Latest / The Bolt Report / The Bolt Report | 29 May

Transcript

The Bolt Report | 29 May · The Bolt Report

0:11
Speaker 1: He's reform it.
0:15
Speaker 2: Good evening, I'm James Macpherson, sitting in for Andrew Bolt
0:18
Speaker 2: coming up tonight. Whatever happened to the great actor Robert
0:21
Speaker 2: de Niro, He's turned into a Karen on steroids, warning
0:24
Speaker 2: that the Trump presidency could mean the end of the world.
0:28
Speaker 2: I'll be asking Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Patterson about
0:31
Speaker 2: revelations twelve hundred Chinese spies are operating in Australia. What
0:36
Speaker 2: should we do about it? And the ABC breaks its
0:39
Speaker 2: silence over Laura Tingles racism outburst, rebuking its chief political correspondent.
0:44
Speaker 2: We'll have the very latest with Sophie Ellsworth shortly, but first,
0:49
Speaker 2: the University of Sydney offers four hundred and fifty different courses.
0:53
Speaker 2: But here's what the once proud institution is really teaching
0:57
Speaker 2: our kids. If you stomp your feet and hold your
1:00
Speaker 2: breath for long enough, you'll get what you want. Now,
1:04
Speaker 2: this will be dismaying news for mums and dads who
1:06
Speaker 2: spent years teaching their children that's not the way the
1:09
Speaker 2: world works, only to now spend a fortune having their
1:13
Speaker 2: children taught the very opposite at university. But how else
1:17
Speaker 2: should we interpret yesterday's stunning capitulation to students protesting Israel's
1:22
Speaker 2: pursuit of Hamas. These students, who've been camping out on
1:26
Speaker 2: the university's lawn since April twenty three, have demanded, among
1:30
Speaker 2: other things, that the university cut all ties with Israel.
1:35
Speaker 2: The irony, obviously, is that these same students sit on
1:38
Speaker 2: their tents scrolling on their iPhones, parts of which are
1:41
Speaker 2: made and assembled in Israel. If you're looking for consistency,
1:45
Speaker 2: i'd suggest an anti Israel protest is probably not the
1:48
Speaker 2: place you're going to find it. But back to the
1:51
Speaker 2: student's demands.
1:54
Speaker 3: For eleven days, this camp has stood at Sydney University
1:57
Speaker 3: in solidarity with similar protests.
2:00
Speaker 2: But it's not about Mark Scott and the university management
2:02
Speaker 2: being happy that we're here. It's about making sure we
2:04
Speaker 2: can win our demands.
2:05
Speaker 3: Those are for the university to cut ties with Israeli
2:08
Speaker 3: institutions and weapons manufacturers.
2:13
Speaker 4: Pray, pray.
2:18
Speaker 1: Well.
2:18
Speaker 2: It now seems that university Vice Chancellor Mark Scott has
2:21
Speaker 2: all but given in to the collective temper tantrum. According
2:25
Speaker 2: to a report in Today's Australian, Mark Scott has invited
2:28
Speaker 2: anti Israel students to join a working group that will
2:32
Speaker 2: review the university's defense and security research ties. Here's what
2:37
Speaker 2: he told protesters. Student representatives of the encampment group would
2:41
Speaker 2: be invited to put forward names of individuals for membership
2:45
Speaker 2: in the working group. Seriously, can you believe that activists
2:50
Speaker 2: whose only qualification, as far as I can tell, is camping,
2:54
Speaker 2: will now help decide who the University of Sydney can
2:58
Speaker 2: and cannot work with. I'm just wondering will the university's
3:02
Speaker 2: Jewish students be afforded the same opportunity. Do they also
3:06
Speaker 2: get a say on who the uni does business with?
3:09
Speaker 2: And what about my friend at Sydney University who'd like
3:12
Speaker 2: to review the institution's research ties with China, you know,
3:15
Speaker 2: on account of an actual genocide committed against the Erger people.
3:19
Speaker 2: Will he get a seat on mister Scott's working group?
3:23
Speaker 2: I suspect not. Mark Scott reportedly told students these are
3:27
Speaker 2: students who have hijacked the once prestigious university campus that
3:32
Speaker 2: his offer was the most comprehensive offer any anti Israel
3:36
Speaker 2: activists had been given in Australia. Well that's quite a boast,
3:41
Speaker 2: but it begs the question, why are anti Israel activists
3:44
Speaker 2: being offered anything. I guess intimidating fellow students, disrupting classes
3:50
Speaker 2: and chanting anti Semitic slogans pays off after all. But
3:54
Speaker 2: Mark Scott went even further, promising the university would provide
3:57
Speaker 2: increased opportunities for Palestinian scholars and students. Goodness me, why
4:04
Speaker 2: stop there? Why isn't the University of Sydney offer I
4:06
Speaker 2: don't know students a Bachelor of Hamas while they're at it?
4:10
Speaker 2: And of course Mark Scott offered to quote expand our
4:13
Speaker 2: truth telling process in relation to Indigenous Australians because somehow,
4:17
Speaker 2: I don't know how, but apparently it's all connected. In
4:21
Speaker 2: an email to university staff, Mark Scott wrote, at the
4:24
Speaker 2: best of times, negotiating can be demanding and complex, even
4:29
Speaker 2: more so at a time of widespread distress and concerd
4:32
Speaker 2: concerns held from diverse perspectives. It requires deep listening and
4:37
Speaker 2: respectful engagement. Indeed, Neville Chamberlain would have been impressed. But
4:44
Speaker 2: why is the university negotiating with protesters who, by Mark
4:48
Speaker 2: Scott's own admission, have hijacked lectures, failed to comply with directives,
4:53
Speaker 2: intimidated staff, and helped non student rabbel rousers dodge security
4:58
Speaker 2: to access university buildings. This is insane, Actually, it's Marxism.
5:03
Speaker 2: One h one violence gets political results. This is what
5:08
Speaker 2: our nation's oldest university is now teaching. Rather than what
5:13
Speaker 2: mister Scott calls demanding and complex negotiation, he could try
5:17
Speaker 2: a little thing called leadership. How about having non student
5:21
Speaker 2: activists charged with trespass and student activists being offered a
5:25
Speaker 2: choice to study or leave. If protesters don't like the
5:29
Speaker 2: taxpayer funded universities associations, they're always free to continue their
5:33
Speaker 2: degree in gender studies someplace else. But that would be
5:37
Speaker 2: far too adult, and the nation seems bereft of adults
5:40
Speaker 2: right now. So instead, Mark Scott has given student protesters
5:44
Speaker 2: until three pm tomorrow to respond. What do you think
5:49
Speaker 2: they'll do? Well? Spoiler alert, We already know. Protest organizers
5:54
Speaker 2: told the Sidney Morning Herald last night that they voted
5:57
Speaker 2: to reject the deal, which they described as incredibly inadequate,
6:02
Speaker 2: and they posted on their social media today their intention
6:05
Speaker 2: to disrupt the university's finance committee meeting tomorrow morning.
6:09
Speaker 5: Vice Chancellor Makscott himself in years to sit idly by
6:13
Speaker 5: while Our university has ties to help aid an event
6:17
Speaker 5: and arm and fund that genocide.
6:19
Speaker 4: The millionaire chancellors.
6:20
Speaker 5: And executives who run this university want to be able
6:23
Speaker 5: to have a nice little breakfast meeting tomorrow morning where
6:26
Speaker 5: they discuss where city university puts its blood money. This
6:29
Speaker 5: is an encampment of hundreds of students.
6:32
Speaker 2: We won't let that happen without a fight.
