro voice,
7:42
Speaker 2: pro trans, anti cole, anti gas, and without an economic
7:47
Speaker 2: platform to speak of, it couldn't have been more left
7:49
Speaker 2: winger had tried, and it was still flogged by Daniel Andrews,
7:54
Speaker 2: despite the fact that he had locked up Victorians for
7:56
Speaker 2: two years and it flattened the state's economy. And John
8:00
Speaker 2: Howard and Tony Abbott, the last two federal leaders to
8:04
Speaker 2: win from opposition. Well, Phil, sorry again, neither of them
8:07
Speaker 2: campaign is anything other than conservative Liberals. Now, in terms
8:12
Speaker 2: of record, I've held run two election campaigns out of
8:16
Speaker 2: Canberra twenty ten twenty thirteen and that was the result
8:20
Speaker 2: of a hung parliament and a landslide win to show
8:23
Speaker 2: for that effort. And yet here in Victoria the Liberals
8:26
Speaker 2: have been out of office for what twenty three of
8:28
Speaker 2: the last twenty six years. So as they say the
8:31
Speaker 2: g PHIL, look at the scoreboard before you tell us
8:34
Speaker 2: how good you are. And rather than attack one nation
8:37
Speaker 2: and its supporters, Liberal Party officials need to wake up.
8:41
Speaker 2: Right across the country, including in Victoria, the Liberal base
8:45
Speaker 2: is walking. It's not moving to the left, it's not
8:48
Speaker 2: voting labor. The base is moving to the right, the
8:51
Speaker 2: old Liberal right, and they're voting with one nation. If
8:56
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party is to have any chance at forming
8:59
Speaker 2: government again, it's state or federal, it has to acknowledge
9:02
Speaker 2: this reality because without a base it can't win. It's
9:07
Speaker 2: that simple, and attacking those who tell you the uncomfortable
9:12
Speaker 2: truth doesn't make it any less true. What the Liberals
9:18
Speaker 2: need right now is for the party to pull together
9:21
Speaker 2: and to campaign hard against the worst government in Victorio's history.
9:26
Speaker 2: Rank and file members are angry, donors are frustrated, and
9:30
Speaker 2: Victoria is wanting a change of government, a fast losing hope.
9:34
Speaker 2: The Liberals now have a good campaign director in place,
9:37
Speaker 2: but she can't get any clear air from a party
9:40
Speaker 2: that's at war with itself and a president whose behavior
9:44
Speaker 2: is anything but presidential. Now, if Phil Davis can't do that,
9:50
Speaker 2: then Heed should just resign and let someone who knows
9:53
Speaker 2: a bit about winning and what it is to be
9:55
Speaker 2: a liberal do the job that he self evidently is
10:00
Speaker 2: we got up to himself. All right, let's get the
10:07
Speaker 2: headlines out of Cander with our Scandese political reporter Aspen Bloomfield.
10:12
Speaker 6: Australia's most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts Smith, is facing life
10:16
Speaker 6: behind bars after he was charged with five counts of
10:19
Speaker 6: war crime murder. The former SAS soldier was arrested at
10:23
Speaker 6: Sydney Airport early this morning following a year long investigation.
10:27
Speaker 6: The charges relate to his alleged involvement in the deaths
10:30
Speaker 6: of Afghan nationals between two thousand and nine and twenty twelve.
10:34
Speaker 5: It will be alleged the victims were not taking part
10:37
Speaker 5: in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan.
10:42
Speaker 5: It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and
10:46
Speaker 5: were under the control of eightyf members when they were killed.
10:50
Speaker 6: The Prime Minister is refusing to comment, while One Nation
10:53
Speaker 6: leader Pauline Hansen says she remains steadfast in her support
10:57
Speaker 6: of the forty seven year old. The federal government insists
11:00
Speaker 6: it's not considering fuel rationing, despite warnings by supply chain experts.
11:05
Speaker 6: A professor at the University of Sydney believes Australians may
11:09
Speaker 6: be forced to ration fuel if the Middle East conflict
11:12
Speaker 6: drags on beyond this week.
11:13
Speaker 4: Fewer stations have shortages today than before Easter, and I'd
11:18
Speaker 4: like to thank every Australian that's played a part in
11:21
Speaker 4: this outcome.
11:22
Speaker 6: The Opposition says regional Australians have no confidence in the
11:25
Speaker 6: Prime Minister.
11:26
Speaker 1: The government needs to get on with the job of
11:29
Speaker 1: telling Australians what the real situation is here and what
11:32
Speaker 1: they are doing about it.
11:34
Speaker 6: Anthony Alberinezi will head to Singapore later this week to
11:37
Speaker 6: ensure the flow of fuel from Asian refineries.
11:41
Speaker 2: All right, Just as an update not so long ago,
11:43
Speaker 2: Ben Robert Smith arrived at silver Water, Pritain, where he
11:47
Speaker 2: will spend the night is a bail hearing. Of course
11:49
Speaker 2: tomorrow he's under remand let's stay in camera join him
11:53
Speaker 2: in now. Skyy's political editor Andrew Clanell. Andrew, I'll come
11:57
Speaker 2: back to Ben Robert Smith. I'll speak to an expert
11:59
Speaker 2: at a moment. I'll get the politics assessment from you.
12:02
Speaker 2: But the Prime Minister's heading to Singapore on Thursday to
12:06
Speaker 2: sure up fuel supply. I note that Saul Kavonic, someone
12:09
Speaker 2: who's been on this show plenty of times, is an
12:11
Speaker 2: energy expert, is optimistic that we can keep up diplomatic
12:15
Speaker 2: ties with Asian suppliers. If we can, he says, we'll
12:18
Speaker 2: probably avoid some of the shortages and in turn rashing,
12:21
Speaker 2: although the longer the war drags on them or likely
12:25
Speaker 2: we will get rationing. But you know, I just played
12:28
Speaker 2: a grab there of the Prime Minister telling us thank
12:30
Speaker 2: you Australia for doing your bit, presumably for not using
12:34
Speaker 2: too much fuel.
12:35
Speaker 3: Over the easter break.
12:37
Speaker 2: Well, surely he could have picked up the phone or
12:39
Speaker 2: done this Singapore chat via zoom.
12:43
Speaker 1: I think you'd get canned if you didn't do anything
12:46
Speaker 1: everything possible to try and keep this fuel supply going.
12:48
Speaker 1: I don't agree with all these troops, but I probably
12:50
Speaker 1: agree with this one, Peter. It's the annual talks between them.
