Transcript

Sharri | 21 May · Sharri

0:07
Speaker 1: Good evening.
0:07
Speaker 2: We're coming up tonight exclusive new details about the scandal
0:11
Speaker 2: at the Nine network, with fresh allegations about a Christmas
0:15
Speaker 2: party incident involving their top news chief. This as the
0:20
Speaker 2: company is accused of a major cover up, plus the
0:23
Speaker 2: bizarre push to ban groups of men. But first tonight
0:28
Speaker 2: to the International Criminal Courts disgraceful decision that Israeli Prime
0:32
Speaker 2: Minister Benjaminette and Yahoo should be arrested alongside the hamas terrorists.
0:39
Speaker 2: It's a ruling that's a perverse in its logic, that
0:42
Speaker 2: reeks of ideology, not facts, and that punishes Israel for
0:47
Speaker 2: daring to defend itself. Such a morally corrupt decision that
0:52
Speaker 2: yet again wages war on the Jewish homeland at the
0:56
Speaker 2: very time it's under siege from Iran, has Below and Hermas,
1:01
Speaker 2: when it's still fighting to bring its stolen children, even
1:05
Speaker 2: babies home from rapists and barbarians in dark tunnels. The
1:12
Speaker 2: ICC also fans the flames of anti Semitism by promoting
1:16
Speaker 2: false claims that Israel is starving Palestinians and deliberately targeting
1:21
Speaker 2: civilians when the facts show that the opposite is true.
1:26
Speaker 2: As I'll explain in a minute, Well, who was there
1:29
Speaker 2: to sell this appalling judgment, but celebrities like Amaal Clooney.
1:35
Speaker 2: The decision is a clear disgrace. The idea that you
1:39
Speaker 2: could equate Hermas's barbaric atrocities with Netanyahu defending Jewish citizens
1:45
Speaker 2: from terrorists, well, it confuses reason and it confuses what's
1:50
Speaker 2: right and wrong. Joe Biden's administration strongly and unequivocally denounced
1:56
Speaker 2: the ICC's ruling. Biden himself called it outrage and he said,
2:01
Speaker 2: there's no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
2:05
Speaker 3: Let me be clear, we reject the ICC's application for
2:09
Speaker 3: rest warrants against a Walla Adia, so when one of
2:14
Speaker 3: these warrants may imply there is no equivalence between Israel
2:17
Speaker 3: and Hamas.
2:20
Speaker 2: Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln described the ICC decision as shameful,
2:26
Speaker 2: and he said in a statement that Hamas is a
2:28
Speaker 2: brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of
2:32
Speaker 2: Jews since the Holocaust.
2:35
Speaker 1: So Joe Biden.
2:36
Speaker 2: Said it's outrageous. Anthony Blincoln said it's shameful, and there
2:40
Speaker 2: were similar statements from the UK, Germany, Austria and other
2:44
Speaker 2: countries around the world. But Anthony Albanesi nothing, no spine,
2:51
Speaker 2: no morals, no courage. Just like with the vote at
2:55
Speaker 2: the United Nations, Albinizi was yet again at odds with
2:59
Speaker 2: how our closest ally the United States, and once again
3:05
Speaker 2: our prime minister was pathetic, alb and easy deflected questions,
3:11
Speaker 2: showing no intellect, no moral compass, and he was only
3:15
Speaker 2: outmatched in his ignorance by Chris Bowen.
3:20
Speaker 4: You are put in Joey Biden seeing your restlarance on
3:23
Speaker 4: this relatives is outrageous.
3:25
Speaker 5: You agree, well, I don't comment on court processes in Australia.
3:30
Speaker 6: Let a line court processes globally, which Australia is not
3:34
Speaker 6: a party.
3:35
Speaker 4: Highly irresponsible, but by Peter Dutton to drag this through
3:38
Speaker 4: a domestic political debate. We respect the work of the
3:41
Speaker 4: International Criminal Court. International law must always be observed and
3:46
Speaker 4: nobody gets a free pass from that.
3:50
Speaker 2: How sad it is for all of us that this
3:53
Speaker 2: is the leadership we have in Australia during this crisis. Well,
3:58
Speaker 2: the Coalition called out Albanese's pathetic, weak lack of leadership.
4:05
Speaker 7: It's an abomination and it needs to be ceized. This
4:09
Speaker 7: action is anti Semitic and it is against the interests
4:13
Speaker 7: of peace in the Middle East. Either the prominence is
4:15
Speaker 7: not across the detail, or he's trying to please a
4:18
Speaker 7: domestic audience here for political purposes.
4:23
Speaker 2: Well, now let's look at the reasons why the ICC
4:27
Speaker 2: decision is wrong. In an exceptional Wall Street Journal editorial,
4:32
Speaker 2: the board rights that the International Criminal Court has lost
4:36
Speaker 2: sight of the crucial distinction between the death squad and
4:40
Speaker 2: the bomber pilot. They say that the ruling is a
4:44
Speaker 2: subordination of the law in pursuit of Israel. They write
4:49
Speaker 2: that on one side are are israel It's democratic leaders
4:53
Speaker 2: waging a war to reclaim hostages.
4:56
Speaker 1: And root out terrorists in Gaza.
4:59
Speaker 2: On the other side is Hermas, which precipitated the war
5:03
Speaker 2: with its mass murder, rape and kidnapping on October seven,
5:08
Speaker 2: and whose officials pledged to do it again and again.
5:12
Speaker 2: Lumping them together is a slander for the history books,
5:16
Speaker 2: they write. Imagine some international body prosecuting tojo and Roosevelt
5:22
Speaker 2: or Hitler and Churchill amid World War II. And on
5:27
Speaker 2: the claims of starvation, the Wall Street Journal responds that
5:31
Speaker 2: Hermas lists thirty one Gazans who it claims died of
5:36
Speaker 2: malnutrition or starvation. They say Israel has facilitated the entry
5:41
Speaker 2: of over five hundred and forty two thousand tons of
5:44
Speaker 2: AID and over twenty eight thousand AID trucks in an
5:48
Speaker 2: unprecedented effort to supply an enemy civilians, even while her
5:53
Speaker 2: Musk steals the aid and tries to frustrate the delivery.
5:58
Speaker 2: Israel has begged Egypt for two weeks to let in
6:01
Speaker 2: aid at Ratha, while Egypt refuses. Is this the behavior
6:07
Speaker 2: of an Israeli government bent on starving Ghazans?
6:13
Speaker 1: Obviously it's not.
6:15
Speaker 5: Now.
6:15
Speaker 2: The Times in the UK also reports that it is
6:19
Speaker 2: Hamas that's been obstructing delivery of aid and stealing supplies
6:23
Speaker 2: for its own use and also to sell on the
6:25
Speaker 2: black market at inflated prices. And The Times reports that defensively,
6:31
Speaker 2: the prosecutor Khan says he has consulted an impartial panel,
6:36
Speaker 2: yet it is stuffed with radical human rights lawyers who
6:40
Speaker 2: are no friends of Israel. This impartial panel is actually
6:44
Speaker 2: a hanging jury from the Salem School of Law. Verdict
6:48
Speaker 2: first evidence Nowhere, they write, the Khan's preposterous move is
6:54
Speaker 2: part of the agenda for Israel's destruction through a pincer
6:58
Speaker 2: movement of genocide or terror, brainwashed street insurrection and human
7:04
Speaker 2: rights law fare, and the beneficiary will only be humus.