6:34
Speaker 6: We'll see you there tomorrow.
6:36
Speaker 2: You see, here's the thing about appeasement. It never works.
6:40
Speaker 2: I know that you know that Israel knows that you
6:43
Speaker 2: have to be highly educated to not know that the
6:47
Speaker 2: more you reward bad behavior, the worse behavior you get.
6:51
Speaker 2: In a post on social media, Students for Palestine said,
6:54
Speaker 2: we will not be participants in the vice chancellor's spin campaign,
6:58
Speaker 2: and we will not settle for anything less than the
7:00
Speaker 2: cutting of all ties with Israel and weapons companies known
7:04
Speaker 2: to supply the IDF. And then, for good measure, they added,
7:08
Speaker 2: long live the student into fada. Those demanding and complex
7:13
Speaker 2: negotiations aren't going so well. But here's the real tragedy.
7:18
Speaker 2: The anti Israel activists to whom Mark Scott is opening
7:22
Speaker 2: his tent, well, they'll be gone in three or four years,
7:26
Speaker 2: but the damage to the University of Sydney that will
7:29
Speaker 2: last much longer. Well. Joining me now from Canberra is
7:36
Speaker 2: Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson. Sarah, thanks for joining me.
7:41
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, the University of Sydney has bowed to
7:43
Speaker 2: students demands, saying it will review its ties with defense businesses.
7:49
Speaker 7: What do you make of that, well, James, good evening,
7:54
Speaker 7: and I think this is an absolutely shocking decision by
7:57
Speaker 7: the University of Sydney and it's Vice chancell Latin Mark Scott.
8:01
Speaker 7: Of course, these students held the university to ransom, and
8:06
Speaker 7: rather than Mark Scott throwing the book at them for
8:09
Speaker 7: trespass or breaching university rules.
8:13
Speaker 4: He has rewarded them.
8:14
Speaker 7: With this, as you say, insane agreement, which also opens
8:19
Speaker 7: the door to the university potentially agreeing to divestment, which
8:23
Speaker 7: is what they're demanding, and that is cutting all ties
8:27
Speaker 7: with Israel. This is so serious I have called on
8:31
Speaker 7: the Albanezi government to intervene. I have to say, James,
8:36
Speaker 7: this has been fuelled because Melbourne UNI did a deal
8:40
Speaker 7: not as bad as this one with protesters. Jason clear,
8:43
Speaker 7: the Education Minister said absolutely nothing, and of course that
8:48
Speaker 7: weakness of leadership has now opened the door to a
8:51
Speaker 7: worse deal happening at the University of Sydney. So frankly,
8:56
Speaker 7: the Education Minister is failing Australians. But as form Scott,
9:00
Speaker 7: if he cannot do his job, he needs to go.
9:04
Speaker 2: You've said, you've called upon Anthony Albanezi to intervene Jason
9:08
Speaker 2: Clair as the Education minister. What would you like them
9:10
Speaker 2: to do?
9:13
Speaker 4: Shut this agreement down?
9:14
Speaker 7: This agreement must be shut down straight away. This is
9:19
Speaker 7: rewarding activism. This is rewarding the university being effectively held
9:25
Speaker 7: to ransom and it is no way to run a
9:29
Speaker 7: university campus. As I say, the university should be focused
9:33
Speaker 7: on taking disciplinary proceedings against those who've set up the encampment,
9:37
Speaker 7: because that, after all, is unauthorized. They should be charging
9:42
Speaker 7: those who have trespassed. They should be identifying those who
9:45
Speaker 7: shouldn't even be on the university campus. But this is
9:48
Speaker 7: just a complete failure of leadership. I mean, I for
9:52
Speaker 7: weeks and weeks and weeks have been raising profound concerns
9:56
Speaker 7: about the anti semitism at particularly at Sydney Melbourne Unis.
10:01
Speaker 7: I mean, let's not forget it was at Sydney UNI
10:04
Speaker 7: where children were encouraged to chant into Fader and then
10:08
Speaker 7: of course the Education Minister failed to directly condemn that,
10:12
Speaker 7: and he even said, oh, well, you know, these terrorist
10:15
Speaker 7: slogans mean different things to different people. And of course
10:19
Speaker 7: he was rebuked by the Prime Minister for fundamentally failing
10:23
Speaker 7: to support.
10:25
Speaker 4: A two state solution. So this is a disaster.
10:29
Speaker 7: This is reputationally very very bad for the University of Sydney,
10:35
Speaker 7: and as I say, the Prime Minister himself needs to
10:38
Speaker 7: intervene because the Education Minister has shown he is too
10:42
Speaker 7: weak to do so.
10:43
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about the Australian National University. Their leadership
10:46
Speaker 2: is going to be hauled before a Senate Estimates Committee
10:49
Speaker 2: over its handling of anti semitism, including this gem from
10:53
Speaker 2: a and U students involved in the encampment, who said
10:56
Speaker 2: Hamas deserved unconditional support. Have a listen.
11:00
Speaker 8: You've also got to send a message to Hamas to
11:02
Speaker 8: release the hostages, don't you.
11:04
Speaker 1: Well, I actually say that Hamas deserve our unconditional support,
11:09
Speaker 1: not because I agree with their strategy.
11:11
Speaker 4: You can't condemn what Hamas did in October.
11:14
Speaker 1: I will not condemn what Hamas did We must be unconditional,
11:16
Speaker 1: but we must be critical also, right, No, I did not.
11:20
Speaker 2: Condemn, sir. This will be the second time in history
11:23
Speaker 2: that the A and YOU have appeared before a Senate
11:26
Speaker 2: Estimates committee. What are you hoping to get from the
11:29
Speaker 2: university leadership when they are before the committee?
11:35
Speaker 7: Well, James, I would love to haul all university vice
11:37
Speaker 7: chancellors into Senate Estimates. We only have the power to
11:41
Speaker 7: bring in the A and U because of the way
11:43
Speaker 7: it's constituted. But this is a really important opportunity to
11:46
Speaker 7: ask how the university is managing anti semitism in relation
11:49
Speaker 7: to that particular incident, the endorsement of Hamas, which is
11:53
Speaker 7: clearly shocking. The university is investigating that incident. I understand
11:57
Speaker 7: that particular student has been suspens but we will.
12:01
Speaker 4: Learn more next week.
12:02
Speaker 7: It's incredibly important that we get the confidence and assurance
12:06
Speaker 7: from every university that it has no tolerance whatsoever for
12:11
Speaker 7: any form of racism, including anti semitism. I have to
12:16
Speaker 7: say too many universities have been far too weak and
12:19
Speaker 7: upholding their rules against discrimination, against intimidation and harassment. But
12:25
Speaker 7: as I say, this is a really good opportunity to
12:28
Speaker 7: test how the university is responding well.
12:30
Speaker 2: We've seen how the heads of universities in the United
12:33
Speaker 2: States performed when they were hauled before committees, so we'll
12:36
Speaker 2: watch that one with interest. Just one more question. The
12:39
Speaker 2: coalition has vowed to cancel the visas of international students
12:43
Speaker 2: protesting in anti Israel protests. I like the idea, but
12:47
Speaker 2: how does that work practically?
12:52
Speaker 7: Well, the Migration Act already has a range of important
12:55
Speaker 7: powers which enable the minister to cancel a visa on
12:59
Speaker 7: a number of different grounds, including disrupting the peace and
13:03
Speaker 7: also supporting terrorism. So we haven't seen any action from
13:08
Speaker 7: this government at all in relation to any international student
13:12
Speaker 7: who might have been involved in serious incidents of antisemitism.
13:17
Speaker 4: So we've made it very clear that we take this
13:19
Speaker 4: very seriously.