12:56
Speaker 1: I can't think of a better reason to fly to Singapore,
12:59
Speaker 1: A lot better reason that on other occasions. I would
13:01
Speaker 1: have thought. At least he's canceled his Gallipoli trip, which
13:04
Speaker 1: would have been crazy for Anzac Day in the current environment. Yeah,
13:09
Speaker 1: I mean, I actually am hopeful that we can get
13:13
Speaker 1: out of rationing. But as you say, it depends on
13:15
Speaker 1: the length of the war. But Donald Trump said he
13:17
Speaker 1: only wants it another two to three weeks, so I'm
13:19
Speaker 1: hoping we can escape rationing.
13:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I suspeak.
13:23
Speaker 2: Rationing's coming. I hate to say it. When you've got
13:26
Speaker 2: a lot of the diesel pumps around the country. I
13:27
Speaker 2: think one in thirty already it's out, and we know
13:31
Speaker 2: what's coming. Obviously for farmers in transport, I think we're
13:33
Speaker 2: headed for rationing, certainly if we've got a diesel vehicle,
13:36
Speaker 2: as I do. Let's go to Ben Robert Smith, as said,
13:39
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk to an army investigator in a moment,
13:41
Speaker 2: so I'll get an expert legal view. But the Prime
13:45
Speaker 2: Minister didn't want to discuss it today. He avoided commenting
13:49
Speaker 2: on the issue. You've seen obviously Paul and Hanson's come
13:52
Speaker 2: out in support of him. A strong statement two from
13:55
Speaker 2: Tony Abbott, who was Prime Minister not at the time
13:58
Speaker 2: of these allegations against Ben Robert Smith. That was an
14:02
Speaker 2: earlier deployment. But he certainly was a PM when we
14:06
Speaker 2: were in Afghanistan and he sent troops into battle. So
14:10
Speaker 2: you know, one of the things that concerns me here
14:14
Speaker 2: is this ongoing limbo land that so many soldiers are
14:18
Speaker 2: living under because of the Brereton report. Andrew surely now
14:23
Speaker 2: this whole thing must be resolved.
14:26
Speaker 1: He's been charged, so it's going to get resolved.
14:28
Speaker 2: And he's the big beyond him, beyond him made all
14:31
Speaker 2: the others that are inveigled in this.
14:33
Speaker 1: You want to put a statute of limitations on the
14:36
Speaker 1: war crimes investigation, shut it down.
14:39
Speaker 3: I think for.
14:39
Speaker 2: Three hundred million dollars, which is what we have spent,
14:42
Speaker 2: we can surely get our act into gear and either
14:46
Speaker 2: release these men from the suspicion or charge them.
14:49
Speaker 3: Yes, I do.
14:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, well this is the big one. I mean, there's
14:52
Speaker 1: going to be no bigger fish in this. So I
14:54
Speaker 1: guess we see how this one plays out. And there
14:57
Speaker 1: would have been a fair bit of pressure where there
14:59
Speaker 1: will be pressure to sustain these charges having brought them.
15:02
Speaker 1: There can't be high stakes for a prosecutor than to
15:05
Speaker 1: take on a Victoria cross winner. It's the stuff of
15:07
Speaker 1: Hollywood movies, frankly, Peter, and so let's see how it
15:12
Speaker 1: plays out. I mean, there's five charges murdered, not just one.
15:15
Speaker 1: I note, And yeah, I don't know if it looks
15:20
Speaker 1: so great for Robert Smith politically, it's going to be
15:25
Speaker 1: people will I don't know, Andrew.
15:27
Speaker 2: I went to Afghanistan three times and got plenty of
15:32
Speaker 2: briefings when I was there, and there were people who
15:35
Speaker 2: were on your side. One day's perhaps an informant in
15:38
Speaker 2: a village, and the next day they were not. They
15:41
Speaker 2: were lobbing grenades at you, or they were trying to
15:43
Speaker 2: take you out with an improvised device on the roadside.
15:47
Speaker 2: I mean, these people were not all white hats and
15:50
Speaker 2: black hats. They put the hat on, they took the
15:52
Speaker 2: hat off. We also knew that some of our own
15:55
Speaker 2: soldiers were killed in actions by Afghanistans Afghani who are
16:00
Speaker 2: inside the compound, who went rogue and shot Australian or
16:05
Speaker 2: Allied soldiers. So I think the evidentiary burden here that
16:09
Speaker 2: will have to be bought by the prosecution in the
16:12
Speaker 2: court is a really big burden for them to prove
16:16
Speaker 2: beyond reasonable doubt that in a war zone all these
16:20
Speaker 2: years ago he did what is alleged he did.
16:23
Speaker 1: Well, I think there's soldier witnesses, aren't they. I mean
16:25
Speaker 1: that that's going to be a bit of an obstacle
16:27
Speaker 1: for it. I mean, I don't believe in blowing away
16:30
Speaker 1: out a severence.
16:33
Speaker 2: Well, I think we're all pre judging a little bit here,
16:37
Speaker 2: if I can be honest Andrew, this needs to come
16:39
Speaker 2: before the court totally. We don't know whether or not
16:41
Speaker 2: he will get bail.
16:43
Speaker 1: We decided when he'll get bail because he should get
16:46
Speaker 1: bail for the reasons that you speak of, you know,
16:48
Speaker 1: like the onus really is on the prosecution on a
16:52
Speaker 1: historic matter to prove beyond reasonable doubt. So I would
16:56
Speaker 1: expect him to get bail, and I guess we go
16:59
Speaker 1: from there. It's a test of the whole thing.
17:02
Speaker 2: The whole what did you make in the media though,
17:05
Speaker 2: because I thought the media must have been tipped off
17:07
Speaker 2: today to have that imagery of him being marched off
17:10
Speaker 2: a plane where told he was arrested in front of
17:12
Speaker 2: his two daughters. I think that makes me very uncomfortable.
17:16
Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but that would have been police
17:17
Speaker 1: footage release later. It seemed like the Sidney Morning Herald
17:21
Speaker 1: was tipped off because the original statement was forty seven
17:24
Speaker 1: years old.
17:25
Speaker 2: Well, Channel nine, I'm told by my producers Andrew that
17:28
Speaker 2: Channel nine was there.