7:09
Speaker 2: The victims will be Israel, the rule of law and
7:14
Speaker 2: civilization itself. It's a truly terrific peace. And the Time
7:20
Speaker 2: says correctly that this ruling has destroyed what was left.
7:24
Speaker 1: Of the ICC's credibility.
7:27
Speaker 2: Now, the claim by the ICC that Israel is deliberately
7:31
Speaker 2: targeting civilians simply isn't supported by evidence. No government engaging
7:37
Speaker 2: in war has done more to protect civilian life. Israeli
7:42
Speaker 2: soldiers have even stayed on the phone to residence waiting
7:46
Speaker 2: for them to get out of apartment buildings before an attack.
7:51
Speaker 2: Israel is treating wounded Palestinians in their own hospitals, and
7:57
Speaker 2: Israeli soldiers drop leaflets and flyers in Arabic asking civilians
8:03
Speaker 2: to evacuate before going into an area, even though this
8:08
Speaker 2: means they lose the advantage of a surprise attack. The
8:12
Speaker 2: death toll figures produced by Himas have been so unrealistic
8:17
Speaker 2: that even the United Nations was forced to revise.
8:21
Speaker 1: Them down by half recently. Half.
8:26
Speaker 2: And if you think it's surprising that the ICC ignored
8:29
Speaker 2: all of this evidence. It's because they didn't set foot
8:32
Speaker 2: on the ground in Israel, there was no proper investigation, and.
8:37
Speaker 1: They've been accused of ignoring due process.
8:41
Speaker 2: This was a political, ideological, and quite frankly racist ruling
8:47
Speaker 2: that does not reflect reality. Right Tonight's panel joins me
8:55
Speaker 2: now former Speaker of the House Bronwin Bishop and Sky
8:58
Speaker 2: News host James Morrow.
9:00
Speaker 1: Thank you both for joining me. Runwin, what do you
9:03
Speaker 1: make of the ICC decision?
9:06
Speaker 2: But also, perhaps more importantly for all of us, Anthony
9:09
Speaker 2: Alberanesi's response.
9:11
Speaker 8: Anthony Albernesi's response is predictable. He's a man with no morals.
9:16
Speaker 8: As he said, he's weak, he's pathetic, he remains albo
9:19
Speaker 8: the trot. Hasn't changed his views since he was a
9:22
Speaker 8: university student and a demonstrated a university. But as for
9:27
Speaker 8: the ICC, when it came up in two thousand and two,
9:31
Speaker 8: as to whether Australia should sign this treaty, I fought
9:36
Speaker 8: it tooth and nail.
9:38
Speaker 9: I fought it with every.
9:39
Speaker 8: Fiber in my body because I knew it would be
9:41
Speaker 8: a political court, if the people appointed to it would
9:44
Speaker 8: not be proper, would not give justice, and I fought
9:48
Speaker 8: hard against Alexander Danna.
9:52
Speaker 9: Now and it was all for it. I see today.
9:56
Speaker 8: It broke his heart to see it such a mess,
9:59
Speaker 8: But it broke my heart when we signed on because
10:02
Speaker 8: it was predictable. There is a provision in that for us,
10:07
Speaker 8: for Australia, we can give twelve months notice and get
10:09
Speaker 8: out of it. And we should immediately give that notice
10:13
Speaker 8: and get out of it the way that has been
10:16
Speaker 8: brought down in your editorial. You explained it chapter and verse.
10:20
Speaker 1: But you've got a partisan.
10:21
Speaker 8: Prosecutor who clearly isn't on the side of Israel, and
10:25
Speaker 8: it is clearly on the side of Amas. So we've
10:28
Speaker 8: got to see justice and give notice to get out
10:32
Speaker 8: of the ICC.
10:34
Speaker 2: James Morrow, you know you cover federal politics for the
10:37
Speaker 2: Daily Telegraph as.
10:38
Speaker 1: Well as for Sky News.
10:40
Speaker 2: What do you think of Anthony Albinezi here? I mean,
10:43
Speaker 2: it would have been the most easy statement in the
10:45
Speaker 2: world to say, no cot in the land can possibly
10:49
Speaker 2: draw an equivalents between Hamas and Israel. How couldn't he
10:54
Speaker 2: even come to articulate such a basic statement.
10:59
Speaker 10: Well, I mean, there's a few things to unpack here.
11:02
Speaker 10: Number one, of course, is that this is just indicative
11:05
Speaker 10: of the latest way in which Albinizi is trying to
11:08
Speaker 10: have it both ways when it comes to Israel. You know,
11:11
Speaker 10: one day he's saying, oh, no, no, we can't have
11:14
Speaker 10: anybody saying the river to the sea and all of
11:16
Speaker 10: that stuff. Another day he's saying, I'm not going to
11:18
Speaker 10: condemn the ICC for their obviously biased ruling on this,
11:22
Speaker 10: And Sherry, I think there's more to this that we
11:25
Speaker 10: also need to understand. This is part of a concerted
11:29
Speaker 10: international effort, not even just about Israel, but specifically about
11:33
Speaker 10: the government of Benjamin itt Yahoo. You know, Joe Biden said, oh, well,
11:37
Speaker 10: I don't accept this ruling. It's not really he didn't
11:39
Speaker 10: agree with it. But at the same time, you know,
11:43
Speaker 10: you can feel behind the scenes that this is part
11:46
Speaker 10: of a broader push to delegitimize the net Yahoo government
11:51
Speaker 10: and pressure him out. Because the thing that Biden doesn't want,
11:56
Speaker 10: and the thing that the international left doesn't want, is
11:58
Speaker 10: for bb to be successful in prosecuting his war against
12:03
Speaker 10: Hamas and eliminating Hamas, because that then destroys the entire
12:08
Speaker 10: sort of foreign policy that they have, which is about
12:11
Speaker 10: empowering Iran as a regional power through its proxies.
12:17
Speaker 1: That's a very interesting take.
12:19
Speaker 2: I agree that there's been a lot of international pressure
12:22
Speaker 2: on the Netin Yahu government. I think they see him
12:25
Speaker 2: as this kind of Trump like figure, when in fact
12:29
Speaker 2: Israel is a democracy it should be entitled to have
12:31
Speaker 2: its elections. He is divisive within Israel, but it's a democracy.
12:36
Speaker 2: We have to respect the decisions they make. And you know,
12:40
Speaker 2: you can't confuse not supporting netin Yahoo, and many people.
12:45
Speaker 1: Don't with not supporting Israel.
12:47
Speaker 2: You have to support Israel even if you don't like
12:50
Speaker 2: the current prime minister. We all support Australia, even if
12:55
Speaker 2: many of you watching at home might not like so
12:57
Speaker 2: much our current prime minister. Speaking of which, the Albert
13:02
Speaker 2: Eazy government has been in office for two years now
13:04
Speaker 2: and most would be wondering what is the verdict?
13:08
Speaker 1: Two years on?
13:09
Speaker 9: What do they have to show for it?
13:11
Speaker 2: We've seen the failed Voice referendum, there's a cost of
13:14
Speaker 2: living crisis, a detainee and migration nightmare. More recently, a
13:19
Speaker 2: controversial budget and steadily declining holes Runman. Two years on,
13:25
Speaker 2: how do you think Elbow's gone?
13:27
Speaker 1: What would you give his prime ministership so far?
13:29
Speaker 2: One and a half serious surprise that's that high.
13:33
Speaker 8: Seriously, I mean, ask yourself the question, are you better
13:36
Speaker 8: off or worse off than you were two years ago.