13:20
Speaker 7: We will adopt a zero tolerance approach to anti Semitism.
13:24
Speaker 7: We will cancel the visa of anyone involved in serious
13:28
Speaker 7: incidents of anti Semitism. The powers are already there under
13:32
Speaker 7: the Migration Act, and it's very regrettable that this government,
13:37
Speaker 7: being so weak, is not currently using those powers.
13:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I might point out that the Greek government just
13:42
Speaker 2: announced overnight that they were doing exactly the same thing.
13:45
Speaker 2: There Sarah Anderson, thank you so much for your time. Well,
13:49
Speaker 2: there were extraordinary scenes in a Senate Estimates hearing last
13:53
Speaker 2: night when the head of the Department of Home Affairs
13:55
Speaker 2: heard for the first time the rapist had been allowed
13:59
Speaker 2: to stay in Australia. Senator James Patterson read the story
14:02
Speaker 2: from the front page of the Australian newspaper about a
14:05
Speaker 2: British born man who had his visa reinstated despite being
14:09
Speaker 2: convicted of sexually attacking twenty six women. When Senator Patterson
14:14
Speaker 2: asked what government representative Senator Murray what and Head of
14:18
Speaker 2: Home Affairs Stephanie Foster had to say about the matter,
14:20
Speaker 2: they said, this was the first they had heard of it. Extraordinary.
14:24
Speaker 2: Have a look at how it went down.
14:27
Speaker 8: How on earth have we found ourselves in a situation
14:30
Speaker 8: where as a result of a ministry or direction the
14:33
Speaker 8: AAT is allowing people like this to stay in our country.
14:39
Speaker 9: Well, I think you have just pointed as to an
14:41
Speaker 9: article that none of us have had an opportunity to read,
14:45
Speaker 9: let alone fact check. So I think we would probably
14:50
Speaker 9: need a little bit of time to do that.
14:53
Speaker 8: I mean, it's just on a human level, short that
14:55
Speaker 8: you can react to that information.
14:58
Speaker 9: Well, i'd want to make sure that everything in the
15:00
Speaker 9: article is accurate to begin with. I'm not saying it's not.
15:04
Speaker 9: I just don't know.
15:05
Speaker 8: This decision was in February. This is not a long
15:07
Speaker 8: time ago. The department should be crossed. This case is
15:09
Speaker 8: the department where of this case? I'm sorry, I just
15:21
Speaker 8: don't I see people shaking their heads but hands. I
15:23
Speaker 8: won't pick that up.
15:24
Speaker 10: I just don't have enough.
15:28
Speaker 2: Information to be able to answer that question. Sensibly unbelievable. Well,
15:34
Speaker 2: today the government went into damage control, announcing they would
15:37
Speaker 2: revise Direction ninety nine following multiple scandals this week. Senator
15:42
Speaker 2: James Patterson joins me. Now, James, as I watched that,
15:46
Speaker 2: I was shocked at the response. Were you shocked?
15:51
Speaker 8: I wish I could say I was shocked, James. But
15:53
Speaker 8: we've seen this pattern of behavior from the Department under
15:56
Speaker 8: this government time and time again. They are just not
16:00
Speaker 8: on top of the very serious community safety problems that
16:03
Speaker 8: we face, and some of which were caused directly by
16:06
Speaker 8: decisions of the government. The governments effectively made a very
16:09
Speaker 8: serious admission of guilt today they are now going to
16:11
Speaker 8: revise Direction ninety nine, issued by Andrew Giles, after spending
16:16
Speaker 8: days defending it, spending further days blaming everyone else other
16:20
Speaker 8: than themselves. First it was the AAT, then it was
16:22
Speaker 8: the Home Affairs Department. Now they finally admitted actually the
16:25
Speaker 8: core of the problem was here was their own direction,
16:27
Speaker 8: which they should under their own minister. No one forced
16:29
Speaker 8: them to do that. It's their responsibility.
16:32
Speaker 2: So, as you pointed out, they're going to revise Direction
16:35
Speaker 2: ninety nine. Two questions, how are they going to revise it,
16:38
Speaker 2: what's going to be different? And why has it taken
16:41
Speaker 2: them this long?
16:44
Speaker 8: Two great questions that I wish I could answer with
16:46
Speaker 8: more certainty myself. But Direction ninety nine never needed to
16:50
Speaker 8: be issued in the first place. The system we had
16:51
Speaker 8: under the previous government was perfectly fine, and the rule
16:54
Speaker 8: was if you're a violent non citizen, you commit a crime,
16:56
Speaker 8: you get deported. But this government caved into lobbying from
17:00
Speaker 8: Cinera dun who didn't want to deal with the consequences
17:02
Speaker 8: of New Zealand citizens who committed serious crimes in our
17:05
Speaker 8: country being deported back to her country. That's a request
17:07
Speaker 8: she made of us too in government. But think we
17:09
Speaker 8: declined that request because we put community safety of Australians. First,
17:13
Speaker 8: this government hasn't done so under a weak prime minister,
17:16
Speaker 8: so we yet to see how it will be revised.
17:19
Speaker 8: But it shouldn't need have been happened in the first place.
17:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to flick to a different subject for
17:24
Speaker 2: a moment. The News Corp defending Australia Summit heard that
17:28
Speaker 2: there's around twelve hundred Chinese spies in Australia. This is
17:32
Speaker 2: according to a former spy who goes by the name
17:35
Speaker 2: of Eric. Is this a surprise to you and what,
17:38
Speaker 2: if anything, should Australia be doing about it.
17:42
Speaker 8: I don't know whether those specific numbers are correct, but
17:45
Speaker 8: Eric has been profiled in the media as a credible
17:47
Speaker 8: former Chinese spy who has defected and is seeking to
17:51
Speaker 8: stay in Australia, so I think we need to take
17:53
Speaker 8: his warnings very seriously. He is a further reminder of
17:56
Speaker 8: what we have heard from our intelligence agencies for some
17:59
Speaker 8: years is that espionage and foreign interference is our number
18:02
Speaker 8: one national security threat. And I can also say that
18:05
Speaker 8: China is the number one source of that threat, and
18:07
Speaker 8: that Daylight comes second. It is an overwhelming and serious threat.
18:11
Speaker 8: They are intervening at every level of our country and
18:13
Speaker 8: democracy and they intend to do us real harm. Now
18:16
Speaker 8: what does that require us in return? Steally resolve to
18:19
Speaker 8: defend Australia and our democracy. And I wish I had
18:22
Speaker 8: confidence that this government always did so, but often you
18:24
Speaker 8: see them putting the bilateral relationship with the People's Republic
18:27
Speaker 8: of China ahead of defending our country, like when the
18:30
Speaker 8: Prime Minister has repeatedly failed to raise with his counterpart
18:34
Speaker 8: the issues of the irresponsible and dangerous behavior of the
18:37
Speaker 8: People's Liberation Army towards Australian Service personnel.
18:40
Speaker 2: Mike Burgess, the head of AZIO, reported that I think
18:43
Speaker 2: back in twenty eighteen we had at least one federal
18:46
Speaker 2: politician compromised by Chinese spy agencies. How can we be
18:51
Speaker 2: sure this is not going to happen again when it's
18:53
Speaker 2: pretty clear that there's a lot of espionage activity taking place.