17:30
Speaker 1: Channel nine was there. Well, there you go. Well they've
17:32
Speaker 1: clearly been tipped off. Then Nick mackenzie has his own
17:38
Speaker 1: issues to answer in relation to this. So, I mean,
17:42
Speaker 1: obviously many would argue he's done important work on this,
17:45
Speaker 1: but I know there's other things that Channel nine have
17:47
Speaker 1: sought to suppress, which obviously I can't talk about because
17:50
Speaker 1: I think they've been successful in suppressing them. So it
17:53
Speaker 1: hasn't been a it hasn't been a story without its
17:58
Speaker 1: issues for that particular journey, that's all I know.
18:02
Speaker 2: I think that journalists will have been seen to have
18:05
Speaker 2: done important things if the prosecution wins this case. But
18:11
Speaker 2: if they do not, they have dragged and troduced a
18:15
Speaker 2: man's reputation for over a decade now for something that
18:19
Speaker 2: let's say the court does not find him guilty of, Well,
18:23
Speaker 2: he's damaged for life.
18:25
Speaker 1: Well I do note that someone else who's served in Afghanistan,
18:29
Speaker 1: Andrew Hasty, gave evidence against Ben Robert Smith in the
18:32
Speaker 1: last defamation trial, So he would be someone who may
18:36
Speaker 1: be called in this trial. And he is a person
18:39
Speaker 1: who has a high reputation himself in relation to combat, etc.
18:45
Speaker 1: So that's another interesting dynamic that's due to play out.
18:51
Speaker 2: Yes, I don't think this will be the last time
18:53
Speaker 2: we discussed this issue. Let's go to the comments from
18:55
Speaker 2: President Trump today. Obviously it was all about Iran, the
19:00
Speaker 2: swipe of allied nations for not helping in the war effort,
19:03
Speaker 2: including Australia.
19:05
Speaker 3: Have a listen, it's not just NATO.
19:07
Speaker 4: You know who Elston help us? South Korea didn't help us.
19:11
Speaker 4: You know who else didn't help us? Or Australia didn't
19:14
Speaker 4: help us. You know who els didn't help us? Japan?
19:18
Speaker 2: Any blowback there for the Prime minister.
19:21
Speaker 1: Well, it's a long way from the cabinet room last
19:23
Speaker 1: year isn't it. I just want to know what he's
19:28
Speaker 1: talking about in terms of a request. I'd love to know.
19:31
Speaker 1: And John O. Kursley did his damnedest. He stood out
19:33
Speaker 1: there on the helicopter pad for hours, as you do,
19:36
Speaker 1: and he asked the President if Australia had done enough.
19:39
Speaker 1: The President said no to him the other week, but
19:42
Speaker 1: then he did the follow up of what didn't they
19:44
Speaker 1: do that you asked for? And he couldn't say. So
19:47
Speaker 1: that's kind of the missing gap here. What is the
19:50
Speaker 1: president looking for? We haven't provided and I'm frustrated that
19:54
Speaker 1: we don't know. But hopefully John A can have another
19:56
Speaker 1: goal or another journalist can have another go and we
19:58
Speaker 1: could find out.
20:00
Speaker 2: All right, I'd like to know too, Thank you, Andrew.
20:04
Speaker 2: All right, let's go back to the issue of Ben
20:06
Speaker 2: Robert Smith in the shock arrest today of one of
20:08
Speaker 2: Australia's most decorated soldiers at the Sydney Airport. As we
20:12
Speaker 2: showed you there by the Australian Federal Police were told
20:15
Speaker 2: in front of his two girls, and you could see
20:17
Speaker 2: there exclusively from the water marked footage in the company
20:22
Speaker 2: of Channel nine who captured it on film based on
20:26
Speaker 2: what we know so far the former Essays soldier has
20:28
Speaker 2: been charged with five counts of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan,
20:32
Speaker 2: with the alleged five murders occurring between two thousand and
20:35
Speaker 2: nine and twenty twelve. So this is the Rudd Guillard era.
20:40
Speaker 2: Rudd returned as you know in twenty thirteen. If found guilty,
20:44
Speaker 2: the maximum penalty is life in prison. For now, he'll
20:48
Speaker 2: spend tonight behind bars and face court in the morning.
20:52
Speaker 2: My next guest has a PhD on war crimes law,
20:55
Speaker 2: having both taught and practiced as a legal advisor to
20:59
Speaker 2: the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan. Is also a
21:03
Speaker 2: former Army officer himself and at thirty year eightyf veteran
21:08
Speaker 2: Glenn column Eats. Glenn, thank you for your time. This
21:12
Speaker 2: is such an important night to have you on the program.
21:15
Speaker 2: I appreciate you being here. What's the process now for
21:20
Speaker 2: Ben Roberts Smith.
21:24
Speaker 7: Thanks for having me. Firstly, Peter, look, Ben will have
21:27
Speaker 7: a bail hearing tomorrow and I anticipate he'll get bail
21:30
Speaker 7: and then expect there'll be a committal hearing at some
21:34
Speaker 7: stage down the track, and then sometime before we ever
21:37
Speaker 7: get onto trial so he has a bit of time
21:39
Speaker 7: ahead of him to both prepare a defense and and
21:44
Speaker 7: for the crown and present there get their case ready,
21:46
Speaker 7: so it won't be a slave process.
21:48
Speaker 2: Peter, I noticed today when ourked Gap Commissioner declined to
21:53
Speaker 2: discuss whether or not the AFP would oppose bail. And
21:57
Speaker 2: I also mention the other case of another soul earlier
22:00
Speaker 2: charge with war crimes before Ben Robert Smith, emanating from Brereton.
22:05
Speaker 2: That case has been going on now for three years
22:08
Speaker 2: and we don't yet have.
22:09
Speaker 3: A decision, do we.
22:12
Speaker 7: That's right, Peter, it hasn't been the trial yet. It's
22:15
Speaker 7: still it's an ongoing case. As just as as Ben
22:20
Speaker 7: Robert Smith's case will. It'll take time. It won't be
22:23
Speaker 7: it won't be a fast fast process, nor should it be,
22:26
Speaker 7: to be honest. But it has been a long time coming, Peter,
22:29
Speaker 7: as you as you stayed earlier, ten years since Burton started.
22:34
Speaker 2: I made the point with Andrew Clenell, and we're obviously
22:36
Speaker 2: talking about the politics and this is more of a
22:38
Speaker 2: legal conversation. Now, how does the prosecution meet that evidentiary burden?
22:44
Speaker 2: I mean, these alleged crimes we're told occurred a decade ago.