13:40
Speaker 8: We've seen twelve interstrate hikes. We've seen a huge jump
13:45
Speaker 8: in immigration levels, which has caused enormous pressure on housing
13:49
Speaker 8: for Australians. We have seen the cost of living, which
13:54
Speaker 8: he promised to bring down through the roof you're seeing today, Telster,
14:00
Speaker 8: it's going to sack nearly three thousand people. That is
14:03
Speaker 8: the first telling of how bad things really are.
14:07
Speaker 10: Now.
14:07
Speaker 8: You know, we talked about Albanesi and his weakness with
14:11
Speaker 8: regard to the ICC ruling, and I think I said
14:15
Speaker 8: that the ICC prosecutor was on her Massa's side. I
14:19
Speaker 8: meant to say, he's really on the side of the
14:21
Speaker 8: Palasidenian side.
14:23
Speaker 9: I don't know about hermas.
14:25
Speaker 2: But I do know, yes, I noticed you said that.
14:29
Speaker 2: But in equating Israel with her mask that is furthering there.
14:32
Speaker 9: Yes it is.
14:33
Speaker 8: And for Albanesi not to speak out, not to speak
14:38
Speaker 8: out and say that there is no moral equivalence, and
14:41
Speaker 8: to simply think, oh, I do desperately need this pile
14:45
Speaker 8: of voters who won't vote for me if I say
14:48
Speaker 8: nice things about Israel. It is just pathetic and there
14:52
Speaker 8: are at least a dozen things you could say about
14:55
Speaker 8: why we're worse off and when the voter comes to
15:00
Speaker 8: think of it, it is this insane drive for so
15:04
Speaker 8: called renewable power. When Aimo comes out today and said,
15:08
Speaker 8: we're never going to make We're going out.
15:09
Speaker 2: We're going to but we're going to get to the
15:11
Speaker 2: blackouts in a moment. But James, you know, as a
15:14
Speaker 2: political reporter, you follow all of this closely. How do
15:17
Speaker 2: you judge the first two years of the alban Easy
15:20
Speaker 2: government and what's your view on whether they could go
15:23
Speaker 2: to an early election.
15:25
Speaker 10: Yeah, look, I mean maybe it'll be a tiny bit
15:28
Speaker 10: more generous than Bram and Megham a c you know,
15:30
Speaker 10: just to be nice. But the thing is that what
15:34
Speaker 10: we have seen in the last couple of years has
15:36
Speaker 10: really been just a dramatic decline in Australian's stands of livings,
15:41
Speaker 10: our fortunes here. You know, our real GDP is down
15:45
Speaker 10: per person. We're in a per capita recession. A lot
15:48
Speaker 10: of that is due to the fact that, as Brodwin mentions,
15:50
Speaker 10: you know, high immigration levels mean that we can have
15:54
Speaker 10: more economic activity that hides that it's a sugar hit.
15:57
Speaker 10: But of course, you know the cost of social hithesion, infrastructure,
16:01
Speaker 10: everything else massive. You know, our living standards, our household
16:05
Speaker 10: income all backwards on his watch. And the thing that
16:09
Speaker 10: I'm really concerned about, you know, people talked about this
16:12
Speaker 10: budget that just got handed down last week is kind
16:14
Speaker 10: of big nothing, but in a lot of ways too,
16:16
Speaker 10: it sets some really worrisome precedents. You know, it really
16:19
Speaker 10: fully undoes all of the hawk Keating Howard reforms, you know,
16:24
Speaker 10: and instead sets up the government as again this sort
16:28
Speaker 10: of intermediating force between big business, big unions and big government.
16:33
Speaker 10: Government spending of course now expanding to twenty six or
16:36
Speaker 10: more percent of GDP, which is insane, and at the
16:40
Speaker 10: same time, you know, now deciding to direct capital where
16:43
Speaker 10: it's going to go, you know, money to millionaires for
16:46
Speaker 10: green hydrogen, this this future brand in Australia stuff which
16:49
Speaker 10: is complete nonsense industry policy. I mean, somebody had the
16:53
Speaker 10: comment today they said, you know, what's decks, We're going
16:55
Speaker 10: to resubsidize holding in Kodeact come back and so it
16:57
Speaker 10: just it doesn't make any sense. But it shows the
17:01
Speaker 10: ethic of this government is all about growing government and
17:05
Speaker 10: growing the role of government in the economy and in
17:08
Speaker 10: people's lives. And the thing I'm really worried about, Sherry,
17:11
Speaker 10: is that as we go forward, this is going to
17:13
Speaker 10: continue to make us poorer relative to a where we were,
17:17
Speaker 10: but also poorer relative to other countries that we're competing against.
17:21
Speaker 2: I mean, look, it's a very controversial policy the future
17:25
Speaker 2: made in Australia. Like you, I don't know why the
17:28
Speaker 2: government has to subsidize industries and pick companies to invest in,
17:33
Speaker 2: you know, when venture capital gets it wrong so often.
17:36
Speaker 2: But the Treasurer does argue that in fact he is
17:41
Speaker 2: being reformists like the hot Keating era. He says, creating
17:44
Speaker 2: an entire new green industry is being a reforming government.
17:50
Speaker 2: Now let's turn to an exclusive that James Murray that
17:52
Speaker 2: you broke today in the Daily Telegraph that more than
17:55
Speaker 2: sixty thousand of the eighty thousand failed asylum seekers are
18:00
Speaker 2: still somehow in.
18:02
Speaker 1: Australia and allowed to work or study.
18:06
Speaker 2: And you report that only seventeen of these people who
18:11
Speaker 2: claim to be refugees but were found not to be
18:14
Speaker 2: have actually been removed either voluntary or involuntarily over the
18:18
Speaker 2: past two months. Ron when look how is this the
18:22
Speaker 2: case that people are found not to be genuine asylum
18:25
Speaker 2: seekers but they're allowed to still work and study here.
18:28
Speaker 8: Of course, this is the policy of this left wing government.
18:32
Speaker 8: They want them to stay, They want them to become
18:35
Speaker 8: voters because they think that'll entrench them in the government
18:41
Speaker 8: that they wish to change Australia. The statement the Keyping
18:46
Speaker 8: once made that you change the government, you changed the
18:48
Speaker 8: country is quite right. And this snake charmer of the
18:53
Speaker 8: Treasurer who's trying to bring about a reinvented capitalism I
18:59
Speaker 8: think you said it was, really has no idea of
19:03
Speaker 8: the damage he's doing. I don't think his doctorate is
19:06
Speaker 8: in I study eating. I mean, it's pathetic the ir
19:10
Speaker 8: laws that come in on the twenty sixth of August,
19:12
Speaker 8: which are going to hit industry, like you have no
19:15
Speaker 8: idea how bad they are. I've taken a look at
19:18
Speaker 8: them because to keep a current practicing certificate, I have
19:21
Speaker 8: to go and do a course and do my ten points.
19:24
Speaker 9: So I chose I.
19:24
Speaker 8: Ah, it's horrendous and it hits on the twenty sixth
19:28
Speaker 8: of August.
19:28
Speaker 1: That's good to know you're still studying, Bradwan James.
19:31
Speaker 2: We're nearly out of time, but I've got to quickly
19:33
Speaker 2: go to you because this was your big story today.
19:35
Speaker 1: Well tell us about it. What's the government's.
19:37
Speaker 9: Excuse for this?