18:59
Speaker 8: We can't be sure. And in fact, the history of
19:01
Speaker 8: the Cold War is lots of people betrayed our country,
19:04
Speaker 8: probably including sitting politicians, most of whom got away with it,
19:07
Speaker 8: and we're never prosecuted for it, and that is a
19:09
Speaker 8: national shame. What can we do now where we need
19:12
Speaker 8: to make sure our intelligence agencies have the powers and
19:14
Speaker 8: the resources they need to defend our country against this
19:18
Speaker 8: very serious threat. We also need political leadership. We need
19:20
Speaker 8: the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and the Defense
19:23
Speaker 8: Minister to stand up for our country and our interests
19:25
Speaker 8: and not to treat the biolateral relationship with China as
19:29
Speaker 8: an end in itself. Bilateral relationships are a means to
19:32
Speaker 8: the end, and the end is securing Australia's national interest.
19:35
Speaker 8: And unfortunately we've seen on this government too often they
19:37
Speaker 8: compromise our national interest in the pursuit of a bilateral
19:40
Speaker 8: relationship with China, and in this strategic environment, and with
19:43
Speaker 8: the malign intent of this Chinese government, that is a
19:46
Speaker 8: very dangerous thing to do.
19:47
Speaker 2: Just very quickly before we finish political staffers. Obviously, I
19:51
Speaker 2: imagine there'd be police checks done when politicians are employing staffers,
19:55
Speaker 2: but is there anything relating to national security.
19:59
Speaker 8: No, there are no checks done, not even police checks
20:01
Speaker 8: for many political staff employed in this building. Certainly no
20:05
Speaker 8: security checks at all. It's not even an option if
20:07
Speaker 8: you are not a minister, if you are a backbencher
20:10
Speaker 8: or an opposition or cross bench, to have your staff cleared.
20:13
Speaker 8: I think That is a reckless and dangerous oversight and
20:16
Speaker 8: I've been calling it to be rectified for some time.
20:19
Speaker 8: Even if you're a member of the Intelligence Committee, you
20:21
Speaker 8: can't have your staff cleared. That's insane when we know
20:24
Speaker 8: there are people in the United Kingdom right now facing
20:27
Speaker 8: chargers who are alleged to be spying on behalf of China,
20:30
Speaker 8: who were working for UK politicians and using that privileged position,
20:33
Speaker 8: allegedly to aid the interests of China and not the
20:36
Speaker 8: interests of the United Kingdom. That could be happening here,
20:38
Speaker 8: but we're none the wiser because we're not adequately checking
20:41
Speaker 8: and clearing the staff.
20:42
Speaker 2: Unbelievable stuff. James Patterson, thank you for your time. I
20:45
Speaker 2: really appreciate it. Well. Plenty more to come after the break,
20:49
Speaker 2: the stark warning that Australia's military would be completely powerless
20:52
Speaker 2: to defend us from an invasion, plus the ABC's scathing
20:56
Speaker 2: rebuke of its chief political correspondent Laura Tingle. Welcome back.
21:04
Speaker 1: Well.
21:04
Speaker 2: As I said before the break, all eyes are on
21:06
Speaker 2: the Immigration Minister as the government goes into damage control
21:10
Speaker 2: over its detainee crisis. Joining me to discuss the future
21:13
Speaker 2: of Andrew Giles or is it the future of Anthony Helberinisi,
21:16
Speaker 2: as well as more of the day's top stories is
21:18
Speaker 2: forming New South Wales Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and One
21:21
Speaker 2: Nation chief of staff James Ashby. Guys, thanks for joining me, Michael.
21:26
Speaker 2: There is mounting pressure on Anthony Albanesi to dump his
21:29
Speaker 2: immigration minister. Who's protecting who here? Well?
21:34
Speaker 11: I doubt he's going to be dumped. I think the
21:36
Speaker 11: bottom line on this in today's events showed very clearly
21:40
Speaker 11: that Anthony Alberanzi's up to his neck in that directive
21:43
Speaker 11: ninety nine and what a name for a directive sons
21:46
Speaker 11: like something out of George Ulwell. But in any event,
21:49
Speaker 11: I think that he's too tied to that decision to
21:52
Speaker 11: be able to dump him. I think the best he
21:54
Speaker 11: can hope for is a reshuffle. The trigger for that,
21:58
Speaker 11: who knows what that is, perhaps a minister resigning or
22:03
Speaker 11: taking another job somewhere else, and that would enable him
22:07
Speaker 11: to do a reshuffle. But I think he's too tired
22:09
Speaker 11: to him to remove him, and plus he doesn't want
22:11
Speaker 11: to give the opposition a scout at this stage.
22:14
Speaker 2: It's funny that director of ninety nine reminds you of all, Well,
22:17
Speaker 2: it reminds me of Get Smart, where Maxwell Smart says
22:20
Speaker 2: to ninety nine good thinking ninety nine. I'm not sure
22:24
Speaker 2: Anthony Albanezi still thinks it's good thinking, James, it's just
22:28
Speaker 2: bungle after bungle. Would any other minister last this long?
22:34
Speaker 12: Well, I don't think Anthony Albanezi or Andrew Giles have
22:37
Speaker 12: got the message that Australia is no longer a penal colony.
22:40
Speaker 12: These people need to go back. I don't think they've
22:42
Speaker 12: read the room when it comes to the Australian public.
22:45
Speaker 12: You've read the messages that are appearing in all of
22:48
Speaker 12: the news articles online, and every single Australian says that
22:51
Speaker 12: these people should be sent packing mighty quick. The problem
22:56
Speaker 12: that we've got here, Andrew Giles has created a loophole
22:59
Speaker 12: for the AA, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to be able
23:03
Speaker 12: to then make these decisions, not well more or less
23:07
Speaker 12: outside the scope of the minister. Now, these are appointed
23:10
Speaker 12: by ministers from previous governments and this government as well.
23:15
Speaker 12: And we know very well that one of the decisions
23:17
Speaker 12: was made by a former Speaker under Labor under the
23:20
Speaker 12: Gillard government. So these decisions Andrew Giles and the Prime
23:24
Speaker 12: Minister may turn around and say it is not the
23:27
Speaker 12: decision of the minister himself, but they've appointed these people
23:31
Speaker 12: and they've created the loophole that needs closing immediately.
23:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's certainly a lot of fingers being pointed in
23:38
Speaker 2: every direction. I want to go to comments from former
23:41
Speaker 2: Labor leader Kim Beasley, who says Australia's military couldn't defend
23:46
Speaker 2: the nation from invasion without relying upon the United States.
23:49
Speaker 2: Have listened to his comments.
23:52
Speaker 6: If we have a really detailed understanding of the character
23:55
Speaker 6: of our strategic situation, in the capacity of our forces,
24:00
Speaker 6: we could not defend ourselves now without the Americans. When
24:04
Speaker 6: I was the Defense Minister against the likely threats in
24:08
Speaker 6: the region, absolutely we could defend ourselves.
24:13
Speaker 2: Michael, I've got to admit I kind of always thought, well, yeah,
24:15
Speaker 2: we do rely on America, and there's nothing wrong with that.
24:18
Speaker 2: But when you see how stretched America are around the
24:20
Speaker 2: globe right now, it starts to make Australians so it
24:24
Speaker 2: should a little nervous. But there seems to be a
24:27
Speaker 2: massive disconnect between what we're being told about the deteriorating
24:31
Speaker 2: geopolitical situation and what we're actually doing to prepare for.
24:36
Speaker 11: It, no doubt about that, and that's one of the
24:39
Speaker 11: great failings of this government. The fact is they talk
24:42
Speaker 11: the talk, but they don't walk the walk, you know.
24:45
Speaker 11: Kim Beazley, look, I think he's stretching the point there.