22:48
Speaker 2: They occurred in a country where you know, there wasn't
22:51
Speaker 2: a police force collecting evidence for Australia. For down the track,
22:55
Speaker 2: it was a country that is a war zoner. Any
22:58
Speaker 2: evidence potentially or people involved may I not be collected
23:03
Speaker 2: or alive. We now, of course it's now back under
23:06
Speaker 2: Taliban control. How do you meet the burden required of
23:11
Speaker 2: an Australian court.
23:14
Speaker 7: This is a very unique case, Peter. A lot of
23:17
Speaker 7: the evidence that the AFP of the os il A
23:20
Speaker 7: would have had to have drawn upon would have come
23:22
Speaker 7: out of the Bretton inquiry, which was a coercive inquiry,
23:26
Speaker 7: which means they couldn't they couldn't access or use that information.
23:29
Speaker 7: So they had they had matters referred to them which
23:31
Speaker 7: they had to investigate without them somehow relying or hearing
23:34
Speaker 7: about information coming out of Brereton. So any of their
23:39
Speaker 7: investigation being tainted by Brereton. So looks it is a
23:43
Speaker 7: it will be a hard task for the prosecution to
23:46
Speaker 7: overcome that poisonous tree issue of the tainted evidence from Brereton.
23:50
Speaker 7: So so look that I understand there are witnesses from
23:54
Speaker 7: within defense witnesses for the crown. Well that's yet to
23:58
Speaker 7: be seen, but it be a walk up start for
24:01
Speaker 7: the crown by any stretch of the imagination, Peter.
24:04
Speaker 2: Former PM Tony Abbatsa today in a statement that our
24:07
Speaker 2: soldiers often fought. He said under highly restrictive rules of
24:10
Speaker 2: engagement that meant terrorists, known terrorists were captured and released
24:16
Speaker 2: many times over. Now I've heard that myself in briefings.
24:19
Speaker 2: He also said it's wrong to judge the actions of
24:23
Speaker 2: meaning mortal combat by standards of ordinary civilian life. Now,
24:28
Speaker 2: how would you respond to those comments, Peter?
24:33
Speaker 7: Firstly, I am myself released many detainees who couldn't retain
24:38
Speaker 7: any any longer for lack of evidence, and there was
24:40
Speaker 7: frustration amongst the amongst the Special operations troops. That's that's
24:45
Speaker 7: that's a given, that's a fact, I guess. As to
24:48
Speaker 7: your second point, at the end of the day, really
24:51
Speaker 7: we can't ignore allegations of war crime. Then we must
24:55
Speaker 7: properly investigate such allegations. The key point there is properly investigate.
25:00
Speaker 7: This is where my concerns with Brereton come into play
25:03
Speaker 7: to some extent. And if there's a case it there's
25:06
Speaker 7: a brief and if it's in the public interest, we
25:08
Speaker 7: should proceed. That's that we're a democratic country and we
25:11
Speaker 7: can't criticize other nations on one hand and then ignore
25:14
Speaker 7: the fact sell selves. But the elephant in the room
25:18
Speaker 7: for me, Peter, Yeah, Yeah, the elephant in the room
25:21
Speaker 7: is for me. Has always been Breton. Bretons has always
25:24
Speaker 7: come out and it's it's muddy the water. It's a
25:26
Speaker 7: hangover soldiers heads for a long time. The way it
25:28
Speaker 7: was conducted was well, was not ideal, and the blanket
25:33
Speaker 7: exemption for the chain of command from any investigation is
25:36
Speaker 7: a bit as the bitter taste in the mouths of
25:38
Speaker 7: many contemporary veterans.
25:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's just underscore that point you're making there, because
25:47
Speaker 2: when I was in Afghanistan the times that I obviously
25:50
Speaker 2: accompanied the Prime Minister, there were commanders there who left Afghanistan.
25:57
Speaker 2: They were promoted all the way up the chain. They
26:00
Speaker 2: didn't face any negative blowback from Brereton. But they were there.
26:05
Speaker 2: They were commanding the soldiers in the field, many of
26:09
Speaker 2: which now had this cloud hanging over their heads. How
26:13
Speaker 2: could it only be the ordinary soldier impacted by Brereton,
26:18
Speaker 2: and none of the commanders in and around this deployment, Peter, This.
26:26
Speaker 7: Is actually the crux of my PhD, my doctor or thesis,
26:29
Speaker 7: is that Breton misapplied the law of command responsibility and
26:33
Speaker 7: he misapplied the facts as the nature of command in
26:37
Speaker 7: that theater operations. And as recently as last week I
26:41
Speaker 7: found an old inquiry report ADF inquiry report from Afghanistan,
26:45
Speaker 7: which I'm using in a book that I'm writing right now,
26:49
Speaker 7: which expressly states the extent of control provided from headquarters
26:54
Speaker 7: task for six three to three, So that Peter, there
26:58
Speaker 7: are lots of answers to be lots of questions to
27:00
Speaker 7: be answered here, and the fact that the implementation panel,
27:04
Speaker 7: like government appointed Penel, referred to the blanket exemption given
27:09
Speaker 7: by Bretton to the other generals as a blanket exemption
27:12
Speaker 7: is quite quite telling.
27:16
Speaker 3: I tell you what. I tell you what, Glenn.
27:17
Speaker 2: We are all very grateful that you have done this
27:20
Speaker 2: work about the Brereton report, because I think this will
27:23
Speaker 2: be incredibly important in the debate that Australia has going
27:26
Speaker 2: on from this two quick ones from me. Someone put
27:29
Speaker 2: it to me today that the Australian government was paying
27:33
Speaker 2: for billboards in Afghanistan advertising the fact that we were
27:37
Speaker 2: having a war crimes investigation.
27:40
Speaker 3: Do you know if that's true.
27:44
Speaker 7: I've heard the room, Repeter, but I haven't. I've had
27:46
Speaker 7: no confirmation. I couldn't say either way to be honest.
27:50
Speaker 2: Okay, And the last question from me, if he is
27:54
Speaker 2: convicted Ben Robert Smith will face life imprisonment, how does
27:58
Speaker 2: it get a fair trial in this country? Give and
28:00
Speaker 2: almost ten years of headlines and all the media attention
28:04
Speaker 2: there has been on him, his name and the allegations
28:09
Speaker 2: against him in the media as they have been for
28:11
Speaker 2: so long.
28:14
Speaker 7: Therein lawer. Another problem Peter is getting impaneling a jury
28:18
Speaker 7: and the jury challenge process. And indeed, I'm not saying
28:22
Speaker 7: he won't it a fair trial, but there are going
28:23
Speaker 7: to be challenges getting to stage and the fact that
28:26
Speaker 7: there was a civil trial which found against him to
28:30
Speaker 7: a lesser standard of course, but a standard of proof.