19:38
Speaker 10: Well, you know, they just say that they blame everything
19:41
Speaker 10: on you know, the system that they inherited and so
19:43
Speaker 10: on and so forth. But they're not doing anything really
19:47
Speaker 10: to fix this huge situation. We're talking eighty thousand people
19:50
Speaker 10: have had their applications rejected. Most of these come from
19:54
Speaker 10: people who come from countries, you know, like India is
19:57
Speaker 10: one of the top sources of these applications. When you know,
20:00
Speaker 10: nobody is really found to be a genuine refugee from there.
20:03
Speaker 10: It's a democracy, there are allies. It's just a nonsense.
20:06
Speaker 10: We have so many students who then convert their student
20:09
Speaker 10: visas to asylum visas, and then once they've got that,
20:13
Speaker 10: they can stay for ten years while the process plays out.
20:16
Speaker 10: They establish a life here and they never get kicked out.
20:20
Speaker 10: The entire refugee system is broken because it's destroying the
20:24
Speaker 10: chances of people who are genuine refugees to get a
20:27
Speaker 10: quick decision, and so many people are abusing it. It's
20:30
Speaker 10: a real shame and it needs to be fixed.
20:33
Speaker 2: I think yeah, all right, James bron and Bishop Broun.
20:37
Speaker 2: I have to say, you give the government one and
20:38
Speaker 2: a half out of ten and yet they're still probably
20:40
Speaker 2: going to be re elected.
20:41
Speaker 1: I mean that's what we're that's the reality. That's what
20:43
Speaker 1: we're looking on.
20:44
Speaker 8: Trusting that won't o good.
20:45
Speaker 2: All right, we'll see, Thank you Bright so much for
20:48
Speaker 2: your time. Now still to come, fresh revelations about the
20:51
Speaker 2: departure of the top news trief at Channel nine and
20:55
Speaker 2: the network's attempt to cover it up, plus the fallout
20:58
Speaker 2: from the budget continue use as voters reveal what they'll
21:02
Speaker 2: be spending charmers energy rebate on that's all coming up next,
21:11
Speaker 2: Welcome back.
21:13
Speaker 10: Well.
21:13
Speaker 2: Some of Channel nine's biggest stars are speaking about the
21:16
Speaker 2: blokey culture of working under former legendary news guru Darren
21:21
Speaker 2: Wick and their concern that his conduct is now being
21:25
Speaker 2: swept under the carpet. The nine network stands accused of
21:29
Speaker 2: covering up allegations that it's former director of News and
21:32
Speaker 2: Current Affairs behaved inappropriately towards women on several occasions, with
21:38
Speaker 2: claims nine is even using non disclosure agreements to keep
21:42
Speaker 2: this scandal secret. There are several allegations of inappropriate behavior
21:47
Speaker 2: involving Wick.
21:48
Speaker 1: Over the years, yet he kept his job.
21:51
Speaker 2: This included an alleged incident at the Logis after party
21:55
Speaker 2: on the Gold Coast in twenty nineteen. Channel nine stars
22:00
Speaker 2: have also spoken to me today about another incident at
22:04
Speaker 2: a network Christmas party where Wick was described as hansy.
22:09
Speaker 2: It was the talk of the newsroom afterwards, but it
22:12
Speaker 2: was put down to the television boss having had too
22:16
Speaker 2: much to drink.
22:17
Speaker 1: Yet Wick was given a warm send.
22:20
Speaker 2: Off when he left the network on March fifteen, with
22:23
Speaker 2: glowing remarks from some executives. Well nine staff was shocked
22:28
Speaker 2: to see him back in the newsroom on April twenty fourth.
22:32
Speaker 1: Several women told us.
22:34
Speaker 2: Today they felt uncomfortable as he walked around the newsroom
22:38
Speaker 2: for a large part of the day. Well of the
22:41
Speaker 2: culture at Channel nine under Darren Wick, one Channel nine
22:45
Speaker 2: star told me and I quote, it was really just
22:48
Speaker 2: the norm. He would get very drunk and the next
22:52
Speaker 2: day in the newsroom all the girls would swap stories
22:56
Speaker 2: in the ways in which he would be inappropriate towards them.
23:00
Speaker 1: Environment was very toxic.
23:02
Speaker 2: Women constantly felt pitted against each other and you felt
23:05
Speaker 2: like you were on eggshells all the time. Another woman
23:09
Speaker 2: said there were concerns about his behavior because he manipulated
23:14
Speaker 2: young women and undermined senior women.
23:18
Speaker 8: Well.
23:19
Speaker 2: Another employee said nine Corporate Affairs is very defensive of him.
23:26
Speaker 2: As I exclusively revealed last night, a female employee in
23:30
Speaker 2: the television news division made a recent complaint about an
23:34
Speaker 2: alleged incident involving Darren Wick that occurred some years ago.
23:39
Speaker 2: An external legal firm were brought in to investigate while
23:42
Speaker 2: Wick remained on leave.
23:45
Speaker 1: While the firm did not.
23:46
Speaker 2: Substantiate the claims, the decision was made at the highest
23:51
Speaker 2: levels to let him go given his alleged pattern of behavior.
23:56
Speaker 2: But now there's unrest inside Channel nine. Employees are accusing
24:01
Speaker 2: the board of a cover up. The board knew about
24:05
Speaker 2: the complaint, yet there's been no transparency. There are questions
24:10
Speaker 2: now being asked also about wicks severance package, how large
24:15
Speaker 2: it was and how does it compare to how the
24:18
Speaker 2: female employee who made the complaint or how she was
24:22
Speaker 2: treated Handling the fallout of all of this is Wick's
24:27
Speaker 2: long term friend, Victoria Buckan, the head of nine's corporate affairs.
24:33
Speaker 1: Now.
24:33
Speaker 2: The Daily Telegraph has also covered this story tomorrow. The
24:38
Speaker 2: editor Ben English has sent me the front page. This
24:41
Speaker 2: is going to be the front page of the Daily
24:42
Speaker 2: Telegraph tomorrow. As you can see there, Darren Wick is
24:46
Speaker 2: on the front page. TV stars unload on departing newsboss.
24:51
Speaker 2: That's the headline and I can read you at least
24:55
Speaker 2: one comment from this story that's been written by journalist
24:59
Speaker 2: Jonathan Morray. One of the women who spoke to Jonathan Moran,
25:03
Speaker 2: one of the television stars, said that he Darren Wick
25:06
Speaker 2: has been very divisive.
25:07
Speaker 1: It has been.
25:08
Speaker 2: Difficult for women to work with and under him. They've
25:11
Speaker 2: not been happy. At one stage we were calling him
25:14
Speaker 2: a cockroach and saying he's impossible to metaphorically kill.
25:19
Speaker 1: The metaphoricles in bracket so he was impossible to kill.
25:22
Speaker 1: Calling him a cockroach.
25:24
Speaker 2: One television star said he was just someone we had
25:28
Speaker 2: to work around in our professional lives.
25:31
Speaker 1: So that's in the Daily Telegraph tomorrow as well. Were
25:34
Speaker 1: the Australians.
25:35
Speaker 2: Media writer Sophie Ellsworth has also been following this story
25:39
Speaker 2: and she joins me now from Melbourne.
25:41
Speaker 1: Sophie, thank you so.
25:42
Speaker 2: Much for your time. What can you tell us about
25:46
Speaker 2: what the board knew about this fresh complaint? That led
25:51
Speaker 2: to Darren Wick's departure.