24:48
Speaker 11: I think we've always relied on the American certainly since
24:50
Speaker 11: the Second World War as part of our defense. Maybe
24:55
Speaker 11: he's talking about pre rise of China, and perhaps that
24:59
Speaker 11: was the case. Since China's become more aggressive, We've always
25:03
Speaker 11: been in a position where we've required the Americans, and
25:05
Speaker 11: in fact, our defense strategy should have been streamlined. It
25:08
Speaker 11: should have been one to integrate with the Americans in
25:12
Speaker 11: terms of defense, rather than what we had with the submarines,
25:15
Speaker 11: where we went shopping around the world for things that
25:16
Speaker 11: weren't going to work and didn't and integrate with our
25:19
Speaker 11: main defense partner. So I think you're absolutely right. Our
25:23
Speaker 11: position on this is precarious. I have no confidence and
25:26
Speaker 11: I'm sure other analyst stone have any confidence in the
25:29
Speaker 11: ability of the Australian Defense Department to manage our capital
25:33
Speaker 11: works program to put us in a position where we
25:35
Speaker 11: can contribute in a meaningful way to our defense. We'll
25:38
Speaker 11: always rely on the Americans.
25:40
Speaker 2: But James, do you think the government just need to
25:43
Speaker 2: have a straight talk with the Australian public about the
25:46
Speaker 2: situation we're in and what's going to be required if
25:49
Speaker 2: we're going to address our circumstances, because clearly a lot
25:53
Speaker 2: more spending and Kim Beasley made this point, there's going
25:56
Speaker 2: to have to be a lot more spending if we're
25:58
Speaker 2: to get ourselves into a position where we could defend ourselves,
26:02
Speaker 2: and surely that's the primary responsibility of any government.
26:07
Speaker 12: I think by and large the Australian public recognize the
26:10
Speaker 12: fact that we do need to defend ourselves against the
26:13
Speaker 12: threat of China moving forward. You've got to remember a
26:16
Speaker 12: fifth of the world's population is in China. We are
26:20
Speaker 12: a resource rich country, but the real fact is we
26:24
Speaker 12: are not just resource rich, but we are water rich
26:27
Speaker 12: here in this country. China may have the one fifth
26:30
Speaker 12: of the world's population, but they've only got six percent
26:33
Speaker 12: of the world's pottable water. And the reality is they
26:36
Speaker 12: have seen the copious amounts of water that we've got
26:38
Speaker 12: here as well as our resources. They can do a
26:41
Speaker 12: lot with that, and we're a very easy target when
26:43
Speaker 12: we've got such a very depleted military personnel. We certainly
26:48
Speaker 12: don't have the resources of submarines and other material for
26:53
Speaker 12: defending ourselves as a country. And here we have a
26:57
Speaker 12: government that think they're our friends, not our foe. Well,
27:00
Speaker 12: I've got news for this government and future governments. China
27:04
Speaker 12: may be a trading partner, but they are no friend
27:06
Speaker 12: of Australia and they are our greatest threat moving forward.
27:10
Speaker 2: I want to ask both of you about something that
27:11
Speaker 2: happened in the House of Representatives today. Greensleader Adam Bant
27:16
Speaker 2: moved a motion to recognize Palestine as a state. Now
27:20
Speaker 2: only five people voted for it, eighty voted against. But
27:24
Speaker 2: he since come out and said that in the event
27:27
Speaker 2: of a hung parliament he would only support Labor to
27:30
Speaker 2: stay in government if they recognized Palestine. Michael, what do
27:34
Speaker 2: you think about that?
27:36
Speaker 11: Well, I think that Anthony Ivenan and you should make
27:38
Speaker 11: it absolutely clear that he will not rely on the
27:41
Speaker 11: Greens for support in the case of a hung parliament.
27:44
Speaker 11: I look, the bottom line is that this position of
27:47
Speaker 11: the Greens, apart from the obvious concerns about the Anossemitism
27:51
Speaker 11: that's generated this type of response to recognizing Palestine at
27:57
Speaker 11: this particular state the worst possible time, given what's going
28:01
Speaker 11: on in Gaza, and the fact is that nobody can
28:03
Speaker 11: actually define what this state's going to look like. It's
28:07
Speaker 11: a nonsense position. It is one that's pandering to the
28:10
Speaker 11: sort of extreme elements that are out there that are
28:13
Speaker 11: anti Semitic and anti Israel. So I think the best
28:15
Speaker 11: thing for the government to do at the moment is
28:18
Speaker 11: to say very clearly that it will be not relying
28:21
Speaker 11: on the Greens in the case of a hung Parliament,
28:24
Speaker 11: and then it's up to the other parties, given the
28:27
Speaker 11: position on Palestine, to make some decisions about where they
28:30
Speaker 11: line up.
28:31
Speaker 2: James, what does it say about the Greens? Firstly that
28:34
Speaker 2: they use the issue of the war in Gaza as
28:37
Speaker 2: a wedge issue to try and embarrass labor, because that
28:40
Speaker 2: was the point of the motion, And second that they
28:43
Speaker 2: would make foreign policy a sticking point for their support
28:48
Speaker 2: of labor to remain in government. I mean, it's outrageous,
28:51
Speaker 2: But what does that say about the Greens who are
28:53
Speaker 2: supported by what is it thirteen percent of the Australian population.
28:58
Speaker 12: Sadly, yeah, there is a growing number of particularly young
29:00
Speaker 12: people that think the Greens are good for this nation.
29:03
Speaker 2: They're far from that.
29:05
Speaker 1: Here.
29:05
Speaker 12: We've got the Greens and Labor actually fighting or jockeying
29:08
Speaker 12: for the Muslim vote in this country, which is probably
29:11
Speaker 12: by this stage about a million people in Australia as
29:14
Speaker 12: we speak. So that's where this decision is coming from.
29:18
Speaker 12: This is the greatest opportunity for Anthony Arberesi and the
29:21
Speaker 12: Labor Party, not just federally but across the States as well,
29:25
Speaker 12: to send a very clear message if they don't believe
29:28
Speaker 12: in what the Greens are trying to wedge them on here,
29:31
Speaker 12: send a very clear message at the next election, and
29:33
Speaker 12: make it loud and clear now, so that we've got
29:35
Speaker 12: at least twelve months to get it through everyone's heads.
29:39
Speaker 12: The Greens must go last on Labours how to vote cards.
29:43
Speaker 12: There's no point in trying to condemn them if you're
29:45
Speaker 12: only going to coose you up to them, come to
29:47
Speaker 12: the election and put them second on your preference in
29:50
Speaker 12: the hope that they then give you preferences and help
29:53
Speaker 12: you form a minority government. It's a double edged sword here.
29:57
Speaker 12: Anthony Arbernese's playing too cute.
30:00
Speaker 2: Just before we finish. It's been a few years since
30:03
Speaker 2: the pandemic ended, thank god. But the Queensland government they're
30:07
Speaker 2: still going after three point six million dollars in unpaid
30:11
Speaker 2: COVID fines for things like health breaches and I presume
30:15
Speaker 2: not wearing masks and so on. James, is Queensland is
30:18
Speaker 2: trying to make a quick buck.
30:19
Speaker 12: Here, Yeah, they sure are. Sadly, half of Queenslanders have
30:25
Speaker 12: actually paid the fines and because they've been sent off
30:28
Speaker 12: to spur the repercussions that these people who haven't yet
30:32
Speaker 12: paid their three and a half million dollars worth of
30:34
Speaker 12: fines is that they can have their license suspended, their
30:37
Speaker 12: car repossessed and sold off to pay off their debt.