28:33
Speaker 7: I think that these are some of the hurdles that
28:35
Speaker 7: the crowd are going to have to come across to
28:37
Speaker 7: in this case. As I say, it won't be a
28:39
Speaker 7: walk up start for the crown.
28:41
Speaker 2: I said, I'd give you one more, but I'm going
28:43
Speaker 2: to have to break my own word. Hey, all the
28:46
Speaker 2: others with the cloud and Brereton hanging over their head. Glenn,
28:50
Speaker 2: Surely now that must be lifted. Surely now these men,
28:55
Speaker 2: if they have not been charged, they must be charged
28:58
Speaker 2: and charged quickly or let get on with their lives, you.
29:05
Speaker 7: Know, Peter, Justice delayed is justice denied, as they say,
29:10
Speaker 7: And there are a lot of people who have suffered
29:11
Speaker 7: as a result of this process. And I'm not If
29:14
Speaker 7: there are guilty versics at the end of the day,
29:16
Speaker 7: then so be it. But it has been a long time. Breton,
29:20
Speaker 7: the Breton Inquiry made that time made that allowed for
29:24
Speaker 7: that for attracted time. I don't think there's any animis
29:27
Speaker 7: against the OSI or the AFP. They've had a few
29:30
Speaker 7: years to do their bit, but they had to start
29:32
Speaker 7: from scratch after many years of Breton trampling on the evidence.
29:35
Speaker 7: So so, Peter, to answer your question, it has been
29:39
Speaker 7: a long time and it is still hanging over people's
29:41
Speaker 7: people's heads, people who have now left the ADF a
29:45
Speaker 7: majority of cases.
29:48
Speaker 2: We will come back and talk about Breton and pull
29:50
Speaker 2: that apart, because then what you've opened up tonight for
29:52
Speaker 2: my viewers is the conversation as I said, that Australian
29:55
Speaker 2: needs to have. Will do that separately to Ben Robert Smith,
29:57
Speaker 2: I thank you for your time. Glenn Colomets is Nikola there.
30:01
Speaker 2: He knows all this inside out, obviously warned the uniform
30:04
Speaker 2: and a lawyer and an expert in war crime. So
30:07
Speaker 2: as I said, we'll go back to that one with
30:09
Speaker 2: him soon after the break. The prospect of a recession grows.
30:13
Speaker 2: A number of economists today is saying there will be
30:15
Speaker 2: more rate hikes. My next guest says there will be three.
30:20
Speaker 2: So batten down the hatches, all right. Welcome back still
30:29
Speaker 2: to Cow last week with an expert about the emergence
30:31
Speaker 2: of a concerning Arabic fascist group that's trying to court
30:36
Speaker 2: senior labor figures, including a prominent Albanesi government.
30:40
Speaker 3: Front bencher from Western Sydney.
30:43
Speaker 2: Now to the latest analysis that shows Australia is at
30:46
Speaker 2: an economic inflection point. Today the Australian Financial Review published
30:50
Speaker 2: the survey results of thirty eight top economists and the
30:54
Speaker 2: consensus is that interest rates will rise next month. At
30:58
Speaker 2: the more hawkish end economists are forecasting three more rate
31:03
Speaker 2: increases by June next year. When compounded with sky high
31:07
Speaker 2: petrol prices and stagnant growth, that all points to a recession.
31:12
Speaker 2: Joining me now, one of those hawkish economists, Warren Hogan,
31:16
Speaker 2: well as a secret at the hawkish end of that
31:19
Speaker 2: survey group. Today almost all of them, though they agree
31:22
Speaker 2: with you that rates will rise.
31:25
Speaker 3: You reckon, there's three to go.
31:28
Speaker 8: Yeah, good evening, Peter. Look, we don't know, is the
31:31
Speaker 8: bottom line, because we have got ourselves in a real
31:35
Speaker 8: pickle when it comes to our economy, because we should
31:38
Speaker 8: not lose sight of where we were before this conflict began,
31:41
Speaker 8: and that was an economy that was mismanaged. They never,
31:46
Speaker 8: whether it was fiscal or monetary policy, never tighten things
31:49
Speaker 8: up enough to deal with the inflation that came out
31:51
Speaker 8: of the pandemic. And of course we saw the big
31:53
Speaker 8: resurgence of inflation at the first sign of life of
31:56
Speaker 8: the private sector economy late last year. So we do
32:00
Speaker 8: need to get interest rates higher, and probably two or
32:04
Speaker 8: three more rate hikes is sort of a minimum. But
32:06
Speaker 8: then we've got this conflict that's come along and its
32:10
Speaker 8: really exposed. U exposed this in terms of not being
32:14
Speaker 8: on top of our economy and being susceptible to inflation,
32:17
Speaker 8: and obviously exposed this in terms of energy security. So
32:21
Speaker 8: we're in a pickle because if the Reserve Bank does
32:23
Speaker 8: raise rates and the economy goes into recession quickly, they
32:26
Speaker 8: get criticized. But if they don't raise rates and the
32:29
Speaker 8: economy gets through this period like it did the tariffs
32:32
Speaker 8: last year, then they're well behind the game. It's just
32:36
Speaker 8: we've left ourselves exposed. We never took out the right
32:39
Speaker 8: insurance against something like this.
32:43
Speaker 2: This is why I love talking to you, Warren, because
32:46
Speaker 2: there is almost no other economist in Australia than if
32:48
Speaker 2: I'd asked that question, wouldn't have spun me a line.
32:51
Speaker 2: But you say, well, in fact, Peter, we don't know.
32:53
Speaker 2: We don't know, and here's why we don't know. When
32:55
Speaker 2: you call it as you see it, you really went
32:57
Speaker 2: after the PM after that recent press club addressed too.
33:01
Speaker 2: You said, you know, he's a master politician at work.
33:04
Speaker 2: It deflects blame. He doesn't fix issues. He blames previous policies,
33:09
Speaker 2: blames previous governments. I'd agree on many of this front.
33:13
Speaker 2: But of course we're looking at a budget next month,
33:15
Speaker 2: and as he's starting to dip in the polls, you
33:18
Speaker 2: and I know what will happen. He'll force the Treasurer
33:21
Speaker 2: to write a whole lot of checks we'll go out
33:24
Speaker 2: there to voters to try and win their support, and
33:27
Speaker 2: it'll have that inflationary impact all over again.