25:55
Speaker 11: Well, Sharry, the board knew there was a complaint regarding
25:58
Speaker 11: inappropriate conduct by Wick towards a female staff member, and
26:03
Speaker 11: it was discussed among them. And just to remind you,
26:06
Speaker 11: as Sharry, this is the most These are the most
26:09
Speaker 11: senior people at nine. The board at nine is chaired
26:12
Speaker 11: by Peter Costello and it includes members of the Liking
26:17
Speaker 11: of nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneezeby.
26:20
Speaker 9: Now it's understood the matter has.
26:22
Speaker 11: Gone also to nine's human resources department, and this was
26:26
Speaker 11: all prior to Wick's departure.
26:29
Speaker 2: Now, I've spoken to many sources at nine about this issue,
26:34
Speaker 2: where employees view it as a very clear cover up
26:37
Speaker 2: by the board.
26:38
Speaker 1: And this is what people are saying, that it's a
26:40
Speaker 1: cover up by.
26:40
Speaker 2: The board, that there's been no transparency and the issue
26:45
Speaker 2: of non disclosure agreements, the use of non disclosure agreements
26:49
Speaker 2: has shocked many. What can you tell us about this, Well, yes,
26:55
Speaker 2: there are non disclosure agreements involved, and shary when organizedas
27:00
Speaker 2: media or otherwise are not transparent, it often leads to
27:04
Speaker 2: further problems when information does come to light. Now nine
27:08
Speaker 2: should be transparent because we the Australian repeatedly asked the
27:13
Speaker 2: network of wis whereabouts and up until five days before
27:17
Speaker 2: he announced his resignation in March, we were told Charry
27:21
Speaker 2: that there were no discussions about his departure.
27:24
Speaker 9: Now.
27:24
Speaker 11: I was also told a little as about a fortnight
27:28
Speaker 11: before Darren Wick announced he was leaving, that he was
27:32
Speaker 11: actually coming back.
27:33
Speaker 9: He was just on leave.
27:34
Speaker 11: I was told this by Nine And then suddenly about
27:38
Speaker 11: six thirty pm on a Friday, the March fifteen, the
27:42
Speaker 11: day that the email went out from Channel nine, releasing
27:45
Speaker 11: a statement, said he'd quit.
27:47
Speaker 9: Now, Sharry, you and I know, when you want a story.
27:50
Speaker 11: To be buried and not to be covered, you put
27:53
Speaker 11: it out on a Friday night when all the journalists
27:55
Speaker 11: have signed off, the papers.
27:57
Speaker 9: Have been put to bed, and the news bulletins have gone.
28:00
Speaker 9: And this timing definitely raised eyebrows.
28:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, now do you think nine is being hypocritical here?
28:07
Speaker 2: This is another key accusation. At the very same time
28:10
Speaker 2: as nine was misleading you about Wick's absence, they were
28:14
Speaker 2: pursuing their commercial rival Channel seven about the scandal that
28:19
Speaker 2: was at the time unfolding at Spotlight.
28:24
Speaker 9: Well, yes, it is hypocritical.
28:26
Speaker 11: They certainly at nine throw all their resources into chasing
28:31
Speaker 11: stories involving high profile people, Sharry, whether it's journalists, other networks.
28:37
Speaker 9: Or well known people in the community.
28:39
Speaker 11: And as you said this on your show last night,
28:42
Speaker 11: so where are the editorial resources at nine Entertainment right
28:46
Speaker 11: now being thrown into this? You've got to remind people here, Shary,
28:50
Speaker 11: this is the network's most senior news director and he
28:54
Speaker 11: suddenly left.
28:55
Speaker 9: And in the lead up to mister Wick's.
28:56
Speaker 11: Departure, as I have said, there were also many people
29:00
Speaker 11: talking internally about where he was, and we were reporting
29:04
Speaker 11: this in The Australian. But then Chari suddenly this email
29:08
Speaker 11: came out on a Friday night and he was gone.
29:12
Speaker 11: So I'm waiting very anxiously or curiously, should I say,
29:16
Speaker 11: for nine to follow up both the Australian and Sky
29:20
Speaker 11: and the Daily Telegraph stories on this.
29:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, well let's see if they do. What about this
29:26
Speaker 1: issue about the board?
29:28
Speaker 2: Do you think this could turn into a major corporate
29:30
Speaker 2: issue for nine if the accusations against the board escalate
29:34
Speaker 2: and if shareholders start to question why there hasn't been transparency.
29:41
Speaker 9: Well it's fair enough, Shari, if they do.
29:43
Speaker 11: But time will tell, and I can tell you there
29:45
Speaker 11: are plenty people, as you know yourself, talking about this
29:49
Speaker 11: situation inside nine at the moment, and there's more questions
29:53
Speaker 11: that need to be answered on this now. Nine releases
29:56
Speaker 11: their financial results in August and they have an AGM
29:59
Speaker 11: in November, so there's quite a lot of time between
30:01
Speaker 11: now and then, but let's wait and.
30:03
Speaker 2: See, all right, Sophie Alsware, thank you so much for
30:07
Speaker 2: joining me to break that down for us. And if
30:09
Speaker 2: you missed my story either last night or tonight on
30:13
Speaker 2: this issue, you can head to the Sky News website.
30:15
Speaker 2: Also the Daily Telegraph big story as well on the
30:18
Speaker 2: front page tomorrow. Now, the budget feedback is rolling in
30:22
Speaker 2: and the major concern for voters is that the government's
30:25
Speaker 2: at cash splash will cause inflation and rates to rise.
30:30
Speaker 2: This is according to the latest A Freshwater Strategy poll,
30:33
Speaker 2: where nearly forty percent of voters think that the budget
30:36
Speaker 2: will force the RBA's hand. Another forty six percent didn't
30:41
Speaker 2: think it would have any effect on household finances. So
30:45
Speaker 2: to discuss this, let's bring in now Director of Freshwater Strategy,
30:49
Speaker 2: Leo Shanahan. Leo, great to see you again.
30:52
Speaker 12: Thanks.
30:52
Speaker 8: Thanks.
30:53
Speaker 2: Can you tell us about how because you looked at.
30:56
Speaker 2: You know, there is tax relief for Australians in the budget,
30:58
Speaker 2: both in the form of the three hundred dollar energy
31:00
Speaker 2: rebate also the tax cuts that take effect from the
31:03
Speaker 2: first of July. What does your polling tell you about
31:06
Speaker 2: how Australians are planning to spend this money?
31:09
Speaker 12: Yes, and I don't think that three hundred dollars was
31:10
Speaker 12: an accident even either, given the promise to reduce cost
31:14
Speaker 12: of living by two hundred and seventy five dollars and
31:16
Speaker 12: it's convenient amount obviously, But yes, what do people do
31:19
Speaker 12: with this money? Sharry and combining that with tax cuts,
31:22
Speaker 12: The shorter answer is most people are going to spend it.
31:25
Speaker 12: How quickly they spend it and what they spend it
31:26
Speaker 12: on is the key.
31:27
Speaker 5: Now.