30:40
Speaker 12: If the Queensland State government were serious, they'd wipe these debts,
30:44
Speaker 12: refund the money that was already paid by those others
30:47
Speaker 12: that have paid up. It's the wrong message. Other states
30:50
Speaker 12: have abandoned these fines, so too should Queensland.
30:54
Speaker 2: Michael, what's your view on that?
30:56
Speaker 11: Well, unfortunately I take a slightly different viewer look, and
31:00
Speaker 11: I didn't support it. Of course, the pandemic and the
31:02
Speaker 11: overreach of all those governments, particularly in the lockdowns and
31:05
Speaker 11: Queensland is one of the worst, of course, But if
31:08
Speaker 11: you've implemented fines and people have paid them. Those are
31:11
Speaker 11: outstanding fines and I think that they need to be
31:14
Speaker 11: dealt with. I think the real issue for me has
31:17
Speaker 11: been the way people in employment contracts have been treated
31:19
Speaker 11: with the position on vaccines. Those people should have no
31:26
Speaker 11: stigma attached to them and they should be re employed
31:28
Speaker 11: where they've been dismissed. In terms of the fines, there's
31:31
Speaker 11: lots of fines I disagree with, but you've got to
31:33
Speaker 11: pay them if that's the law, and I think that's
31:34
Speaker 11: the position that I take.
31:36
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I'm sorry, Michael, I'm voting for James
31:39
Speaker 2: on that one. And James, if you can help me
31:41
Speaker 2: out with this few speeding fines, i'd appreciate that as well. Gentlemen,
31:44
Speaker 2: thanks for your time. Appreciate it. Well. Coming up after
31:47
Speaker 2: the break, the ABC in crisis mode as it reprimands
31:50
Speaker 2: its chief political correspondent over comments she made about Australia
31:54
Speaker 2: being racist, and Joe Biden, well he's wheeled out a
31:58
Speaker 2: Hollywood actor to do his work. All of that and
32:01
Speaker 2: more with Sophie Ellsworth in just a moment. Well, now
32:07
Speaker 2: to a fresh development in the Laura Tingle scandal. That's
32:10
Speaker 2: consumed the public broadcaster in recent days. Tingle unleashed on
32:15
Speaker 2: Australians in a bizarre rant at the left wing Sydney
32:17
Speaker 2: Writers Festival over the weekend, claiming Australia is a racist
32:21
Speaker 2: country and that Peter Dutton is a dangerous man. Now
32:25
Speaker 2: days later, Laura Tingle has sought to justify her comments.
32:29
Speaker 2: In a statement released today, Tingle had this to say
32:32
Speaker 2: in response to recent criticism. She said, I regret that
32:36
Speaker 2: when I was making these observations at the Writers' Festival,
32:40
Speaker 2: the nature of the free flowing panel discussion means they
32:43
Speaker 2: were not surrounded by every quote substantiating them, which would
32:47
Speaker 2: have been and had been included in what I had
32:50
Speaker 2: said earlier on the ABC. This has created the opportunity
32:53
Speaker 2: for yet another anti ABC pylon. This is not helpful
32:58
Speaker 2: to me, or to the ABC or to the national debate.
33:02
Speaker 2: I'm proud of my work as a journalist at the ABC.
33:05
Speaker 2: It is based always on solid research and a lifetime
33:09
Speaker 2: of experience reporting on Australian politics. That work is built
33:13
Speaker 2: on and delivered in the framework of the ABC's very
33:15
Speaker 2: high editorial standards. Now there was a lot more, but
33:20
Speaker 2: you get the idea. The ABC's director of News, Justin Stevens, Well,
33:25
Speaker 2: he's issued a statement too, admitting tingles comments would not
33:28
Speaker 2: have met the ABC's editorial standards if they'd been broadcast
33:32
Speaker 2: on the network. Here's what he had to say. Although
33:36
Speaker 2: the remarks were controversial and not made in her work capacity,
33:40
Speaker 2: the ABC and its employees have unique obligations in the
33:44
Speaker 2: Australian media. Laura has been reminded of their application at
33:48
Speaker 2: external events as well as in her work, and I
33:51
Speaker 2: have counseled her over the remarks. Joining me now is
33:55
Speaker 2: Sophie Ellsworth, media reporter for The Australian. Sophie, thanks for
33:59
Speaker 2: joining me. What do you make of Tingle's justification?
34:05
Speaker 13: Well, it's the thirteen hundred word explanation here, James. But
34:11
Speaker 13: this is really quite extraordinary that after days of asking
34:17
Speaker 13: the ABC repeatedly, including chair Kim Williams and ABC Managing
34:22
Speaker 13: Director David Anderson, about the words that Laura Tingle uttered
34:27
Speaker 13: at the Sydney Writers Festival that recovered exclusively in the Australian,
34:32
Speaker 13: we got no response.
34:33
Speaker 4: Instead, the ABC.
34:35
Speaker 13: Decided to try and go after me and put cold
34:38
Speaker 13: water on my reporting. But this is really quite extraordinary
34:42
Speaker 13: that Justin Stevens has come out this afternoon said that
34:46
Speaker 13: she has been counseled.
34:47
Speaker 4: Because we have the ABC.
34:50
Speaker 13: Up in front of Senate Estimates tomorrow, David Anderson will
34:54
Speaker 13: be grilled on this.
34:55
Speaker 4: But she is a repeat offender, James.
34:58
Speaker 13: She has time and time again shown her partisan ways,
35:02
Speaker 13: and just to show viewers, we've got a clip of
35:04
Speaker 13: Laura Tingle on Inside As recently.
35:07
Speaker 14: But I think what was concerning is for a political
35:10
Speaker 14: leader to come out and say, not only is housing
35:15
Speaker 14: the fault of migrants, but you can't get a childcare space,
35:18
Speaker 14: you can't get through the traffic on the roads, you
35:21
Speaker 14: can't get in to see the doctor because of migration.
35:24
Speaker 14: That is lighting this thing up in a really disturbing way,
35:29
Speaker 14: regardless of the arguments about whether there's you know, there
35:32
Speaker 14: should be more or less migration, regardless of whether his
35:36
Speaker 14: policies make sense, and I would say that they don't
35:39
Speaker 14: make coherent sense in what he's put out in his
35:42
Speaker 14: budget reply. You know, the hot buttons he's pressing there,
35:46
Speaker 14: I think are very dangerous for our community.
35:50
Speaker 13: So, James, there's a clear example on the National Broadcaster
35:55
Speaker 13: of what Laura Tingle is saying, now this is in
35:58
Speaker 13: her work capacity. So I'd really like to see how
36:00
Speaker 13: the ABC view these remarks that she has made, because
36:05
Speaker 13: not only is she their most high profile journalist on
36:08
Speaker 13: the broadcaster, she is also the staff elected board member.
36:13
Speaker 13: So if they think this issue is just going to
36:15
Speaker 13: wash away by putting out statements this afternoon, they need
36:19
Speaker 13: to think again.
36:20
Speaker 4: And really, where is Kim Williams on this?
36:23
Speaker 13: He came out and said if you don't want to
36:26
Speaker 13: be impartial, don't work at the ABC.
36:29
Speaker 4: So why has he gone to ground on this?
36:31
Speaker 13: We have asked him repeatedly to respond to these remarks
36:35
Speaker 13: Laura made. And if she thinks putting out a thirteen
36:38
Speaker 13: hundred word explanation is going to cut it, I don't
36:41
Speaker 13: think it will. And we will find out this tomorrow
36:43
Speaker 13: when David Anderson front Senate Estimates.
36:46
Speaker 2: Well, I want to ask you about that. What do
36:48
Speaker 2: you expect will happen at Senate Estimates? Is this going
36:51
Speaker 2: to be the big issue for him tomorrow?