33:31
Speaker 8: Yeah, well that's right. I mean, if you a try
33:34
Speaker 8: and sort of blame our economic woes on the wall,
33:37
Speaker 8: which I think is a reasonable political strategy, but not
33:41
Speaker 8: a good you know, it's not real. The risk you run,
33:45
Speaker 8: of course, is you don't address the real problem. And
33:47
Speaker 8: what we learned in the six months prior to the
33:49
Speaker 8: start of this conflict was that we've had this massive
33:52
Speaker 8: expansion in the presence of government in our economy and
33:54
Speaker 8: it's a lot more costly than anyone thought, not just
33:57
Speaker 8: because of the higher taxation or depth it's required to
33:59
Speaker 8: fund it, but because it's squeezing out the private sector.
34:02
Speaker 8: It's destroying the productivity of the economy and our living
34:05
Speaker 8: standards with it. And they need to face that reality
34:08
Speaker 8: because if they don't, then we're only going to get
34:10
Speaker 8: this situation worse and worse. And of course, this sort
34:12
Speaker 8: of conflict and this sort of energy shock magnifies all
34:16
Speaker 8: of this. So they're in a real pickle forming up
34:19
Speaker 8: this budget. And I really don't know what they're going
34:21
Speaker 8: to do, but if they do take the very short
34:24
Speaker 8: terms politically expeding and approach and put money into the economy. Well,
34:28
Speaker 8: they almost need a recession out of the world economy
34:30
Speaker 8: to save them, because we'll just get even worse and
34:33
Speaker 8: worse inflation and cost of living problems in this country,
34:37
Speaker 8: and we'll be staring at a situation like we were
34:39
Speaker 8: in the late eighties where interest rates were having to
34:41
Speaker 8: just go up and up and up until something broken
34:43
Speaker 8: the economy.
34:46
Speaker 3: Do you reckon?
34:47
Speaker 2: I know the Prime Minister's heading off to Singapore on Thursday.
34:50
Speaker 2: Do you think we'll get rationing in Australia.
34:54
Speaker 8: I really don't know. I got my worry because where
34:57
Speaker 8: I think we're really vulnerable is on the industrial side,
35:00
Speaker 8: in the business side of the economy, and we are
35:03
Speaker 8: the world's biggest importer of diesel as I understand it,
35:06
Speaker 8: we are the world's biggest consumer of diesel per capita
35:09
Speaker 8: as I understand it, and it's also one of our
35:11
Speaker 8: lowest onshore reserves at twenty five days. I'm worried about
35:15
Speaker 8: businesses starting to fold because of cost and access to fuel,
35:20
Speaker 8: and that's where I think we're again uniquely vulnerable. You know,
35:25
Speaker 8: I don't know. They've obviously mustered support for the next
35:29
Speaker 8: six weeks to get these ships coming here. But you know,
35:32
Speaker 8: we have seen what not getting our national security in
35:37
Speaker 8: order gives you. And I don't think this sort of
35:39
Speaker 8: global geo political environment's going away. So even if we
35:42
Speaker 8: get through this conflict, we may have to deal with
35:45
Speaker 8: this again next year or the year after.
35:48
Speaker 2: And I think domestically we're least we are now least
35:52
Speaker 2: secure in terms of the two party system that we've
35:56
Speaker 2: ever been before. I think, you know, turbulent times are
35:59
Speaker 2: ahead to mystically and internationally. I leave it there, Warren Hogan,
36:02
Speaker 2: thank you coming up the Prime Minister's Education minister and
36:05
Speaker 2: that unforgettable lunch date. So how worried should we be
36:10
Speaker 2: about political influence by rogue organizations with extremist ideologies?
36:15
Speaker 3: That's next Welcome back still the CAAHM.
36:21
Speaker 2: Former South Australian m Pinicole Flint has a bit of
36:24
Speaker 2: a warning for Victorian liberals who don't think the threat
36:27
Speaker 2: from one nation is real. Well, she lead through the
36:30
Speaker 2: state election in Adelaide. She'll tell you it's real. But
36:33
Speaker 2: now to a concerning report today involving the Education Minister
36:36
Speaker 2: Jason Clair. Now he's a Western Sydney MP close ally
36:41
Speaker 2: of others in the labor right, and he attended a
36:45
Speaker 2: backyard barbecue last year at the home of a Sydney
36:48
Speaker 2: community organizer later reported to have links to the Syrian
36:53
Speaker 2: Social Nationalist Party. Now this party has been described by
36:57
Speaker 2: critics as an organization with extremist ideological roots, including allegations
37:02
Speaker 2: of anti Semitism and historical fascist influences. Also, its symbols
37:08
Speaker 2: been widely noted as resembling imagery associated with the Nazi swastika.
37:14
Speaker 2: Now there's no suggestion that Jason Clair or others in
37:17
Speaker 2: attendance were aware of any alleged links between the host
37:21
Speaker 2: and the organization. However, it does raise considerable questions about
37:25
Speaker 2: how far the reach of controversial political movements may extend
37:30
Speaker 2: within Australian community networks. One person who studied this issue
37:36
Speaker 2: closely is Ran Pooret, a research associated Monish University and
37:41
Speaker 2: a contributor to the Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council. He
37:46
Speaker 2: joins me, now, doctor Paratt, welcome to the program. As
37:50
Speaker 2: I said, you've studied this party, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.
37:54
Speaker 2: How would you characterize its ideology and its activities?
38:00
Speaker 9: Thank you, Peter for having me. This movement grew out
38:05
Speaker 9: of the period between the World Wars, nationalist background in
38:10
Speaker 9: Syria and Lebanon, and it can discover as a bit
38:14
Speaker 9: of a shape shift. It does have an expansialist a
38:19
Speaker 9: sort of platform. The idea of creating greater year that
38:23
Speaker 9: starts in Lebanon, goes over through Syria and ended somewhere Kuwait.
38:29
Speaker 9: Jeordian of course, is part of that, and the idea
38:33
Speaker 9: is there to actually impose that vision in violent means.
38:40
Speaker 9: The SSMP has been involved in the suicide bombing of
38:45
Speaker 9: for instance, seventeen year old woman in Lebanon against Israeli
38:49
Speaker 9: forces in the eighties. They've been involved in murders and
38:53
Speaker 9: assassinations all across you know, the sixties, seventies, eighties and onward,
38:58
Speaker 9: and even worse. They aligned with the Chrisbala. They aligned
39:02
Speaker 9: with the Assad the more shall Assad actually in the
39:08
Speaker 9: civil war, the military wing called the the Eagles of
39:13
Speaker 9: the Will World, the Subazova participate in the Civil War
39:17
Speaker 9: in oppressing the people, you know, rebelling against the Assad regime.