31:28
Speaker 12: About thirty five percent of people said they were likely
31:30
Speaker 12: to save that money. About another thirty three percent so
31:34
Speaker 12: they'll pay down debt and spend it. Another twenty said
31:38
Speaker 12: they'll spend it on things they usually buy. Now the inflationary,
31:40
Speaker 12: really inflationary stuff is to invest it or spend it
31:43
Speaker 12: on things they wouldn't have thought otherwise. Now, the government
31:46
Speaker 12: might have a point here in the sense that it's
31:48
Speaker 12: not inherently inflationary to pay down debt or to spend
31:53
Speaker 12: it on things well, to save it. It is not
31:55
Speaker 12: inflationary to spend it on things you usually buy. However,
31:59
Speaker 12: that's when we're yeah, where that's where we're kind of
32:01
Speaker 12: entering the zone where we're already in a hyperinflation or
32:04
Speaker 12: very inflationary environment, and then we're really dealing with people
32:08
Speaker 12: who are kind of just kind of escaping that wave
32:11
Speaker 12: and letting them continue on in the manner in which
32:14
Speaker 12: they are that is in an inflationary way. But they
32:17
Speaker 12: have the government has to do this dance of you know,
32:20
Speaker 12: giving cost of living in relief. They said they would,
32:23
Speaker 12: they've done it, but the extent to which, and there's
32:26
Speaker 12: that key question will it increase the chance of an
32:28
Speaker 12: interest rate rise? And most people think it will, or
32:31
Speaker 12: at least the majority of respondents at around forty percent.
32:33
Speaker 2: Although you're polling on how people plan to spend it.
32:36
Speaker 2: You know, if it's followed through, that would be good
32:38
Speaker 2: news and that might mean that it's not as inflationary. Look,
32:41
Speaker 2: let's look at you know, how Australians feel about energy sources.
32:46
Speaker 2: You know that this is going to be a key
32:48
Speaker 2: issue in the lead up to the next election, Peter
32:50
Speaker 2: Dutton's put nuclear on the table.
32:52
Speaker 1: You know, what does your research tell us?
32:54
Speaker 12: Well, look, I think from the get go you see
32:57
Speaker 12: solar having supporter of about eighty one percent of people.
33:00
Speaker 12: So solar is the kind of Koala bear at the
33:03
Speaker 12: moment in energy that everybody still loves. Yeah, eighty one percent.
33:08
Speaker 12: But natural gas has made a huge breakthrough at around
33:12
Speaker 12: fifty six percent in terms of support. That beats wind now.
33:17
Speaker 12: Winds support has really dropped off both offshore onshore wind
33:20
Speaker 12: by about ten percent.
33:22
Speaker 8: Now.
33:23
Speaker 12: There's obviously a lot of concern, especially in regional areas
33:27
Speaker 12: about the role of wind now and gas. Despite those
33:31
Speaker 12: activist proponents who are coming out, you know, increasingly against
33:35
Speaker 12: that gas, trying to compare it with coal, it is
33:38
Speaker 12: increasingly popular about fifty six percent now. The bad news
33:42
Speaker 12: for Peter Dutton is that nuclear is consistently pretty low
33:46
Speaker 12: at about thirty six percent in terms of support and
33:49
Speaker 12: thirty one percent of people who actually oppose it, So
33:51
Speaker 12: you've actually got a pretty entrenched opposition to it as well.
33:55
Speaker 12: Coal thirty three percent thirty four percent similarly divisive. But
33:59
Speaker 12: the difference with coal is it's in the system. It's there.
34:02
Speaker 12: We rely on it and at the moment we certainly
34:04
Speaker 12: need it. Nuclear doesn't have that benefit at the moment.
34:09
Speaker 1: And what about your overall polling.
34:11
Speaker 2: You know, in the overall political figures in the primary vote,
34:16
Speaker 2: Labor gained one point I understand, to thirty two percent.
34:18
Speaker 2: The Coalition remained unchanged at forty percent. So it told
34:22
Speaker 2: us through these figures and what it says about how
34:26
Speaker 2: the prime minister is going.
34:27
Speaker 12: Yeah, look, there's no budget bounce. These are kind of overstated,
34:31
Speaker 12: but you know, they haven't gone backwards, which is good
34:33
Speaker 12: for the government, but Liberal and National parties SPA having.
34:37
Speaker 2: Billions not to go backwards as well.
34:39
Speaker 12: When well they will. You know, Labor government on thirty
34:43
Speaker 12: two percent primary vote, that's still relatively low compared to
34:46
Speaker 12: what we have the Coalition on which is forty percent.
34:49
Speaker 12: Obviously on a two pp basis. The Greens really pushed
34:53
Speaker 12: them up. The Greens have gone up slightly to forteen percent.
34:55
Speaker 12: So now we're pretty much at status quo on fifty
34:58
Speaker 12: to fifty. Now, if an election were held tomorrow on
35:02
Speaker 12: these numbers, it's more than likely that Labor would form
35:06
Speaker 12: government with about seventy three seats Greens with four Liberal
35:11
Speaker 12: National Coalition about sixty three and then independence but this
35:15
Speaker 12: would be would slip into a minority government and then
35:19
Speaker 12: this of course, the College managed to.
35:21
Speaker 2: Get a forty percent primary, they'd have a good shot
35:24
Speaker 2: at being in government themselves.
35:25
Speaker 12: But well, yeah, that if they can out, that would
35:27
Speaker 12: be a remarkable attempt.
35:29
Speaker 2: If they if they managed to get forty percent, that
35:31
Speaker 2: would be a very surprising roa.
35:32
Speaker 12: Yeah, the trend is down for the government and that's clear.
35:36
Speaker 12: And the real question is, you know, how long do
35:38
Speaker 12: they want to risk that trend before going to election.
35:41
Speaker 12: Al analysis says there will be an early election. This
35:44
Speaker 12: will be the last budget under this government.
35:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand the PM has no intention of going early.
35:50
Speaker 12: So he says, all right, go if you can win.
35:53
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time.
35:54
Speaker 2: Thanks Now, after the break, the bizarre proposal for a
35:57
Speaker 2: manvan Well, there's no man ban on this show with
36:00
Speaker 2: two gentlemen, Kayler Bond and Nick Cata joining me. Next,
36:04
Speaker 2: plus why mediation between Linda Reynolds and Britney Higgles. Brittney
36:08
Speaker 2: Higgins has fallen apart for a second time.
36:16
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Well.
36:17
Speaker 2: Ambulance ramping is back in the spotlight with a Gold
36:20
Speaker 2: Coast man dying after waiting hours for hospital access.
36:25
Speaker 1: He eventually had a heart attack.
36:28
Speaker 2: Ambulance ramping and long wait times when you call Triplo,
36:32
Speaker 2: even if Triplo knows the situation is urgent.
36:36
Speaker 9: Well, this is a.
36:37
Speaker 2: Problem right across the country. Not enough is being done
36:40
Speaker 2: to fix this crucial issue. If you're having a medical episode,
36:44
Speaker 2: if you're having a heart attack or a stroke, you
36:47
Speaker 2: need urgent attention.
36:49
Speaker 1: Not being left in a queue for hours.
36:52
Speaker 2: Well to discuss, let's bring in Sky News host kayleb
36:55
Speaker 2: Bond and senior fellow at the Menzies Research Center, Nick
36:58
Speaker 2: cat Neck. Where in the world are you joining us
37:02
Speaker 2: from tonight?
37:05
Speaker 6: I'm in Stockholm, Shari, Beautiful Stockholm in springtime, lovely.
37:09
Speaker 5: Hope you don't have the syndrome, Nick, Well, it looks beautiful.
37:13
Speaker 6: Not yet, Not yet, Caleb.
37:16
Speaker 9: We know this issue, Caleb.
37:18
Speaker 2: We know this issue of ambulance ramping isn't exclusive to Queensland.