36:56
Speaker 13: Absolutely, James, this will be the big issue. This is
37:00
Speaker 13: a sort of conduct that is going on by ABC reporters.
37:04
Speaker 13: May I say, at these leftist writers festivals, I went
37:08
Speaker 13: and saw Laura Tingle speak at the Melbourne Writers Festival,
37:11
Speaker 13: where she was very critical of John Howard. She's now
37:14
Speaker 13: come out and attacked Peter Dutton. She said Australia is racist.
37:19
Speaker 13: She's accused Scott Morrison of ideological bastardry on her social
37:24
Speaker 13: media account.
37:25
Speaker 4: So where does this stop.
37:27
Speaker 13: It's all well and good for the ABC to go, oh,
37:29
Speaker 13: we've counseled her, But how many strikes do you have
37:33
Speaker 13: until there.
37:34
Speaker 4: Is serious, serious.
37:35
Speaker 13: Discipline reaction, because it seems like she's getting quite a
37:39
Speaker 13: few chances here for someone who is extremely senior at
37:43
Speaker 13: the broadcaster.
37:45
Speaker 4: And is on the board.
37:47
Speaker 2: Just before we move on, I wanted to ask you
37:49
Speaker 2: about what seems to me a bit of a disconnect
37:51
Speaker 2: because Laura Tingle seems to have justified all of her
37:54
Speaker 2: comments and yet management have said she's been counseled, so
37:59
Speaker 2: not canceled, counseled. So which is it?
38:05
Speaker 13: Well, I don't think they know, James, because what do
38:09
Speaker 13: they just sit her in a room and say, look.
38:10
Speaker 4: Don't do this again. It's only that I went to.
38:14
Speaker 13: This Sydney Writers Festival on Sunday to find out what
38:18
Speaker 13: these reporters are saying, and they are turning themselves into activists.
38:21
Speaker 13: And if they want to do that, that's absolutely fine,
38:24
Speaker 13: but don't work on the taxpayer dollar. And this is
38:28
Speaker 13: where they are constantly blurring the lines, and they're showing
38:31
Speaker 13: their true partisan colors. That's not what taxpayers pay for.
38:36
Speaker 13: Go and work for a commercial broadcaster, Go and be
38:40
Speaker 13: a columnist somewhere else, but don't do it on the
38:42
Speaker 13: taxpayer dollar. And this is where they constantly run into trouble.
38:47
Speaker 13: And Kim Williams and David Anderson need to explain themselves
38:51
Speaker 13: because they can't just run and hide from this. And
38:53
Speaker 13: tomorrow mister Anderson will be asked a lot of tough
38:56
Speaker 13: questions on this, Sophie.
38:58
Speaker 2: Whatever you think of Lord ting Rant, I'll tell you
39:01
Speaker 2: it doesn't get close to the performance of Robert de
39:03
Speaker 2: Niro today outside the New York Court where Donald Trump
39:06
Speaker 2: is being tried. He's just a taste of de Niro's
39:09
Speaker 2: performance where he warns if Trump becomes president, democracy will
39:13
Speaker 2: perish from the earth.
39:15
Speaker 15: Under Trump, this kind of government will perish from the earth.
39:21
Speaker 10: I don't mean to scare you. No, no, wait, maybe
39:24
Speaker 10: I do mean.
39:25
Speaker 15: To scare you. If Trump returns to the White House,
39:28
Speaker 15: you can kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take
39:31
Speaker 15: for granted, and elections forget about it. That's over, that's done.
39:37
Speaker 15: If he gets in, I can tell you right now,
39:40
Speaker 15: he will never leave. He will never leave.
39:45
Speaker 10: You know that he will never leave. What does that mean?
39:52
Speaker 10: Is that the country we want to live in?
39:55
Speaker 2: So if you have, you've seen a bigger Karen in
39:57
Speaker 2: all of your life. This must be the most severe
39:59
Speaker 2: case of Trump derangement syndrome, I reckon I've seen, and
40:03
Speaker 2: there's been a few.
40:07
Speaker 4: Well, James, I think that all this does.
40:09
Speaker 13: The more you attacks that they put on mister Trump,
40:15
Speaker 13: the more it just helps him at the polls. And
40:17
Speaker 13: I think this will do exactly the opposite of what
40:21
Speaker 13: they're trying to achieve. I don't think it will scare people.
40:24
Speaker 13: I think it will only encourage people to sit up
40:27
Speaker 13: and listen and perhaps go.
40:29
Speaker 4: I think mister Trump might be a better candidate.
40:32
Speaker 2: Indeed, Sophie Elsworth, thanks for your time. Well after the break,
40:36
Speaker 2: the idea to outlaw dead end degrees that don't lead
40:39
Speaker 2: to jobs, that and more with my panel coming up next,
40:46
Speaker 2: Welcome back. UK Prime Minister Richie Sinak wants to outlaw
40:49
Speaker 2: what he calls rip off university degrees that don't lead
40:54
Speaker 2: to jobs. I can't imagine what he's talking about, but
40:57
Speaker 2: these kids, well they might.
41:00
Speaker 6: Hi.
41:00
Speaker 5: My name is Reed and I study Music, Business and
41:02
Speaker 5: gender studies.
41:03
Speaker 1: Hi.
41:03
Speaker 4: My name is Dominique and I studied care politics with
41:07
Speaker 4: a minor in disability studies.
41:09
Speaker 10: My name is Elliott Right and my concentration is art
41:11
Speaker 10: as a Social Mechanism.
41:13
Speaker 4: Hi, I'm Georgia.
41:14
Speaker 16: My concentration is dramatic writing and theatrical adaptation.
41:18
Speaker 5: But my name is Noah Lawyer Kano and my concentration
41:21
Speaker 5: is equilibrium or negotiated caragns.
41:24
Speaker 15: Hi.
41:24
Speaker 5: My name is Sophie Lopus and my concentration is title
41:28
Speaker 5: careering in decolonizing theater practice.
41:31
Speaker 2: All on student loans that Joe Biden wants to forgive.
41:35
Speaker 2: Well Wisu Soonac wants to spend eight hundred and eighty
41:37
Speaker 2: five million pounds replacing these dead end degrees with one
41:41
Speaker 2: hundred thousand extra apprenticeship places every year. Joining me now
41:45
Speaker 2: is the panel Sky and is contributor Evelyn Ray and
41:47
Speaker 2: Liberal MP Garth Hamilton. Evelyn, don't we face a similar
41:52
Speaker 2: issue here in Australia. We've got students drowning in student
41:55
Speaker 2: debt for degrees with poor job prospects. Meanwhile we're facing
41:59
Speaker 2: a short of tradeinges.
42:02
Speaker 5: Absolutely, it's a disease that has caught I fear, most
42:06
Speaker 5: of the West. But the question I want to ask
42:08
Speaker 5: the governments in Paris, why haven't we done something like
42:12
Speaker 5: this until now? I mean, obviously we could have fixed
42:16
Speaker 5: it before this point. Why have we waited so long?
42:19
Speaker 5: I mean, for such a long time. All we have
42:21
Speaker 5: done is pumped money into universities, so kids rack up
42:26
Speaker 5: a huge debt and they get a degree that they
42:28
Speaker 5: are never going to use, and then we import migrants
42:32
Speaker 5: to fix the skilled worker shortages. I mean, every government
42:37
Speaker 5: around the world should be doing something like this. It
42:40
Speaker 5: is common sense, and I mean, I guess we all
42:43
Speaker 5: know that common sense isn't so common anymore, particularly amongst
42:47
Speaker 5: our politicians. But the stigma around particularly young people getting
42:51
Speaker 5: trades as being inferior needs to be dropped, because skilled
42:55
Speaker 5: workers should be something we all should be proud of.