39:25
Speaker 9: It's a fascist it's a movement with fascist roots. It's
39:27
Speaker 9: a movement with violent roots. The movement that encourages martyrdom.
39:31
Speaker 9: It's a movement that is in its essence anti Semitic.
39:36
Speaker 9: They blame the Jews for the execution of their founder
39:40
Speaker 9: Anton Sade in forty seven. So very very wrong party
39:46
Speaker 9: to have operating here.
39:50
Speaker 2: Well, we yet to hear from the Minister despite this
39:54
Speaker 2: concerning report today. What should governments do if groups like these,
40:00
Speaker 2: extremist groups like this appear to be seeking political influence
40:05
Speaker 2: in Australia.
40:08
Speaker 9: We know that such parties use the benefits of democracy
40:16
Speaker 9: to advance their goals, their aims and their ideology. I'm
40:22
Speaker 9: generally speaking, I don't know about the specific case, but
40:24
Speaker 9: generally speaking, I'm sure that I officials in any government
40:30
Speaker 9: should check very well before they find themselves connected to
40:34
Speaker 9: anybody with the possible connections to such extremist ideologists of
40:41
Speaker 9: such experienced groups.
40:44
Speaker 3: You're not wrong.
40:44
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens in terms of a statement from
40:46
Speaker 2: the Minister, perhaps tomorrow. I'd want to hope it comes
40:49
Speaker 2: out tomorrow. Thank you, Ran, thank you for those comments.
40:53
Speaker 3: All right after the.
40:53
Speaker 2: Break, The latest insurance stats paint a grim pitcher the
40:56
Speaker 2: crime retal Victoria, premiums of sky, but nothing but retric
41:01
Speaker 2: from the Allen government, plus the Victorian Liberal Party boss
41:04
Speaker 2: who doesn't think the party should worry about one nation.
41:08
Speaker 2: Well tell that to South Australians. My panel's up next.
41:15
Speaker 3: Welcome back.
41:17
Speaker 2: Now, if the crime crisis in Victoria wasn't taxing enough
41:20
Speaker 2: for residents, reports today that Victoria is a record crime
41:23
Speaker 2: rate has driven insurance premiums for cars and homes in
41:27
Speaker 2: affluent inner city suburbs to almost twice the cost of
41:31
Speaker 2: those in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods. Here to discuss this and
41:35
Speaker 2: more in a moment. She's got a connection problem former
41:38
Speaker 2: Liberal and Pinicole Flint, but this one's with me. Sky
41:40
Speaker 2: News presenter Jamie Rodgers, Jbie, Welcome. Let's start with those
41:45
Speaker 2: stats in Victoria. We know that a crime is climbing,
41:49
Speaker 2: so too now your insurance premium car theft claims have
41:54
Speaker 2: risen by a startling fifty nine percent in one year,
41:58
Speaker 2: almost two thirds up with them already being made in
42:01
Speaker 2: Metro Melbourne in the Bayside local area. So this is
42:05
Speaker 2: Brighton and Hampton. They've had an all time number of
42:09
Speaker 2: cars stolen two hundred and eighty odd and two hundred
42:13
Speaker 2: and fifty seven aggravated burglary. So that's violent burglaries, people
42:18
Speaker 2: breaking into homes in the past year. The government says
42:23
Speaker 2: it's acting. Doesn't look like it.
42:26
Speaker 10: No, it doesn't, Peter. And what concerns me about this
42:29
Speaker 10: is also in that article one of the women said
42:32
Speaker 10: that she had someone twice come to her property wielding
42:36
Speaker 10: a machete trying to break into her car and steal it.
42:40
Speaker 10: And then there was an image of someone in Richmond
42:43
Speaker 10: trying to do a carjacking. The sad reality is in
42:46
Speaker 10: Victoria this is almost becoming quite normalized now and that
42:51
Speaker 10: is a concern the statistics that you were just reading
42:54
Speaker 10: out there and as a result Brighton and Hawthorne and
42:56
Speaker 10: their insurance premiums are going up. But it just reinforces
43:00
Speaker 10: how much that we need the Liberal Party to really
43:03
Speaker 10: get their act together because that state desperately needs a
43:07
Speaker 10: change of government because no matter what plans or what
43:11
Speaker 10: ideas the Alan government's putting forwar, whether it's the machete
43:14
Speaker 10: bins or different things, it's not working. So what we
43:17
Speaker 10: need to do is see a strong Liberal Party, strong alternative.
43:20
Speaker 10: I do think that Jess Wilson is doing well, but
43:23
Speaker 10: incidents like what we saw last week with more redeemings.
43:26
Speaker 10: Preselection certainly doesn't give faith for the voters that the
43:30
Speaker 10: Liberal Party are going to be that strong government to
43:33
Speaker 10: be able to run this state. But I tell you what, Peter,
43:35
Speaker 10: it's absolutely diabolical down there. You certainly need some change,
43:39
Speaker 10: and let's hope it happens in November.
43:42
Speaker 3: I think part of.
43:43
Speaker 2: The problem Nicole has a lot of Libs in official circles.
43:47
Speaker 2: I mean, the rank and file know what's going on,
43:49
Speaker 2: but a lot of Libs in the official circles have
43:51
Speaker 2: got their heads buried in the sand.
43:53
Speaker 3: You've got the Victorian Liberal.
43:55
Speaker 2: Party president who chaired the committee that vetted all the
43:59
Speaker 2: candidates in that Deeming pre selection that JBI references. He
44:03
Speaker 2: veted everybody and he put the guy that had the
44:08
Speaker 2: reference supporting a pedophile, a convicted pedophile, into the mix.
44:13
Speaker 2: He won and had to be removed. They go back
44:15
Speaker 2: and they get Deeming in and eventually as they sort
44:17
Speaker 2: it out, but they believe for a week, and people
44:19
Speaker 2: like me criticize him and say please get your act together.
44:22
Speaker 2: You know, Victorians want a better hope Liberals, and then
44:25
Speaker 2: he has a swing at me and Sky News and
44:28
Speaker 2: News called media today in the paper saying that people
44:32
Speaker 2: like me are the problem and that one Nation's not
44:35
Speaker 2: a threat to the coalition vote. Well, you've lived through
44:38
Speaker 2: the South Australian election. One nation is annihilated the Liberal vote.
44:42
Speaker 2: You tell me that I'm wrong, And the Liberal Party
44:45
Speaker 2: president in Victoria's spot on with his analysis, Peter, I.