37:23
Speaker 2: This is a major issue for state governments right across
37:26
Speaker 2: the country and none of them seem to be able.
37:28
Speaker 9: To fix it.
37:28
Speaker 5: Well, it's everywhere, I mean, look the words of Peter
37:31
Speaker 5: malinowskis the South Australian premier ring in May is because
37:34
Speaker 5: he was elected very much on a promise that we
37:37
Speaker 5: will fix the ramping crisis in South Australia. Well, two
37:41
Speaker 5: years on, ramping is worse than it has ever been
37:44
Speaker 5: in South Australia. It's bad in Victoria, and that's compounded
37:48
Speaker 5: in Victoria by a really bad triple zero system they
37:51
Speaker 5: have down there. And when I was at the Herald
37:53
Speaker 5: Sun we did quite a bit of coverage in the
37:55
Speaker 5: Sunday Herald Sun on it was more than thirty people
37:59
Speaker 5: who had died because they weren't having their triple zero
38:02
Speaker 5: calls attended to within the time required. So you add
38:05
Speaker 5: all these things together and you've got to ask yourself
38:08
Speaker 5: the question, how can we trust any state government to
38:11
Speaker 5: look after anything when they can't deal with the most
38:14
Speaker 5: basic issues such as health and the population keeps going up.
38:19
Speaker 5: We don't get more hospitals, we don't get more beds,
38:21
Speaker 5: we don't get more ambulances, and somehow we expect the
38:25
Speaker 5: system to work. In say, if I use that example again,
38:28
Speaker 5: they built a new hospital. They got to the old
38:29
Speaker 5: Royal Adelaide Hospital, built a new Royal Adelaide Hospital. It
38:32
Speaker 5: had fewer beds than the old one. Make it make sense.
38:35
Speaker 2: I mean state governments get involved in all sorts of things.
38:38
Speaker 2: You just want them to be on top of service delivery.
38:41
Speaker 2: That's what everyone pays their taxes for, Nick Cata. This
38:45
Speaker 2: is shaping up to be now an issue in the
38:48
Speaker 2: Queensland state election.
38:50
Speaker 1: How do you think that's going to play out? For labor.
38:54
Speaker 6: It should be an issue in the Queensland state election,
38:56
Speaker 6: Chari because this is not at its route about a
38:59
Speaker 6: short sortritage of medical services or shortage of ambulances. It's
39:02
Speaker 6: about organization because other states with the same degree of
39:06
Speaker 6: resources manage this better. And I've said this before, but
39:10
Speaker 6: if you put the head of Amazon in charge of
39:13
Speaker 6: ambulances in Queensland, I think he'd fix it within a day.
39:16
Speaker 6: It's simply a matter of organization. This poor gentleman should
39:20
Speaker 6: have been accelerated and pushed at the front of the queue.
39:23
Speaker 8: He wasn't.
39:24
Speaker 6: That's about systems, that's about organization, and I think it's
39:28
Speaker 6: something that the coalition and incoming coalition government should and
39:32
Speaker 6: must fix as a matter of priority. And they can
39:35
Speaker 6: do it because it's been done in other places.
39:38
Speaker 2: Well, I have to say this issue has been just
39:40
Speaker 2: as bad under Coalition and Labor state governments, at least
39:44
Speaker 2: in New South Wales. And you know if you were
39:47
Speaker 2: that man's family who had died of a heart attack
39:49
Speaker 2: because he wasn't given medical treatment fast enough, because he
39:53
Speaker 2: was just left on an ambulance stretcher, you would be
39:57
Speaker 2: absolutely furious that fury added to the greek. Now there
40:01
Speaker 2: was a second attempt at mediation talks between Linda Reynolds
40:05
Speaker 2: and Britney Higgins and it's failed yet again to reach
40:09
Speaker 2: a settlement. So this is Linda reynolds defamation suit against
40:13
Speaker 2: her former political staffer. Now, after leaving the West Australian
40:17
Speaker 2: Supreme Court this afternoon, Linda Reynolds said she'd like to
40:21
Speaker 2: reach a settlement.
40:23
Speaker 1: Have a listen.
40:24
Speaker 4: Justice Lee made some very comprehensive findings in his judgment
40:30
Speaker 4: and it is time for all parties to accept.
40:33
Speaker 2: All of his comments and I think that will help
40:36
Speaker 2: us all move forward. Caleb, you know this now seems
40:41
Speaker 2: the mediation talks have failed twice, so it now seems
40:43
Speaker 2: like it's going to go to trial, set for a
40:46
Speaker 2: six week trial. I mean, you know, you totally understand
40:50
Speaker 2: that Linda Reynolds would feel very hard done by, and
40:53
Speaker 2: just as Michael Lee did find that there was no
40:55
Speaker 2: political cover up, those were the allegations against her.
40:59
Speaker 1: She ended up with problems in hospital.
41:01
Speaker 2: But at the same time, we know that Britney Higgins
41:04
Speaker 2: has been suffering quite serious mental health issues under the
41:07
Speaker 2: stress of all of this, So you know, you just
41:10
Speaker 2: hope that they could reach a settlement, that Higgins could
41:12
Speaker 2: apologize for the claims that she didn't that Linda Reynolds
41:15
Speaker 2: didn't havendle this properly.
41:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you've sort of ended up with this cat
41:19
Speaker 5: and mouse game where, of course, after the case where
41:23
Speaker 5: Justice Lee laid out that there was no political cover up,
41:27
Speaker 5: David Scharraz, Britney's fiance, made comments online to the effect that,
41:32
Speaker 5: you know, we wish Linda would drop this case. So
41:35
Speaker 5: there's no desire from either side of this defamation case
41:40
Speaker 5: to walk away from it. And I have no doubt
41:42
Speaker 5: that Linda would much prefer to settle because it makes
41:45
Speaker 5: things a lot easier. But it's not going to be
41:47
Speaker 5: an easy process for either of them. As you say,
41:49
Speaker 5: we know Britney has had mental health issues, and I'm
41:52
Speaker 5: sure a six week trial does nothing to help that,
41:54
Speaker 5: particularly after the trial that just happened with Bruce Lehreman.
41:58
Speaker 5: And we know that Linda had self has had health
42:01
Speaker 5: issues connected to this case. Like everything that has transpired
42:06
Speaker 5: ever since it all came to like, everyone who has
42:10
Speaker 5: been touched by this case has come out damaged by it,
42:14
Speaker 5: and I don't think we're about to see anything different
42:17
Speaker 5: in that regard.
42:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Nikita, do you think you know either party
42:22
Speaker 2: should walk away here or do you know do you
42:24
Speaker 2: think both have a responsibility to just compromise a bit to.
42:27
Speaker 1: Get this settled.
42:30
Speaker 6: Absolutely, And having been in a media agent session ahead
42:36
Speaker 6: of a defamation case, I can tell you it is
42:39
Speaker 6: not in anybody's interests to go to court except the lawyers.
42:43
Speaker 6: They are the only people who benefit for going to court.
42:46
Speaker 6: It should be settled now. I'm surprised that it hasn't been.
42:49
Speaker 6: I think Linda Rewolds is right to put to justice
42:53
Speaker 6: Lee's findings and say, well, it gets quite straightforward. I
42:56
Speaker 6: was blamed for something which I didn't do. My repute
43:00
Speaker 6: was damaged severely, possibly my whole political career was damaged
43:05
Speaker 6: because of this. I need some sort of apology and recompense.