42:58
Speaker 5: As a nations are literally built upon their backs and
43:02
Speaker 5: their hands, particularly young boys. I think that it's about
43:07
Speaker 5: time that we let boys do, particularly what their natural
43:11
Speaker 5: instincts are, which is to build which is to create
43:14
Speaker 5: and not get silly debts and put our nation behind
43:18
Speaker 5: any further. So I think this is great and I
43:20
Speaker 5: just want to know why we haven't done it before
43:22
Speaker 5: this point.
43:23
Speaker 2: Well, I reckon attitudes might be changing. I've got two boys,
43:26
Speaker 2: one of whom is doing a UNI degree. I'm very
43:28
Speaker 2: proud of him. My other son is doing a plumbing apprenticeship.
43:32
Speaker 2: And when you tell people what the boys are doing,
43:34
Speaker 2: everyone gets really excited about the plumbing apprenticeship. Garth, Do
43:38
Speaker 2: you reckon there'd be support for laws such as Rishie
43:42
Speaker 2: Sunek wants to introduce in the UK. Here in Australia
43:45
Speaker 2: get rid of some of these degrees. And I mean
43:46
Speaker 2: Jason Claire, he wants more and more Australians to go
43:49
Speaker 2: to university. Is that really the answer?
43:54
Speaker 4: I'm not sure it is.
43:55
Speaker 16: It's probably the most sensible thing we've heard out of
43:57
Speaker 16: Rishi in the last couple of weeks. Look, but I
44:00
Speaker 16: think the point is Neville won't like hearing this. We've
44:03
Speaker 16: done the opposite in Australia. We've actually got rid of
44:06
Speaker 16: good degrees over time. And I'll give you a point.
44:08
Speaker 16: We all know how important the mining sector is to Australia,
44:12
Speaker 16: how much it's propped up gyms to windfall surpluses.
44:15
Speaker 2: Well, here's this.
44:16
Speaker 16: In two thousand and one, I was one of forty
44:18
Speaker 16: five mining engineers who graduated from UQ and that was
44:21
Speaker 16: just one of the mining schools across Australia.
44:24
Speaker 2: You can't do that course anymore.
44:26
Speaker 16: We don't produce more than a handful of mining engineers
44:28
Speaker 16: across Australia. We're completely reliant upon other countries are producing
44:33
Speaker 16: them for us.
44:34
Speaker 2: So not only have we had an.
44:35
Speaker 16: Increase in degrees, arguably aren't as useful to the country.
44:39
Speaker 16: We've got rid of the ones that we absolutely need.
44:43
Speaker 2: Let's stay in the UK for a moment. I honestly
44:45
Speaker 2: thought the tide was starting to turn against gender theory.
44:49
Speaker 2: Speaking of interesting university courses. The National Health Service recently
44:53
Speaker 2: banned puberty blockers for miners and announced that stop using
44:57
Speaker 2: terms like chest feeding in place of breast feeding. But
45:00
Speaker 2: now there's been what seems to be a complete u turn.
45:04
Speaker 2: The trust that manages NHS run facilities in Lewisham and
45:08
Speaker 2: Greenwich has told staff they have to kowtow to woke
45:11
Speaker 2: gender ideology, ordering staff to apologize and commit to trying
45:16
Speaker 2: harder if they use the wrong pronouns for someone, But
45:19
Speaker 2: it gets worse. Staff have been told they must not
45:22
Speaker 2: question patients using the female bathrooms, even if the patients
45:26
Speaker 2: look like men. Evelyn. Surely the medical profession should operate
45:31
Speaker 2: on the basis of biological reality. Isn't that just common sense?
45:36
Speaker 4: It certainly is.
45:37
Speaker 5: Look, if there is one place, like one place in
45:41
Speaker 5: the entire world where we should prioritize biology ahead of ideology,
45:47
Speaker 5: it's our health spaces. I mean, come on, reality doesn't
45:50
Speaker 5: care what you think or believe, and it's dangerous to
45:54
Speaker 5: expect our healthcare provides to be worrying about something like
45:57
Speaker 5: this when you rock up to emergency. I mean, these
46:00
Speaker 5: sorts of situations in an emergency in a hospital could
46:03
Speaker 5: be a matter of seconds between life and death. And
46:06
Speaker 5: coming from an emergency service background myself, I just can't
46:10
Speaker 5: imagine being distracted by such silliness when I'm trying to
46:14
Speaker 5: save somebody's life. And so you would think, out of
46:18
Speaker 5: all spaces, this would be the most important one where
46:22
Speaker 5: biology trump's ideology. But here we are again, and I
46:25
Speaker 5: just don't know how far it's going to go before
46:28
Speaker 5: they have to backpedal. I mean, how many people have
46:30
Speaker 5: to not get the care they need or not get
46:33
Speaker 5: it as quick as they need because we're too busy
46:35
Speaker 5: worrying about whether we call someone a furry or are
46:38
Speaker 5: they them or a z I don't even I can't
46:40
Speaker 5: even keep up with it anymore. But it's going to
46:42
Speaker 5: end badly if we keep going down this path.
46:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll give you life saving CPR. I just want
46:47
Speaker 2: to check your pronouns first, now quickly to shocking figures
46:50
Speaker 2: out of Queensland, Fresh data has exposed a disturbing trend
46:53
Speaker 2: of increasing violence against health workers in the Sunshine State.
46:58
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three twenty four, there were thirteen, eight
47:01
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty seven violent incidents. That's forty five every day. Garf,
47:08
Speaker 2: this is happening in your state. How can Queensland government
47:12
Speaker 2: respond to this?
47:14
Speaker 16: Look, we are facing a crisis across our healthcare system.
47:17
Speaker 16: David Chris of Fully and the OLYMPELG team have done
47:20
Speaker 16: a great job of articulating a list of problems from
47:23
Speaker 16: ambulance rate ramping to wait times. Now we've got this.
47:27
Speaker 16: This is a terrible situation for Queensland Health to find
47:29
Speaker 16: itself in and look, queensaners deserve a lot lot better.
47:34
Speaker 2: Evelyn, what do you think is happening here?
47:38
Speaker 5: I think you know emergency situations are stressful as they are.
47:41
Speaker 5: I mean, you're dealing with sicknesses and on top of
47:44
Speaker 5: that long wait times. But to be honest, I don't
47:47
Speaker 5: really know the answers. It's not my expertise. But I
47:49
Speaker 5: think if people are assaulting healthcare workers, whether that be
47:52
Speaker 5: a doctor or nurse or somebody else, I would take
47:55
Speaker 5: that as you're not giving consent for medical treatment, So.
47:57
Speaker 4: Out you go.
47:58
Speaker 5: That may seem harsh, But what else options do we have?
48:02
Speaker 2: All right, very quickly, We've got less than thirty seconds,
48:05
Speaker 2: but I want a quick opinion from both of you.
48:06
Speaker 2: Trump says he may pardon Julian Assange. My late debate
48:10
Speaker 2: co host Liz Stora is big on this one. Real quick,
48:14
Speaker 2: gath start with you a win for journalistic freedom or
48:17
Speaker 2: not a good idea.
48:20
Speaker 16: I'll just quote the Donald.
48:22
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens, and everyone, what about.
48:24
Speaker 5: You should have been done the first time he was
48:27
Speaker 5: in office?
48:28
Speaker 2: There you go, Well that's it from me. Stick around.
48:31
Speaker 2: Coming up in just a second. Sharry Markson