44:49
Speaker 11: Would never tell you that you're wrong. And it seems
44:52
Speaker 11: the only person that the Victorian Liberal Party President Phil
44:56
Speaker 11: Davis is not blaming is himself. He is at the
45:00
Speaker 11: heart of so much of the mess that's unfolded, particularly
45:04
Speaker 11: in the last six to twelve months. First of all,
45:07
Speaker 11: I believe you presided over the one point five million
45:09
Speaker 11: dollar loan to John Pursuto to bail him out, which
45:12
Speaker 11: a large number of members are horrified by, and in
45:16
Speaker 11: fact his own state executive some of them are horrified
45:19
Speaker 11: by it as well, which is now the subject of
45:22
Speaker 11: court proceedings. But also he's just presided over this absolutely
45:26
Speaker 11: botched debarkle of a pre selection that has seen the
45:31
Speaker 11: right outcome be arrived at eventually, which is my redeeming
45:34
Speaker 11: is still number one on the ticket now this I
45:39
Speaker 11: just feel so incredibly sorry for Jess Wilson, who is
45:42
Speaker 11: doing her very best as leader, who backed Moira in
45:45
Speaker 11: the whole way. She just can't get any clear air
45:48
Speaker 11: because you've got brain surgeons like the president of Victorian
45:53
Speaker 11: Liberal Party causing even more chaos than he already had. Look,
45:58
Speaker 11: it's time for this guy to go. And I stand
46:00
Speaker 11: that some members have put up a petition to try
46:02
Speaker 11: to encourage that outcome. I fully support that outcome. He
46:06
Speaker 11: is doing so much damage.
46:09
Speaker 2: You're right, there is a petition changed dot org and
46:12
Speaker 2: this is a rank and file petition. But I can
46:13
Speaker 2: report tonight that in the Australian there's a story by
46:17
Speaker 2: Anthony Galloway that there's now seventy people from State Council.
46:20
Speaker 2: So these are party officials who've signed a letter to
46:24
Speaker 2: the President saying, after this train wreck of an interview
46:26
Speaker 2: with the Age, you've got to go. We'll see what
46:28
Speaker 2: will happen there. But Jamie, you've been a candidate, you know.
46:31
Speaker 2: I really feel for the State director. She ran that
46:35
Speaker 2: brilliant campaign in the Northern Territory that got Lea Finikiaro elected,
46:39
Speaker 2: a huge wrap for the new State director in Victoria,
46:43
Speaker 2: Allison Hammond, but she can't do her job if all
46:47
Speaker 2: she's doing is refereeing these internal fights the elections in November,
46:52
Speaker 2: they will be campaigning hard in August.
46:56
Speaker 3: It's already April.
46:58
Speaker 2: I haven't seen ads, I haven't seen policies. They're only
47:01
Speaker 2: just tiding up the pre selections.
47:04
Speaker 10: Just what I'm Peter, I actually don't know how this
47:07
Speaker 10: slipped through NRC. I went through the process myself and
47:10
Speaker 10: it was so stringent and some of the stuff that
47:12
Speaker 10: we were all talking about like they did their homework.
47:14
Speaker 10: But I'm in New South Wales and it is also
47:16
Speaker 10: worth noting Peter too. Just regarding Phil Davis, I've had
47:20
Speaker 10: sources say to me that at the time when the
47:22
Speaker 10: federal intervention happened in New South Wales, they were actually
47:25
Speaker 10: tossing up between whether to do Victoria.
47:27
Speaker 3: Or New South Wales.
47:28
Speaker 10: So Victoria back in twenty twenty four was also potentially
47:32
Speaker 10: going to have that federal intervention. So Phil Davis, off
47:35
Speaker 10: the back of what we saw with this pre selection saga,
47:38
Speaker 10: he really should stand down and do it on his
47:40
Speaker 10: own accord and say I'm going to take accountability for
47:43
Speaker 10: what has been an absolutely disastrous outcome here and get
47:46
Speaker 10: the Liberals out of the paper for the wrong reasons,
47:49
Speaker 10: because we saw last week it was Moi Redeeming's pre
47:51
Speaker 10: selection that was making front page news instead of how
47:54
Speaker 10: woeful the Labor government are. So I think the voters
47:57
Speaker 10: want to see some accountability and it's time that Phil
47:59
Speaker 10: Davis still down and actually took some of that accountability
48:02
Speaker 10: and stopped blaming people like yourself, which I had a
48:05
Speaker 10: little chuckle to when I saw that in the papers.
48:07
Speaker 10: I thought, he doesn't like the truth.
48:09
Speaker 2: Sometimes the truth hurts. I have broad shoulders and he's
48:13
Speaker 2: not the first bloke to have a crack at Peter
48:15
Speaker 2: Credle like an absolutely handled myself. Hey Nick, I'm conscious
48:18
Speaker 2: you're on the land. I'm conscious you're on the land.
48:20
Speaker 2: And we've got all of this debate obviously about fuel
48:23
Speaker 2: in the cities, but diesels in short supply, how's it
48:26
Speaker 2: going in South Australia where you are.
48:29
Speaker 11: Look, Peter, we don't seem to have had any major
48:32
Speaker 11: supply problems, but the cost as we know through the
48:35
Speaker 11: roof the last time we had an on farm diesel delivery,
48:39
Speaker 11: I think it was three dollars and seven cents or
48:41
Speaker 11: something eliter but the previous one before that was a
48:44
Speaker 11: dollar seventy seven. Now, we are lucky that we were
48:48
Speaker 11: not droughted last year, but we have huge amounts of
48:51
Speaker 11: farming land in South Australia that was terribly drought affected.
48:55
Speaker 11: And so these people don't have any money in their
48:57
Speaker 11: bank account and now they're they're paying probably double what
49:02
Speaker 11: they would normally for diesel and for our croppers in particular,
49:05
Speaker 11: it's just an absolute disaster and honestly, on a week
49:09
Speaker 11: by week basis, you don't know if you are going
49:11
Speaker 11: to be able to get the supply that you need.
49:13
Speaker 11: And again particularly for our croppers, this is it's just devastating.
49:18
Speaker 3: It is absolutely devastating.
49:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we'll thanking of you, Nicole, your family and
49:23
Speaker 2: everyone out your way. Thank you to you both, Nicole
49:25
Speaker 2: and Jamie. See you next week. That's it for me.
49:27
Speaker 2: Good night, see you tomorrow.
49:29
Speaker 3: Here's Andrew