43:08
Speaker 6: I don't know why they haven't come to it, but
43:10
Speaker 6: I think it's very very foolish for them to go
43:12
Speaker 6: to court, and I really think that it would seem
43:16
Speaker 6: for an outsider, pretty straightforward. You just acknowledge what Justice
43:20
Speaker 6: Lee has said about Linda Reynolds being entirely blameless in this,
43:24
Speaker 6: and you make clear that her reputation, you make good
43:27
Speaker 6: on her reputation. It's straightforward.
43:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, after the break, we're going to talk
43:32
Speaker 2: about the bizarre call for a man ban as I said,
43:35
Speaker 2: no man ban on this program, plus Donald Trump and
43:38
Speaker 2: the fiery appearance outside Cot after break.
43:47
Speaker 1: Well, as you know, domestic violence has.
43:48
Speaker 2: Been in the spotlight, but an article suggesting ways to
43:52
Speaker 2: curb it is causing a stir.
43:54
Speaker 1: The headline reads, is it time to start?
43:56
Speaker 9: Men?
43:57
Speaker 1: Congregating in groups?
44:00
Speaker 2: Could mean no footy training, no group chats, norowdi tables
44:04
Speaker 2: at pub trivia.
44:05
Speaker 1: Well, Ben Fordham said this morning that the idea was
44:09
Speaker 1: utter madness.
44:12
Speaker 5: I think we've reached peak madness. And the blokes playing
44:15
Speaker 5: pub trivia or the blokes at footy training, they're probably
44:20
Speaker 5: the same blokes would be first to step.
44:21
Speaker 9: In and help Caleb.
44:24
Speaker 1: What do you think about this?
44:25
Speaker 2: Do you think the debate about domestic violence is now
44:28
Speaker 2: just going too far when people are suggesting banning groups
44:32
Speaker 2: of men.
44:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, look, the suggestion is pretty brainded, isn't it.
44:37
Speaker 5: I understand the objective of the author's column, and all
44:42
Speaker 5: three of us are are columnists at various times, and
44:46
Speaker 5: I understand the idea that you want to provoke a reaction.
44:50
Speaker 5: And if you read through the entire column, the points
44:52
Speaker 5: she is getting at is that women feel unsafe in
44:55
Speaker 5: some situations, So why should women be made to feel unsafe?
44:58
Speaker 5: Perhaps the men should have to take a hit so
45:00
Speaker 5: women feel safe. I get the argument she is making.
45:03
Speaker 5: But to take something that is as serious as domestic
45:08
Speaker 5: violence and sexual violence, which is referenced in the column,
45:12
Speaker 5: and to then suggest, well, the solution is to ban
45:15
Speaker 5: men from gathering. You know, come on, if you really
45:18
Speaker 5: want to bring men along with the discussion, and you
45:22
Speaker 5: had this discussion with the Josh Zepps last week, I
45:25
Speaker 5: think it was, it might might have been earlier this
45:27
Speaker 5: week even, But if you want to if you want
45:31
Speaker 5: to bring men along with you, you actually have to
45:35
Speaker 5: bring them to the table and say this is what
45:36
Speaker 5: we need. You to do to help, and this is
45:38
Speaker 5: why you should help. Going down the road of saying oh, well,
45:41
Speaker 5: you know you're all potentially violent, even though we all
45:44
Speaker 5: know it's not true, it does turn people off, and
45:47
Speaker 5: I don't think that's good for the cause.
45:50
Speaker 2: I mean, Nickkita, you like a bit of a male gathering.
45:53
Speaker 2: You're a cyclist. Can you imagine being told you couldn't
45:57
Speaker 2: cycle in with a group of men anymore?
46:01
Speaker 6: Look, I don't know we do any harm to anybody.
46:04
Speaker 6: There's certainly no women except perhaps you know. The site
46:07
Speaker 6: of the licro maybe a little bit difficult for some,
46:09
Speaker 6: but look, I mean it's absurd, it's absurd chari and
46:16
Speaker 6: this is really a long running campaign beginning with you know,
46:21
Speaker 6: feminists who thought they would say this is all about
46:24
Speaker 6: being a man. It's not about being a man. It's
46:27
Speaker 6: about being it's about behaving in an outrageous and unacceptable
46:33
Speaker 6: and violent and often criminal way. That's what it's about.
46:35
Speaker 6: It's about criminal behavior. Okay, so some men rob banks,
46:40
Speaker 6: But does that mean to say we stop men going
46:43
Speaker 6: anywhere near banks? I mean, that's the kind of logic
46:45
Speaker 6: we're getting to on this. Instead, we should deal with
46:48
Speaker 6: the with the people themselves. That we should make sure
46:51
Speaker 6: that that the police are fully equipped and the law
46:54
Speaker 6: is on their side to come down and hard on
46:57
Speaker 6: men who do cowardly things to women. I should also
47:00
Speaker 6: look at underlying causes.
47:02
Speaker 2: Okay, we've got to quickly get to Donald Trump. Now,
47:05
Speaker 2: his historic hush money trial is nearing its end, and
47:08
Speaker 2: we've seen his farmer fixer from a lawyer, Michael Cohen,
47:12
Speaker 2: admit to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his company.
47:16
Speaker 2: I don't know if we have time to play you
47:18
Speaker 2: Trump's comments, but Caleb, what did you make of Michael
47:21
Speaker 2: Cohen's evidence?
47:23
Speaker 8: Oh?
47:23
Speaker 5: Look, this whole trial has been exactly what we expected
47:28
Speaker 5: it would be, which is a show trial. The point
47:31
Speaker 5: is to try and string Trump up for what purpose
47:35
Speaker 5: we don't really know, except to beat the chests of
47:37
Speaker 5: Democrats and say, look at us, we're trying to get
47:39
Speaker 5: them man and Cohen is no different. It does not
47:43
Speaker 5: make a lick of difference what Cohen or Trump or
47:45
Speaker 5: anyone else says in that courtroom. It is not going
47:49
Speaker 5: to change a single vote in the United States. If
47:52
Speaker 5: you're going to vote for Trump, you already know you're
47:54
Speaker 5: going to vote for Trump. And if you're not going
47:56
Speaker 5: to vote for Trump, well you're already not voting for him.
47:58
Speaker 5: This case ain't changing it. The whole thing has been
48:00
Speaker 5: a joke.
48:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, Nick Cata, what's your verdict on how this is
48:04
Speaker 1: going to play out? For Trump?
48:07
Speaker 6: Plug out very well because all the polling shows that
48:10
Speaker 6: the less he talks about politics, the higher his ratings go.
48:14
Speaker 6: And so the Democrats or whoever's driving this case has
48:17
Speaker 6: done him a great favor by getting him concentrated on
48:20
Speaker 6: something else. And you know, it is a show trial,
48:23
Speaker 6: as Caleb said, but it's a show title that's really
48:26
Speaker 6: I suppose it does two things. One, it keeps Democrats
48:30
Speaker 6: spirits up because they've got a pretty dismal election ahead
48:33
Speaker 6: with Biden in charge. But it also brews Trump as
48:36
Speaker 6: we know that this actually has a positive effect.
48:39
Speaker 2: All right, Nick Cata, enjoy Stockholm, Kay the bind will
48:41
Speaker 2: see you back at ten o'clock. Thanks to everyone for
48:44
Speaker 2: your company. I'll see you tomorrow at eight. And here's
48:47
Speaker 2: my great mate, Paul Murray.